KUCHING: Then Ling Ling’s food catering business offering a variety of home-cooked dishes was born out of her love of food in addition to honing her talent in the world of cooking.
According to her, the business that she started from her home located at Mile 12, Kuching-Serian road since 2011 has been well received by customers, prompting her to open a catering service.
“I started doing business from 8 am to 6 pm. I don’t have outside workers but we have three kitchens, a halal kitchen, a dessert kitchen and a Chinese kitchen. For the halal kitchen, it is a Muslim staff who cooks and prepares the ingredients,” she told the New Sarawak Tribune.
Then, aged 38, said she once applied to sell “bakso” at Stutong market and then opened a small stall located in her village selling fried food.
“Then, we got an offer from a cafe in Sinaruh which is located in the Penrissen area. Unfortunately, we couldn’t sell there for a long time due to the COVID-19 pandemic season and we continued our sales in the village.
“It was my 7-year-old eldest son who gave me the suggestion to do catering during the COVID-19 pandemic season. So we agreed with his suggestion and that’s when we continued with our sales until now because the demand from customers was also very high.
“Before this, we opened a cafe in Stutong but it lasted only three months under the name of the company “Dapur Kumang Kafe”. Then our stall closed and we ventured into selling packed food instead of catering and later we sold “non-halal” burgers,” she said.
Thankfully, she added the business received very encouraging response from customers because at that time not many people were running online business and running cash on demand (COD) to outside areas.
“So, it is a great opportunity for me to run this business until now,” she said.
According to her, she was able to sell several types of side dishes in large quantities for events such as weddings, birthdays, engagements and so on in a day and the best-selling side dish packages were prepared.
In addition, she also provides sets of traditional “kuih muih” to customers.
“At the moment, I only promote my food through Facebook and WhatsApp.
“The selling price is according to the package given in the list which starts from RM50 minimum for a side dish while RM300 maximum for a side dish.
“Usually the food will be prepared by me and my husband while the halal catering food set will be cooked by another cook,” she said.
So far the customers who always make orders from her are from the Kuching and Samarahan areas.
“There is no doubt that business has its own challenges from several related aspects.
“Among them involves the right time to prepare and send customer orders according to their wishes.
“Sometimes I also have labour problems, the lack of food delivery services, the prices of raw materials are also uncertain, so we have to change the prices. The customers also request tables and servers but for now, we have not had a chance to find workers appropriate to this field.
“At times, I experience a problem with a lack of deliverymen followed by an erratic weather problem that prevents business movement from running smoothly,” she added.
According to Then, she also provides a service to deliver food to customers according to where they live.
The delivery process is usually done at events organised by customers.
“My hope is that this business will continue to progress and attract many customers who are not only in the Kuching area but also from outside.
“I intend to further expand the existing business to a higher level to be comparable to the food catering sold by others,” she added.
Customers can visit Facebook Then Ling Ling or call 019 868 5662 or Instagram/TikTok thenlingling for more information.
