Serving up a platter of health

“Even today, there are people who have the mindset of: ‘Why would I want to pay more for vegetables when I can have a chicken chop at a cheaper price,” says Dylan Lee, founder of Salad Atelier.

IT’S an alarming statistic. Over 54% of Malaysian adults are either overweight or obese, a sharp rise of nearly 10% since 2011, according to the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2023.

In 2014, a study by British medical journal, The Lancet, showed that Malaysia was the most obese country in Asia.

Dylan Lee, founder of MBFE Sdn Bhd and its highly popular brand Salad Atelier, was among those who were shocked by the revelation. He has since made it his mission to make sustainable, healthy eating accessible to all.

Lee established his food and beverage (F&B) business in 2014 after coming across news of Malaysia’s obesity ranked in Asia.

“We had this big problem, and I felt there had to be something we could do for the population. That’s when I decided to come back and start this venture.”

Prior to founding Salad Atelier, Lee worked as a business adviser at PwC Singapore, where restaurants specialising in salads and healthy meals were often frequented by working professionals. “In Malaysia, you didn’t really see that. At the time, salads were only found in some cafes and Western restaurants, and they were usually very standard ones such as Caesar Salad.”

Building a business based around health-focused food was nothing short of a challenge, he shares, because it required shifting long-held attitudes of local consumers.

“Even today, there are people who have the mindset of: ‘Why would I want to pay more for vegetables when I can have a chicken chop at a cheaper price?’,” he says.

“At the beginning, our customers were 80% expats and 20% locals. But after 10 years, I would say a significant majority are Malaysian.” Lee credits this to continuous efforts in educating people and a younger generation that increasingly favours healthier meals.

Part of this strategy involved adapting the brand’s offerings in a way that would cater to local tastes, and bridge the space between familiar flavours and healthy eating.

“If you want to speak to the general population, you need to tweak things to their liking, so we first tried out our nasi lemak wrap where we replaced rice with quinoa, fusing local fare with healthy food,” he says.

“With locally-inspired options on our menus, we are able to reach those who are more sceptical and show that healthy food can taste good and be part of their main diet.”

Today, Salad Atelier boasts 35 outlets with three more set to open by year’s end. Lee also reveals plans for over 20 new stores next year.

“We see dining-in coming back very strong,” he states. “After the pandemic, I expected the shift towards delivery to last, but to our surprise, people love to dine in. Malaysians love to spend time out with each other, and those that work in offices also enjoy having some time away from their desks.”

Salad Atelier’s menus, which feature customisable bowls and wraps on top of a wide range of healthy salads, grain bowls, burgers and pasta dishes, have had a notable appeal among the office crowd.

“Generally, our business does very well from Monday to Thursday, when people are working and need a quick and healthy fix.”

For those with a preference for takeaway over dining-in, Lee says that as part of its sustainability initiatives, the business encourages customers to bring their own containers to reduce packaging waste. Those who bring their own containers get a RM1 discount.

Salad Atelier, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, has become a go-to name for health-conscious diners. Its parent company, MBFE, has a business-to-business (B2B) arm which offers health-focused catering and corporate canteen operation services.

The catering division also supplies food provisions to offshore companies.

“We ventured into catering around our first to second year of starting Salad Atelier. It began with us taking more corporate client orders for healthy meals, and they eventually began asking us to provide out-of-menu items. From there, we were doing all kinds of catering services and we also started receiving requests to run cafeterias for corporations,” he says.

“By 2017, we had our own fully-equipped central kitchen that serves both our restaurants and our catering business.”

Along with benefiting from economies of scale, Lee feels that MBFE’s business-to-consumer (B2C) and B2B segments complement each other, with the former making up about 80% of the business and the latter 20%.

“That’s the golden ratio I want,” he states, adding that he continually aims to maintain this ideal operational balance. “Both components are equally beneficial, as B2B gives you a consistency of income, while B2C provides the flexibility to do more.”

The founder is a firm believer in having a central kitchen, particularly due to the level and scope of control it provides. “With central purchasing, we can find out exactly where something went wrong by tracing the specific batch,” he says.

“Our ingredients are sourced directly from farmers, and because there’s no middleman, we don’t have to pay the price differentials. These cost advantages are then passed on to the customers.”

On goals for growth and expansion, Lee says the company has its sights set on an initial public offering (IPO) a few years down the road.

“We are planning and preparing ourselves to potentially take that path,” he reveals.

There are also plans to extend the brand beyond local borders.

Lee says: “Building on our mission, we aim to have Salad Atelier everywhere around Malaysia and South-East Asia, so healthy food can become an affordable staple for everyone.”