Businessman finds his silver lining amid pandemic

YONG PENG: In every crisis lies great opportunities.

Having survived the movement control orders in the last two years, coffee shop operator Loi Han Ern attests that perseverance is key to greater success.

Instead of sitting idly, Loi, together with his mother and family members, kept busy in the kitchen perfecting the recipes of food and delicacies they sell at their family-run coffee shop.

“We still cook for ourselves every day while staying at home. At first, it was just the usual family cooking. But later on, we were tweaking my mother’s recipes, including her many different sambal.

“So, when takeaway and delivery business was allowed after closing for more than three months in 2020, we decided to offer a variety of sambal in glass jars for sale,” he said.

Then when the movement control order 2.0 was introduced, forcing them to close their coffee shop for another four months, Loi, 35, said his family continued to explore more recipes, churning out better versions of their homemade sauces.

Today, Loi’s Traffic Light Coffee House offers eight different sambal and sauces – sambal udang, sambal ikan bilis, sambal kicap, sambal padang, Thai sambal, sweet radish, ginger onion sauce and lemongrass barbecue sauce – which are a hit with his customers.

With a steady increase in patronage since last month, thanks to the Johor state election, Loi said these sambal have been well-received among customers, including their popular preserved lime, which must be stored for two years before they can be served on the platter.

“Many party leaders, politicians, candidates, staff and workers bought our sambal and preserved lime as gifts and souvenirs.

“We are happy that more people know about Yong Peng and us,” he said.

Loi said he is hoping that business for him and others in Yong Peng will return to normal, with the government announcement that the country is transitioning to the endemic phase of Covid-19 on April 1.

He also hopes the new state government will be stable, able to deliver on its promises and have the people’s interests at heart as they lead the state towards economic and social recovery in the coming months.