YONG PENG: When Teo Jia Er opened her kuih shop last October, the three workers she had spent weeks training, all quit on the first day.
It was a rough start for the 26-year-old, who had just returned to her hometown to start a business making traditional kuih.
"Finding workers is hard because many young people leave for better-paying jobs, especially in Singapore. But if nobody else wants to do this, I will," said Teo when met here.
Growing up in her mother's bakery, Teo spent most afternoons after school helping to make cakes and traditional kuih.
The routine stayed with her even after she left Yong Peng to study public relations at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman.
She later spent six months in the United States on a work-and-travel programme before taking up a job in the logistics sector after returning to Malaysia.
"But office life wasn't for me," she said with a laugh.
"I grew up in a busy shop. Sitting in an office every day felt empty," she added.
"I kept thinking that if nobody continued making these traditional kuih, one day they might disappear."
Returning home did not mean taking the easy way out.
Banks initially turned down her loan applications because she had little income history.
She eventually secured a RM100,000 loan with support from her family and invested in a commercial kitchen complete with proper hygiene facilities and equipment.
Today, she spends much of her time experimenting with traditional recipes.
As she talks about ang ku kuih, her face lights up.
Besides the traditional fillings, she has introduced flavours such as matcha, peanut and her personal favourite - savoury fried onion with sesame.
She has also transformed Yong Peng's famous mee suah into fried mee suah kuih, inspired by the town's well-known noodle tradition.
However, not every experiment worked.
Some took months before she was satisfied, especially when figuring out how to freeze the kuih without affecting their texture.
One customer, however, convinced her she had made the right decision.
Recalling the moment, Teo paused.
An elderly woman in her 80s tasted one of her kuih before breaking down in tears.
"She told me it reminded her of the kuih her parents used to make when she was young. I'll always remember that," Teo said quietly.
Today, Teo supplies her frozen ang ku kuih to shops in Kuala Lumpur, Pahang and Johor Baru after spending months refining her recipes and freezing techniques.
About 60% of her customers now come from outside Yong Peng, finding her through social media and word of mouth.
She has also teamed up with other local businesses to produce Yong Peng-themed gift packs, hoping visitors will bring home more than just the town's famous mee suah.
For Teo, every new flavour is another way of keeping an old tradition alive.
"I don't think traditional kuih has to stay the same forever. As long as people are still eating them, that's what matters," she said.
