JASIN, Feb 16 — The high demand in the ice cream catering business, especially at wedding reception, has prompted Fatimah Shafiee to venture into a business by making her own brand of ice-cream at her house in Batu 19, Chinchin here since October 2018.
A Perak-born, Fatimah, 30, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Hotel and Tourism Management from Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), said despite not having any basic knowledge to make ice cream and doing business, it was not an obstacle for her.
When there’s a will, there’s a way, she said, adding that she started by attending classes on making ice cream.
She also attended a Design Development course in 2019, which was organised by the Malaysia Design Development Centre and Melaka Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) Entrepreneur Centre.
“My husband, Azam Iskandar Muhamad, 31, has a photo studio and the service is often sought after at weddings, and he gave me the idea of opening an ice cream catering business because of the demand for ice cream at such an event,” she told Bernama when met at her ice cream cafe at Bazar Mara in Pekan Bemban here recently.
Two years of operating her business from home, Fatimah was able to expand her business and with a capital of RM10,000, she opened the cafe, which offers “Cedoq’’ in December last year.
She said the ice cream cafe and catering business that she and her husband run have regular customers and often receives bookings for weddings and birthdays, especially on weekends and school holidays.
Fatimah, who has two children, said there are 12 ice cream flavours offered to customers, such as chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, corn, yam, coffee, red velvet, mocha and mango.
For catering service, the package price is between RM250 to RM1,000, she added.
However, for customers at the cafe, she said, only eight flavours are available for them, including salted caramel, mint oreo, Kopi 434, and cookies and cream.
She said the process of making the ice-cream is done daily using a second-hand machine which she bought for RM1,500.
“The process of making ice-cream is not complicated, but requires special care and exact timing to get the perfect texture,” she added.
Fatimah said among the challenges she faced as a small and medium entrepreneur is when there is increase in the price of raw materials or ingredients, such as creamer, whipping cream and butter.
On her next plan, she said, she hoped to have road-side ice cream stalls to encourage the young people to venture into the business.
Sources: BERNAMA