KOTA BHARU, April 20 (Bernama) — The efforts and creativity of a roti john seller to come up with six unique fillings has proven to be worthwhile as he now reaps lucrative income from the business.
Owner of the Kubang Kerian branch of Roti John Ketagih, Muhamad Azhar Zainudin, 36, said he started the business with his two peers, Mohd Hafiz Hamid and Mohd Shahrieman Abdul Hamid, in March 2020 when both of them who were traders at night market lost their source of income due to the implementation of the Movement Control Order.
“We had the idea of selling roti john as there are not many people selling this seasonal menu outside of Ramadan month.
“At first, we tried our luck by opening a shop at Pintu Geng, Kota Bharu and offered roti john with three types of filling, namely chicken, beef and lamb using our own recipe and managed to sell around 200 pieces a day,” he told Bernama when met at his shop in Kubang Kerian, here, recently.
Elaborating, Muhamad Azhar said due to high demand from customers, he decided to open up his own branch in Kubang Kerian in January last year.
However, he still maintained the original recipe and would regularly get his filling supplies from Mohd Hafiz.
Speaking about the uniqueness of their recipe, Muhamad Azhar said they would chop the meat so that the filling would have some texture and better taste compared to using ground meat.
In mid-2021, the entrepreneur began offering three new fillings, namely seafood, sardine and pepperoni and the food were sold for RM7 to RM15 each depending on the flavour, and customers also had an option to add cheese to the filling.
“Every day, I need around 300 eggs to meet customers’ demand and I can sell between 200 and 350 pieces of roti john a day,” said the father of three, who managed to generate tens of thousands of ringgit from the business.
Muhamad Azhar, who holds a Diploma in Civil Engineering from Politeknik Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, Kuantan, Pahang said due to the rising price of raw materials, he had no choice but to increase the price of the roti john by 50 per cent each this year.
However, he was glad that his customers were understanding and continued to support his business, which is open from 3 pm to 7 pm daily.
A regular customer, Muhammad Amir Arifin, 21, said he would purchase the food almost every week.
“The bread is so soft and the filling is rich and unique compared to other places,” he said.
Sources: BERNAMA