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This is the story of Pak Abu and Erna, a nasi lemak vendor couple who made it through many years of blood, sweat, and tears to save up and get their operating license.
For over 20 years, Pak Abu and Erna from Shah Alam have been selling nasi lemak from their trademark yellow truck in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
It’s so popular that they operate every day as early as 6 am, and will be done by 10:30 am!
But what nobody knows is that Pak Abu and Erna never had a license for 8 years because they were supporting their children through school.
Pak Abu was a lorry driver who earned RM900 a month
Before it all started, Pak Abu was a humble lorry driver in Bandar Sri Damansara. His wife was a cook who worked in a Malay restaurant.
“My gaji last time was RM900 a month, if I got lucky, I got an extra RM100-200 for overtime. Compared to now, my life was so different!”
“Even back then, my wife and I always talked about running our own business.”
“Before we got married, we always talked about one day being able to be our own bosses. With our kids coming at the time, we really have no choice but to dig ourselves out of this hole. We couldn’t have kept going on that way.”
Pak Abu and his wife worked for a few years saving up, then had a thorough discussion with the in-laws, and eventually decided to start selling nasi lemak out of their car.
The couple started work at 3am and would make only RM70 each day
“Of course, we didn’t start out amazing, no one does. It was a challenge in the beginning. We have to go to bed around 7-8 pm so that we can wake up at 3 am to prepare the bungkus-bungkus nasi lemak.”
He added that they would drive all the way to Kelana Jaya in their tiny Proton Saga with toll and petrol expenses, only to make about RM70 on a good day.
“We would only make RM70 each day, even if all our nasi lemak was sold out.”
Pak Abu shares that there were also days where it got worse when the authorities would intervene on their business operation.
“We tried applying for a vendor licence many many times, but we were always rejected. They said because we were selling from our car, they cannot issue the licence.”
“They told us we need to have a stand or a van or a food truck. But how to buy when we are saving money for our children’s future?”
So whenever the authorities showed up to inspect Pak Abu’s business, there was always trouble.
“When we couldn’t show any licence, they would take one of our equipment like a stove or a table. It wasn’t easy.”
According to Pak Abu, this happened regularly, and because the impound fee usually cost more than buying a new lost item, they had to buy new things whenever they got confiscated.
This cycle kept repeating for Pak Abu and Erna, getting impounded and saman every month. The couple upgraded to a van after 4 years, and then to a “Pasar malam lorry”.
Despite that, they were still unable to acquire a licence for vending.
“But even though we kept getting kacau, we would still operate the next day macam biasa. We had to lah, no choice.”
Eventually, Pak Abu and Erna managed to upgrade to a food truck.
“So after about 8 years, we were able to afford a food truck, this yellow one where we all know today.”
“Now that we are selling from a food truck, we got a licence after 8 years, alhamdulillah!”
Once they made this huge financial investment, there were no more troubles with the authorities, which contributed to a significant cut in cost.
The couple also briefly mentioned the long term impact of the pandemic, which is that it has allowed people to be more thoughtful towards their loved ones.
“During pandemic, customers started buying 5-6 packets of nasi lemak to give to friends and family. It was no longer for “me, myself, and I. That is very wholesome and is one of the joys of being in this business.”
Love of nasi lemak will always bring Malaysians together
I sat there with Pak Abu and Erna, almost as if I was getting a lecture on life from my grandparents. What I learned was that at the end of the day, you can’t expect to thrive in your business without a few bumps in the road.
They made it very clear to me that if they had just given up when they had run into the problems they did starting out, there wouldn’t have been the yellow truck today.
“Right now, to everyone in the neighbourhood, this yellow truck means means more than just a place to get breakfast.”
“The same faces show up and queue at 7/8am every morning, it has almost become like our very own community here, where strangers years ago now know about each other and their families.”
“That has been our goal from the very beginning, to have the common love of nasi lemak amongst Malaysians bring more meaning than just food.”
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Also read: This Is Mr. Shaik Nainar, And He Has Been A Newspaper Deliveryman For Over 30 Years
This Is Mr. Shaik Nainar, And He Has Been A Newspaper Deliveryman For Over 30 Years
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