Hit hard by pandemic, 30-year-old Melaka eatery gets new lease of life with partnership and online sales
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Hitting hard past pandemic, 30-twelvemonth-former Melaka eatery gets new lease of life with partnership and online sales
Satay celup is ane of Melaka'due south famous culinary creations. (Photo: iStock/Artit_Wongpradu)
12 Dec 2022 06:00AM (Updated: 12 Dec 2022 06:00AM)
MELAKA: Patrons lining up along the five-human foot way of the shophouses and waiting for their turns to exist seated at Capitol Satay Celup used to be a familiar sight in downtown Melaka.
Weekends and public holidays were even busier for the restaurant, with the queue sometimes spanning eight or 10 shoplots forth Lorong Bukit Cina.
However, all is quiet at the outlet now, since Capitol's last day of business concern was on November 20.
Instead of hustling back and along between the kitchen and the dining area, its employees have been busy packing and dismantling the equipment and piece of furniture under the supervision of business owner Low Yong Cheng.
While "satay" denotes grilled, skewered meat served with peanut sauce, "celup" means dip in Malay.
Satay celup is similar to "luk luk", with raw, skewered ingredients ranging from meat to seafood and vegetables cooked in stock.
But unlike traditional satay or luk luk, satay celup skewers are dipped into a humid pot of spicy peanut sauce to cook earlier eating.
Capitol was one of the dozens of satay celup eateries well-liked by both locals and tourists in Melaka.
Mr Low, 64, who has been running the establishment for xxx years owner, decided to announce its closure in late September as he could no longer afford to pay the expenses later nigh ii years of COVID-xix pandemic and lockdowns.
A farewell bulletin posted on its Facebook page led to enquiries and proposals to take over the business, and he eventually identified one partner to work with.
Capitol Satay Celup will soon operate at a new location in Melaka town's Kota Syahbandar under the new partner, he told CNA. Although at that place is no confirmed engagement however, information technology is probable to have off in January next year.
"It is quite difficult, very painful to have to accept downwards everything here when we have been operating here for and then long. Only what is in that location to practise?" Mr Low said.
Humble BEGINNINGS
Mr Low is the third generation in his family to sell satay celup in 1 form or another.
"My grandfather Low Ting Peng started with this luk luk and a watery soup, and sold it with a kandar balanced on his shoulder in Guangdong, China," he said. Kandar is the Malay discussion for the wooden pole used by peddlers to deport their fare on their shoulders.
"My begetter Low Han Tian modified the recipe, making it satay celup to get with the nutrient skewers," he added.
When his grandfather migrated to Malaysia, a stick of food was sold for between two and v cents of a Straits Dollar, and during his father's time, the price had increased to between RM0.05 (US$0.01) and RM0.10.
His male parent took the business to another level, using a tricycle to carry the food and hot gravy in a sidecar. This allowed him to sell his satay celup all over Melaka town.
"In the morning time, my father would cycle to the Portuguese Settlement from 9.30am, stay there for an hour or two, and by 11am, he'd be at the A'Famosa fortress until nigh 5.30pm."
"After that, he would stop at the Savoy cinema until nearly midnight," Mr Low recalled.
The name "Capitol Satay Celup", he said, came from a now-defunct cinema, Capitol Theatre, located on Jalan Bendahara which was so known as Wolferstan Road.
TURNING THE STALL INTO A Shop
Mr Low took over the business in 1985 and so decided to base of operations Capitol Satay Celup in a eatery in 1991.
At that place were plenty of challenges, such as manpower and heavy workload, as its popularity grew.
Workers had to spend eight hours preparing the food and skewering the ingredients earlier the restaurant opened for diners in the evening.
Customers, including tourists from other states and countries, would start queueing as early as the tardily afternoon to make sure they have a table.
In between serving the dinner oversupply, Mr Low would treat customers with "prizes" such equally tiger prawns and other more expensive nutrient stuffs as a gesture of appreciation for dining at his establishment.
Capitol Satay Celup'south popularity was such that at one point, he even had to put upwardly a sign on his shop archway telling patrons not to be misled by other "imitators" and that the shop did not have branches elsewhere in the state.
"I am proud that we managed to last this long, and we had many celebrities who visited u.s. too. We've even won tourism awards," he said.
THE PANDEMIC AND MOVING Forrard
Like most other nutrient and beverage businesses, Capitol Satay Celup was adversely afflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Low said his shop was even more affected equally satay celup is meant to be enjoyed in a group, with diners sitting around the pot and dipping their preferred skewers into the sauce every bit they chat away merrily.
"We could not do commitment or takeaway similar other food businesses, otherwise how is it however satay celup?" he said.
Business fell past as much as 95 per cent during the lockdowns imposed in 2022 and 2021, he recounted.
Mr Low decided to try and sell pre-packed satay celup sauce online on Lazada and Shopee. Information technology took weeks of experimenting and testing to ensure that the sauce tastes as practiced as a roiling pot in his Bukit Cina shop.
"We continued to experiment, not just with the ingredients' portions, but as well with the packaging," he added.
While the recipe for the spicy sauce is jealously guarded, the shop's online store listed dried spices, Chinese herbs, peanut, saccharide, dried shrimps and salt equally its ingredients.
Sales were deadening initially, with just a few packets sold each mean solar day. Only by June and July, the shop was selling betwixt 500 and 1,000 packets a calendar month.
"Currently nosotros cap our production at 500 packets a month, both because of manpower and likewise to ensure quality command," he explained.
Profits from the packed sauce sales went into paying the store's rent, utilities and workers' salaries. But it was still difficult to sustain the eating place'south expenses when interstate travel was restricted and people were trying to save on expenses.
"Hence, I fabricated the painful decision to announce the decision to shut down the physical store back in late September this year," Mr Low explained, adding that it was his panic about the business' financial situation that pushed him to make the decision.
Although he expected some feedback, the manner the annunciation went viral was out of his expectation.
In addition to messages and commiserations from shocked fans, Mr Depression besides received a number of offers for joint ventures or acquisitions.
He eventually identified a new partner to continue the business at a new location. Mr Low said he volition no longer be the person-in-charge, but purely an advisor and the gravy producer.
"I have never thought well-nigh giving upwards my recipe, regardless of the price," he said.
In the meantime, his online business will carry on, he added, and he will proceed cooking at the new outlet in Kota Syahbandar.
"The online platforms and manufacturing for the satay sauce is still mine, and I fully own the brand of Capitol Satay Celup, so the make still continues," he said.
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/asia/melaka-capitol-satay-celup-close-partnership-online-store-covid19-299341
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