Noms: From food trucks to restaurants

An interesting flow of events is the evolution from mobility to a full-time restaurant. BizHive Weekly recently caught up with NOMS (Noms), this time at the brand’s latest venture - NOMS Chapter Two - which embodies a physical restaurant concept.

Owned by partners Avertino Phua, Ardeles Phua and Kelvin Chong, Noms started out in the F&B industry via its NOMS On Street food truck two years ago serving Western cuisine. Noms’ mobile business is still thriving and attracting food lovers to this day.

The overwhelming response to their food led Noms to the decision to delve into the restaurant business mostly because they wanted to provide more to their customers, both in terms of food and services.

“From the point of view of a food truck business, you can only serve a very limited coverage of customers. For example, customers could only take away our dishes – they could not dine on the spot,” Avertino told BizHive Weekly.

“One of the reasons we expanded into a restaurant is because we want to give a place for customers to chill. Now, with a proper kitchen, we can offer a wider variety of dishes,” he added, noting that the menu served at the restaurant was different from its food truck.

“Same category, but different types of food. Some dishes have been upgraded,” he said.

With the restaurant now established, Noms will be able to constantly update or upgrade its dishes given that it now has a proper kitchen. More space, more costs

Some of the challenges Noms encountered on its journey to expanding into a restaurant included the amount of capital required for this new venture. This included the renovation costs of the entire restaurant.

The Noms team or management for the restaurant also took time to build. Once a new cafe or restaurant opens up, if the team does not cooperate well with one another, this will result in the delay of dishes served to customers which Avertino noticed is a common mistake of many new eateries.

Avertino thus emphasised that a restaurant’s front line and back line staff are essential to the business running smoothly on a daily basis.

“I do not want to make customers wait long hours before being served their dishes, as is the case with many newly opened restaurants,” he said.

For NOMS Chapter Two, Avertino revealed that their waiting time that day for dishes to be served was only at most 20 minutes, which was normal for a restaurant setting.

He believed that it was Noms’ attention to details -- such as the quality and freshness of food serve, along with the estimated time to serve each customer -which ensured the successful opening of their business.

On competing with the various F&B players on a restaurant platform out here in Kuching, Avertino did not believe Noms has much to worry on that part.

“Everyone has their own types of dishes, their own customer base, so to me, it’s not about competition. It’s about giving more choices to the people.

“The only challenges we face is sustainability. How we are going to sustain Noms’ branding in the future,” he said.

Keeping up with quality

Moving forward, Noms will continue to maintain both its restaurant and food truck businesses because both business models serve different needs.

“For example, with the food truck we can do events such as home parties while with the cafe, customers can come here to dine or they can book this place for parties.”

“I believe a food truck has its own pros and cons while a cafe also has its own pros and cons.”

On future growth plans, Avertino highlighted that from the beginning, their plan was to build the brand into a franchise and they will continue to do so via improvements and consistent branding.

In the coming one to two years, Noms aims to expand its brand throughout Kuching and open at least four to five outlets including in locations such as malls.

“Miri will be my next place to expand to, followed by Kota Kinabalu,” he added.

“When the operations there are stable, only then will we venture into West Malaysia.”

From the point of view of a food truck business, you can only serve a very limited coverage of customers. For example, customers could only take away our dishes -- they could not dine on the spot. Avertino Phua