KEE NGUY EN

IF YOU HAVE EVER BEEN TO VIETNAM, YOU WOULD KNOW IT IS KNOWN FOR ITS STRONG AND FLAVOURFUL COFFEE. BUT WHERE DO YOU FIND SUCH COFFEE IN MALAYSIA? KEE NGUYEN IS THE ANSWER.

There, you can find a delicious cuppa that will provide you with the caffeine boost you need. Started by two former graphic designers

Radius Khor (left) and Henry Tan (right), who fell in love with the ‘go juice’ after regularly backpacking in the country. Upon returning, the duo realised how there were little to no options that served the Vietnamese brew. Jumping on the opportunity to provide quality and fresh affordable Vietnamese coffee to Malaysians for their everyday life, Khor and Tan succeeded in formulating the exact taste they were looking for̶with over 40 outlets in Malaysia, they have both been recognised for being one of the industry leaders, serving a hearty brew to local coffee lovers.

How did Kee NguyɌn come about?

We’ve been travelling to Vietnam very often and Henry would always have up to eight cups of Vietnamese coffee per day after falling in love with it. For me however, I was never much of a coffee drinker to begin with but after getting a taste of it in Vietnam, it totally changed my perspective of the hearty brew. Long story short, we came back to Malaysia and searched high and low for the replica but we just couldn’t find anything remotely close to what we had in Vietnam. So, we thought, ‘If nobody is doing it, why don’t we do it?’. After two months of intense research and development in our own homes, we finally succeeded in formulating the exact taste that we were looking for. From that day onwards, we started selling Vietnamese coffee from the back of a carboot, our first ‘outlet’.

Kee NguyɌn is growing rapidly day by day, how do you feel about the success you’ve garnered over the years?

To be honest, we jumped into it without expecting to receive the amount of success Kee NguyɌn has garnered today, and that could potentially be the key to why we’ve become so big. Instead of stressing ourselves to always outshine our competitors, we set and run at our own pace. We’ve always reminded ourselves why we started Kee NguyɌn in the first place̶to share the love we have for Vietnamese coffee with our fellow Malaysians. We are extremely grateful and thankful for the success we have today as a brand that has only been in the market for three years.

What has been the worst thing anyone has said to you about your decision to establish Kee NguyɌn, and what is the biggest lesson you’ve learned from that criticism?

I still remember what this one person behind an established F&B brand said to us when we first started out̶that Henry and I had no idea what we are getting ourselves into and that we will crumble in six months. That criticism honestly did not spark any hate or anger in us, instead, it motivated us to focus purely on improving ourselves and the business. We have learned that even with no experience in the industry, nothing can stop us as long as we persevere.

When you look at the state of the F&B industry in Malaysia, what is the one thing that gives you hope?

I hold a deep appreciation for vendors who can appreciate other vendors in the F&B industry as an entity, offering a different and unique experience to the market rather than just competing with one another. I believe that everyone has something that is of their own DNA to offer to the public, aside from copycats of course.