Meet Gen.t
The co-founder and managing director of the popular Malaysian burger chain tells how running an F&B business is more than just about serving good food
myburgerlab’s Chin Renyi
tells how running an F&B business is more than just serving good food
There were two important experiences that changed Chin Ren Yi’s life forever. The first was an epiphany he had while camping out—that life was short and working for others just wasn’t going to cut it for him. The second experience? It was realising he liked the satisfaction of presenting others with food that he personally made.
This ultimately led the mechanical engineering graduate from Nottingham University to start myburgerlab in 2012 together with fellow co-founders Cheah Chang Ming and Teoh Wee Kiat.
After being in business for 10 years, Chin tells what are the critical lessons he has learnt along the way, his philosophy and his vision for the future of myburgerlab.
The most general misconception
that everyone has when they enter the F&B world is that it’s all just about serving good food and maintaining excellent service. It goes way much deeper than that. Running a restaurant is just like any business. Passion is only one part of the equation, but you need strong business fundamentals, otherwise your restaurant won’t last.
There is no problem that can’t be solved.
Only solutions yet to be found. Sometimes, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by life and work until we shut down mentally. However, I have a ‘no problem’ philosophy that helps me stay hopeful. While I might not be able to resolve certain problems immediately, I know it’s only a matter of time before I come up with the solution.
Although we do not advertise it, I see myburgerlab as a platform
for young individuals to come and discover their true passion in life. The fact is, many young people graduate from secondary school and college but struggle to determine their next step in life. I want our restaurant to act as their go-to workplace, where they can develop essential skills before heading out into the ‘real world’.
When Covid-19 hit Malaysia,
we took it upon ourselves to act as a community platform to spread correct information about the virus to ensure that everyone takes the necessary precaution to prevent themselves from being infected. We kept our communication channels open while updating people on how we were doing during the pandemic. This resulted in many of our loyal customers coming out to support us when we introduced new products.
We had to put many things on hold in 2020 due to the pandemic.
At first, we thought that 2021 would be better, but it seems like we still need to hold back during the first half of the year and wait to see how things pan out. But, we are very hopeful for the second half of 2021 where we expect new outlets in different states and also potentially new concepts too. Of course, you can expect to see some new burgers on the menu.
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