IT engineer turns cafe owner after pandemic forces closure of company
TUMPAT: Refusing to surrender to fate, an information technology (IT) engineer struggled hard to change the ‘path’ of his life, from dealing with computers and telecommunication networks to making drink concoctions.
Wan Mohd Azizul Solehin Wan Mohd Yusoff, 38, said the Covid19 pandemic took a toll on him and forced him to wind up his business, an IT company he set up in 2016.
“My income as an IT engineer was severely affected due to the pandemic...business was bad and with a heavy heart, at the end of 2019, I quit as an IT engineer and decided to venture into a new field.
“I wanted to make ice cream and milk- and coffee-based drinks. So I learned the technique of making ice cream through YouTube and also asked for tips from friends who ran a similar businesses,” he said when met at Glace Cafe in Pasir Pekan here.
He opened the cafe early this year with business partners Mohd Azhiim Razak, 34, and Muhd Ariff Fauzan Mohd Hanafi, 35.
Wan Mohd Azizul Solehin, who is married with two children aged five and seven years, said he spent about RM2,000 to buy a used ice cream-making machine and was only able to offer premium ice cream with various ‘toppings’ when the business first started.
“It was not easy for me going from dealing with computer systems to making ice cream. It was a real test of my patience,” said the computer engineering graduate from Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL).
He said because of the many competition, he decided to focus on producing ice cream-based drink concoctions.
“Having worked abroad before including in Japan, Thailand and the Philippines, it inspired me to produce variations of milk- and coffee-based ice cream drinks, which are considered ‘street drinks’ there,” he added.
Wan Mohd Azizul Solehin said he has been able to come up with more than 65 types of drink concoctions at the cafe, which has a Korean concept and is opened every day from noon to 9pm.
A customer, Ummi Syakirah Che Hazaha, 21, from Kampung Binjai said she found out about the cafe on Instagram.
“It offers more than 65 types of drink concoctions, which to me, is something extraordinary. I think this is the only cafe in Kelantan that offers so many types of drinks which are worthy to be uploaded on Instagram, ” she added.