Sangkaya Hits A Sweet Spot with It’s Latest Venture

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SANGKAYA

HITS A SWEET SPOT WITH ITS LATEST VENTURE

Pure, refreshing and wholesome, the Sangkaya story is as wonderful as its ice-cream tastes. Founder Micheal Mok tells RACHAEL PHILIP that the brand found instant fame when it hit the streets in 2014 (for who can resist coconut ice-cream?) but it took the company some additional churning to get it on the path it is today.

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alaysian brand Sangkaya (M) Sdn Bhd could very likely be the world’s biggest coconut icecream producer. It produces 6000 litres of the delightful dessert every month. That’s 800,000 scoops per month! And this gure is only set to grow.

“The coconut ice-cream may be popular in Thailand but it is mainly a cottage industry business,” explained founder Micheal Mok.

The brand is set to grow to 43 outlets in Malaysia by the end of the year. This includes Sabah and Sarawak. On June 20, 2022, the company sold its rst scoop of icecream in Japan. By year end, it would see a kiosk opening in Brunei.

On why Japan was chosen as its rst foreign foray, Micheal said that one of the company’s directors is Japanese and he helped take the brand there.

“Japan is a challenging market. They say if you can make it there, it is a major breakthrough.”

The team was taken by surprise when its products sold out within days. They didn’t have enough raw material in Japan – a happy problem – and had to rush out ingredients from Malaysia.

QUALITY GUARANTEED

Sangkaya’s star raw material – pure, natural and premium coconut milk – is exported to Japan where it is manufactured by an OEM company. This helps preserve the superior quality the brand is known for.

The Sangkaya ice-cream is also a low overrun ice-cream, an industry term for rich and dense ice-cream achieved when a low amount of air is incorporated into the product during the churning process. Together with the highest quality ingredients, this quali es the preservative-free dessert as a super-premium product.

Are Sangkaya’s ice-creams actually ice-creams?

“Our product is more gelato than ice-cream because of the low fat and sugar content but gelato is a lesser-known term in Malaysia so we opted to go with ice-cream. But in Japan, we are marketed as a gelato product,” said Micheal.

“We are proudly a Malaysian company with our Malaysian formulation, Malaysian R&D team and Malaysian raw materials including young coconuts and coconut milk. We are selective about the coconuts we use, right down to its variety and from which region in the country it comes from.

NUTS ABOUT COCONUTS

Our tagline also reflects our vision to revolutionise the F&B industry with our innovative coconut products, and so every single one of our products revolves around coconuts, making us truly ‘Nuts about Coconuts’.

The coconut milk used is fresh and pasteurised. The challenges of handling fresh coconut milk are real as stocks have to be maintained at the correct amount and kept at the right temperature. It helps that our central kitchen is HACCP-, ISO-, GMP- and Halal-certi ed.

The name Sangkaya is also very Malaysian. Sang-, a pre x of

Sitting (L-R): Aaron Tay, Keon Tan (GM); Micheal Mok and Asyraf Mat Arif. Standing (L-R): Nur Hidayah, Ratha Muniandy, Syazril Haikal, Fatimah Huda and Emilia Fazika.

“Before the pandemic we were blessed for having the foresight to embark on digitalisation and e-Commerce. We spoke to our licensees and encouraged them to develop an online presence and to look into food delivery in addition to the physical stores.”

– Micheal Mok, Founder & Executive Chairman, Sangkaya (M) Sdn Bhd

endearment for clever animals in Malaysian fables, is paired with kaya, ‘rich’ in the English language. We are not only talking about monetary wealth but richness in terms of nutrients, values and wholesome life, said Micheal.

“Coconut is a super health food. Not too long ago it was vili ed for all sorts of reasons but in recent years it has enjoyed a healthy reputation. Our second tagline ‘Making Healthy Eating Pleasurable’ explains this.”

STARTING WITH A BANG

Sangkaya, formed over eight years ago, started selling its wares in 2014 out of a pushcart in Jalan Alor.

“When we rst started, we didn’t need much marketing. The product itself was attracting so much attention. Customers were chasing a er us, and we grew by leaps and bounds. We witnessed two-hour long queues back then.”

This was phenomenal considering that the brand was rolling on a single product: its original-flavoured coconut ice-cream. But business acumen dictates that a business cannot be built on a single product. The business was not equipped to handle its rapid growth.

“Our growth outstripped our ability to keep up. By 2016 our business was seeing a downturn and the company was recording losses. Within two years of our establishment, we grew to more than 30 outlets but by 2018 we had shrunk to eight outlets.”

AN INTERVENTION

An intervention was quickly put in place at the end of 2017 starting with a restructuring of the business.

“We created a new management team, one that is lean and e cient. This team learned on the job and is good at multitasking. They stand in for each other. Today we have 15 sta from production to marketing, nance, HR, operations and logistics. I am proud of the work culture formed by Keon Tan, my General Manager.

“In 2019, Sangkaya received back up from Japanese investors. In 2021 we turned the corner and started becoming pro table again.”

Wait, those are the pandemic years. One would expect the already shaky business to melt down a er the series of lockdowns.

“That didn’t happen. I am grateful to God for guiding me as I led this business, for protecting and providing for this business.”

“Before the pandemic we were blessed for having been given the foresight to embark on digitalisation and e-Commerce. We spoke to our licensees and encouraged them to develop an online presence and to

look into food delivery in addition to the physical stores,” he explained.

“And I told them that an increasing number of customers are already using their phones to order food. This business would be in addition to our walk-in customers.”

This gathered strong interest amongst the Licensees and most of them adopted the digital platform. When the pandemic happened, they were ready to meet the new challenges of the lockdown where the way ice-cream is sold can no longer the same since ice-cream is a highly delicate and perishable products. We introduced cooler bags, DIY packages and ice-cream in pints. Company revenue increased as the result of this move during the pandemic lockdown period.

“Although it was a continuous struggle over the years, I could not think of giving up. I was committed to our license holders who had committed to us,” he said.

“I am grateful to my two supportive Directors Shinji Takeuchi and Capt Chia Ah Kow for their continued encouragement and guidance.”

FAVOURITE FLAVOURS

Today the brand o ers eight permanent flavours and 10 seasonal flavours. It has grown from just ice-creams to beverages and other interesting innovations such as brownies, wa le and wa le cones. Its Signature Series – four scoops of ice-cream served in half a coconut shell – is nothing less than a show stopper.

The brand comes up with interesting flavours for their icecreams looking at market trends and what people are eating. At home, its best-selling flavours are Original, Gula Melaka and Chocolate. At their store in the Kichijoji district in Tokyo, the Cassis flavour or black currant is popular.

Sangkaya sells in kiosks, food trucks and shops, as FMCG at some major supermarkets, in the HORECA set up and online. Japan will likely follow suit.

Micheal was happy to announce that by October 2022 the company will roll out its franchising marketing model which will be parked in the category of “A ordable Franchising” which requires an investment of less than RM100,000. And looking ahead, he thinks the brand will do well overseas.

“I think Sangkaya has great potential to be a global player. We hope to nd the right partner for this soon.”