IF you happen to be a fruit juice, smoothie and ice-cream lover, and in case you did not know, there is just a perfect spot for you at Lebuh Cannon in George Town called Fruitmade.
A brainchild of Sim Kuang Ling, 28, Fruitmade was set up in 2017 mainly due to two contributing factors.
One was her passion for designing and the other was her brother’s crucial encouragement.
“My brother noticed that I was very good at designing, so he encouraged me to set up a business using the fruit concept.
“So, I took up his advice and did a lot of research and development on fruit juices and explored deeper on how I could make full use of my talent in designing pertaining to this area.
“That was when I decided to not only sell fruit juices, but smoothies and ice-creams topped with mouth-watering fruits,” said Sim during the interview session with Buletin Mutiara.
According to Sim, Fruitmade has also started selling fruit concept souvenirs like T-shirts, bags, hats and many others.
Started off as the sole worker at the shop, Sim, who has a background in financial economics, now has five staff working with her.
She also added that due to the inevitable hot climate that people living in Malaysia experience, the shop serves a variety of juices. They come in the combination of several fruits to provide a refreshing feel and boost the immune system.
“For example, the aloe vera lemon juice is one drink that serves to refresh and enhance your immune system,” she added.
Separately, Sim said the dragon fruit lemon ice-cream and mango mania which is a mix of mango, passion and dragon fruits are two of the signature servings at her shop.
When the subject of the current movement control order (MCO 2.0) was brought up, Sim said as her customers are mostly from other states like Kedah, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Perak, her business has slowed since last year.
“My shop is located at the heart of the street art area, which is often visited by large groups of people who are non-Penangites. With the MCO now, my regular customers are unable to visit my shop.
“Although we tapped into Foodpanda, DeliverEat and GrabFood, the response has been least encouraging.
“This is because my shop is set up in a way that would allow customers to sit and enjoy their drinks and ice-cream.
“So, when suddenly they have to resort to ordering via the food delivery services, it beats the entire purpose of the leisure they could derive when they are physically present in my shop,” she added.
Sim said instead of looking at the pandemic as trouble, people should turn this into an opportunity by spreading their wings they never knew that existed.
“By doing so, we are only growing and providing ourselves with more chances to survive despite the unprecedented situation we are all up against now,” she added.
Story by Kevin Vimal
Pix courtesy of Fruitmade