Bagging the goods: Nurul Arfiqah (right) putting spicy cornflakes into a jar at her residence in Kampung Senari, Jalan Bako recently. — Bernama
Mum seeks other women’s help to meet soaring snack orders
KUCHING: Nurul Arfiqah Ali started her business in 2015 by selling snacks in mini packs at school canteens.
Now, her spicy cornflake-based snack is selling very well, with almost 10,000 jars sold during festive seasons.
The youngest of five siblings said that the encouraging response prompted her to hire single mothers and housewives to help her with the orders, thereby opening job opportunities for women in her village.
The 33-year-old from Kampung Senari in Jalan Bako near here, said she had not expected her product, based on a recipe passed down by her mother-in-law, to sell so well, even reaching RM200,000 during festive seasons such as Chinese New Year, Hari Raya, Gawai and Christmas.
“If it’s not the festive season, it can reach up to 6,000 jars a month.
“Normally, when demand for the snack increases, such as for Hari Raya, Gawai and also events, I’ll get more workers,” she said when met by Bernama at her residence recently.
Nurul Arfiqah said the women she hires help her with the cooking and packing.
All in one: Nurul Arfiqah’s ‘CrunchyNut Cornflakes’ features a combination of spicy, sweet and salty flavours by mixing cornflakes with sambal, peanuts and ‘pusuk’ or anchovies. — Bernama
“Normally, they work from 8am to 5pm, but when we have many orders, we also have a night shift from 7.30pm to 2am,” she added.
She said similar cornflakes products with honey or salted egg flavour can be found in the market, but hers has a spicy, sweet and salty combination with sambal, nuts and ikan bilis (anchovies) used as the main ingredients.
The mother of two, who has been involved in the business for four years, decided to expand her market and appointed agents to sell and distribute her snacks.
“We started with 10 agents consisting of close friends and relatives; now we have almost 200 agents throughout Malaysia and Brunei,” she said.
During the Covid-19 lockdowns, the demand for her products soared and she had her hands full meeting orders received online through agents.
“Felcra Bhd also helped to market my product by giving me a business site for free at one of its events.
“So, from there, more people (got to) know about my product,” she said, adding that she also receives orders for the snack to be given as gifts at events.
Nurul Arfiqah’s snack comes in three flavours – ikan bilis, cashew nut and peanut – and is sold in jars of various sizes starting at RM22 per jar.
Her next target is to get her product on the shelves of local supermarkets and take advantage of ecommerce platforms too.
