Rus Sitah Binti Ain was already up before dawn every day to prepare her famous dish of briyani rice that she would sell at her stall in Samarindah, Kota Saramarahan.
Her stall, Abak Kitchen is known among her customers since 2018, for selling delicious and affordable briyani rice dish which consist of basmati rice, cucumber acar, papadom, and a choice of meat between chicken curry, chicken rendang and beef.
Branding, branding, branding
“I can confidently say that my briyani is famous among customers especially students to be the cheapest briyani rice dish in Kota Samarahan and Kuching as well,” said Rus Sitah.
As an entrepreneur, most would know that branding is an important part of marketing their product.
For Rus Sitah, she said she thought of the idea of selling briyani rice as she has yet to encounter people selling the scrumptious dish from a stall.
“Most of the time, we usually see people selling briyani dish at restaurant and coffee shops, but never stalls. Aside from that, the price of one briyani rice is also expensive.”
“So, I thought that, why not make this dish affordable and accessible to anyone,” said Rus Sitah.
Soon enough, after almost five (5) years in operation, her briyani rice is well known among the local in Kota Samarahan especially the university students who prefer something affordable and accessible.
Aside to her regular dish of briyani rice, Rus Sitah said she also sell nasi Arab at her stall.
Diversify your business and products
On average, Rus Sitah said that she can easily sell 60 to 70 pax of her briyani rice daily, thus earning her an income of approximately RM300 to RM400 daily.
In a month, she has an average clean income of about RM16, 000.
To reach the massive income, she realised that she could not rely completely on selling just briyani rice and nasi Arab at her stall.
“I also run catering business for my customers upon requests. Typically, I would receive catering requests almost every end of the month,” she said adding she cater food to schools during Sports Day and lunches to various companies.
Apart from that, she would also look for opportunities to open a stall at public events and festivals such as the Sarawak Regatta.
Adding more, Rus Sitah said she planned to also supply and sell beauty products.
“It is important to diversify your business as you cannot rely on only product even if your sole current business is successful,” she said adding that this is because nothing is certain.
For Rus Sitah her personal goal would ultimately be to run multiple business in the future.
Not afraid to start from scratch
According to Rus Sitah, before she started running her own food business, she has zero experience in cooking.
To make her current signature dish, she learned how to make it from a retired chef who used to work at a hotel.
“During that time, I was seven months pregnant with my second child and also worked as a Grab driver to gain extra income,” she said.
The chef then worked at a restaurant where she used to also work as a kitchen helper.
Committed in learning the art of cooking and upgrading her culinary skills, Rus Sitah said that she paid the chef to teach her and managed to learn the recipe from him in a short time.
Aside from that, she also took advantage of her working experience as a kitchen helper to learn how to cook.
From there, she initially starts selling economic rice with dishes from her own home before closing it down and started selling briyani rice from a stall.
To start, due to her unfortunate circumstance Rus Sitah said she was fortunate that the committee members of a local mosque help her to apply for entrepreneur grant, ‘Geran Usahwan Micro Kebajikan’ from the Social Welfare Department (JKM) in 2018.
From there, she received RM5,000 worth of cooking utensils such as canopy, liquefied natural gas (LNG), rice cooker, commercial blender, oven, mixer, coconut grater and foldable table.
Constant learning to better yourself
Despite her growing success, Rus Sitah never thought to stop learning.
Due to the urges of her friend, she would constantly enrol in various training courses.
“Just early this year, I just completed an online workshop ‘Rakyatpreneur 2.0’ by Bank Rakyat at UNIMAS from July 2021 to Janaury 2022,” she said adding that among the things taught during the course include costing, product branding and marketing.
This year, she also said she participated in the course, ‘Usahawan Bumiputera Sarawak’ where among the things taught to the participants includes how to apply for license and loans.
To further secure her business, Rus Sitah said in the future she wishes to secure a Halal certification for her food business.
Due to her determination, Rus Sitah’s hard work is acknowledged when she was awarded the national award ‘Cyberjaya Universiti Multimedia 2022 Award’ for Social Entrepreneurship.
Stay humble always
Rus Sitah embodies the essential mindset and characteristics of an entrepreneur; persistent, determine, motivated, optimism and visionary.
To reach where she is now, Rus Sitah said that aspiring entrepreneurs must be willing to start from the bottom and take any job to save up for business capital.
As an entrepreneur running a modest yet successful business, Rus Sitah said that one of the reasons why her briyani rice is famous among customers is due to its affordable price.
Coming from a difficult background and financial circumstances, Rus Sitah recalled a time when she once shared one portion of rice with her five siblings and two children.
The experience humbled her and inspire her RM6 per pax briyani rice that she now sells in her stall at Samarindah.
“Since opening my business in 2018, I never increase the price of my briyani rice as I want to make it as affordable to as many people as possible,” she said
