Developing A Distinctive Business Like No Other - the BOND ...

Developing A Distinctive Business Like No Other

Secret Recipe Cakes and Café Sdn. Bhd.

Developing A Distinctive Business Like No OtherSecret Recipe Cakes and Café Sdn. Bhd.2

Founded in 1997 by Dato Steven Sim, Secret Recipe has become an outstanding household name synonymous with fine quality cakes and delectable food. Before Secret Recipe, Dato Steven Sim was a marketing director in a multinational company. He realised there was a great opportunity in the emerging casual dining café trend in Malaysia and started the business with 3 of his nephews who were bakers by establishing the very 1st Secret Recipe outlet in SS2, Petaling Jaya.

Starting an F&B business back in the 90’s was tough and Secret Recipe had faced some challenges such as the ASEAN economy crisis in 1999. By putting the customers as a priority, Secret Recipe is able to understand and tune their products and services to their customers’ needs, wants and expectations. Secret Recipe also invested in a modern café design and ambiance to provide a differentiated dining experience for customers.

Despite all the challenges and competitions in the macro and micro environment, Secret Recipe has been growing steadily and has more than 320 outlets in Malaysia to-date.

In 1998, Secret Recipe entered a notable cake competition with their Marble Cheesecake and eventually won the ‘Best Cheesecake’ award. The big win in Kuala Lumpur Cakes Competition 1998 has helped Secret Recipe to be recognised as a cafe that serves fine quality cakes. Secret Recipe had received numerous positive feedback and word-of-mouth from customers that helped further grow their business.

In the early years of the business, Secret Recipe spent a lot of time building the foundation of the café – brand image, business culture, Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and more. Once established, Dato Steven Sim has been able to multiply the number outlets up to 200 nationwide through a franchise business model. To date, Secret Recipe has 320 outlets nationwide and 80 more international outlets, successfully transforming from a family business with only a handful of employees in 1998 to a local large company with over 2,000 employees in Malaysia.


Secret Recipe Cakes and Café Sdn. Bhd.Developing A Distinctive Business Like No Other

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Secret Recipe has gone through many ups and downs since its establishment. Leveraging on our strengths of producing high quality and appetizing cakes, Secret Recipe has established its brand in the F&B industry in both local and international markets. For business expansions, Secret Recipe offers potential investors to be franchisees, working hand in hand to grow business together. Secret Recipe will strive to maintain its vision to be the best and continue to grow.

Patrick SimBusiness Development DirectorSecret Recipe Cakes and Café Sdn. Bhd.


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Serving a Variety for the Whole Family Secret Recipe has more than 40 delectable and scrumptious cake selections along with 30 local and international mouth-watering dishes, suit able for all ages. In order to stay competitive and relevant to the today’s market, Secret Recipe has committed to continuously excite loyal customers by introducing new cake flavours on a quarterly basis.

Secret Recipe has setup its own Research & Development (R&D) team to constantly survey food trends that’s relevant to the target segment hand in hand with their Marketing team. Secret Recipe’s R&D team has been working closely with suppliers to introduce new recipes that’s trending in the market. For example, Butterfly Pea flower has recently become an ingredient widely used in drinks and dessert, Secret Recipe managed to introduce a Butterfly Pea Lemon Cheese Cake to ride the trends. Same goes to Secret Recipe’s Durian cakes – Durian Fromage and Absolute Durian which have real D24 durian pulp that’s well received by customers.

Besides cakes, Secret Recipe realised that there is a need to serve food and drinks to complete a meal. Secret Recipe offers a wide selection of fusion food ranging from Asian Classic to Western Food. In recent years, Secret Recipe has also introduced new additions to its menu such as SR-Haeyo Kravings, knowing that there’s a craze over Korean fried chicken for their target market under the influence of Korean pop culture. Being family oriented Secret Recipe has also introduced kid-friendly menu, namely Kid’s Club.

Secret Recipe acknowledges the importance of getting Halal certified by Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (JAKIM). Secret Recipe received its Halal certificate in 2000 which successfully upholds a great trust for Muslim customers in the country. Muslim customers can enjoy great cakes, food & drink at Secret Recipe with assurance.

Improving Business by Harnessing POS System Digitalisation is the key enabler of business growth and it is affecting the offline businesses in various ways. Even though digitalisation is challenging to new business players, it provides several benefits - better cost management, more accurate quality control, safer traceability and sustainability.

Adapting to digitalisation is not an easy task. To begin with, Secret Recipe is upgrading their legacy POS system to a cloud-based system that enables the management team to access business performance on a real time basis, anywhere and anytime. With new POS system deployment, Secret Recipe has better control over its inventory management. For instance, Secret Recipe is able to calculate and forecast the amount of the raw material to be purchased within a time frame to minimise food wastage.

Secret Recipe has greatly reduced the use of paper and manual process on financial reporting and data gathering with the use of technology.



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Stepping up the F&B Game via Various PlatformsGrowing competition from globalization and e-commerce have forced F&B brands to shift their focus towards the customer experience. Going digital would allow Secret Recipe to deliver a tailored customer experience across all touch points from their website and social media. Their mobile app focusing on customer habits and expectations, especially for the new generations (Y & Z) who grew up with the internet. They would expect a personalised and seamless digital experience with the brand’s products and services.

Secret Recipe strives to create a consistent experience throughout customer lifecycle journey, projecting the brand message clearly across the different channels and devices that customers use. Most customers are browsing online for information every day, anytime and anywhere. They have become smarter and more informed when it comes to purchasing decisions. A website is important as a backbone for a brand’s online presence, it’s an aggregated hub that’s able to host all valuable information for a brand such as their product and/or service offering, store location, promotions, contact details and more.

As a result, Secret Recipe has revamped its website recently, from an info-oriented website to an online cake delivery store. Secret Recipe has proactively looked for a solution to tackle today’s extreme traffic conditions issue – to deliver cakes to customers’ door step using a reliable third party rider company – GoGet. Secret Recipe’s new website emphasises on responsiveness for both desktop and mobile and intuitive UXUI web design to create a compelling customer experience.

Noting the exponential growth of Social Media and its capabilities, Secret Recipe has integrated social media to support their traditional media channels. In fact, due to the fast growth of social media throughout these years, Secret Recipe has shifted their direction to social media as a major tool and channel to reach out to younger market. Secret Recipe has seized the chance to connect with fans, customers, and prospective customers on a more personal, human level through 3 major social media platform – Facebook, Instagram & Twitter.

Today, mobile devices provide unprecedented access to information, products and services. Many brands including Secret Recipe has developed a mobile app to increase accessibility to potential customers e.g. send promotional offers and latest news by simply using push notifications. Unlike other F&B mobile apps, Secret Recipe has introduced the first casual dining restaurant mobile wallet, powered by MOLPay with the aim to provide a seamless payment experience to customers. Customers can settle their bill conveniently, no more fumbling over cash and coins. Once the payment is made, the transaction will be recorded automatically in their Secret Recipe e-wallet account.

Malaysia’s e-commerce industry has recorded momentous growth within these few years. As the F&B industry is becoming increasingly competitive online and offline, Secret Recipe has made their presence known on famous e-market places such as Shopee (Mar’19) and Lazada (Oct’19) selling Secret Recipe’s new Ipoh Coffee Packets. Secret Recipe will soon be selling F&B e-vouchers to drive traffic from online to offline.


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Centralised Business Operation for Better Implementation To date, Secret Recipe has expanded its reach across the globe. With Secret Recipe’s distinctive offering, it has successfully attracted franchisees to invest in the business that accelerated business growth and expansion. Out of 320 outlets in Malaysia, 120 outlets are concentrated in Klang Valley area that’s managed by Secret Recipe while the remaining are franchise outlets, scattered nationwide. Secret Recipe has a franchise team to assist the franchisees on all matters to align with Head Quarters’ (HQ) expectation. Periodical audit will be conducted to assure all stores meet the strict requirement of HQ in term of service qualities, kitchen cleanliness and more. Numerous training modules and SOP were developed to guide franchisee on how to operate the outlet effectively. Secret Recipe will engage third party mystery shoppers occasionally to do surprise visits and conduct inspection in few key areas – staff friendliness and attentiveness, food quality, outlet cleanliness etc.

Secret Recipe has setup several centralised kitchens to supply cooking ingredients to all outlets nationwide. In Secret Recipe, most cooking ingredients will be prepared at centralised kitchens to ensure the outlet is able to serve customers food with consistent quality. The distribution channel is supported by a reliable logistics company to assure timely delivery. Securing supply for raw materials for cake, food and drinks is a challenging task, especially for over 320 outlets nationwide, therefore Secret Recipe works very closely with their supplier on stock management and established a long-term trusting relationship.



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Expanding business growth by going global through franchising offers opportunity aplenty. Secret Recipe has had the chance to expand globally with lower risk and investment through their franchising system.

Up until today the Secret Recipe Group managed to grow up to 440 outlets locally and internationally in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand, Maldives, China, Bangladesh, Australia, New Zealand and Vietnam. Most of the global franchisees are amazed with the unique taste of the Secret Recipe’s food and cakes hence the request for franchising opportunities with the hope of bringing the great dining experience back to their respective countries.

Secret Recipe has strict requirements and control over food quality, including raw materials for export. Secret Recipe has invested heavily on machinery and technology as productivity booster, streamlining business unit’s work and eliminate potential human errors. From manual, mass production to automation, Secret Recipe has deployed more automated systems onto the assembly line to perform human tasks that enabled Secret Recipe to supply high and consistent quality products to worldwide outlets. Secret Recipe engages local audit in franchisees’ country to assure the service and product quality is consistent and in compliance with the Malaysia HQ standards.

Secret Recipe is supportive towards franchisees, for instance, Secret Recipe will help to export certain ingredients to places with limited resources. Secret Recipe also allows franchisees to customise their menu offerings based on local taste profiles and preferences. Secret Recipe is always ready and willing to providing necessary assistance for franchisees to grow the business together.

Embracing Global Market by Localising the Recipes


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8Developing A Distinctive Business Like No OtherSecret Recipe Cakes and Café Sdn. Bhd.

Becomingthe One-Food-Stop for All

The New Age of Technology

• Collaborating with R&D team and suppliers to find out the latest food trend and introduce new recipes.

• Serving fusion food as part of daily meal and even introduce trending and popular dishes.

• Completing the menu board and satisfying a wide range of age by providing kids-friendly menu namely Kid’s Club.

• Upholding Halal certificate from JAKIM and gain undivided trust from its Muslim fans.

• Accessing real-time data remotely.

• Monitoring inventory manage-ment by calculating and forecasting the appropriate amount of raw material to be purchased.

• Reducing the usage of paper and manual process on financial reporting and data gathering.

Bridging the Crowds to Secret Recipe

Adapting the Business Locally

Supervising the Operations from End-to-End

• Backbone for online presence• Shifting from informational

website to online store.• Leveraging GoGet’s service to

deliver the orders efficiently• Setting up user-friendly and

responsive web design.

• Reaching younger target audience.

• Connecting with fans personally.

• Seamless payment experience to customer.

• Recording payment made automatically.

Uncompromising control over food and raw material quality.

• Releasing Secret Recipe’s Ipoh Coffee.

• Selling F&B vouchers to stimulate sales.

WebsiteSocial Media

Mobile eWallet Online Platform

• Deploying franchise team for auditing.• Inspecting service qualities and kitchen cleanliness for strict periodical

audit. • Providing training modules and SOP to operate the outlet effectively. • Having surprise visits from mystery shopper to oversee audit’s key area.• Setting up central kitchen to have consistent quality of food with smooth

and efficient distribution.

Successfully penetrating

Malaysia

Singapore

Indonesia

Vietnam

New Zealand

BruneiAustralia

Thailand Bangladesh

MaldivesChina

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Investing in technology to replace human repetitive task.

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Deploying automated system to monitor consistency and produce higher output.

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Hiring local audit to keep the quality in check and aligned with Malaysia HQ standards.

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Assisting in raw material stock up to outlets with limited resources.

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Being lenient to franchisee to choose menu offerings.

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8Developing A Distinctive Business Like No OtherSecret Recipe Cakes and Café Sdn. Bhd.

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