Magic Bite's Snack and Beverage Chain

(Post: English)
" Magic Bite Sdn Bhd (Magic Bite) made its debut in Kuching as a single snack store in 2003 in Wisma Saberkas with the name Mr Magic; selling waffles, 'kaya balls', 'tokiwado', sweet corn and popcorn. "

In a short span of five years, Magic Bite had evolved into a concept snack and beverage chain in Sarawak and Sabah as the established business entity in waffle sales.

Waffles aside, Magic Bite offers a variety of quality, tasty and fresh snacks and beverages.

After seven years in this business, Magic Bite had grown from strength to strength, starting with the Magic Bite chain stores and subsequently the Magic Cube chain.

Magic Bite chain stores are the stores fully operated by the company whereas for Magic Cube; it is a trademark that belongs to Magic Bite but managed by Magic Bite's agents.

"I must give credit to my staff and my agents who have put in their best effort in producing our quality merchandise. Their contributions over the years have given the brand name of Magic Bite a good reputation."

"We also have a good team of dedicated staff who do audit checks regularly to ensure the company's food quality policies are adhered to," said Adeline Poo; the managing director of Magic Bite when met by thesundaypost recently.

Reminiscing on the time when Magic Bite first started, she said that there were limited choices of snacks available back then and both she and her business partner; John Chai were inspired to provide food that was freshly baked in front of customers and also incorporated an element of convenience, in which they could eat on-the-go.

"Before we started, we noticed that this type of business was stagnant and inactive in Kuching. It was extremely challenging in the beginning as we had to convince our present landlords in securing prominent locations."

"As we progressed into the second year and onwards, we were offered good and strategic locations from various organisations," Poo highlighted.

She pointed out that there were a lot of shops/kiosks selling similar products like Magic Bite, carrying their own brand names with most of them purchasing their raw materials and machineries from Magic Bite.

"We can see that our products are well distributed to our customers by our operating agents," Poo added. According to her, Magic Bite had a strong base of loyal customers which consisted of different races and age groups from three to 70 years old.

"From the constant feedback that Magic Bite has received, I would like to think that our products are very well accepted by the locals," Poo enthused.

When asked if Magic Bite had any plan to introduce new products to the market, she said that Magic Bite was very active in developing new products and it placed an emphasis on providing good products at a very affordable price.

Poo highlighted that Magic Bite's Cheese Spirals Fries, sold at RM3 was the latest item that the company added to its menu a year ago and it was well received by its customers. The item is only available at tHe Spring Shopping Mall and Wisma Saberkas outlets.

When questioned on the criteria that Magic Bite looked at before giving out licences to its agents, she said, "In general, we are looking for enthusiastic entrepreneurs who have the drive to succeed in business."

"We have available locations to be offered for operation and they can log on to our website for more information."

"Entrepreneurs can use their own brand name and purchase their ingredients and machineries from us," said Poo.

In giving her view on the opportunity for local enterprises to grow further, she stated that the local environment provided ample of opportunities to grow further and there were more rooms for improvement especially on tourism.

"Both tourism and local enterprises can work out joint initiatives which will eventually promote our homegrown brands."

"We had tourists purchasing our T-shirts as souvenirs as they said it brought back the memories of our friendly staff serving them," Poo added.

As part of its plans for expansion, Poo said that Magic Bite was looking at the Asian markets which offered good opportunities for the company to expand further.

She also revealed that there were enquiries to bring Magic Bite's business concept to Australia, the UK and the Philippines.

In East Malaysia, Magic Bite chains are available at most of the shopping complexes and supermarkets.

Source: Borneo Post Online
Photo: Magic Bite