After starting off by carrying around a basket while singing the Johor Darul Takzim (JDT) football team’s theme song, a street vendor is now making it big in the food and beverages industry by only selling curry puffs!
49-year-old Jasmin Pannoot had apparently walked about 10 kilometers every day for the past 7 years, around Dataran Pontian and Laman Diraja Pontian, especially around night markets, to sell his curry puffs, which are also known as ‘epok-epok’ in Johor.
According to a report by Kosmo, Jasmin started the Karipap Ale-Ale business with only RM40 capital after several previous business ventures had failed.
“In the beginning, it was difficult to get rid of the shame of being a street vendor, but for the sake of my wife and 7 children, all that shame was thrown away for the sake of survival,” he said.
Jasmin had endured various challenges, including his hands not being able to move after long hours of holding the basket carrying his curry puffs.
That led him to buy a trolley to continue with the sales of his ‘epok-epok‘.
“To meet the demand, I had then opened a shop under the guidance of the Rubber Smallholder Authority, which was able to produce about 2,000 to 5,000 epok-epok a day,” he added.
He had also opened stalls in several popular eateries in Bandar Pontian.
“The curry puffs I sell have a variety of fillings such as potatoes, eggs, sardines, chicken, beef, pineapple, cheese and mee hoon with prices ranging from RM1 to RM5 depending on the size,”
“Frozen curry puffs are sold at a price of RM8 per pack depending on the product and filling in sizes S, M and L for direct sales or online. I have also held discussions with Singaporean entrepreneurs to enable Karipap Ale-Ale to be marketed to their country,” Jasmin further explained.
His hard work had then paid off as he is now able to achieve sales of RM60,000 to RM80,000 a month, and sometimes up to RM100,000 during the school holidays.
He has also managed to open up job opportunities for around 15 workers which include young adults.
This goes to show that hard work and dedication really do pay off!
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