But Edmund Tan and Lim Shiew Li are no ordinary couple. They left their high-flying corporate finance jobs in Singapore to satisfy their love for a cold and creamy dessert.
A decade on, their ice cream start-up is going big time. Manufacturer and distributor of dairy products Farm Fresh Bhd (FFB) is investing a whopping RM83.9 million for a 65% stake in their company The Inside Scoop Sdn Bhd (TISSB).
FFB’s move has already won over investment analysts, with Maybank Investment Bank forecasting a RM3.8 million rise in annual profit from its stake in TISSB going forward.
How it all started
Tan was an investment banker and Lim was an actuary when they decided in 2013 to pursue their passion back home.
Lim quit her job, Tan took a sabbatical from work.
That was when cafés were gaining popularity among the young in Malaysia.
The couple saw an opportunity to fill a gap in the artisanal ice-cream market. They decided to go for local ingredients to give it a local flavour. It would eventually prove to be a hit.
“The premium ice cream market (in Malaysia) was largely served by foreign brands so we decided to give them a run for their money,” Tan told FMT Business.
As expected leaving well-paying jobs across the causeway to start selling ice cream has its challenges, chief amongst which was a sense of incredulity among loved ones.
Tan recalled, with amusement now, his grandmother saying in Hokkien “are you crazy?”
Becoming a household name
As they had to open their first store before Tan returned to work in Singapore, there was no time to waste.
Using their savings as start-up capital, the couple signed a lease for their first outlet on Jalan Telawi, Bangsar, in October 2013.
In the span of two and a half months, they were in business. “It was quite hectic but a lot of fun,” Tan recalled.
Meanwhile, Lim attended a course at Gelato University in Bologna, Italy to learn how to churn ice cream.
She went on to spearhead the flavour department in TISSB while her husband took care of operations.
In their first year in business, Lim was running the show all by herself while Tan returned to work in Singapore. But he would return every weekend to don an apron at the outlet.
The hard work paid off. In June 2014, they opened their second outlet in Damansara Jaya and then a third in USJ Taipan in December the same year. Today, TISSB has a total of 37 outlets and still growing.
The emphasis on staying Malaysian goes beyond its ingredients and flavours. Tan and Lim made sure that at least 90% of the staff are also Malaysians.
This was part of a mission to keep salaries high for locals. “As it is, salaries have been suppressed because of the availability of foreign labour,” Tan pointed out.
The show will go on
Tan has given an assurance that they will continue to make the same effort that has made the Inside Scoop ice cream so popular despite having divested so much of their interest.
“Nothing will change. We will continue to run the business on a day-to-day basis. We are not ready to retire, nor will we cash out. We are still very committed,” he said.
The couple will drive the business as part of the FFB ice cream division, leveraging on their expertise built over a decade in research and development of ice cream production.
And they will continue to enjoy the occasional Inside Scoop.