“It was not an overnight success. There were so many times I wanted to give up, but my Chief Operating Officer (COO), Andy Wong’s can-do attitude played a major role in helping me weather through the countless dips to bring Kintry to where it is today,”
These are the words of Michelle Chai, founder of Malaysia’s new artisanal snack company called Kintry, a small business born out of her humble home kitchen in 2017.
Today, after many ups and downs, Kintry has finally gained significant momentum. Michelle and Andy strongly believe in building up the local community, banding together with other Malaysians to make an impact collectively.
Tell us about how Kintry started
My mum passed away in 2014 and I was going through a tough divorce the following year. I didn’t want to sit there and just dwell in sadness. A part of me also wanted to build something for myself and my daughter, a tribute to my family, and to Malaysia.
Amelie, my daughter who was only three years old at that time, has a lot of allergies. So I had to cook and bake a lot at home. My first product was the allergen-free oat cookies and the packaging reflected our relationship – a mom and daughter working on a project together in front of a kedai runcit.
What were Kintry’s initial years like?
I began in 2017 by making the cookies in my own kitchen at 2am after Amelie went to bed.
Throughout 2018, we were just bobbing along. Andy, my COO, was still running his other businesses. We used to disagree and clash with each other frequently as our sales weren’t covering the costs. We couldn’t even pay our own salaries consistently. However, we decided then to go commercial and rented a shop lot.
I was so gung-ho in the beginning, partly because a huge investment had gone into Kintry. Our initial funds lasted only six months and then we realized that it was not working out. So many retailers shunned us in the early days. It was disheartening.
Tell us more about 2019
2019 was the toughest year. I couldn’t pump any more money into the company. I was trying out so many different types of things to make it work.
There were a lot of “we got lucky” deals, one-offs that could tide us over for a few months, and then the cycle would start again. It came to a point that I really wanted to quit.
What was the turning point for Kintry?
I think we had like three or four dips in 2019. By Christmas, I went to Canada for a short two-week holiday. Before I left for Canada, I was negotiating with a few of Malaysia’s top food franchise brands and retailers.
It took me a few persistent tries and finally, a major retailer, with over 50 stores nationwide, signed a contract with us. It was one of our bigger deals and also served as a substantial amount of income to run our business.
That is why I believe that if you can sustain your business for three years without giving up, don’t give up, because the turning point could be near.
What are some of Kintry’s latest initiatives?
We recently ran a three-week campaign where proceeds went towards buying PPE for hospitals. The campaign was two-prong.
The first was to help keep the team afloat and secondly, to help the community and make an impact. We donated cookies and PPE to various hospitals in Kuala Lumpur to help mitigate the Covid-19 pandemic. This was a huge boost for us in terms of brand exposure, even though there wasn’t a significant shift to our sales.
In May 2020, Kintry also collaborated with Astro to be a part of Astro Go.
In June 2020, we designed a mini pack edition for a partnership with My Fit Box vending machines available at gyms. The Kintry mini travel packs did so well that it also retailed in Watsons by October 2020.
March 2021, we launched a retail space in Wild Sheep Home, Petaling Jaya, home to a community of local retailers who specialise in their own crafts such as ice cream vendors, coffee roasters, bookstores, plant nurseries.
Ultimately, when the brand is still new, no matter how big of an exposure it gets, it doesn’t register with people. They need to see it for at least a year or two before saying, “I know this brand”
How do you see Kintry growing?
There are two arms in the business: one is manufacturing, and one is retail – which we are still relatively new to. We have built this business to have both an offline and online presence.
During the pandemic, our online sales picked up but retail dipped. Even so, our New Year 2021 sales were big for us and we did not expect it at all.
When we started to renovate our new retail space in Wild Sheep Home, I realized that perhaps we should focus more on our online business.
This illustrates that, as a business owner, one cannot be very certain of what we’re going to do. We can’t say, “Oh, this is my plan. I’m going to follow it 100%. It will keep changing as we go.
What is Kintry’s key to success?
There is no formula – you need to try anything that works for you because things don’t happen overnight. Even now, I can’t say with certainty how everything will turn out to be.
I just want to build a community, meet people and learn about their stories, and create a space for all of our stories to come together.
For more details, visit Kintry’s Instagram page.
This article first appeared on Set the Tables.
Set the Tables is positioned to inspire and educate those already in the industry as much as the aspiring reader who dreams of a future in the food business, and maybe even the merely curious tantalised by the vast and irresistible universe of food and drink.