Gerai Nenek Obek: A 4th gen store with a new gen mindset

When was the last time you had a traditional home-cooked meal based on a recipe passed down for generations?

For Filzah Miranti Binte Mohd Dawood, the home-cooked food that she grew up on has been passed on for over four generations. Apart from fueling her stomach, these recipes have also been serving as her family's rice bowl for the past 59 years.

A traditional sight in Geylang Serai Market, Gerai Nenek Obek is a family-owned business that specialises in authentic and traditional Malay dishes. The store was established by Filzah's great-grandmother in 1963, whose recipes are still being followed to a tee. Some customer favourites include their Nasi Rawon, Nasi Sambal Goreng and Udang Gerago (fried shrimp fritters).

Growing up, Filzah never saw herself joining her family's business as cooking was neither her forte nor interest. But she eventually decided to as she believed it would challenge her to step outside of her comfort zone.

Forced to wear multiple hats, there were days where Filzah had to burn the midnight oil in order to finish work. Despite the multiple trials and sacrifices she had to overcome, Filzah found great meaning in the job. "At the end of the day, I have to remind myself that this is my rice bowl. This business is what has been feeding my family since day one", says Filzah.

Her mother is also a huge source of inspiration. It was only after she started tending to the store full-time that she truly appreciated her mother's strength. "I never knew that my mother was going through so much while I was at home relaxing and watching TV!", exclaimed Filzah, when recounting the difficulties that come alongside the job, such as the long standing hours.

The pandemic was also one of their biggest challenges, with the stall losing many of their regular walk-in customers. It was then that Filzah decided that in order for the business to survive, they had to reach new customers outside their stall's neighbourhood. Filzah thus decided to tap on food delivery via Grab and find a new way of branding their stall online.

While partnering with Grab was a no-brainer to Filzah, her mother required slightly more convincing. As orders were already dwindling due to the pandemic, Filzah's mother was afraid that joining a food delivery platform would incur more losses in the long run. But Filzah decided to give it a shot.

She signed up for consultation sessions with the Grab Merchant Centre (GMC) to get a business analysis and tips on how to improve her online business, and tapped on GrabAds to attract new customers. This allowed her to receive a new stream of delivery orders with more Grab users beginning to notice their brand.

"What I particularly like about using GrabAds is that it allows me to promote my brand without the pressure of having to reply to customer's queries and messages on the app. Prior to GrabAds, I used to advertise on Instagram, which resulted in me receiving a lot of direct messages. However, as I'm very busy manning the store, it's difficult for me to reply to messages or engage with customers online."

Her insistence eventually paid off one Hari Raya, when Filzah convinced her mother to use Grab to manage their orders during the special occasion. Much to her mother's surprise, the stall received many orders that day.

Today, Filzah's mother is a huge fan of Grab, and would often chide her whenever she forgets to turn on the GrabFood Merchant app. With the revenue generated from GrabFood orders, the store could maintain their profit margin, despite the reduced number of walk-in customers. Filzah has also signed up for islandwide delivery on Grab so more consumers can enjoy the home-cooked meals of Gerai Nenek Obek.

Filzah shares more here:

What are some of the other challenges you've faced as a business owner?

Many people do not appreciate the hard work that goes into making every single dish. Here at Gerai Nenek Obek, we take pride in making everything from scratch, using only the freshest ingredients. Even the sambal and serunding we use in our dishes are all handmade! At the end of the day, we can only continue taking pride in what we do, and hope that others can taste and see the sincerity and passion behind our cooking.

How do you differentiate your stall from other competitor stalls?

What differentiates Gerai Nenek Obek from others is that we have been preserving our traditional recipes since day one.

For over four generations, the dishes we cook have followed the exact same recipe, ensuring that we produce consistent tasting dishes. In fact, some of our regular customers across the years are actually from the same family. It's heartwarming to see these customers grow up on our food, passing their love for our dishes on to their own children and grandchildren.

We also believe in providing good service to our customers, even those who order via the Grab platform. Whenever I see any regular customers ordering on Grab, I would throw in an extra packet of sambal and write them a small thank you note. I want our customers to know that we appreciate their support.

Do you have any advice for others who are looking to start their own business?

Focus on perfecting and selling a few dishes that you're really good at, rather than trying to sell many different dishes that are not as good. A good first impression goes a long way!

At the end of the day, competition is always present. Furthermore, different customers have different taste buds and preferences, so different stalls will have their own different regulars. What's important is that you know what you want and believe in yourself and your products.