The Starbucks of Malaysia.

The Kopi Tiam has been around for decades, all the way back to the days of our grandparents and World War 2. Since then, it has transformed itself into a social past time for aged retirees, to the modern day, local equivilant of Starbucks and Coffee Bean.

Drive around in any large shopping district of Kuala Lumpur or Petaling Jaya and you’d be hard pressed not to spot a Starbucks or Coffee Bean somewhere in the area, you may even find both! But look a little harder and you’ll probably find a Kopi Tiam nestled somewhere amongst the big boys, minding it’s own business and raking in all the cash.

The resurgence of an olden day past time which was more favoured by uncles and aunties who wanted a place to gossip and chit chat the day away has recently made a comeback. And what’s more, it’s the young who are frequenting the Kopi Tiams you see dotted around Malaysia.

A thing of the past, present and future.

You Sell Space? We Sell Space Too

The business model of the established coffee outlets like Starbucks and Coffee Bean are that they are not in the business of selling coffee, but selling space. Take this business model and replace the ‘Ice Blendeds’ with ‘Kopi Ais’, the ‘Muffins’ with ‘Roti Bakar’ and you have yourself a Kopi Tiam.

But selling space is no new thing for Kopi Tiams, they’ve been doing it for the longest time. 50 years ago there may not have been WIFI or airconditioning, but a Kopi Tiam was somewhere you would go with friends and just chit chat the day away, over a cup of black coffee, a piece of toast smothered in kaya and butter and two nicely half boiled eggs.

Getting In On The Act

The money generated by a Kopi Tiam can be quite staggering if it’s done correctly. For this reason and for this reason alone, the number of new outlets appearing all over Malaysia has been steadily increasing day by day. There are so many that in a single area, like Damansara Uptown, you can have 2 Kopi Tiams and 2 Starbucks no more than 500 metres away from each other.

There are many ways to start a Kopi Tiam, the easiest of which is to become a franchisee, where the parent company will provide assistance in almost every aspect of opening the outlet, all the way down to training the staff. However, this is probably the most expensive option as there can be very heavy royalty payments paid to the franchisor. However, you do get the benefit of a known brand name.

The other route to go down would be starting up your very own Kopi Tiam and creating a new brand for yourself. You’ll need to do everything from the training, decorating, stocking and recipes yourself, but it can cost you a whole lot less.

I prefer tea actually.

The Young and The Hopeful

Go into any Kopi Tiam now and I’ll bet you that 70% of the crowd are young, working adults or college/ university students. It’s a place to go and chat with friends, do some work or broker a business deal. It’s a trendy place to be seen now, although not so long ago they wouldn’t have been caught dead in one them.

Providing you with free WIFI for frequenting an outlet has made the Kopi Tiam a place where students and even working executives can congregate and do some work. A place where entrepreneurs and businessmen can meet clients or answer emails while they are out of the office. A place where these dame business deals can be made or broken.

The humble Kopi Tiam is slowly turning itself into a hub for the young and the business minded alike, a place for generation Y to sit and aspire.

So be it whether you want to run your own Kopi Tiam, sit and enjoy the atmosphere with family friends or do a little business, I think the Kopi Tiam experience is going to be around for another 50 years to come.

When I was a kid, I was given a book to read called ‘The Fattypuffs and The Thinifers’. It was written in 1930, and was a story about a pair of siblings that find an entrance to a hidden world, buried miles beneath the surface of earth. This world had two races, namely, the Fattypuffs and the Thinifers.

The Fattypuffs were a race of fat, happy people, who’s main, almost religious like belief was that one ‘lives to eat’ and enjoys himself.

The Thinifers on the other hand, were a race of skinny, mistrusting people, whose main, also religious like belief was the complete opposite. One ‘eats to live’ and no more.

Both races were on the verge of war with each other.

Although completely fictional, it does have many commonalities with the current times, where more often than not, city folk live to eat and enjoy themselves while doing so (although I’m hoping we don’t go to war with people on a diet).

Food Is A Lifestyle Choice

Families use it as a time to bond, to celebrate a birthday, a promotion, a marriage and any other type of quality family time. Students and working executives use food as an excuse to meet with friends, to date, to study and even to gossip about the boss. Businessmen take clients to nice restaurants to cement a good business relationship, to propose a new deal or to sign on an old one.

Dining out has become a lifestyle choice in the modern age and people are happier for it.

What Would a Caveman Do?

It’s 10,000 B.C. I’m hungry. I pick up my spear, grunt and shout at a few of my clan members, put on a Mammoth coat and we go out for a hunt. What we catch, we eat. If we don’t catch anything, we go hungry. We eat enough to keep us alive. Nothing more.

You don’t see many cave paintings showing cavemen sitting around a fire, with a mug of Mammoth milk in one hand, eating a second helping of deer or buffalo, laughing and singing the night away just because they could.

It’s 2008 and I’m hungry. I pick up my handphone, grunt and shout at a few friends, put on a T-shirt and we go out for a hunt. A hunt for the nearest restaurant that is, where we sit around a table, a teh tarik in one hand, eating a second helping of satay, laughing and sometimes even singing the night away. Because we can.

What Happened To The Fattypuffs And Thinifers?

They go to war.

The Thinifers win and absorb the Fattypuff kingdom into their own. Many soldiers of the occupying army of the Thinifers begin to marry Fattypuff girls, and return to their homeland with affection for the country that they conquered. The Thinifers begin to adopt Fattypuff cuisine, habits, and attitudes. Consequently, the Thinifer president proclaims that the two peoples form a new nation, the United States of the Underground.

King Plumpapuff, the former king of the Fattypuffs, is made sovereign of this new nation, while the Thinifer president is made his chancellor. All distinctions by weight are abolished.

The siblings make it back to their own world and everyone lives happily ever after.

The moral of the story? It’s going to become a Fattypuff world anyway, so you might as well go out, eat and be merry.

Because you can. [Wikipedia], [planettom], [redwoodr]