The Star - Mak Pon’s gravies

Factory and shop: Abdul Hamid Abu Hassan’s shop house where he produces the gravies under Mak Pon’s labels.

Our products: Abdul Hamid Abu Hassan’s assistant Mohd Shah Baba showing the gravies for the different dishes.

Cookout: Abdul Hamid Abu Hassan (left) and two shop assistants cooking gravies for asam pedas and mee rebus at his shop along Jalan Junid.

A contractor finds success in producing traditional ready-made gravies and pastes.

A FORMER building contractor, who found the construction sector crowded with too many new contractors six years ago, decided to become an entrepreneur in a totally different field.

From doing road works, renovating buildings and even building houses, Abdul Hamid Abu Hassan began making gravies for mee bandung, mee rebus, asam pedas, rendang and soto, as well as rojak paste.

However, it was not smooth sailing for Abdul Hamid, 42, from Jalan Junid in Muar, to start his venture as he did not know anything about making gravies for popular food varieties.

“I told myself if Maggi Mee is popular among the people, why don’t I make gravies for food which is already popular, especially among the locals?

“I thought about mee bandung and asam pedas, the two food varieties which Muar is famous for, and I asked my mother-in-law for her recipes,” he said at his shop, busily stirring away the ingredients in one of the many cauldrons over the fire.

According to Abdul Hamid, his mother-in-law, Pon Mahmud, is a very good cook and family members as well as their neighbours loved her mee bandung.

He said his mother in-law, now aged 84 and very ill, did not believe he would leave the construction sector to become a gravy producer.

He said she felt that there was no future in such a venture and she also thought no one would want to buy ready-made pastes to cook their meals as people usually made their own gravies.

He pestered her for the recipes and even promised her that if the venture did not turn out successful, he would return to constructing buildings.

He said he was also very fortunate that his wife, Rafiah Marof, was very understanding and supportive, and encouraged him to try the new venture with an open mind.

Using their hard-earned savings, Abdul Hamid invested in the business, buying the necessary utensils, including stoves, cooking gas, big frying pans, cooking pots and grinding machines.

“Initially, we cooked the gravies in the kitchen of our house and packed them, testing the market by promoting them to friends and neighbours,” he said.

After a few weeks, people started coming to Abdul Hamid’s home and began enquiring about the ready-made gravy pastes, which were named Rencah Mee Bandung Mak Pon.

He went on to turn his home into a small factory.

Abdul Hamid’s products began to gain popularity by word of mouth and traders around Muar began stocking up on his items, with hawkers and restaurant operators placing orders and using his products as the base of the food sold in their outlets.

This success, he said, saw the expansion of his business and the list of items made by his factory with gravies for asam pedas, mee rebus, soto and even pastes for rojak joining the Rencah Mak Pon line.

“We began small but now we operate from a shophouse in Taman Lembah Padang in Jalan Junid and our gravies are sold all over the country.

“We also export the gravies to Singapore, Brunei and the Middle East. Recently, a trader took some to Beijing to promote them in China,” he said.

According to Abdul Hamid, he makes two versions of gravies for mee bandung – a standard gravy and the Power gravy, which contains more shrimps.

Those interested in trying out or stocking on Mak Pon’s gravies, can contact Abdul Hamid.