Competing to be the best

SUNWAY University, through its School of Hospitality, held a food business competition among its Year 3 students in the BSc (Hons) in International Hospitality Management and BSc (Hons) in Culinary Management programmes last year.
The competition – the Sunway University Food and Beverage Entrepreneurship Challenge 2016 – had 10 groups of students exploring the food business; from substantial food to confectionery to drinks. The groups had four months to form their companies, come out with business ideas and run their registered online businesses according to the given theme – Online Food Business.
The champion of the competition was “Daebak 814 Enterprise” which comprised Lavender Chia Hui Shin and her team mates Jeremy Lam Tuan Chi, Nguyen Hoang Oanh, Sim Jiseon and Pham Thi Ngoc Anh.
Jeremy explained that the group’s product was Nasi Lemak Kimbap – a combination of two traditional dishes from Malaysia and Korea.
“We had this idea from the popularity and influence of the Korean wave among Malaysia’s young generation.
“We also wanted to create something that is convenient for students, who are always busy with hectic timetables and often skip meals.
“Our product is unique as we believe the idea is very new and we created our own recipe through our Research & Development (R&D) process,” said the BSc (Hons) in International Hospitality Management student.
For Jeremy, he found it a challenge to wake up early in the morning to cook and prepare their products.
“I had to change my habits and timetable to fit into the group work and we kept reminding each other to balance our studies as well,” he said. Meanwhile, Teoh Zhi Hau and his team – Hilda Chow, Joel Yong, Sheryl Wang and Marianty Chen took home the first runner-up title with their business “Macaronlogy Ventures”.
“We are the first group of people in Malaysia to come out with macarons made with zero artificial ingredients, everything from the colouring to the cream filling of the French cookie is made with natural fruits and vegetables with our very own technique.
“Our goal is to change people’s perception on macarons and revive its dying trend,” said Zhi Hau from the BSc (Hons) in Culinary Management.
For Zhi Hau, the most exciting part was the time he and Hilda managed to succeed on their unique natural colorants after sleepless nights and minor conflicts.
“It was definitely big for us because it really seemed to be impossible at the beginning.
“I think the most memorable time would be the time we received orders and started seeing the sales coming in, it really showed the quality of the macarons we created,” he added.
The second runner-up was “5 Minds Enterprise” which was made up of Gan Tick Mun Natassia, Subattra Kanesan, Tham Carmen, Lee Tze Meng and Kenjiro Shinno, which came up with the “Shang Tea”.
Event organiser and lecturer Dr Daniel Chong Ka Leong hopes the competition would become an annual event.
“The best way to learn entrepreneurship is to start one. Knowing how to write a business proposal is not good enough.
“Running a real business venture helps our students to realise the importance of innovation, risk management, financial control, continuous improvement, joy of entrepreneurship and business integrity,” he said.
The groups were assessed on Entrepreneurial Spirit, Financial Performance, Strategic Direction, Innovation and Influence towards the Community.
Sunway University’s School of Hospitality prides itself in providing top notch education with diploma and degree programmes accredited by the world-renowned Le Cordon Bleu.
All programmes offered by the school are carefully designed to enhance students’ strategic thinking, critical analysis, industrial exposure as well as hands-on work experience.
The school offers Diploma programmes in Culinary Arts, Events Management and Hotel Management.
Culinary Management, International Hospitality Management & Conventions and Events Management are the degree programmes offered.
For more information, call 03-7491 8622 or log on to http://university.sunway. edu.my