How do you turn nostalgia into a scalable business in one of Malaysia’s most crowded food and beverage markets?

On this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Nick Ng, Founder and CEO of Hock Kee Kopitiam, about building a modern kopitiam brand rooted in heritage, community, and made-to-order tradition.

From opening a single outlet in Johor Bahru with no prior restaurant experience to growing a multi-outlet chain across Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, and Johor, Nick shares what it takes to stay relevant while scaling. We explore how Hock Kee maintains consistency across outlets, how its revenue mix has evolved, the impact of Halal certification and tourism-linked collaborations, and the operational pressures of running a fast-growing F&B business.

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In this episode of Open For Business, we look at why coworking seems to have lost its way and whether a quieter, more stripped-back model is the answer.

We speak with Timothy Tiah, founder of Jerry Coworking Space, about building a business that deliberately rejects community theatre, lifestyle branding, and forced interaction. With automated, private offices across the Klang Valley and beyond, Jerry positions itself as infrastructure rather than experience.

We explore coworking fatigue, automation, revenue realities, and what it says about modern work when the most attractive promise might simply be a quiet room and no one asking questions.

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In this episode of Open For Business, we look at why coworking seems to have lost its way and whether a quieter, more stripped-back model is the answer.

We speak with Timothy Tiah, founder of Jerry Coworking Space, about building a business that deliberately rejects community theatre, lifestyle branding, and forced interaction. With automated, private offices across the Klang Valley and beyond, Jerry positions itself as infrastructure rather than experience.

We explore coworking fatigue, automation, revenue realities, and what it says about modern work when the most attractive promise might simply be a quiet room and no one asking questions.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In late November, Costco filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the “Liberation Day tariffs", and the White House remained surprisingly silent.

BFM speaks with Bryan DeAngelis of Penta Group to decode this "quiet rebellion." Corporate America is finally "unbending the knee," but they are doing it with a new playbook: filing lawsuits based strictly on business logic while avoiding the public shaming that bruises the President's ego.

We discuss:

• The Costco Strategy: Why the retailer’s decision to sue quietly after Thanksgiving, relying on "brand math" rather than PR stunts, possibly saved them from a Truth Social firestorm.

• The "Business Lane": How companies are learning to push back against policies like tariffs by framing them strictly as shareholder protection rather than political opposition.

• Political Volatility & Populism: With the President's poll numbers sinking, Bryan explains why the administration is leaning harder into populist rhetoric (like the attack on institutional housing investors) to regain momentum.

• The 2026 Midterm Outlook: Why "razor-thin" margins in Congress mean Democrats could flip the House even before November, and how this gridlock will force the President to rule almost exclusively through Executive Orders.

The Erosion of Authority: From GOP resignations to state-level defiance on redistricting, we analyse whether the White House is losing its grip on its own party.

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Malaysia’s job market is moving fast in 2026, with new roles opening up, salaries shifting, and employers competing harder than ever for the right talent. But beneath the activity lies a deeper transformation in how Malaysians choose where and why they work.

We speak with Fahad Naeem, Country Director at Randstad Malaysia, about the findings from Randstad’s 2026 Job Market Outlook and Salary Guide, and what they reveal about Malaysia’s push towards a higher-value workforce.

From skills shortages and AI-driven role changes to rising employee confidence and the growing importance of trust, flexibility, and learning opportunities, this conversation explores why pay alone is no longer enough to attract or retain top talent.

It’s a timely look at what employers must rethink in 2026 and what professionals should watch for as Malaysia’s workforce enters a new chapter.

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Restaurants are under pressure like never before like rising costs, staff shortages, shrinking margins, and systems that were never designed for today’s pace of business.

We speak with Squall Tan, CEO of FeedMe, about how a simple frustration with slow service and wrong orders led to the creation of a full F&B operating system now used across the region.

Squall shares how FeedMe evolved from a homegrown POS into an integrated platform that helps restaurants automate ordering, reduce operational blind spots, and make smarter, data-driven decisions.

From why most F&B businesses fail, to how AI is reshaping restaurant operations and what it takes to scale a food-tech company across Asia, this is a discussion on how technology is quietly redefining the F&B industry.

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In 2015, advertising veterans Chantelle Teoh and Kelvin Long grew tired of the generic, "embarrassing" souvenirs found at Central Market. They wanted products that actually spoke the language of Malaysians, literally.

Starting with a single t-shirt design complaining about cigarette prices ("Mahal Bro"), APOM (A Piece of Malaysia) has grown from a bazaar pop-up into a 7-figure retail brand with five stores, including Bangsar Village and The Campus, Ampang.

The husband-and-wife duo joins BFM  to discuss the journey from "Bazaars to Bangunan." We explore how they navigate the "Dreamer vs. Integrator" dynamic as a married couple, the operational PTSD of the 2020 pandemic, and why they believe the future of retail lies in data-driven humor.

We discuss:

• The Origin Story: Moving from the "Doof" bean bag business to APOM as a creative release from client work.

• Product Market Fit: How they tested witty designs like the "Mahal Bro" and "Jalan Bapak Kau" shirts at bazaars to validate the concept before committing to a lease.

• Retail Operations: The reality of scaling from selling single items to managing hundreds of SKUs, warehousing, and the financial "flywheel" of margins and Opex.

• The Co-Founder Dynamic: How a husband-and-wife team functions by respecting the split between the "Dreamer" and the "Integrator".

• The Cringe Filter: The difficult product development cycle of walking the fine line between witty cultural commentary and "cringey" humor.

• The "Blast" Campaign: How they pivoted during the pandemic lockdowns to support 14 local designers when tourism vanished overnight.

• Future Vision: The plan to expand beyond KL and build a "Departmental Store" concept to house top-quality Malaysian goods.

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Founded in 2018, Sagtec Global Limited was a three-person operation in Kuala Lumpur, aiming to digitise Malaysia's F&B sector. Fast forward to March 2025, and Sagtec listed on the NASDAQ at an IPO price of $3.60. But the public markets have been unforgiving, the stock has since lost nearly 50% of its value.

Kevin joins BFM to unpack the realities of a NASDAQ listing. We discuss why he spent $2.1 million (nearly 30% of his raised capital) on listing fees, why he chose the US over a local exchange for "branding and credibility," and how he plans to recover shareholder confidence.

We discuss:

• The Origin Story: Why Kevin quit a stable job in 2018 to digitize an industry still relying on handwritten orders, and how the pandemic became his biggest tailwind.

• The NASDAQ Reality Check: Why list in the US? Kevin defends the decision as a branding play to open doors in markets like Thailand, despite the stock’s poor performance and lack of US investor understanding.

• The $2.1 Million Lesson: The true cost of listing and why Kevin admits he underestimated the need for Investor Relations (IR) post-IPO.

• From SaaS to RaaS: The shift to "Robot-as-a-Service." How Sagtec plans to deploy robotic arms for cooking and prep to generate recurring revenue from multi-chain restaurants.

• The AI Pivot: Is it just buzzwords? Kevin explains how they are integrating AI not for chat, but for data analytics, helping restaurant owners identify best-selling items and peak hours automatically.

• Risk Management: Addressing the concentration risk where 3 customers make up 60% of revenue and 2 vendors account for 60% of costs, and the plan to diversify through direct sales.

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On this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Paul Dass, Managing Director of Green Street Farms, about what it means to grow food with care in the heart of a city.

Green Street Farms uses aquaponics, a natural system where fish and plants support one another, to produce fresh food while working in rhythm with nature. But beyond the method, this is a story about intention: choosing to grow slowly, thoughtfully, and in a way that stays connected to the people who eat the food.

Paul shares the personal journey behind the farm, the lessons learned from working with living systems, and how reconnecting people to where their food comes from can quietly change how we think about nourishment, responsibility, and care.

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Startup accelerators are everywhere, but few operate like AppWorks. Based in Taiwan with a sizable footprint in Southeast Asia, the firm runs an accelerator that takes zero equity and charges zero fees, a model sustained by its associated VC funds.

Alyssa Chen, Principal of the AppWorks Accelerator, joins BFM to explain how this "founder-first" model acts as the top-of-funnel engine for an ecosystem that has raised $6.6 billion in funding across 650 active startups.

We dive into their strategic pivot for 2026, targeting "outlier" founders in Manufacturing AI, Defense Tech, and Onchain Banking, and how they are building a cross-border corridor linking Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore.

We discuss:

• The "Freemium" Model: How AppWorks sustains a fee-free, equity-free accelerator by using it as a high-quality deal flow pipeline for its VC funds.

• Vetting "Outliers": Why a free program still requires a grueling 30-question application and interview process to filter out value-seekers and find true execution-focused founders.

• The 2026 "Request for Startups": Why AppWorks is pivoting to hard tech. Alyssa explains the focus on Manufacturing AI (leveraging Taiwan’s hardware strength), Defense Tech (dual-use commercial applications), and Onchain Banking.

• The Southeast Asia Thesis: Despite the region's "exit bottleneck," Alyssa argues that the ecosystem is maturing, with founders shifting from "growth at all costs" to profitability and cash flow.

• The Taiwan-Malaysia Bridge: How AppWorks is actively linking markets, using Taiwan for R&D and revenue, Singapore for capital and legal structure, and Malaysia for talent and team building.

• Alumni Power: How a network of 2,000+ founders (including 900 CEOs) drives the ecosystem, with 570 active startups helping each other navigate fundraising and expansion.

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