What started in 2014 as a lifestyle investment to feed his wife's love for cakes has grown into 43 outlets, with more en route. Vanilla Crepe has expanded from a single cafe to 43 outlets and over 100 distribution points, recently breaking past 8-figure annual revenues.

CEO Nelson Liew joins us to share the story behind this growth. He discusses their unique mix of owned vs. franchised outlets, how they manage costs through strong supplier partnerships, and their ambitious vision to become Malaysia's largest integrated F&B platform.

We discuss:

• The "accidental" start: from a lifestyle cafe to a scalable business.

• How they pivoted from retail to owning the IP and central kitchen.

• The strategy behind their owned-to-franchise model.

• Their "pandemic-proof" growth: doubling store count during the MCO.

• Future plans: international expansion to Indonesia and FMCG products.

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