COMBAT sports athletes are always hungry. Their training is intense and it requires them to eat a lot just to supply their bodies with the necessary energy. The problem with typical Malaysian lunches is that they often leave you feeling sluggish.
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) enthusiast Yeoh Jun Yong came across a solution to this problem when he was doing some training in Singapore. The gym that he was at had a bar that sold acai bowls.
It’s a versatile flavour, a perfect complement to many different ingredients. Acai berries contain antioxidants, fibre and heart-healthy fats as well as other nutrients.
Not being able to find anything similar to it in Malaysia, he and his MMA training partner decided to start a business centred on acai bowls and Cabana Acai Bar was born.
Below, Yeoh tells us more.
WERE YOU A PROFESSIONAL MMA FIGHTER WHEN YOU CAME ACROSS ACAI BOWLS?
No, I was working as a management consultant at the time. While I was pretty serious about training for MMA but it was just a hobby for me. I wasn’t fighting professionally or anything like that.
WHAT WAS IT ABOUT THE ACAI BOWL THAT WON YOU OVER?
My training partner, Cheah Wen Khyn, and I had just finished training and we went up to the juice bar in the gym. We saw that they had these things called “acai bowls”.
We decided to give it a try and found it to be very refreshing. We felt very energised. So the next day we decided to have it again before training and it had a very good effect on us. We didn’t feel sluggish and were able to train well. We were hooked and started having acai bowl meals before and after training.
WHEN DID THE IDEA OF STARTING AN ACAI BOWL BUSINESS CROP UP? WAS IT IMMEDIATELY?
No, both of us had our own careers at the time so the idea of starting such a business never occurred to us. But we liked acai bowls and kept looking for something similar in Malaysia. There were some shops that sold something similar but the taste and the effect was not quite the same as what we had in Singapore. After a few years of looking around with no luck, we decided to do it ourselves.
WHY DO YOU THINK THE ACAI BOWLS HERE WERE DIFFERENT FROM THE ONES IN SINGAPORE?
The main reason is that the ones here were using acai powder rather than actual acai pulp. Of course it’s cheaper and more convenient to order the powdered form but it doesn’t taste as good and some of the nutrients are lost in the process. So it’s not a very satisfactory approach. To do it well, you need to use acai pulp which has to be imported. This naturally makes it quite costly, especially since the product has to be shipped in frozen form.
WHERE DO YOU GET THE ACAI PULP FROM?
We order it from Brazil, which is where the acai berries come from. There’s a big acai industry over there.
WAS IT THE TASTE OR THE HEALTH BENEFITS THAT SPURRED YOU GUYS TO START THIS BUSINESS?
Actually, we liked its effect on us. It filled us up without making us feel lethargic so it’s an ideal meal for those who want to train hard. The fact that it actually tasted good was a bonus. We learnt about the health benefits later on when we did more reading and research. Initially, however, it was just the positive effect it had on us when we were training that really won us over.
DID YOU HAVE TO HIRE AN F&B CONSULTANT?
No, we just did a lot of research on what we needed to do to start an acai bar business. Much of the information can be found online. It helps that my training is in industrial engineering. Basically what I learnt was how to make processes more efficient. So, I just applied that to this business. Frankly, it’s not rocket science. We’re not a full blown restaurant or cafe but an acai bowl bar so it wasn’t too complicated.
HOW DID YOU GUYS GET THE RECIPES?
We did a lot of research and development right in my home kitchen! We imported some acai pulp and kept them in my fridge. We spent many days just experimenting with different ways to make the acai bowls tasty and appealing.
HOW MANY ITEMS DOES YOUR BAR SERVE?
We started off modestly with two bowls and three smoothies. Today we have four bowls and four smoothies. Also, customers are allowed to create their own custom acai bowls where they fill it up with their own mix of items.
WILL YOU EXPAND YOUR MENU?
Definitely! In fact, we have just launched two more new bowls which do not even contain acai berries. One is a mango lassi bowl and the other an avocado bowl. This will provide more variety to our customers.
BUT WHY?
Our goal is not to just sell acai-based products but to offer healthy food that tastes good. Many people want to eat healthily but they don’t want to eat only bland food. How many plain salads without any dressing can you eat before you get bored? We want to make clean-eating fun.
ARE THERE ANY NEW DEVELOPMENTS COMING UP SOON?
We plan to open our second outlet before the end of the year. Finding the right location is important. But right now what we are focused on is product development, to come up with new healthy food items to offer our customers.
