The calling
Whos Who
The calling BENJAMIN YONG PROVES THAT INDULGINGYOUR PASSION IS THE BEST WAYTO SUCCESS, SAYS RUBINIKAMALAKARAN HE TRUTH IS WE
will spend almost a lifetime working And as more and more graduates venture into fields unrelated to their qualifications, many find themselves spending a considerable amount of time at the start of their career trying out different occupations to see which fits. I read somewhere that the idea is to not look for a 'job'. Instead, we need to seek a hobby, an obsession.
AT A FIRST AMBITION Arch'tect;a he
£rapped after heartng that rt
wouid be one of the first rrdustr•es
to
ht durtnga
Hts SPtCIAUTY Am bid of past2
BEST VACATION
A
tnp
h£ father
to
tn the waters
of Montòego wand, to norm cf Western
In effort to discover that obsession, we need to search within ourselves, observing even our natural tendencies. For instance, if you enjoy giving advice to your family and friends, maybe you could consider counselling or becoming a psychiatrist; if you love to argue, then you'd likely make a good lawyer. The point is that if you love it enough, you'll enjoy doing it over and over and subsequently be good at it. Slowly, you'll see that success will follow. It appears that the charming, affable Benjamin Yong is at that very juncture of success at this moment. The man behind Delicious Cafes, which today doesrñ warrant an introduction, is visibly reaptng the success of his passion. With a growing number of sub-brands like mish, Dish and his latest addition called Delicious Ingredients —a gourmet deli and grocer located at Dua Residency and Bangsar Village Il —the growth of the Delicious brand has taken off in a way
that Benjamin couldni even have anticipated. Recollecting thetr humble start as part of the Ms.Rcad boutique at 1Utama Shopping Centre where they began by servtng teatime favountes and a mixture of Western and local dtshes. Benprntn shares, "When wc staned it was just four of us, tn this uny little kitchen. baking scones turning out salads, washing cups. wtping tables."
There were Signsvery early in his life. he MALAYSIA TATLER
—2
MARCH 2010
says. He remembers growing up —the kitchen was always the centre of his familyk home "My mother and her good friend Abby used to always cook together when I was younger, and they used to invite fnends and entertain over meals. They were always joking that it would be nice if they could have their own restaurant and as a kid, I
remembered that." Then at 13, Benjamn was given a recipe for a carrot cake and that turned into a small business. It was good pocket money, he relates about his small beginmng in the food business. Soon after, he went to Melbourne, Australia to finish high school, and then on to umversity. In the midst there were more telling signs of his calling. Dunng weekends In high school, he used to work part time at a local café within his boarding
school itself where he learnt the mechamcs of running a restaurant. "I Just so lovc the whole concept of the kitchen and how it work-sr In university, a phase mostly everyone refers to as the expenmental years, Benjarmn found his outlet with cooking and experimenting in the kitchen "I emoy cooking With a passion and there were quite a few people conung over to my place to be my willing guinea ptgs," he chuckles It wasni until his mother. Helen Read - best known for her plus-sized fashion brand Ms-Read —asked for his help in the business, where he was to be responsible for operations and business development, that he obligingly returned home. Then one thing led to another when they were looking for a space to open M£Read I Utama Shopping Centre approached them with a 2.800 sq ft lot and quickly realistng that it was too btg for a standalone store for Ms-Read- Bemarntn and
his mother figured 't was the nght opportunity to combine Ms.Read with a café. In 2004. With Abby, his mother; childhood friend on board. the first outlet opened. At first, lust picturing it as a small teahouse servtng scones. cakes and such. reality hrt when they realised that they would need to sell quite a bit to break everu So the solution was to expand the menu to include salads. pastas, some Asian dishes and of course their famous desserts h Debcious. the principle was
Who* Who
I like, everything my tonuly, 0 looked what believes it worked and perhaps the need of the market that lime menu is very Australian. such. "Actually while. you get After living in Australia bock coming lite to cenain way of something tell not having that, I the idea was actually to missing. So to in Melbourne," kind of cafes That wish presented them with one of ingredients 10 first snags —limited produce menu. "With Western cent keep up with their anything, it than Western our menu b'" I quite challenging toget the right vaticty have to say that over time, the quality significantly improved so getting thitt wc lot easier now" the business took off' more challenges come in many and (liftC•rentiorms and it still continues until today and almost every day, so much so that Benjamin has picked up on putting out tires as qutckly as they come, which is especially vital in fastvacetl industry. One less of nagging problem he admits he'd rather
cy "lt\ an is the Issue with human With high turnovers and itÅ a challenge because one person can't be everywhere, 'I hats why we've been careful with expanding too much. So iOr the moment, wc are okay," made a home at To date, Delicious Village Il, Marc several places - I Utamo. Residence. Mid Valley Mcv,unall, l)ua Residency Village and jn addition thercX I)'lish in (lid exactly when Residency, So Dish at Dua and hc know he had a success story on his hands?
'Il "l Vhen you reach a goal, find it k quite easy to set more it is /òr me o•oals that's
"l don't know and I (Ioni think I've sot back thought, •Wow, I'm running
successful
restaurant: mean there really isni an end. When dreamt of, you cre.itc something that you I've madc it and now itXtime to there's down, I'm content'. You'll become irrelevant
very quickly that way When you reach goal, you'll find it's quite easy to set more goals m how it is for me. I want to make surc wc (to
REALISING DREAMS Yong very
night between two quiet no come go
Whether
grey
betweenwoo playfor
it\ no
that
iouswould
it big one (lay
says, 01 would
idea
we would it big someday expected it so soon" A lot ot on business
great bcoer. I think having repeat customers you arc headed the right wayindication Similar for most in the Il industry, any two (lays are quite (jiitcrcnt fOcilcni,imin. "And then cvcrytlnng goes wrong there arc (lays
you
that
you should
you (io best, saying.
you can't help those (lays, you know "Ihe Icitchcn on catches fire or the chef i" out sick so forth. Wc are. in the end, a human business'
I
mostly
life
-
to
day. With the running around during Benjamin finds that there's only one time in clay that hc gets few hours tor himself to think about the bigger picture and finish up necessary p;jpcr "j kccp very odd work or catch up on his hours. My fncnds call mc vampire. Cmnot morning person so I like working in the middle of
it easy sample
is to go o"
area bedlam oi MAOf
1010
the lime to
taboo" ot
to
the
The calling BENJAMIN YONG PROVES THAT INDULGINGYOUR PASSION IS THE BEST WAYTO SUCCESS, SAYS RUBINIKAMALAKARAN HE TRUTH IS WE
will spend almost a lifetime working And as more and more graduates venture into fields unrelated to their qualifications, many find themselves spending a considerable amount of time at the start of their career trying out different occupations to see which fits. I read somewhere that the idea is to not look for a 'job'. Instead, we need to seek a hobby, an obsession.
AT A FIRST AMBITION Arch'tect;a he
£rapped after heartng that rt
wouid be one of the first rrdustr•es
to
ht durtnga
Hts SPtCIAUTY Am bid of past2
BEST VACATION
A
tnp
h£ father
to
tn the waters
of Montòego wand, to norm cf Western
In effort to discover that obsession, we need to search within ourselves, observing even our natural tendencies. For instance, if you enjoy giving advice to your family and friends, maybe you could consider counselling or becoming a psychiatrist; if you love to argue, then you'd likely make a good lawyer. The point is that if you love it enough, you'll enjoy doing it over and over and subsequently be good at it. Slowly, you'll see that success will follow. It appears that the charming, affable Benjamin Yong is at that very juncture of success at this moment. The man behind Delicious Cafes, which today doesrñ warrant an introduction, is visibly reaptng the success of his passion. With a growing number of sub-brands like mish, Dish and his latest addition called Delicious Ingredients —a gourmet deli and grocer located at Dua Residency and Bangsar Village Il —the growth of the Delicious brand has taken off in a way
that Benjamin couldni even have anticipated. Recollecting thetr humble start as part of the Ms.Rcad boutique at 1Utama Shopping Centre where they began by servtng teatime favountes and a mixture of Western and local dtshes. Benprntn shares, "When wc staned it was just four of us, tn this uny little kitchen. baking scones turning out salads, washing cups. wtping tables."
There were Signsvery early in his life. he MALAYSIA TATLER
—2
MARCH 2010
says. He remembers growing up —the kitchen was always the centre of his familyk home "My mother and her good friend Abby used to always cook together when I was younger, and they used to invite fnends and entertain over meals. They were always joking that it would be nice if they could have their own restaurant and as a kid, I
remembered that." Then at 13, Benjamn was given a recipe for a carrot cake and that turned into a small business. It was good pocket money, he relates about his small beginmng in the food business. Soon after, he went to Melbourne, Australia to finish high school, and then on to umversity. In the midst there were more telling signs of his calling. Dunng weekends In high school, he used to work part time at a local café within his boarding
school itself where he learnt the mechamcs of running a restaurant. "I Just so lovc the whole concept of the kitchen and how it work-sr In university, a phase mostly everyone refers to as the expenmental years, Benjarmn found his outlet with cooking and experimenting in the kitchen "I emoy cooking With a passion and there were quite a few people conung over to my place to be my willing guinea ptgs," he chuckles It wasni until his mother. Helen Read - best known for her plus-sized fashion brand Ms-Read —asked for his help in the business, where he was to be responsible for operations and business development, that he obligingly returned home. Then one thing led to another when they were looking for a space to open M£Read I Utama Shopping Centre approached them with a 2.800 sq ft lot and quickly realistng that it was too btg for a standalone store for Ms-Read- Bemarntn and
his mother figured 't was the nght opportunity to combine Ms.Read with a café. In 2004. With Abby, his mother; childhood friend on board. the first outlet opened. At first, lust picturing it as a small teahouse servtng scones. cakes and such. reality hrt when they realised that they would need to sell quite a bit to break everu So the solution was to expand the menu to include salads. pastas, some Asian dishes and of course their famous desserts h Debcious. the principle was
Who* Who
I like, everything my tonuly, 0 looked what believes it worked and perhaps the need of the market that lime menu is very Australian. such. "Actually while. you get After living in Australia bock coming lite to cenain way of something tell not having that, I the idea was actually to missing. So to in Melbourne," kind of cafes That wish presented them with one of ingredients 10 first snags —limited produce menu. "With Western cent keep up with their anything, it than Western our menu b'" I quite challenging toget the right vaticty have to say that over time, the quality significantly improved so getting thitt wc lot easier now" the business took off' more challenges come in many and (liftC•rentiorms and it still continues until today and almost every day, so much so that Benjamin has picked up on putting out tires as qutckly as they come, which is especially vital in fastvacetl industry. One less of nagging problem he admits he'd rather
cy "lt\ an is the Issue with human With high turnovers and itÅ a challenge because one person can't be everywhere, 'I hats why we've been careful with expanding too much. So iOr the moment, wc are okay," made a home at To date, Delicious Village Il, Marc several places - I Utamo. Residence. Mid Valley Mcv,unall, l)ua Residency Village and jn addition thercX I)'lish in (lid exactly when Residency, So Dish at Dua and hc know he had a success story on his hands?
'Il "l Vhen you reach a goal, find it k quite easy to set more it is /òr me o•oals that's
"l don't know and I (Ioni think I've sot back thought, •Wow, I'm running
successful
restaurant: mean there really isni an end. When dreamt of, you cre.itc something that you I've madc it and now itXtime to there's down, I'm content'. You'll become irrelevant
very quickly that way When you reach goal, you'll find it's quite easy to set more goals m how it is for me. I want to make surc wc (to
REALISING DREAMS Yong very
night between two quiet no come go
Whether
grey
betweenwoo playfor
it\ no
that
iouswould
it big one (lay
says, 01 would
idea
we would it big someday expected it so soon" A lot ot on business
great bcoer. I think having repeat customers you arc headed the right wayindication Similar for most in the Il industry, any two (lays are quite (jiitcrcnt fOcilcni,imin. "And then cvcrytlnng goes wrong there arc (lays
you
that
you should
you (io best, saying.
you can't help those (lays, you know "Ihe Icitchcn on catches fire or the chef i" out sick so forth. Wc are. in the end, a human business'
I
mostly
life
-
to
day. With the running around during Benjamin finds that there's only one time in clay that hc gets few hours tor himself to think about the bigger picture and finish up necessary p;jpcr "j kccp very odd work or catch up on his hours. My fncnds call mc vampire. Cmnot morning person so I like working in the middle of
it easy sample
is to go o"
area bedlam oi MAOf
1010
the lime to
taboo" ot
to
the
