10 things you didn’t know about day to day

Day to day had been in business for almost 8 years. If you are staying around this small little garden surrounded by trees, crows and constant noise pollution coming from KESAS highway, most likely you are staying around Taman Mawar, Taman Kinrara, or around the area of Batu 8, Puchong.

Day to day Restaurant had been well known by the local community of Batu 8, Puchong as it serves great food, and most important the friendliest service you could get. It almost feels like home and had always been consistent in their quality of food and cozy service.

What you might not know is that how did it became the shop you see today? What is the story behind it?

I decided to interview the shop owner, Mr. Jiwa, and find out more about it.

Here are 10 things you ought to know about Day to day. 

1. Once upon a nasi lemak..

Day to day restaurant was just a nasi lemak stall in the very beginning.

Yes! You did not hear wrongly. It started humbly with just a typical, petite stall with only a table, an umbrella and serve our national pride, the famous local delicacy – Nasi Lemak.

On the first day, sale was only RM18..

and it never stopped increasing ever since. On the second day, it was RM65. Sale was skyrocketing up the roof for the first 2 months.

Sale increased rapidly mainly because the nasi lemak prepared by Mr. Jiwa’s talented wife, who must be somehow related to Chef Ramsey I think, gotten such great response among the friendly and hungry local community of Malay, Indian and Chinese around that area.

That’s where they decided to expand.

2. Expansion

Roti Canai, Mee Goreng, Teh Tarik and some other common mamak food and drinks were started to be available.

Now, it wasn’t just 1 table just to place the eggs, cucumbers, ikan bilis, kacang and sambal, but also for the customer to sit and enjoy a warm plate of nasi lemak while sipping over a warm glass of Teh Tarik. Ahhhh…

The rest is history.. 

It came to a point where it consistently hit RM600-RM800 per day and Mr. Jiwa decided it was time to have some major renovation to increase it’s capacity and make it warm and cozy for the customers.

The corner shop you see today had already went through more than 5 times of renovation.

3. Hand picked ingredients.

Mr Jiwa purchases his own cooking materials and ingredient daily. He believes in by doing so, he is able to provide the best quality ingredients to be cooked and served to his customers.

4. There is absolutely zero money spent on advertising or marketing.

The most powerful and reliable publicity was – word of mouth. “If you respect your customer, and consistently smile, greet, and make them feel comfortable, without fail they would tell their friends and family of their experience they had here” said the humble owner of Day to Day Restaurant.

He believes that he spends more on advertising.

Mr. Siwa(left) and I

5. Mr Siwa owns more than a business. 

The car wash you see beside D2d and the mechanic shop you see beside the car wash belongs to him. He didn’t intend to open it up as a business as he was into lorry logistic business while owning D2D restaurant.

He opened a lorry wash shop to wash his lorry and a mechanic shop to service his lorry. But the demand was there as most customer usually ask him for car wash services while they “yam cha” at the mamak.

But he is no longer owning both of those businesses as he wants to solely focus on the food industry. He also has no plans to diversify or expand his business anytime soon.

6. Customers feedback.

If you had dine-in or “tapau” anything from D2D, Mr Siwa will never fail to greet you with a warm smile and subsequently ask you how is your food.

As Bill Gates once said, “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”. I guess he earnest wants to know if there are rooms for improvement and he doesn’t want any unsatisfied customer to go home unhappily.

7. Everyday is a success!

“What does the word “success” mean to you?” were the question thrown to him.

He answered steadily, “Everyday is a success! There’s no full stop. We consistently work hard daily to achieve success until we reach a golden age where we think it’s time to retire, that’s where success ends.”

8. Start small, then make it grow.

To those young entrepreneur, entrepreneur-wannabe, entrepreneur soon-to-be, his advice for you is to start small, then make it grow. Don’t invest too much of capital and then find out you are unable to cope up with your business start up.

Start small, then make it grow.

9. Top 4 values in running his business.

• Always smile. No matter who you are, or what you have, Mr Siwa will never fail to humbly smile at you.
• Respect. Show respect if you would like to gain respect.
• Welcome people and make them feel warm.
• Customer feedback and comments is a must!

All in all, he treats his customer as a living asset and never think of you as insignificant even if you only order an “ais kosong”.

10. Love one another. Everyone is equal.

Before I end my interview with him, I asked if he had anything to say to the local community and those were the words said by him. Love one another, everyone is equal.

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