ALL successful businesses ultimately face the problem of managing its growth. It is a phase filled with opportunities as well as perils, and can be either be a stepping stone or a misstep.
Therefore, it is imperative for business owners to know what kind of expansion they should go for in order to maximise the chance of success.
For former banker turned baker Marcus Low, he is not planning to make his existing shop bigger or even to have more outlets.
He merely wants to stay creative and expand on that creativity.
"The Covid-19 pandemic has changed customer preferences and the pastry business in Malaysia is past its infancy stage. There's a lot more competition now," said Low, who was MasterChef Asia's season one first runner-up in 2015.
MasterChef, a competitive cooking show that started in the United Kingdom in July 1990, has spawned many other versions of the show internationally.
Low, who graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2012 with a degree in accounting and finance, had learnt about the MasterChef audition while working in the banking industry.
Low, the eldest among two siblings — his younger sister is also in the finance industry — said he was pretty confident in himself at the time.
"I knew I could go deep but didn't know how deep," he said.
Low, a self-taught chef, said he was now "doing something that speaks to me", adding that he had absolutely no regrets leaving the banking industry.
However, Low, being an former banker, has a diverse portfolio when it comes to investment.
"Mad Hatter Desserts is a passion project. Keeping the business afloat is a challenge. I also do a lot of catering, working with marketing and public relations companies that are always on the lookout for dedicated caterers who can bring showmanship to a food event," he said.
On the challenges that he faced after opening his outlet in 2017 with an initial capital outlay of RM500,000, — after operating an online bakery following his MasterChef success — Low said it was keeping up with the expectations of his customers.
"I had fans who walked into the shop wearing a hat and trying to look like me. It was flattering in a way. The first few months were very challenging but gradually I got to grips with running the business. I currently have three assistants.
"My advice to young entrepreneurs who want to follow their dreams is they should understand the nature of the business in and out, and trust their own instinct," he said.
As to how the patisserie got its name, Low said it was a play on words.
"I love to wear hats because I'm too lazy to do my hair, while my creations are strange. That was why I thought the famous Mad Hatter character from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, where the character loves to wear hats and has a flair for wild and whimsical dessert creations, would be a fitting name," he said.
"My banking days were filled with guidelines, restrictions and a lot of numbers. In the food and beverage business, there are guidelines as well.
"But there are days when things that are supposed to go one way go absolutely the other way instead, and that is what makes life more exciting for me," he added.
The writer was a journalist with the New Straits Times before joining a Fortune Global 500 real estate company. This article is a collaboration between the New Straits Times and Tradeview, the author of 'Once Upon A Time In Bursa'.