By Chris Teh
With the extended duration of movement control order (MCO) announced by our Prime Minister on April 10, staying at home has become something that we embrace. As a result, it has acted as a catalyst of stir-craziness. But never let that fact bring our spirits down!
Food, that universal panacea for all ills, can soothe some of our restless souls. Why not focus our attention to dim sum? You got that right, dim sum! Even better, it’s halal-certified. Not only that, they’re available for delivery around town!
Surely the name “Jom Dim Sum!” had been seen in Malay eateries or even small cafés around Ipoh. Ipoh Echo had an exclusive one-on-one with YC Nang and Ceylyn Tay, the husband and wife duo that founded Team Some Sdn Bhd.
***Disclaimer***
Photos and interview session were obtained before the outbreak of COVID-19 in our country and the enforcement of MCO. Ipoh Echo stresses the importance of social distancing measures to readers during these times.
History
Established just March last year, the dim sum manufacturing business was inspired by YC’s 35-year-old bun-making family business. Since its inception, Team Some has been successfully expanding their customer reach to the whole country!
“Since his family had been in the business for such a long time, YC has acquired technical knowledge to make authentic and good tasting dim sum,” Ceylyn mentioned.
With her experience in business management and marketing, Team Some was founded on the mission of not only growing the economy in a small township and providing work opportunities, but also to unite all through fusion dim sum with passion and love.
“Halal dim sum is in a high demand level, both in Malaysia and overseas,” Ceylyn noted. “The fact that our country has a Muslim population of more than 60% Muslim fuels the market need for halal dim sum even more, thus we’ve built a manufacturing facility for the production of the dim sum.”
Guaranteed Food Cleanliness, Quality and Safety
Compliance to not only halal certification standards but also ISO 22000 procedures and HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) system makes Team Some’s products safe for consumption, free from doubt.
“When starting the business, we realised that to ensure customers’ satisfaction and worry-free consumption of our halal dim sum, preliminary steps must be done,” Ceylyn said. “This is why halal certification alone is not sufficient. Adherence to international food safety management systems is equally crucial in keeping our business going for a long time.
“We strictly require our employees to wear necessary hair masks and facility wear before entering the food production premise,” YC explained. “Apart from that, we ensure that machineries are properly washed and cleaned before and after batches of food production.”
Positive Working Environment
Managing a business surely has its challenges, but Ceylyn opined that employees’ positive outlook soothes all hardships.
“I’ve experienced bad working environments too, so the last thing I would want my employees to deal with is what I had gone through,” she expressed. “We always strive to treat each other like a family in the office, instead of merely colleagues.”
Ceylyn also added that her employees are the backbone of success of Team Some, stating, “I always encourage them to improve themselves, whether it’s skills or work goals. Our vision is to introduce the joy and culture of dim sum to all parts of the world, but employees’ passion to give their all are equally as important.”
Expansion to the Nation and Beyond
Names like Canning Dim Sum and Jom Dim Sum should be familiar among Ipohites because both are Team Some’s subsidiaries to promote and cater their halal dim sum products around town!
Canning Dim Sum, which started business in June 2018, is located in Canning Garden, just opposite New Hollywood Restaurant. The exquisite decorations are very hard to miss! Canning Dim Sum are also found in Bayan Lepas and Raja Uda in Penang, offering a variety of their delicious morsels.
Jom Dim Sum is a business supply chain around town, usually found in small cafés and eateries. It is also the sole distributor of halal dim sum products in Taiping, Perak; Kuala Lumpur; Sungai Besar, Selangor and Sabah.
“We’re currently in the midst of expanding our distribution chain to Teluk Intan, Seri Iskandar and many more to come,” Ceylyn noted. “International export to Melbourne, Australia has started in March this year.
“Hopefully, we would be able to change the game in the world of food and beverage,” she vowed. “Instead of buying franchises from other countries such as KFC and McDonalds, why don’t we start and sell our very own international outlet brand of healthy halal dim sum? I know that would make us (Malaysians) proud!”
Team Some has won several awards since its inception, such as World Top Gourmet Awards 2019, Nanyang Business Award 2019 and the Rising Star category of The Star Outstanding Business Awards earlier this year.
“This is only the beginning,” Ceylyn said. “There will be many more happy things for us to anticipate.”
MCO Effects
In a recent follow-up with Ceylyn via WhatsApp, she explained, “We are operating the facility as usual (under essentials category of MCO) but with heightened standard hygienic procedures. Employees must wear face masks on top of required hair masks and facility wear, besides entering the air-shower room to disinfect and sterilise themselves before stepping onto the premises.
“Needless to say, we’re not earning much at the moment but at least we could minimise possible financial damage due to the MCO,” Ceylyn lamented.
“We consider ourselves lucky for foreseeing the current situation as we did preparations to promote online delivery of our products in frozen packages,” she posited. “That way, customers will hopefully have no doubts ordering from us.”
Team Some currently offers nationwide deliveries (refer to flyer below). For more information, log on to Facebook and visit their official page at www.facebook.com/JomDimSumHQ. Readers may also contact them via number 016 276 6535 for inquiries.
