These Johoreans started a halal lok lok brand that revamps the snack for the Muslim crowd

When you dwell in Malaysia, likelihood is you’ve encountered a lok lok stand or truck at the least a few times throughout your lifetime.

A well-liked native road meals, lok loks are skewers of steamboat-styled meals, from fishballs and cockles to meat and greens. My favorite choices embody fish tofu and quail eggs. Boring for some, I’m positive.

For the uninitiated, you possibly can consider lok lok as one thing much like oden, or satay celup with out as a lot celup-ing. As a substitute of an enormous boiling pot of satay gravy, lok lok is normally loved with dipping sauces.

The factor about lok lok, although, is that it’s sometimes not halal, making it one thing that not all Malaysians get to take pleasure in.

Decided to vary this, Mohd Radzi bin Wahab and Mahalim bin Hashim Lim got here collectively to start out a brand new halal lok lok enterprise by the title of Mr Lok Lok.

Meet the misters behind the lok lok

Earlier than venturing into the F&B realm, Radzi had been a Maybank officer, then later a division supervisor at Yayasan Pelajaran Mara.

In 2016, although, he pivoted and began a model referred to as Muo Kopi.

In the meantime, his enterprise accomplice, Mahalim, had pursued his Bachelor’s diploma in enterprise, specialising in advertising. Previous to beginning Mr Lok Lok, he had managed a restaurant by the title of SuperTea, now referred to as Energy Tea.

Leveraging the 2’s experience in F&B, they got here collectively in November 2019, opening a 40-seater restaurant in Bandar Seri Alam, Johor. From there, Mr Lok Lok’s story started.

Rebranding lok lok

As talked about, lok lok is commonly related to the Chinese language-Malaysian inhabitants, one thing that the house owners of Mr Lok Lok have recognised.

“As we all know, lok lok is a Chinese language delicacies meals, whereas some Malays really feel sceptical about consuming them,” they stated, referring to the halal standing of most lok lok locations.

Thus, Mr Lok Lok got down to be the primary halal lok lok restaurant in Johor with a halal certification from Majlis Agama Islam Johor.

“After we acquired the halal cert from MAIJ, our gross sales elevated as a result of extra individuals are assured to eat at Mr Lok Lok,” they stated.

Extra than simply the certification, nonetheless, Mr Lok Lok determined to rebrand lok lok, in a manner, so Muslims also can benefit from the meals. Branding apart, the crew diversified to supply greater than 80 kinds of lok lok choices.

“Mr Lok Lok has developed a tradition and elegance distinctive to fashionable Malaysia, creating a complete gastronomic and visible [appeal] to its ever-growing buyer base, each native and expatriates,” the founders elaborated.

That explains their tagline on Fb, which reads: “Model Lokal Rasa Worldwide”—an area model with a world style.

Extra than simply lok lok

To go together with the skewers, Mr Lok Lok has 16 kinds of sauces for purchasers to select from, corresponding to spicy sauces, mayonnaise cheese, Thai sauce, sesame sauce, and wasabi.

A spokesperson of the corporate additionally advised BERNAMA in March 2022 that there have been plans to commercialise these sauces for the native and worldwide markets.

Nonetheless, analysis and improvement for these sauces are nonetheless underway. The method is finicky, because the crew is aiming to protect the style and uniqueness of their sauces, that are all home made.

“We’re additionally collaborating with UTM to do the newest packaging, so we will promote the sauces as a aspect earnings for Mr Lok Lok,” they added.

Apart from the skewers, Mr Lok Lok additionally serves speciality drinks corresponding to bubble tea and occasional.

Bringing halal lok lok to the remainder of Malaysia

Within the aforementioned interview with BERNAMA, the enterprise shared that it has plans to increase to the Klang Valley via franchising its model, in addition to a second outlet in Kulai.

The crew shared with Vulcan Publish that as a substitute of Kulai, they’re now contemplating Gelang Patah for his or her second outlet, which they tentatively shared will likely be prepared by the top of 2024.

“And for the franchising within the Klang Valley, it’s nonetheless underneath progress for making use of licensing,” the crew shared.

Within the meantime, although, the founders are hoping to strengthen Mr Lok Lok’s presence in Johor, with a objective to cowl all 10 districts within the state.

Study extra about Mr Lok Lok right here.
Learn different articles we’ve written about F&B companies right here.

Featured Picture Credit score: Mr Lok Lok