KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 — If you live and work in the city, chances are mornings are kind of one big rush. And more often than not, breakfast is sacrificed.
That is why advertising agency colleagues Farhah Pungut, Dafyasa Pradipta, Hairi Hashim, Hakim Ismail and Mo Nazmi started the Warong Buah initiative: to get people to eat a healthy breakfast.
“We started off with fruit kebabs at bazaars but it was hard to keep the fruits fresh so we decided to go with something drier but with fruit elements,” said Mo.
Thus, the Balang Sarapan was born; breakfast in a jar that contains oats, cornflakes, cereal, raisins, dried fruits, seeds and nuts. If you like fresh fruits, Warong Buah will cut bananas, grapes and apples on the spot to add in to the mix.
All you have to do is add milk, Milo or your favourite breakfast drink to the Balang Sarapan and you can eat straight out of the jar with a spoon.
“We are doing this business out of passion. It is an answer to our own problem as well. We have no time to have breakfast in our full-time jobs and we have been neglecting our health. So now, we have a ritual in the office where we would meet up once a month for breakfast,” said Farhah.
According to her, this initiative was born as an alternative way to have fun with food. Even though it is called Balang Sarapan, you can eat it any time of the day like an all-day breakfast.
“When we started this, we didn’t want to have a name because it was something we did informally. But to register for social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, we needed a name so we searched for a name that we’d be comfortable with,” said Farhah.
Warong Buah was chosen because it sounds healthy and the spelling is “old-school.” Currently, the range of products available from Warong Buah contains not fruit in its fresh form but fruits nonetheless, like the quirkily named banana chips: the Chip Siti Wan Kembang.
She was a historical icon from Kelantan and it sounded cool. Most of the names of the products are thought of by Mo who does copywriting full-time.
“Some of the names and taglines are rejected by clients so I used them for Warong Buah,” joked Mo.
Besides that, they have Teatisan, flavoured teas with awesome names like Teatisan Hello Vera, Teatisan Sourdikap, Teatisan Haliyea and Teatisan Double Date made of aloe vera, citron and other refreshing ingredients.
Previously, Warong Buah had a cold pasta salad called Pastafari where customers can choose the sauce they want to accompany macaroni pasta with cucumbers, tomatoes and capsicums.
The price range for the products is between RM10 to RM15 with the drinks going for RM7.90.
Next, Warong Buah is coming up with a hangover series, a breakfast that will cure the dreaded hangover after a night out partying. Farhah says that there are sets for brides and bridegrooms too, food to calm the nerves on the wedding day. It comes accompanied with notecards that contain encouraging quotes.
The company also offers wedding favours in the form of mixed nuts in a small jar that are packed according to the theme of the wedding.
“Currently, Warong Buah is events-based only and we participate in bazaars. It all started last year in August when we partnered up with EcoKnights for KLEFF (Kuala Lumpur Eco Film Fest). We used eco-friendly jars and got our customers to return used jars for a RM2 refund each,” said Farhah.
EcoKnights are now lifetime partners with Warong Buah and there will be more collaborations happening in the future.
“We want people to realise that healthy eating is not hard to do nor is it super expensive,” explained Farhah.
Their next event is the Eco-Bazaar on March 29, 2014 in conjunction with Earth Month at Publika. Warong Buah will be offering assorted mixed nuts as a healthier alternative to popcorn during the film screenings.
“We didn’t want to go too extreme about eating healthy and we found out that this is one of the ways to instill healthy eating. Currently, this initiative is 1.0 and we’re looking towards Warong Buah 2.0,” said Farhah.
“Something called Makan Bersih 2.0, perhaps?” joked Mo.
Eventually, they hope to have their own physical store in the future but that would be a real commitment as they still have their full-time jobs, admitted Farhah.
Meanwhile, they are not resting on their laurels and in the next two months, they hope to launch a fruit delivery service. Working with the makcik buah, Warong Buah plans to have fruit packages delivered to homes and offices.
Warong Buah also approached a few cafés to start a breakfast bar where people can grab something to go. However, that would require different styles of handling and delivery according to Farhah.
So get your serving of healthy munchies at their Facebook page www.facebook.com/warongbuah and Instagram www.instagram.com/warongbuah now!
This story was first published in Crave in the print edition of The Malay Mail on February 28, 2014.
