Self-described burger addict, Amran Husni would drive around in the middle of the night in a hunt for some good and delicious burgers.
During the MCO, the income for his business, Phenomedic Hayacare Sdn Bhd (PHSB) which he started with his sister, was significantly affected.
As a finance director, he needed to cut expenses in order to sustain the business.
One of which was his own salary.
“So to release my stress and keep me sane, cooking was my escape,” he shared.
This form of release was what created TPC Burger.
It Only Took 1 Picture
Influenced by his mother as a young boy, Amran was already able to cook nasi goreng by himself when he was 7 years old.
“I would always find time to cook or bake for my family. I also used to sell cookies and cakes a few years ago to fill my free time,” he said.
While locked up at home, he tried making a burger from scratch with his own recipe. Proud of his masterpiece, he uploaded a picture of it on Facebook.
Friends and family started requesting deliveries of the burger and even offered to pay for it too, much to his surprise.
“They kept asking for more and were willing to repeat the orders. My wife and I had difficulties in stocking up on raw materials, particularly for the beef patty because of the MCO,” he said.
That’s where the name TPC comes from, he said. Unofficially meaning, “Tak Pernah Cukup”, which translates to “never enough”.
Word of mouth soon spread due to his friends sharing pictures of the burgers online.
More people gained interest in trying his homemade gourmet burgers, too.
He eventually appointed riders from Grab and Lalamove to deliver the orders from his home in Shah Alam, Selangor.
The response was so overwhelming that orders were even being delivered to Nilai and Seremban.
On average, he was selling up to 40 burgers everyday from his home kitchen.
This high customer demand gave him the confidence to start a TPC Burger stall of his own.
I want TPC Burger to be like a Ramly Burger but with gourmet style and taste. Gourmet burgers nowadays operate by brick and mortar concept, it requires huge capital and will translate to a higher price. I want to keep it as affordable as possible and at the same time, you still can enjoy a good gourmet burger.
Amran Husni, Founder of TPC Burger
Making It Insta-Worthy
“After the CMCO, I decided to open a stall as the demands kept increasing and my home kitchen could not cope with it anymore,” he said.
When he finally roughed out an approximate RM10,000 to start the stall, sales were below RM300 per day.
“Even if your food is super delish, if there’s no proper exposure I don’t think people would be interested to buy it,” he shared.
To overcome this, Amran paid a food blogger to share his burgers on social media.
“I also improved the looks of my burger by wrapping it half open and vertically, so it’s more Instaragamable,” he said.
This form of presentation excited more people to share it online. He cited myBurgerlab’s black bun burgers as an example of his inspiration.
From this exposure, he was able to sell 200 burgers per night, within the 4 hours (7.30PM to 11.30PM) that the stall is open from Thursdays to Sundays.
Amran runs the stall with his wife where they do most of the prep in the daytime, starting as early as 6AM.
When the stall begins its operations by 7PM, he hires some family and friends who need the extra income to help him out in serving customers.
The entrepreneur shared that he blocks out Mondays to Wednesdays to dedicate his time as an accountant to PHSB.
But the rest of his week is focused on TPC Burger where it’s a full day of work that ends at 1AM after cleaning up.
“If PHSB needs my attention during Thursdays to Sundays, I will remotely find time to settle and try to delegate as much as possible to my staff,” he added.
It’s a rough and demanding passion project, but it’s worth it to this burger addict who already has plans to start promotions and loyalty programmes for his burgers.
When asked about what keeps him going, he said, “It’s definitely because of passion and satisfaction to see people enjoy your burgers and keep coming back for more.”
To stand out from other gourmet burgers in the market, Amran shared that he wants to create more unique burgers.
He also plans to actively engage with audiences through his social media pages.
Featured Image Credit: Amran, founder of TPC Burger
