Born and bred in Malaysia, Ryan’s academic background is actually in medicine and biosciences. But you might not have ever guessed that, as he went on to study culinary and pastry at Le Cordon Bleu London.
From there, he went on to work in London’s restaurant and hotel industry, as well as have stints in private and corporate dining and catering.
Four years ago, Ryan decided to take an extended break, which brought him back to Malaysia.
Little did he know that the pandemic would greatly affect his trip home. To pass the time, he started selling cookies with his dad.
Starting out, they did not have any plans for a physical store. Yet, they somehow stumbled upon their first location in Taman Paramount, which was a recommendation from a family friend. One thing led to another, and a physical store came to be. With that, bröom Artisan Bakery was truly born.
Timing was on their side, as Ryan felt they were poised to ride the croissant and bakery wave that started sweeping the Klang Valley at that time.
He shared, “My dad’s a huge support system to my having the confidence to start and run the business. My dad had a successful corporate career before retiring. He also runs several successful companies and is very well-versed in the ins-and-outs of the business world.”
With his business acumen and mental support as well as Ryan’s own industry expertise, they set out on their entrepreneurial journey together four years ago.
If at first you don’t succeed
But bröom is not the first venture that the father-son duo embarked on. Just months before starting the bakery business, they actually had a business called GOSSYPIUM.
GOSSYPIUM was a brunch place in Bangsar South that Ryan started when he first came back from London.
During his extended break, he and his father decided to explore opening a store there to run a food business.
However, they were a bit in over their heads. At the time, they were not familiar with the food industry.
“All I knew was of my experience with the consumers and trends in London, and we learnt pretty quickly how different the London scene was to the scene here in KL,” he said.
He continued, “Suffice to say, we didn’t do well with this first restaurant. We closed GOSSYPIUM about one month before the beginning of COVID, a hidden blessing looking back at it now.”
Ryan was planning to head back to London upon closing this store but serendipitously started a new brand instead, bröom.
Try, try again
Just a year into their business, they stumbled upon a KL building by chance. At that point, they weren’t really looking to expand, but had kept an open mind.
“We immediately fell in love with the building at first sight, and the rest is history,” Ryan said. “We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try applying the bröom touch to such an amazingly beautiful heritage building.”
The KL location is quite a competitive one, though, filled with great cafes, restaurants, and bars. But the bröom team finds it to be a privilege to be amongst them.
Being in that area also opens them up to a very different audience. While the PJ store caters to the neighbourhood crowd and thus serves many regulars, the Bukit Bintang store welcomes more tourists and visitors from other states.
Around the same time, bröom also expanded to another arm called the bröomery, which is their central bakery space.
“We have been very fortunate and outgrew our cosy bakery in our PJ store very early on in our journey,” Ryan explained. “And with a second store in tow back then, we felt it was a natural step to invest in a larger space that could produce a higher quantity of items.”
bröom also received a lot of queries to supply other businesses with their baked goods, so that also served as a big reason to open a production space to support a B2B arm.
The team recently relocated the bröomery to a larger 5,000+ sq ft location, having outgrown the first central bakery space about one year in.
“At present, we are working with about 15 businesses, ranging from independent cafes, chains, and hotels,” he said.
Championing local flours
From the beginning, bröom has always championed local flours in their baked goods. This is a fact that the customers now have really learnt to appreciate, Ryan said.
“That makes us so happy and there is a certain undeniable pride in what we can produce locally,” he said. “Besides being as good as other ingredients (in our opinion), sourcing closer to home affords us to control our costs better, which we are then able to pass on to our customers.”
He shared that this is evident in their bestsellers, the sourdoughs, which are priced lower than many other options in the market.
However, because of their use of locally milled flours and regionally sourced butters, bröom has had their fair share of sceptics and customers who compare their products to those that use flours and butters from better known regions.
“We stuck to our ethos, and I think we’ve arrived at a point now that our consumers better understand and appreciate that decision of ours,” he said.
Aside from the pricing, the brand also stays competitive and relevant by workshopping new items for both their bakery line-up as well as their food and drink menus.
Baking it forward
“We’ve got some really exciting plans in store for our brand,” Ryan said. “We’ve got three stores coming up this year, some with a different concept, but all with the bröom touch of course.”
With the first store slated to open in July, we are excited to see the bröom brand grow into a notable bakery and café chain in Malaysia.
For budding entrepreneurs looking to enter the bakery or café space here in Malaysia, Ryan’s best advice is to have passion.
“As tacky as that sounds, passion is the one thing that will remind you why you’re in this, through the rewarding moments, and the plentiful punishing times. That’s the first lesson I’d say I’ve learnt in this journey,” he said.
He also advises being open to listen and learn. Knowledge is power, so do your research before doing anything that you want to do.
Last but not least, Ryan believes in believing in your team. If not for his team, he doesn’t think bröom would be anywhere close to what they are now.
“Trust that there are people out there who share in your vision and passion, and give them the space to shine with you.”
Featured Image Credit: bröom Artisan Bakery
