While I’m based out of the Klang Valley now, I’m a very proud Melakan kid and am always thrilled to learn about interesting businesses in my hometown.
Recently, I came across a business called Bri:z Everyday. Just minutes away from my childhood home, it’s a quaint cafe serving up speciality coffee and pastries.
Reaching out to the cafe, I learnt that it’s run by Muhammad Abid Jeffry, who obtained his food service diploma at UITM. After that, he worked at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for almost two years.
Interestingly, venturing into coffee wasn’t really his plan, though. In reality, he had wanted to continue on a more culinary path, but during his internship, he was assigned to work at the coffee bar.
During this stint, he ended up having to manage a booth selling coffee outdoors by himself, which was when he realised that he could start his own brand, too.
That’s when the concept for Bri:z got its start.
Many obstacles in the beginning
Abid’s always been exposed to entrepreneurship, in a way, as his parents own a few businesses, mostly in the education industry.
A kindergarten that they owned happened to be located in Bukit Beruang, next to a shop lot where Abid really wanted to base his coffee business. At the time, though, it was occupied. So, he set his sights on the empty roadside spot across the road.
There was someone else running a business there too, with the usual plastic chairs and tables set up. Abid felt like they weren’t operating it to the site’s full potential, so he reached out and suggested running a coffee booth with his own brand. Sadly, they rejected him.
So, patiently, Abid began to wait. And after a year or so, he finally got the opportunity to start a business in that exact spot in Bukit Beruang.
An opportunity to give others opportunities
Speaking to Abid, it’s clear that starting Bri:z isn’t just about making profits for himself. Rather, he’s the kind of person who enjoys using his own abilities to help others.
A motivator for starting the business was to help his family members.
“My parents are still working to support our family. I have siblings who just entered their tertiary education too,” he explained.
But his parents actually weren’t completely in on his entrepreneurship journey at first, as they wanted him to continue his studies. When he spent all his bonus to buy his coffee machine, his parents didn’t speak to him for a day.
He admitted that he would also put all his income into the business, even till today.
Filled with that fiery entrepreneurial spirit, though, Abid persisted and created his own business plan and proposal to show his parents.
That said, his parents ended up supporting his dreams, too. For one, Abid started out operating his coffee business out of a Mercedes E220 W124, which his father originally bought for around RM5k.
And now, his father would show up all the time at Bri:z to support the team and sometimes help out.
Meanwhile, his mum was the one who gave him his business name. Pronounced as “breeze”, it was inspired by the year Abid spent unable to set up shop.
During that year, in the empty tapak where he wanted to set up shop, Abid would park his motorbike and would just look at the trees. For one year, he did that and manifested the shop of his dreams.
And like that, the year passed by like a breeze, and Abid opened up Bri:z in May 2023.
One step at a time
Aside from family, another reason Abid felt encouraged to open a business was to help his best friend.
“I felt like he was wasting his potential, so I was like, ‘Eh, engkau, ikut aku la’,” he shared.
Together with his friend, they even built their own table out of wood, using a small saw to create the cart for their business.
So, they went from running the business from a car boot to having their own cart.
And now they have their own brick-and-mortar store in the shop lot he always wanted.
Today, Bri:z is run by a small team of three, including Abid, his friend, and a head barista.
They actually managed to secure some financing from the government through a Malaysia MADANI programme and aim to renovate the store within the next couple of months.
Bri:z has even grown to another brand, Sage by Bri:z, which is more of a concept for events and catering services.
Abid decided to create a different brand so he could keep the identities and concepts separate. This is because offerings for events would typically differ from what Bri:z sells day-to-day, as it’s sometimes catered to specific events.
Bringing a new culture to Melaka
The cafe culture in Melaka has definitely been growing steadily over the years, even in Bukit Beruang itself. With that in mind, how is Bri:z maintaining a competitive edge?
“Why does Bri:z stand out?” he mused when asked. “Entahlah.”
Abid went on to elaborate that there’s likely a myriad of reasons. Over the course of the past year and a half, the coffee business has become a communal space for the neighbourhood.
Just a few months into opening the business, Abid noticed that it had become a place for people to meet up. “Not to borak about business or insurance, but for people to lepak after a long day.”
The cafe’s operating hours, from 10AM to 11PM, both cater to and capitalise on that audience.
“We don’t focus on attracting customers from far away, but cater to those in the community,” Abid elaborated.
That said, they do hope to expand in the future to other areas in Melaka. For now, though, they want to push for community events so there’s something new to experience.
An example is pop-up markets, which are still quite rare in Melaka. Last month, he hosted a thrift event.
“With just three to four manpower, we manage to host a sizeable pop-up market,” he said.
He’s also organising a bar takeover whereby a barista will come with speciality beans, offering drinks in their own style.
While Abid doesn’t think that Bri:z is necessarily being a trendsetter, he does agree that most people in Melaka haven’t been exposed to these kinds of events yet, or perhaps do not have the opportunity to frequent them.
That’s why, as much as Bri:z exists to support himself, his family, and his friends, it’s also about helping all Melakans.
“I want to give something to the community,” he shared. “Itu je.”
Featured Image Credit: Bri:z Everyday
