He’s a photographer, a former cook, and a coffee lover. Who better to open a film-slash-coffee shop?
Taku Iwama, who is half-Malaysian and half-Japanese, moved to Malaysia when he was young. He grew up here, finishing his tertiary education in Monash University where he double-majored in marketing and finance.
After that, though, he decided to return to Japan to pursue photography.
With that, he began his career as a photographer, finding himself working in both Japan and Indonesia. Some of his clients include companies such as Nike China, Shiseido Ginza Japan, Vogue Magazine China, Hypebeast Magazine Japan, and Potato Head Bali.
But before Taku became a notable photographer, he spent his days working as a cook in an izakaya in Shimokitazawa. He picked up his cooking chops here, though it slowly transitioned into a part-time gig as his photography work became more stable.
Leveraging his passion and experience as a cook and a photographer, Taku eventually opened Sunday Morning Coffee Shop in Johor, offering Malaysians a new way to enjoy photography and a good brew.
Starting a kissaten
The idea of opening a coffee shop came to Taku four years ago, when he was still in Japan. His family came across a small unit on the second floor that they were renting out—a unit that Sunday Morning now inhabits.
“During that time, I got a little drained from living in Japan and thought of taking a break from Japan and moving to Malaysia for a while,” he explained. “I ended up staying here for a few years now running Sunday Morning.”
While the business aligns with Taku’s own interests, the inspiration also came from his uncle, whom he’s very close to. Taku’s uncle has a small coffee shop that he’s been running by himself for over a decade in Japan, located at Taku’s grandmother’s hometown, Tochigi.
“Whenever I go back to visit my family, I’ll always end up hanging around his coffee shop,” he explained.
With fond memories of the space, Taku decided to emulate the same with his Johor cafe.
From a personal lab to a communal one
The integration of film came naturally. After all, Taku has been working with film since he started his career as a photographer in 2017.
“When I was working as a photographer, all of my work was shot on film. Naturally, I started to develop my own film as a way to speed up my work as well as keeping everything done by myself,” he explained.
That’s why his first thought for the Sunday Morning space was actually to just run a film lab and photo studio for himself.
But after planning it through, he realised just doing film wasn’t that sustainable, especially since most of his clients were overseas and his body of work wasn’t as suitable for the local market.
“So, I started to focus on the coffee side and attached the film lab as a way for people around JB to be able to still get their film processed and also to retain my first plan of opening a film lab,” he explained.
Sunday Morning offers developing and scanning services for a variety of films, including colour film, black and white film, and motion films. They also carry some film cameras and film rolls.
Today, Sunday Morning is operated by two different teams—one focusing on the lab, the other on the coffee. Taku has enlisted the help of a friend to do the processing service so he can focus on sales and F&B.
Finding the right team was extremely difficult, though, especially since many Johoreans tend to look for work in Singapore due to the currency. To attract and retain talent, Taku tries his best to treat them as family and build the relationship from there.
“To me, it’s extremely important in the long run, so I would say the bond with our staff is one of our main strategies. Treat them as a family and naturally they will also treat you as such,” he believes.
Good food and culture
As for the food, most of the dishes are actually developed from Taku’s family recipes. In fact, his father used to run an izakaya back in the days at Fukushima, Japan.
“All of the menu is mostly what my family used to cook on a daily basis, and from there, I try to do more research and progress,” he said.
He also calls upon his own izakaya experience in Japan. As for desserts, Taku has a partner who graduated from Le Cordon Bleu.
Speaking about the mission of Sunday Morning, Taku boils it down to one word. “Culture,” he said. “I think that’s what we are trying to offer.”
This is specifically felt with his coffee-making process, which involves labour-intensive components such as a small hand-roast contraption from Japan.
“I think it’s a culture that I really appreciate since I was young looking at my uncle working at his coffee shop, so I think it’s something that needs to be appreciated by more people,” he mused.
“It’s not to say that our way of doing things is better because it’s more labour intensive, but I do think that it’s a tradition that should be appreciated.”
Picturing the future
With Sunday Morning Coffee Shop, Taku’s goal is to continue to progress holistically.
“After three years of doing business, I realise that there won’t be an end goal, we always try to progress and once we are there, we are looking for a new goal to be achieved, so I feel like we just need to keep the passion alive and seek for progression constantly.”
That said, they do have plans for expansion. But the team hopes to find a place that really suits their interest. After all, Taku truly believes in staying true to oneself.
“There’s so many trends going on. Almost every year there will be a new one,” he mused. “But I just try to steer away from that and do what we do, which is to make authentic Japanese food and coffee.”
“I think the most important thing is to stay true and do things as holistic as possible and always try to progress without losing our own principles, and hopefully that’s how we can stay in business for a long time.”
- Learn more about Sunday Morning Coffee Shop here.
- Read other articles we’ve written about F&B businesses here.
Featured Image Credit: Sunday Morning Coffee Shop
