If you never tasted the Ramly burger, you are definitely not Malaysian. Their burgers are an all-time Malaysian favourite and enjoyed by many generations.
Last year alone, Ramly Food Industries Sdn Bhd recorded a whopping revenue of more than RM 1 billion, a 20 per cent growth compared to the year before.
Ramly Food Industries is deemed to be one of the largest food manufacturers in Southeast Asia. According to their website, the Ramly factory is a fully automated production line facility, and they are in the midst of expanding. Phase 2 of the expansion has the capability to process five tonnes of raw materials per hour for each product! That is six times more than what they are producing per day now.
It's a family affair. From left: En. Mohd Zaharin bin Dato Dr. Hj. Ramly (Director), Datin Hjh. Shala Siah bt Abdul Manap (Executive Director), Dato Dr Hj. Ramly bin Mokni (Managing Director), Pn. Siti Hayu bt Dato Dr Hj. Ramly (Director). Image source via ramly.com
Who is behind Ramly Burger?
He is Dato Dr Haji Ramly bin Mokni, the creator of Ramly burger. Ramly is born in Tanjung Piandang, Perak. According to an interview in Orang Perak, Ramly is the 8th child of 16 siblings. He grew up in Sekinchan, Selangor, then migrated to Kuala Lumpur for better job opportunities.
He was working in a supermarket when he had the idea of the Ramly burger.
"The idea came from a customer who asked me if one of the burger patties sold in that supermarket was made by bumiputra. Back then, there was dispute around not knowing if burger meat were halal or haram," said Ramly in an Astro Awani interview.
Ramly and his wife, Datin Hajah Shala Siah Binti Abdul Manap, decided it was an opportunity to start a halal burger meat business.
It was a tough start.
The couple started the burger business at home in 1978. Ramly applied for a loan of RM7,000 from Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA), but he was rejected.
Ramly did not give up. He decided to use his own capital of RM2,000 and produced 200 burger patties a day. The couple make-do with whatever equipment at home, using just knives and their two hands.
Burgers are not popular back then. Ramly patties were not well-received. Again, Ramly did not give up. He opened his own burger stall near Chow-Kit and started selling cooked and uncooked patties.
During this time, Ramly took feedback from customers and continue to improve his patty recipe.
Soon, the hard work paid off. The demand for the Ramly burger patties grew. They started producing 3,000 patties a day comparing to the 200 patties when they started.
The development of this high-tech plant covers an area of eight (8) acres of the main office and administrative building. The remaining six (6) acres are divided into several areas such as high-tech water waste treatment plants, logistics docking bay, staff/visitor parking and security office. Image source via ramly.com
Fruits of the relentless efforts
After two years, the couple decided to set up a company. Within four years, in 1984, Ramly managed to open a factory of 100,000 sqft in Bandar Tun Razak. In only 5 years, the factory had reached its maximum capacity. But, the demand for Ramly burgers is still increasing!
Ramly expanded his business to a 3 acres factory in Batu Caves. They went from 100,000 burger patties a day to 1 million burger patties a day with that expansion. With this expansion, they also started introducing sausages, nuggets, minced meat and many more products.
In 2018, they built an even bigger factory! The factory in Pulau Indah is 5.6 acres, almost three times bigger than the Batu Caves' factory. This led his company to hit annual sales of RM1 billion the following year!
- Best Project Award by Bank Development 1982.
- Customer Development Award by Development Bank 1984.
- Jaya Entrepreneur Award by Development Bank 1992.
- Halal Industrial Excellence Award in World Halal Conference 2016.
Spinning off for micro-businesses
The demand for burgers in the current market is high. The Ramly empire has opened up almost 30,000 micro-entrepreneurs, but they aimed to reach 100,000.
In Ramly's interview on TV9, "if the burger stall can sell about 200 burgers a night, it means they could earn a net profit of RM200 a night or more."
The future of Ramly Burger
The new factory on 2.27 hectares in Klang, Ramly said the group had set its sights on gradually expanding the Ramly Halal Mart and Ramly Halal Kiosk network to 450 outlets nationwide.
Currently, there are 16 Ramly Halal Mart and 12 Ramly Halal Kiosk outlets.
Ramly Group exports its products to various Asian countries, including Thailand, Singapore, Bangladesh, and Indonesia.
Ok. We are going to order some Ramly burgers now.
It's Ramly time. Image source via eatbook.sg
