During the pandemic in July 2020, Phoebe Magdelene’s father experienced difficulties in securing a job and she was worried of the uncertainty and negative consequences on her family, through financial hardship.
Phoebe, an entrepreneurial student from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah was starting to feel her father’s struggles herself.
Fortunately, there were some things that she could do to cope with the stress and worry in a positive way during this crisis.
“Due to my business background, I began to flirt with the idea of starting a small home-based business to help us come out of our financial difficulties,” said Phoebe.
Phoebe’s family decided to start Oliver’s Pasta and got the new business off the ground with just Phoebe and her family members producing pizzas in the kitchen during Covid.
The quote, “Success doesn’t come easy, it comes to those who persevere” rings true for the family who experienced their fair share of struggles. There were a lot of struggles initially, but these were all overcome.
While many businesses were seen closing down or losing revenue due to the Covid, Oliver’s Pasta pizza business from home was successful in this new landscape, thriving and seeing strong demand during the coronavirus pandemic.
Olivers’ Pasta utilized the Foodpanda’s platform to meet consumer needs and to help the business grow amid the pandemic.
Why do you choose pizza business over any other kind of food businesses?
“It got me thinking about how my father’s pasta was always the crowd’s favourite no matter where we went. Be it at family gatherings or when I shared his pasta with my friends, it was evident everyone thoroughly enjoyed his pasta. Due to this, it was only natural that his pasta was top of our minds when starting our own business and selling baked pasta was definitely top of my mind, since almost everyone raved about my dad’s special dish.”
How your father learned to cook the perfect pasta?
“As a young man, my father always had the passion for cooking. He took inspiration from those before him, such as his parents, recipe books and cooking shows. The number of hours he spent in the kitchen, I finally understand when people say stamina is essential for a cook. The long-standing hours and physical strength needed to be able to stay in the kitchen and put in the hours cannot be underestimated.
“For as long as I can remember, my father has been trying to create various versions of Baked Pasta. He experimented with different methods and used different recipes. There were some good ones and some underwhelming ones but that never stopped him from trying. Eventually, through his hard work, he struck gold and found perfection in his own creation.”
Was starting a business harder than you expected?
“Starting a business is hard work. As a family-run business, we are involved in all aspects of the business and it can be very challenging exacerbated by Covid-19.
In the beginning, the business was slow. We take on the entire operation all by ourselves. Everything was done manually, from preparing the dish, to marketing it online, receiving orders via social media and to sending it out ourselves, even door-to-door deliveries. Thankfully, we were introduced to Foodpanda which became the main catalyst for growing our business.”
How did the Foodpanda platform help?
“We were grateful to have a platform such as Foodpanda to help navigate and ease the start of our own business taking off. The convenience of riders and customers having easy access to our business through the app really helped us grow.”
Besides the challenges, did you also see new opportunities coming?
“Of course, I do! As of now, we are focusing our energy and attention into perfecting what we are already producing. By ensuring the quality of our food is always top notch, our hope is to strengthen the relationship between us and our customers. By doing so, we believe we are creating a stronger foundation for the future of this business.
“The hope is to one day be stable enough to expand and diversify our home business whilst opening our very own physical restaurant. The ideas are still in the works to introduce new recipes and ideas. Who knows after that? Maybe even more than one restaurant. It is still early but certainly given the promising feedback we have received online from foodpanda customers, there is no limit to what we could achieve.”
What are your plans for the future to achieve greater things and cross off more items from the bucket list?
“I am an ambitious person from a tough background and I understand fully what it takes to achieve greatness. I am currently pursuing my degree in entrepreneurship and am truly enjoying the learning process of it. It is something I can relate to and am able to apply with our business.
“After graduation, I would first like to land a job elsewhere to utilize my personal skills and learn new things from others, especially from people of different backgrounds, experiences and thinking styles. This would be highly valuable for my future aspirations.
“Previously, I have taken on plenty of jobs working at cafés and there is not one experience that I would change even if I had the chance to. I felt at home working in the food and beverage industry. Although it was not my own business, it just felt right. With that, I hope that I will be able to save enough funds and gain the right experience needed to further expand Oliver’s Pasta into a restaurant. I can only imagine the excitement in being able to run my own restaurant.”
What words of encouragement do you have to offer aspiring entrepreneurs who are keen on pursuing a similar passion?
“Firstly, you have to believe in yourself and faith in your own capabilities. It is inevitable that things will get tough but you will need to have a positive mindset in order to be successful.
“All of the skills and training in the world cannot prepare you for the fear and doubt you may eventually face when relying on yourself to change your life.
“However, with that self-belief, you will always be able to overcome any doubts that you may have and that will give you the confidence to get things done. When it comes to starting your own business, you will rarely have someone there to guide you or coach you into doing the right things. You have to become your own coach. The trick is to use your own strengths to your advantage. In the end, it is all about being able to take that leap of faith.”
