How do you turn nostalgia into a scalable business in one of Malaysia’s most crowded food and beverage markets?



On this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Nick Ng, Founder and CEO of Hock Kee Kopitiam, about building a modern kopitiam brand rooted in heritage, community, and made-to-order tradition.



From opening a single outlet in Johor Bahru with no prior restaurant experience to growing a multi-outlet chain across Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, and Johor, Nick shares what it takes to stay relevant while scaling. We explore how Hock Kee maintains consistency across outlets, how its revenue mix has evolved, the impact of Halal certification and tourism-linked collaborations, and the operational pressures of running a fast-growing F&B business.

How do you turn nostalgia into a scalable business in one of Malaysia’s most crowded food and beverage markets?On this episode of Open For Business, we speak with Nick Ng, Founder and CEO of Hock Kee Kopitiam, about building a modern kopitiam brand rooted in heritage, community, and made-to-order tradition.From opening a single outlet in Johor Bahru with no prior restaurant experience to growing a multi-outlet chain across Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, and Johor, Nick shares what it takes to stay relevant while scaling. We explore how Hock Kee maintains consistency across outlets, how its revenue mix has evolved, the impact of Halal certification and tourism-linked collaborations, and the operational pressures of running a fast-growing F&amp;B business.

The flagship entrepreneurship show on BFM, featuring personal business stories from early stage start-ups, all the way to billionaire octogenarians in Malaysia and abroad. Notable guests include Martin Cooper (father of the mobile phone), Julian Assange (founder of WikiLeaks), Ralph Henry Baer (father of video games), Tony Buzan (Mindmap Guru), Isaac Tigrett (Hard Rock Cafe founder), Robert Kiyosaki (Financial Guru), Nick Vujicic (motivational speaker) and more. Tap into this valuable resource of shared experiences for the SME industry, which also touches on news, issues and trends affecting the business community and beyond.

Open For Business

Discover fresh concepts, tackle obstacles, and unleash growth - Open For Business is the dynamic show where BFM engages with entrepreneurs, business leaders, and industry trailblazers, igniting inspiration, sparking success, and exploring new business models.

Old Recipes, New Ambitions: How Hock Kee Kopitiam Is Expanding

In this episode of Open For Business, we look at why coworking seems to have lost its way and whether a quieter, more stripped-back model is the answer.


We speak with Timothy Tiah, founder of Jerry Coworking Space, about building a business that deliberately rejects community theatre, lifestyle branding, and forced interaction. With automated, private offices across the Klang Valley and beyond, Jerry positions itself as infrastructure rather than experience.



We explore coworking fatigue, automation, revenue realities, and what it says about modern work when the most attractive promise might simply be a quiet room and no one asking questions.

In this episode of Open For Business, we look at why coworking seems to have lost its way and whether a quieter, more stripped-back model is the answer. We speak with Timothy Tiah, founder of Jerry Coworking Space, about building a business that deliberately rejects community theatre, lifestyle branding, and forced interaction. With automated, private offices across the Klang Valley and beyond, Jerry positions itself as infrastructure rather than experience.We explore coworking fatigue, automation, revenue realities, and what it says about modern work when the most attractive promise might simply be a quiet room and no one asking questions.

Anti-Coworking, by Design

In late November, Costco filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the “Liberation Day tariffs", and the White House remained surprisingly silent.



BFM speaks with Bryan DeAngelis of Penta Group to decode this "quiet rebellion." Corporate America is finally "unbending the knee," but they are doing it with a new playbook: filing lawsuits based strictly on business logic while avoiding the public shaming that bruises the President's ego.



We discuss:




The Costco Strategy: Why the retailer’s decision to sue quietly after Thanksgiving, relying on "brand math" rather than PR stunts, possibly saved them from a Truth Social firestorm.


The "Business Lane": How companies are learning to push back against policies like tariffs by framing them strictly as shareholder protection rather than political opposition.


Political Volatility & Populism: With the President's poll numbers sinking, Bryan explains why the administration is leaning harder into populist rhetoric (like the attack on institutional housing investors) to regain momentum.


The 2026 Midterm Outlook: Why "razor-thin" margins in Congress mean Democrats could flip the House even before November, and how this gridlock will force the President to rule almost exclusively through Executive Orders.

The Erosion of Authority: From GOP resignations to state-level defiance on redistricting, we analyse whether the White House is losing its grip on its own party.

In late November, Costco filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the “Liberation Day tariffs", and the White House remained surprisingly silent.BFM speaks with Bryan DeAngelis of Penta Group to decode this "quiet rebellion." Corporate America is finally "unbending the knee," but they are doing it with a new playbook: filing lawsuits based strictly on business logic while avoiding the public shaming that bruises the President's ego.We discuss:<ul><li>The Costco Strategy: Why the retailer’s decision to sue quietly after Thanksgiving, relying on "brand math" rather than PR stunts, possibly saved them from a Truth Social firestorm.</li><li>The "Business Lane": How companies are learning to push back against policies like tariffs by framing them strictly as shareholder protection rather than political opposition.</li><li>Political Volatility &amp; Populism: With the President's poll numbers sinking, Bryan explains why the administration is leaning harder into populist rhetoric (like the attack on institutional housing investors) to regain momentum.</li><li>The 2026 Midterm Outlook: Why "razor-thin" margins in Congress mean Democrats could flip the House even before November, and how this gridlock will force the President to rule almost exclusively through Executive Orders.</li></ul>The Erosion of Authority: From GOP resignations to state-level defiance on redistricting, we analyse whether the White House is losing its grip on its own party.

Suing Trump’s White House: Has Costco Cracked the Code?

Restaurants are under pressure like never before like rising costs, staff shortages, shrinking margins, and systems that were never designed for today’s pace of business. 



We speak with Squall Tan, CEO of FeedMe, about how a simple frustration with slow service and wrong orders led to the creation of a full F&B operating system now used across the region.



Squall shares how FeedMe evolved from a homegrown POS into an integrated platform that helps restaurants automate ordering, reduce operational blind spots, and make smarter, data-driven decisions.



From why most F&B businesses fail, to how AI is reshaping restaurant operations and what it takes to scale a food-tech company across Asia, this is a discussion on how technology is quietly redefining the F&B industry.

Restaurants are under pressure like never before like rising costs, staff shortages, shrinking margins, and systems that were never designed for today’s pace of business. We speak with Squall Tan, CEO of FeedMe, about how a simple frustration with slow service and wrong orders led to the creation of a full F&amp;B operating system now used across the region.Squall shares how FeedMe evolved from a homegrown POS into an integrated platform that helps restaurants automate ordering, reduce operational blind spots, and make smarter, data-driven decisions.From why most F&amp;B businesses fail, to how AI is reshaping restaurant operations and what it takes to scale a food-tech company across Asia, this is a discussion on how technology is quietly redefining the F&amp;B industry.

Old Recipes, New Ambitions: How Hock Kee Kopitiam Is Expanding

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