PETALING JAYA, Aug 23 — The weather has been unpredictable. Rainy one minute, sweltering the next. Which is why a scoop of this mango passion fruit sherbet feels like manna.
An impeccable blend of luscious creaminess and fruity tanginess, this sweet scoop is the summer special at Churn, an all-natural artisanal ice cream parlour in Damansara Uptown, PJ.
Churn is the brainchild of CK Lee and Wendy Lee, both 27. The foodie of the two is CK who has always loved food since he was young, especially ice cream.
CK recalls, "I could eat two litres of ice cream in one sitting and would still want more the next day. Food captured my interest at a young age. I always knew I wanted to do something in the food industry so I studied culinary and business marketing.”
His partner in crime provides the social media savvy as she was in digital marketing prior to launching Churn. Wendy says, "I graduated in the UK with a bachelor's degree in economics. When my boyfriend proposed his idea of starting an ice cream business. I was sold right away and tendered my resignation letter shortly after!”
The idea for Churn was a long time coming as CK first produced an early version during his university days.
He explains, "I was assigned by my lecturer to come up with a unique business idea. The idea I had was alcoholic ice cream, which was unique back in 2014. So I immediately bought myself an ice cream machine, made the first batch of alcoholic ice cream and to my surprise, it was a hit with the students.”
As time went on, CK got busy with his studies and his personal interests shifted to other culinary areas such as pastries and cakes. He had decided to further his studies by pursuing a masters degree but then the pandemic hit.
He recalls, "I had to halt my studies which was a real letdown. With nothing to do at home during the lockdown, I started making ice cream again just for the fun of it. That gave me the idea of trying to sell my ice cream online to keep myself busy.”
Churn has gone from a home based business to a shop in Damansara Uptown, PJ.
While some startup founders decide to go forth alone, CK proposed the idea of an ice cream business to Wendy — "We decided that we would make ice creams that all Malaysians would love,” CK says - as he believed two heads are always better than one.
This meant collaborating in formulating a unique selling point for their product: CK might have the food know-how, but Wendy understood what the market wanted and was more likely to respond positively to it.
CK says, "The core principle behind how we develop our ice cream is just simple things done well. That’s why we believe in 100 percent natural ingredients, that no preservatives and no colouring are the way to go.”
This philosophy guided them during the R&D (research and development) phase as they tinkered with old favourites such as Earl Grey and Valrhona Chocolate, Roasted Pistachio and Hazelnut, Coconut and Coffee, as well as new ones such as Strawberry Milk.
From the ice cream maker to a tub: Churn’s roasted pistachio ice cream.
Wendy enthuses, "Ice cream is like a blank canvas where the ingredients play an important role in how they impact the flavour and quality of the end product. There’s a saying that you can tell if the ice cream shop is good or not simply by judging their vanilla ice cream.”
Churn’s own vanilla offering is their Madagascar Vanilla; the island off the coast of East Africa is home to the world’s vanilla bean industry accounting for about 80 per cent of the global production.
Which is to say, even if the vanilla option is stellar, chances are it won’t really set an ice cream purveyor apart from the crowd. Churn’s individual charm might lie in their more local inspired flavours such as Cendol, Pink Guava Sorbet and the surprising Pineapple Tart.
A spread of Churn’s ice creams, including local flavours such as Cendol and Pineapple Tart.
The pandemic presented many challenges but also opportunities, especially for aspiring F&B entrepreneurs such as CK and Wendy. While some established shops and restaurants had to change their strategies or the way they ran their operations, for the new kids on the block, it was an open buffet of options.
CK shares, "In the beginning we were fully online based and it was all in our house. Making, packing, selling and delivering - it was all from the comfort of our own home.”
Marketing their ice cream meant a strong social media presence as well as participating in various weekend markets to introduce their brand to the public. But even home based businesses have inherently built in problems, the biggest being space.
Wendy explains, "We made use of our limited equipment to make and develop ice creams. As we grew, we found that a home based operation has its limitations, which is lack of storage, manpower, equipment and so on. We couldn’t meet the surging demand.”
Which meant that they had to shift to a more commercial base of operations if they wanted to scale up or remain at their then smaller and constrained production output. The pair wisely chose the former.
In July, Churn finally opened a store front for their products, an ice cream parlour, if you will. Besides their scoops, there are also freshly made sourdough waffles to go with the ice cream. Now that they have a long-awaited physical shop after being home based during the entire pandemic, the sky's the limit, says CK.
Freshly made sourdough waffles to go with Churn’s ice cream.
He adds, "We can expand our reach and develop a wider variety of flavours and products like a brown butter apple pie ice cream, kombucha sorbet, some ice cream cakes, ice cream floats and many more.”
At the end of the day, the duo hopes what Churn offers goes beyond a menu of artisanal ice cream (which, admittedly, isn’t the rarest thing in town, even before the pandemic and the ensuing uptick in home based F&B businesses).
The objective can be simpler and more satisfying, if they achieve it. As Wendy puts it: "We want to provide a warm and cosy place for all dessert lovers to enjoy their food, connect and be happy!”
Churn Malaysia
58, Jalan SS 21/58, Damansara Utama, PJ
Tel: 010-902 2607
FB: facebook.com/churnmy/
IG: instagram.com/churn_my/