The name Khairulaming has now become one of the familiar names for many people in Malaysia. Famous for sharing cooking recipes during the month of Ramadan, Khairulaming has also begun to expand its offering of food products such as Sambal Nyet and Fired Nyet Jerky.
Although Khairulaming recently managed to sell products worth RM1 million in just 3 minutes 39 seconds, the journey to achieve it was not that easy.
Born on September 25, 1992, this 31-year-old young man is an engineering graduate. Before starting his own business, Khairulaming had worked in the oil and gas industry for 6 years. During those 6 years, Khairulaming was in charge of oil import and export affairs, various assignments involving logistics, finance, as well as affairs involving oil sales. This indirect exposure is now very helpful for Khairulaming to start business, factory affairs, etc.
Perhaps one of the questions that many people are asking, is how from the field, Khairulaming can jump into the food industry. Sharing about it with us, he said it is not something new, in fact his own mother is a cake trader. Khairulaming is also fond of cooking, not to mention when he has to be independent abroad while studying. He has also started to venture into the field of video production since the 2nd grade.
While working and studying, Khairulaming once experimented with selling several products. One of them was Sambal King in 2017. Sambal King was produced by Khairulaming every day after coming home from work – however, after a few months, new challenges began to arise. At that time, the "Khairulaming" brand was no longer used, instead it was under the "RasaPop" brand. Although Sambal King managed to sell the first 200 bottles, but due to the use of plastic containers, it led to damage and a poor customer experience. This forced him to return all the proceeds of the first sale.
However, this did not stop him from continuing Sambal King. The brand in question became one of the brands where he experimented and learned various things before the formation of Sambal Nyet which is known today - from the packaging process, branding, operations, and so on.
Starting in 2018, Khairulaming chose to develop a personal brand under the name "Khairulaming" - starting with the production of cooking recipe content. The 30 days 30 recipes content format during the month of Ramadan had a huge impact on the development of his brand – and to this day, the content continues throughout the month of Ramadan, even becoming one of the things that many people look forward to during the month.
At the age of 28, which is in 2020, Khairulaming quit the oil and gas field, and started focusing on content production full time. At the initial stage, he stated that he had no intention of producing a product and only wanted to focus entirely on content production. However, a month after quitting the job, the initial idea for the product began to be considered.
Various researches, studies and learning have gone through since the introduction of Sambal King in 2018, and only in 2021, Khairulaming introduced Sambal Nyet products to the public. Although it has been launched, Khairulaming stated that he is still making improvements little by little on the product from day to day. If you have ever bought the first Sambal Nyet product when it was introduced, and compared it to today's Sambal Nyet, there is a slight difference in taste – due to optimization, in addition to taking into account the various feedbacks of people who use the product.
3 years after the introduction of Sambal Nyet, on February 2, 2024, Khairulaming introduced the second product under his brand, namely Dendeng Nyet Berapi. For the second product, a different product category is selected. This is because he prefers only one product under a certain category to make it easier for users to make a selection, and not compete with existing products. Because of that, instead of sambal green or other sambal variations being introduced, instead focusing on a completely different category. This also opens up the reach of new customers – who may not like sambal.
At the same time, various other factors are also taken into account. For example, a different package shape is used for Fiery Nyet Jerky – to make it easier for users to take it anywhere, besides the packaging process for delivery is also not as difficult as bottle packaging. The selling price set is only in difference of RM1 with previous sambal products. Although the economic impact leads to an increase in the price of goods, Khairulaming tries to optimize it with several methods. For example, when the price of goods increases, Khairulaming maintains the price of the product by reducing the price on the production of automation products in the factory. The first sale for the second product was also very successful, when the sale through the TikTok Shop managed to set a record of its own – as the fastest product to reach the RM1 million sales figure, which is in just around 3 minutes 39 seconds.
Today, almost 60% of sales come through TikTok Shop, compared to other platforms such as Shopee. In fact, Khairulaming stated that the introduction of this second product is expected to increase the figure to 70%. The TikTok platform is also said to make the sales process easier because promotions and sales take place on the same platform – instead of having to use a platform like Instagram that is linked to other e-commerce sites, leading to leakage in terms of closing the final sale.
With the launch of this second product, Khairulaming stated that it will begin the study, research and development process for the third product after the month of Raya 2024. Although he did not state what the product was, he simply stated that his factory was now highly optimized for the production of savory products. In fact, within five years, Khairulaming intends to open a third factory. Until now, both factories are rented, and the same concept is expected to continue in the third factory.
Touching on the wish of another five years as well, Khairulaming stated that he would like to add two or three more products under his brand. The "Khairulaming" brand will continue to focus on food products only for now, and there are no plans to expand to include other product categories.
Khairulaming also intends to broaden his experience by venturing into other fields or industries - "non-manufacturing". Among those mentioned are agriculture, and fishing. However, this is shared in jest, and has not yet been fully thought through seriously.
Despite focusing on product production, he still does not forget about content production and brand development. Khairulaming is still continuing the production of "30 Days 30 Recipes" content in the month of Ramadan. In addition, this year he will add a new content concept under "Memasak Sambil Travel" - for which filming has been completed and is expected to be published soon. In addition to content focusing on cooking, Khairulaming also aims to be present with content in the form of business and business tips - at the same time providing more inspiration to those who want to venture into the field of entrepreneurship.
Now, at the beginning of 2024, the company he developed with his sister has 92 employees, and is expected to continue to increase the number of employees in the coming months. In addition to the main business of producing content and products, Khairulaming also fulfills the annual schedule by sharing experiences and ideas through sessions at the university, as well as sessions with other young people, especially touching on the topic of entrepreneurship, business and others.
"(With this schedule), the marriage, I don't know anymore"