Special Reports
Published on: Saturday, February 04, 2012
Man who prospers from negative comments
By: Kan Yaw Chong MEET a man who prospers from negative comments - Raja Sagaran, 55, owner of Brass Monkey CafŽ & Bar, Lintas Plaza. Using negative inputs to his advantage helped his business climb to greater heights and tripled sales, as discerning gourmets from all over the world pack his western restaurant nightly.
It also won him a mighty surprise: Best Food Outlet - Stand Alone Restaurant Award 2011, from Sabah Tourism Board, last November, presented by Tourism Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun.
His secret? Take the hardest negative comments positively - unfazed, unhurt, unrattled but use every bit of it for continuous improvement, Raja says. How many negative comments and how often? "Uncountable! Day by day!" he said.
"Until today, I still get negative comments. These are endless," Raja warned potential entrepreneurs what they should expect, just as former British Prime Minister, Sir Woodrow Wilson, warned aspiring politicians: 'If you don't like the heat, don't enter the kitchen!'
But how much does negative remarks help him succeed?
"It helps me 100 per cent - 100 per cent, sir," Raja claimed.
"Until today, I take it (negative feedback) very positively and I work on it here and now," Raja shared his approach that pays.
Doesn't he feel hurt? "No sir, that is the ladder of success, I think!"
That makes Raja an 'atypical' but wise Malaysian, most of whom want to hear only 'smooth' things, good comments, praises, deeply resent criticisms (many politicians included), respond with rage and endless denials, one Australian journalist noted once.
Where did this 55-year-old Penang-hailed restaurateur extraordinaire acquire that rare, negative-proof trait? "This is how we were trained in America!" he revealed.
"They rate you in America, it is compulsory. So when you are rated poor, or fair or good, you have to face the Captain or you have to see the people in the office, especially when you get a 'poor' score and action is taken immediately, either they put you off work or they punish you, working in a snack bar with no money. So this thing (facing the good, the bad and the ugly personal assessment) is inside us already, inside my life," explained Raja who started his career as a waiter, cleaner and bartender at age 19.
"But my dream was to go out there and see the world," Raja said.
"I knew very, very well that the only way to see the world was in the hospitality industry," he said.
The dream came true in 1983 when he was called for an interview at the Holiday Inn, Penang.
"Surprisingly, I was given the job as a bartender in Miami, USA, onboard World Caribbean Cruise Line - one of the largest cruise ships in the world," Raja said.
"But what happened was I could not perform as a bartender.
So they made me an assistant bartender where I learnt my job through the ranks, became a waiter, then bartender, and finally became a wine steward and before I retired, they appointed me 'head' of the wine stewards where I did my job perfectly."
But that cruise ship job fired a stirring ambition. Who is the highest ranking person aboard a world class cruise ship? The Captain of course, Raja reasoned.
"I came to know what his figure was - US$20,000 (about RM75,000).
So I said, if he can do it, why not me." Raja harbored an ultimate goal - to earn as much as the Captain.
"One day I was given so many side jobs to do and I did it all.
The highest figure I have made was US$20,000 a month!" Raja recalled.
"Upon achieving that, I said, time to go back home (Malaysia), and back to school, at 35, to do my higher diploma in the hospitality industry," Raja said.
Diploma accomplished, he did some part-time lecturing in Penang.
Someone from Sabah spotted him there, offered him a lecturer's post.
That someone is Datuk Wong Khen Thau, owner of the Asian Tourism Institute, Kota Kinabalu.
That was 1996, when Raja moved to Sabah, as a consultant and lecturer at the Asian Tourism Institute.
"After a contract of three years, my wife, myself and a few partners decided to put up Brass Monkey CafŽ & Bar in 2000 but financially, we were not strong," Raja confessed.
"I had to go back to America again for a couple of years, to earn enough money to invest in Brass Monkey," he said.
"But in a year and a half, we made enough money."
Raja saw the potential of Brass monkey.
"When my partners left, I started to change a lot of things, I added a lot of items," he said.
"Then I had a lot of regular guests who kept coming and they gave me a lot of suggestions. I took all their negative comments positively," Raja noted.
"Raja, can you please check the sauce, can you please check the veggies, can you please check your prawns etc. These negative comments kept me alert full time what was coming out of the kitchen.
Instead of thinking they are mean, my trainng in US taught me to think otherwise - in actual fact, they were kind to me. What I do is I rectify the mistakes here itself, tell my guests I am responsible for it and things won't be charged.
But they usually refuse the f.o.c offer and reason they mean to help," he said.
"I think that was the turning point for me because I alone could not oversee everything - oversee the bar, oversee the kitchen, over see the floor, oversee the cash register."
This is not to say it has been issue-free, Raja said. For instance, turnover of staff consistently made things problematic. "So I decided to close lunch to concentrate on dinner only and things became better."
"Then I had a handful of permanent staff, we monitored, kept working and working, now I should say, business wise, I have tripled sales already" he pointed out.
"Our future is to franchise Brass Monkey or have one more upgraded in town for tourists," Raja said, citing a strong flow of tourists to his Lintas outlet, coming from hotels all over, as far as Rasa Ria, Hyatt, the Star, even all the way from 1Borneo but mostly from Sutera Magellan.
"They even come in a taxi and as far as possible I try to accommodate them by sending them back.
I am trying to organise a small van where we charge minimum fee ton send my guests back," Raja said.
" So, people from all over the world have come to Brass Monkey already, especially from Australia, many from the UK, even from China, Denmark and Russia because there is a web site in their internet called Trip Advisor.
There, you can see all the reviews of Brass Monkey and see how people have commented -there are good and there are bad comments," Raja said.
"It is difficult to be perfect but I am trying to be perfect, meaning nothing less than excellence, " he said.
"When there is a comment which is passed over by friends I immediately call my guests up and say I am very sorry. Can you come back for a dinner? I call them up personally because at times we are so busy," noted Raja who paid tribute to his exposure to and training in the global hospitality industry.
"Miami was the head office of World Caribbean Cruise Line, so we worked in a cruise ship which went all over the world. "Most of time we cruised in the Caribbeans, then finally, I wanted to see Europe.
So I went to Norway, Denmark, Italy, Sweden - many, many places, and on my free time, I went all over America particularly," Raja said.
Success in the food business can't escape the quality imperative.
Whatever little this writer has heard is good food. What is his quality idea?
Raja is cryptic.
"Quality is very, very simple sir, I want good quality food.
Basically, most of my food imported items, with reasonable price and a high standard of service - what we have learnt, excellent service."
"We have practically all kinds of wines all over the world and we can make any cocktail, any classic cocktail, can be done in Brass Monkey.
Till today, Brass Monkey never had a chef, never had a manager, never had a supervisor," Raja noted.
What does that mean?
"It means most of the recipes are our own creation, we are not looking to follow any body else.
So we are on our own and most of the creativity comes from watching TV, browsing into the internet, letting my regular guests taste my cooking and if acceptable, I try to make it permanent," said Raja who confided he does actually look forward to have a good chef.
"Unfortunately, most can't take the kitchen because my kitchen is very small to serve 80 pax when it is full house."
Trained to accept criticisms in America did a lot to add quality and value to hs business, Raja confessed. He passed on that openness at Brass Monkey.
"Each and every staff of mine is trained to do their best and make it perfect. That's what I want," Raja said. Define perfection please, Daily Express asked.
"Perfection on the job, like how to carry plates, how to set the table, how to carry a tray, how to pull a chair for guests. Excellence is overall - excellent service, excellent foodÉ. Sabah has got big potential," Raja said.
"For example, after all these years of working and working, I was so surprised Sabah Tourism Board called me and told me I am one of the nominees for Sabah Tourism Award 2011.
When we were there, when I heard Brass Monkey announced as the Best Food Outlet Stand Alone Restaurant 2011, every body told me: You deserve it and no body doubted me at all," Raja said.
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