Out of Town Blog
Visiting Julie’s Biscuit Factory in Malacca, Malaysia
Visiting Julie’s Biscuit Factory in Malacca, Malaysia
We were in Penang few months ago and we were lucky to have a chance to visit a Mall to buy Malaysian products to bring back home and each time I visit Malaysia, I always make sure to bring home Julie’s Biscuits.
I didn’t know Julie’s are also being sold here in Malaysia, a fellow traveler said when I placed a tub of my favorite Peanut Butter filled biscuit in my grocery basket. To easily avoid confusion, I immediately told her that Julie’s in the Philippines sells soft breads while the Malaysian counterpart is Malaysia’s largest exporter of cookies. Julie’s most popular product is their Peanut Butter Sandwich biscuit and that happens to be my favorite too!
To be honest, I’m a huge fan and one of my dreams is to visit Julie’s factory one day until I got an email invitation from Nuffnang about Malacca Fam Tour which also includes a visit to Julie’s Biscuit factory.
We took an early afternoon flight, but due to usual airport congestion in Manila, our flight was delayed by almost two hours. Upon arrival in KL airport, we were greeted by Julies staff and a famous Malaysian tour guide non other than Eddie Chok.
From the airport we traveled for almost an hour for our dinner at Restoran Hao Xiang Bak Kut Teh in Negeri Sembilan. The long travel time was all worth it, Upon seeing couple of Bak Kut Teh bowls being prepared at the entrance of the restaurant, I got literally excited to sit down and try their specialty.
Hao Xiang’s version was the favorite among locals, that’s why our host brought us there. Each Bak Kut Teh they served was cooked with 19 Chinese herbs till the meat gets perfectly tender. They offer various versions of Bak Kut Teh and apart from my favorite pork belly, they also offer lean meat, spare ribs, and intestines for the adventurous ones.
One of my favorites was their Dry Bak Kut Teh, it had a combination of boiled pork belly and lean meat with a thick sauce, dried cuttlefish and dried chilies. Served in the very hot Claypot, the dried version was made with their signature homemade soy sauce mixed with 6 spices that brought an exotic spicy, sweet & salty taste. The tenderness of the meat and the flavorful sauce was probably one of the reasons why it instantly became my favorite among the dishes they served. It actually tasted like pork asado with an exotic twist.
I also loved their Bak Kut Teh Pork Knuckle. Just like the pork belly version, Pork Knuckle was also boiled for about two hours with their signature herbal soup base. If you love “Paksiw na Pata”, you will easily fall in love with this dish.
After having dinner, we proceeded to Holiday Inn Melaka to check in and rest for our next day activities. I will post a separate hotel review soon.
Day 2: Julie’s Biscuit Factory Tour
It was our second day in Melaka and based on our itinerary, it was going to be a long day, so instead of having a light breakfast, I decided to take carbo load for extra energy since we will do a lot of walking the entire day.
After having breakfast, we gathered at the hotel lobby, then boarded our tourist bus for a visit to Julie’s Biscuit Factory. It took us almost an hour before we finally reached the factory located at Alor Gajah and upon arriving, we were welcomed by a group of marketing staff performing a dance number with their official Julies Mascot.
After the short presentation and photo op, we proceeded to the board room to understand more about the company before we experience the main highlight of our visit – to do an ocular visit to the factory where Julies biscuits are made!
Inside the boardroom, bloggers were asked to introduce themselves and tell more about their blog and other things we love to do. After the bloggers, various departmental heads explained the process of producing the product. One of the most interesting part was when Mr. Martin Ang – Director of Perfect Food Manufacturing gave us inspiring words of wisdom. He believes that everyone should recognize our everyday unsung heroes just like how Julie’s does. They also showed us video presentations on how they give recognitions to these unsung heroes in their own way to show people that no matter what we do, we have our own important contribution to our society.
After learning about the company’s history, goals and future plans, we were given a white laboratory gown, a mouth piece, hairnet and a shoe cover to put on before we entered the factory. It was actually my first time to visit a biscuit factory and It was really humid inside. Our factory guide, showed us the machineries and its functions. Towards the end of the tour, we were able to see finished products from Cutting, Baking, Oil Spraying, Cooling, Quality Control to final packing of the biscuits.
We were lucky they were making Peanut Butter Biscuits during our visit and we were able to try it fresh from the oven. It was nice to see how my favorite biscuits were made right before my eyes. After seeing how clean the facilities were and how they do quality control, I can perfectly say “I made the right choice” by having Julie’s Biscuits as “My Brand of Choice”.
Our factory tour was followed by a photo shoot at their own photo booth located near the factory entrance. After the fun photo shoot, we headed to Julies Café for lunch.
We sampled local peranakan dishes and desserts and we were not disappointed. I love Malaysian food especially Nyonya dishes and that’s what we exactly had for lunch. In a buffet style, they served Nasi Lemak, Sambal Prawns, Steamed Vegetables, Fish in curry sauce, fried chicken and rice. For dessert, they had mixed fruits, various sweet glutinous rice and my favorite Mallaca version of Cendol.
After having lunch, we had another exciting activity. We were all given the ingredients and a printed instructions on how to make Julie’s Fruity Layer Cake. In this recipe, we used Julies butter crackers, cream cheese, cream and freshly sliced strawberries and kiwi.
After finishing our Layer cake, each finished product were arranged on the center table for assessment. Mr. Martin Ang selected the 3 winners and gave the prizes.
Before we left the Café, each blogger were given samples of various Julie’s products. Our factory visit was really fun, all the staff we met were all friendly as if we have know each other for so long already.
We headed back to the hotel to freshen up. Our next activity was dinner at Nyonya Melaka. It was a fantastic dinner, all my favorite Nyonya food were served, including Pie tee, Otak-Otak, fried fish balls, Udang Masa kLemak Nenas (Prawn with curry and pineapple), Babi Chili garam, Chili Garam Kurau, Kai Lan garlic, cincalok egg, nyonya kuih and cendol for dessert.
After dinner, we proceeded to Jalan Laksamana to experience Melaka River Cruise. It was my second time to do Melaka River Cruise, but my first was an afternoon cruise. The night experience was better because the riverbank was decorated with different kinds of lanterns and we were able to see a lot of beautiful houses and historical structures too.
Our last stop was at Geographer Café in Jonker Street. Geographer Café Melaka is one of the most recommended dine-in restaurants and bar in Mallaca. Apart from its good food and good array of alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks, I was really impressed at how they manage to maintain an old shop house and make it an attractive place without ruining the original structure. The Geographer Café in Mallaca is definitely a must visit café in this historic city and I will definitely go back next time I visit Mallaca.
Day 3: Malacca Walking Tour
After having an early breakfast at Holiday Inn Melaka, we did an early checkout and left the hotel for our Malacca walking tour.
Instead of going straight to Stadhuys– a historical structure that is known for its red exterior located nearby red clock tower, our tour guide decided to bring us uphill to visit an old church ruins and see a bird’s eye view of the historic city.
As we went down the hill, we were instructed to gather at the fountain near the Red Church. Also known as Christ Church, it is an 18th-century Anglican church in the city of Malacca.
Our next stop was at the Baba & Nyonya House Museum. Also known as the Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum, this is a museum that showcases the local history of ethnic Chinese-Malays called Baba-Nyonya or Peranakan in Malacca.
Unlike the Peranakan Museum in Penang that I had visited a few months ago, photography is totally forbidden here in Malacca. But just like the one in Penang, this museum is complete with beautifully designed furnitures with elaborate woodwork, porcelain collections, paintings and photos of the owners and descendants.
We then proceeded to HooKee Chicken Rice for lunch. The restaurant is a popular joint for Malacca chicken rice balls and hainanese chicken rice and that was the first thing we ordered. We also ordered, chicken liver and mixed vegetables. We were asked if we wanted to have dessert, but we ate a lot of chicken rice already and we were too full to eat more. Haha
After having lunch, we headed to Kuala Lumpur. It took us almost two hours to reach Novotel Hotel KL – our official home in KL for a night. We were given two hour free time and while some of the bloggers went out to shop at the nearby Pavilion, I decided to stay in my room to rest.
For dinner, we were treated at the Saloma Theatre Restaurant for a cultural and flavorful night out. Apart from its wonderful buffet spread, Saloma Theatre Restaurant is also famous for its one hour traditional show.
As we enjoy the food, local entertainers were performing traditional dances from different parts of Malaysia. Wearing traditional colorful costumes, the variation of dances from Sabah to as far as Kelantan made us appreciate Malaysian culture more. At the end of the show, they also called some of our teammates to go on stage to participate and that was really fun to watch.
Before we headed back to our hotel, we made a short stopover at the Petronas Twin Tower for a quick selfie and group shots.
Day 4: Last Day in Malaysia
It was our fourth day and our last day in Malaysia. Our call time was a little late compared to our usual 8am. Since we were all staying in a premium room, we had access to the club room which also serves breakfast. The clubroom also serves the same menu, but it’s not as crowded as the breakfast restaurant on the ground floor.
After checking out from the hotel, we proceeded to the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur to meet the Philippine Ambassador to Malaysia J. Eduardo Malaya.
We then all proceeded to The Pressroom Bistro at the Pavilion Mall. The entire marketing staff and Mr. Martin Ang were already there when we arrived.
For starter, they served Waldorf salad with green apple, celery, tuna and crushed walnuts served with light blue cheese dressing.
For the main course, I chose Josper Roasted Spring Chicken with mashed potatoes and creamy mushroom sauce.
The other option was Josper Grilled Beef strip-loin served with roasted vegetable skewer and black pepper sauce, but I opted for the roasted chicken.
For dessert, The Pressroom Bistro surprised us with two unique desserts where the Julie’s cookies were specially incorporated.
First was Julie’s Strawberry Cheesecake where they used Julie’s Oat 25 strawberry cookies in the cheesecake crust. Second was Julie’s Hershey’s Cookies and Cream Ice Cream with cookie crumbs and nuts, which is made with Julie’s Hershey’s Chocolate chips and hazelnut cookies.
After having lunch, everyone were asked to share their experiences during our Fam Trip. I couldn’t imagine that the trip has been already over. The tour actually bonded everyone, even though the group was composed of bloggers with different niches. I guess that’s the Julie’s Magic!
Many thanks to Nuffnang PH, Perfect Food Manufacturing (M) Sdn Bhd and Laura’s Food Products Corp. for this wonderful experience.
About Julie’s Biscuits from Malaysia
Perfect Food Manufacturing (M) SdnBhd or also known as Julie’s Biscuits, established in 1981 is the brainchild of Mr Su Chin Hock, a Malaccan entrepreneur who was previously in the tiling and construction industry. The urge to enter the biscuit manufacturing industry came when he realized that 95% of biscuits on the shelves were imported products. He believed that Malaysians were able to do a decent job of producing biscuits and exporting them abroad.
In the early days, 35 years ago from a single plant of about five acres has now grown to three big scale plants, two in Alor Gajah and one in Masjid Tanah. The number of staff has increased from the initial 200 workers to more than 1,000 today. Starting with producing solely crackers, the product line has expanded to various types of biscuits including cream sandwich, wafer rolls, waffles and cookies.
The mission of the company is to produce high quality and delicious biscuits while upholding their core values “Accountability”, “Conscience”, “Integrity”, and “Passion” and infusing love into the baking process for consumers to eat safe, happily and healthily.
The company holds closely to their founder, Mr. Su’s belief “What I don’t eat, I don’t let people eat”. Strict monitoring and control are practiced in the biscuit process flow, starting from the procurement of raw material until the baking process. All the raw materials for the production of biscuits are from the highly reputable suppliers and all processes from packaging, transportation and storage areas are in accordance with the HACCP requirements. The first-in-first-out stock rotation is practiced in warehouse management in order to prevent overdue/expired raw materials. For the safety and health of consumers, water filtration systems were installed to remove water impurities and chlorine in water thoroughly before use. Julie’s biscuits also strictly prohibit the use of any artificial coloring and preservatives in their biscuits ensuring them to be safe for consumption.
Since the biscuit industry is not a high-tech industry, hence, there is no significant difference between the products. Julie’s is taking the altruism concept as the core values, practicing the baking with love principle to gain consumers resonant and building the brand that they trusted, firmly in the consumer’s heart. This is why Julie’s unique competitive advantage and also the way of running the business continually.
Over the past three decades, production has grown steadily where the company is not only the largest biscuit exporter, but also one of the top 3 brands in the local biscuit market. Perfect Food established its export business proper when it first sold to the US in 1989 and has been expanding its product overseas ever since. Currently, the company exports to 75 countries as compared to five years ago where it was only exporting to over 30 countries. Perfect Food is optimistic that the company will be able to expand its export coverage to 100 countries in five years time.
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