The successes of Dato’ Sri Michael Chong are many and the man behind Saisaki and Shogun Japanese buffet restaurants tells us what it takes to be on top of his game.

From the league of highly successful people who started off from the bottom, you will find Dato’ Sri Michael Chong who has proven hard work, determination and prayer will take you a long way.

After successfully establishing his presence in the automobile industry with Glory Wheels Sdn Bhd, Dato’ Sri Michael made his entrance into the local F&B scene by taking over Saisaki and Shogun Japanese buffet restaurants. The Grand Saisaki group of companies recently added another business model that aims to bridge the gap between restaurant cuisines and home cooking by bringing meals to your doorstep.

 The Shogun2U food delivery services went from zero to RM1million in sales in only three months and at the time of writing, the outfit is making about RM20,000 in daily sales and it aims to raise the figure to RM100,000 in six months.

Shogun2u is like the third generation food delivery business, says Dato’ Sri Michael. “The first generation was fast food restaurants that deliver around its vicinity and this was followed by food runners or food courier services that bring food from restaurants to consumers. The third generation is where a company like Shogun2u delivers healthy food, prepared by in-house chefs to your doorsteps.”


Tell us more about Shogun2u.

“We deliver food from Shogun to you with the help of 40 full-time riders. You can have a choice of Japanese, Korean, Western and local cuisine delivered to you between 45 minutes to an hour. Our price tags are kept affordable because we buy in bulk, are good paymasters to our suppliers and since we are the third generation food delivery business; we have one central kitchen and one distribution hub, delivering to the whole of Klang Valley including Putrajaya, Kajang, Putra Heights and Shah Alam.”


What is the secret to your success?

“We have a great team – committed top management, dedicated celebrity and award-winning chefs and diligent staff. We constantly strive to introduce special dishes in our buffet line with raw products sourced from all over the world simply because we like pushing the boundaries of experiential meal. We also make our buffet affordable, in line with our tagline: ‘where everyone can buffet’.”


What are the challenges setting up and running Shogun2U?

“Setting up Shogun2U was really challenging because we have no business models to follow and we adopted a unique approach. We are the only food delivery company in Malaysia and also in Southeast Asia that delivers chef-prepared food at an affordable price to your doorstep. We had to think of everything from walk-in freezers to training our riders and also getting our tech team to put in place a systemised sales and customer service process online.”


Any plans of expansion?

Once we have perfected our systems (tech, logistics and kitchen), we plan to introduce Shogun2U to Bangkok, Jakarta and Singapore next year. We aspire to dominate with affordability, exceptional customer service, reliable food delivery experience and high-tech web-based platform.


What is your philosophy in life?

I believe it’s always more blessed to give than to receive and when you take care of your employees, they will take care of your business. Don’t stop when you are tired but stop when you are done. There’s no elevator to success, you have to take the stairs. Do not give up. When a window of opportunity closes, God will open a door because tough times don’t last, tough people do.


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