PORT DICKSON: In 2008 Mohd Hafizi Roslan left his job cutting chickens at a wet market stall and started selling burgers on a small scale.

Today he employs 40 workers at his restaurant MHR Burger's which is located at a two-storey shophouse at Medan Remis, near here.

According to Mohd Hafizi, 35, it was after his mother died that he began to think seriously about turning his family's fate around by venturing into business.

Looking back, Mohd Hafizi, the eldest of five siblings said, he had been working at the Seremban Wet Market cutting chickens since he was 19.

"After four years I realised I was not getting anywhere with the meagre salary so I decided to quit.

"For two months I was jobless, until one day my father suggested that I open a burger stall in front of our house," he told Bernama recently.

He said to encourage him to set up the business his father contributed RM200 as the initial capital and with his father's support, he began to put his heart and soul into the new venture and even created his own burger recipes.

"In the beginning it wasn't all plain sailing and when the business expanded I encountered difficulties having to sell my burgers at other stall owners' premises apart, from operating three burger stalls daily at Sekolah Kebangsaan Lukut, Bandar Sunggala food court and Port Dickson Polytechnic cafe from 7am to 1am, with the help of several workers," said Mohd Hafizi.

However, with the help and guidance from MARA and Tekun Nasional, as well as the money he had raised from his business, he finally achieved his dream of opening a restaurant.

Mohd Hafizi, a Seremban native said, the restaurant sells three types of premium burgers, namely crispy chicken burger, supreme lamb burger and bonzer beef burger.

They also serve omelette sandwich or roti john of various flavours and western dishes such as lamb chop and chicken chop.

He said before the Movement Control Order (MCO) was enforced in March last year, customers from all over Malaysia as well as from Singapore, Dubai and United Arab Emirates used to frequent his restaurant, adding that the outlet's gross profit could reach up to RM200,000 a month.

"Following the MCO, sales had dropped and to stay afloat we had to change our business strategy by holding car boot sales in public areas and selling and delivering food in housing estates.

"Although business had been badly affected, I have not laid off my workers," he added.

Still optimistic about his business future, Mohd Hafizi plans to open another branch after the pandemic and hopes to open 50 MHR Burger's outlets throughout Malaysia by 2030.

-- BERNAMA