Penang Ramadan bazaar vendors catch a break as restrictions lift

GEORGE TOWN – It is full speed ahead for Ramadan bazaar vendors in Penang after two years of struggling to get their businesses to how they used to be because of the lockdown.

Chicken snack vendor, Muhammad Aiman, 27, told The Vibes that business is slowly picking up and he is happy that this will serve as a needed bonus for all the food sellers during this time.

Aiman, who has set up stall at one of the most visited bazaars during this season, is located next to Astaka Taman Tun Sardon. Although he is not new to trading at Ramadan bazaars, he is a newbie to the Penang Ramadan bazaar scene after he decided to come back home from Kuala Lumpur during the lockdown.

However, running a food cart business is not something new for him as he has managed four Ramadan food stalls for a decade in the nation’s capital, selling grilled items and desserts for the past few years before returning.

“This is the first year in a new market selling extra crispy chicken cuts and hot dogs; I used to sell roti john.

“I am still selling roti john at my permanent stall at Gelugor but I thought it is time to introduce something new to the market.

“I’ve got my workers handling the business there and I am doing this here with hopes that I can slowly expand and have more outlets in the future,” he said.

Another stall that is abuzz with throngs of customers is a kuih-muih (Malay cakes, confectionaries and desserts) one at the Bayan Baru Ramadan bazaar run by Siti Meriyam Nanyan.

The spread consists of more than 50 variants of desserts, ranging from onde-onde to steamed huat kuih and cream puffs.

However, the 62-year-old Kedahan’s speciality is the Kelantanese kuih akok, a traditional dessert made from flour, sugar, eggs, and coconut milk.

Her husband, Fadzil Haron, 66, told The Vibes that Siti, known by many as Mak Cik Yam, makes ten types of kuih every morning so it is fresh when it arrives at the stall.

“We have been doing this for over 10 years, probably 14 times in total because we apply for a stall every year.

“This year, we are a little more excited because my wife and I hope to do a bit of travelling after we have worked hard to do this business,” he said.

Siti wakes up at 6am every day to make 1,700 kuih akok and hundreds of the other nine types, which sell out every day.

The rest of the kuih is sourced from different parts of Penang, with the furthest being Baling district in neighbouring Kedah, to which they have to travel after their Ramadan stall closes for the day.

She is glad that business has been going very well to the point where she had to close her banana fritters stall at Sg Ara because she needed her workers to handle the bustling stall at the Ramadan bazaar.

In fact, on her first day alone, she made around RM3,800 in revenue, with her largest earnings amount to date coming in yesterday.

“I made around RM5,000 in revenue yesterday. I had to cancel all Grab and Foodpanda services because I had too many customers to handle.

“It is also nice to know that after slogging this month, we can go travelling with our hard-earned money because the international borders are already open,” she said. – The Vibes, April 9, 2022