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Cover Story

ing baristas and subsequently consumer pull. My belief will be back to normal for sure. How would it take? I am
prompted us to start the movement by founding the Malay- not too sure but I guess it will take a least 6 months.
sia Barista Championship. The platform enabled the baristas There has been a dramatic increase in local indepen-
out there to step forward and showcase their knowledge, dent café’s out there and many are saying that the market
their craft and their passion, their competitive spirit and is becoming too saturated. This could mean that it could
their desire to make the coffee industry bet- be bad for business for new potential
ter. This barista movement have contributed Everyone I spoke to more café owners. If there was advice that
to the growing number of cafes and sparked or less snubbed me with the you could give to local café businesses
the increased consumer awareness. I believe common term “It’s a trade out there, what would it be?
this helping to change consumer lifestyles. secret”. People were overly The market isn’t saturated
This change is what we want to happen proctective of their knowl- and we are nowhere close to being
because this will begin a pull in the demand saturated. We will have to continue to
for space/ambience and coffee. What you edge and expertise that I push the coffee lifestyle. It looks satu-
see now is the snowball effect of what we felt that they were pretty rated because our work isn’t done yet
started from our first MBC. Of course it’s small minded. and we need to increase the number
gotten help from the global awareness of of coffee drinkers. Without that many
specialty coffee, hipster trends, digital media and social cafes there will not be a voice to influence the change in
media sharing. All these elements helped fuel the coffee consumer lifestyle. Cafés need to evolve, some of them
industry into one of the fastest growing industry around. are just not innovative enough. They have to understand
consumer needs and also create a concept and drive. In an
With the recent implementation of the Goods & Services average day, a person would have consumed one or more
Tax in Malaysia, do you think this would affect coffee coffee, tea or coco. We are essentially trying to change the
businesses out there and how? quality of their drink, where they consume their drink and
The GST is felt in the short term as people are ad- improve their experience. It’s about influence, education
justing to it, once we have gotten use to it our lifestyles, it and customer satisfaction.

DANNY WONG

Managing Director of Dankoff Coffee Specialist & Dankoff Coffee
Academy

Formerly known as Santino Coffee & Equipment, Dankoff Coffee Specialist was formed through a partnership
with Malaysian business partners and pushed their limits by aiming to become a one-stop solution to all horeca sectors
here in Malaysia. Throughout these 9 and a half years, Dankoff has grown to become one of the top players in Malaysia,
making them one of the top 3 coffee supplier and distributor in Malaysia. With a wide selection of principal brands
to offer their clientele, Dankoff aims to continue sourcing more products to help expose to the local market to better
services, solutions and training. Dankoff Coffee Specialist and Dankoff Coffee Academy is the results of determination
and change since the merge.
The import permit is definitely an issue here in
Malaysia. This refrains local roasters from buy-
ing better quality green beans for them to work
with. Although Malaysia grows coffee, even
the local production rate isn’t enough to meet
the local demand, in terms of non-specialty
coffee. We would definitely like to see a better
range of green beans here in Malaysia

of a brand. We’ve always kept to our vision of maintain-
ing a close knit relationship with our clients, trying our
best to meet their requirements as well as facilitate their
concerns. We thrive on being a one-stop solution for our
clients, hence I wanted to an organization that was versatile
to meet these needs.
Our goal is to keep sourcing for new products
Tell us a little bit about your journey in Coffee and how whether it is equipments, ingredients and accessories to
it all began. cater to the needs of the current market.
My journey in coffee began when our partnership Dankoff Coffee Specialist have grown tremendously
with Santino began back in 2002. We established a new throughout the last couple of years, becoming a strong
partnership which formed Dankoff Coffee Specialist, that force in coffee industry here in Malaysia. What was your
was always meant to be more of a trading company instead biggest challenge growing Dankoff to where it is today?
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