Vedablu @ 1 Borneo

Vedablu will be opening at 1 Borneo on May 29th, 2009 instead of the earlier scheduled May 28th, 2009.

See you there tomorrow!

XOXO

Harvest Festival 2009

Harvest Festival is approaching this weekend. Come and join in the fun at Honkod Koisan KDCA for the Unduk Ngadau Finals!

Drop by and visit our booth from May 16th to May 31st at KDCA.

Vedablu Outdoor Booth Set Up at KDCA May 16th - May 31st, 2009

After a long wait, Vedablu is also opening its parlour in 1 Borneo this May 28, 2009. Swing by and visit us at our newest outlet.

Finally its raining!

Its Raining!

It has been so hot and humid, I feel like I have been in a dizzy state daily. The weather makes it impossible to work efficiently. The frequent power cuts are certainly not helping. The only thing that keeps my spirits up is consuming some cooling Vedablu Ice Cream and looking forward to the climb up Mount Kinabalu this Monday. I told one of my colleagues a couple days ago just as a passing remark and they burst out in laughter. "I'm going to get to the summit and never come back down, until this humid weather passes". There is something about this hot and humid weather that affects people. People around me appear more grumpy and easily agitated. At a certain point this morning, I was also easily agitated, but now the rain has washed it all away.

On the upcoming Mount Kinabalu climb, I am truly excited about this climb, yet I feel a little bit nervous with the little preparation I made. I keep telling myself, as long as I do the climb slow and easy, I will make it! Well at least I have made an attempt to accomplish one more thing on my "things to do before I hit 30 list ". I hope that the weather will be clear on Monday and Tuesday.

Happy Harvest Festival!

Tadau Kotobian Kaamatan!

Celebrate Harvest Festival with Vedablu with our Harvest Festival Special, Rice Wine Ice Cream.

Also from May to June, get Biscotto, White Chocolate and Truffle ice cream selections 50% off on their 2nd purchase, after purchasing similar item at regular price.

Visit the Vedablu website for more details.

See you at the KDCA Harvest Festivals Celebrations from May 16th to May 31st, 2009.

Sabah Fest 2009

This was the first time Vedablu joined Sabah Fest 2009, held at the Grand Ballroom of Magellan Hotel. The highlight of the event is the cultural show that was performed every night at 8pm. Outside along the grand ballroom foyer there was a live showcase of sabah handicrafts and booths of locally made sabah products. To fit in the theme and to support our local traditions, we sold mostly tropical fruit premium ice cream. Many were happy just to have ice cream, there was also many asking "where is the yoghurt forest berries ice cream?" "Where is mascarpone cheese ice cream?" before settling with one of the tropical flavours.

The biggest question was "Is Vedablu a local product?" This question is addressed in my previous post. The answer to that is Yes. Vedablu is locally produced daily but it is made from an italian inspired recipe, giving you only the best tasting quality premium ice cream that is fresh!

It is in events like this, we get to spend more time talking to our customers, half of them regulars. I always have fun getting to know them and in part slowly changing the mind set of new customers that local produced products can be far more superior then imported products. I think the Harvest Festival setting is the best time to do so as we celebrate local traditions and customs.

This event, I must say personally is one of the most fun and entertaining. There were many old friends from other local made food industries (Sabah Tea, Simply Chocolate, Balung, etc) and also new friends were made. I love the the sound of traditional instruments and there was no shortage of that during the day as they practice for the nightly shows. There were 700 performers walking in their colourful traditional costumes.

A special praise should be sent to Seri Pelancongan for the amazing job they did with the decor. See the before and after photo below! I was there 2 days before the start of the exhibition and they turned nothing into something awesome. There were even skulls hanging from the bamboo pillar next to our booth!

(Before)

(After)

I will update a few other photos from partner's camera not to far from now. Many thanks to the team for hanging tough and for being as cheerful as ever. Next event --> KDCA Harvest Celebrations here we come! Another grueling 2 weeks 16th -31st May, 2009.

Half way through April!

I feel like every day is becoming more and more mechanical sometimes. Life as I discovered lately has been, getting up, work, coming back late starving, work, going to bed, sleep... and its time to repeat the day again. Monday to Sundays. I used to get so pumped up every Friday because its the weekend (err ok... that was a few years back when I was working for someone else! I secretly miss those days sometimes =( )

The team has been so busy with events this month since March. Last week we had two events and mobile kiosk running simultaneously. One at the Sabah Golf and Country Club (SGCC) where we sponsored the 21st Amateur Golf Open and our other booth set up at the Hotel & Catering, Food pack and Manufacturing 2009 held at Sabah Trade Center.

I totally forgot to snap a picture of the booth set up in SGCC but this is a picture I took from my mobile phone of the booth set up at Sabah Trade Centre.

This week also we finalized the recipes of our own hot chocolate drink and ice blended chocolate drinks. We will be introducing these somewhere next week. Took these photos also with my mobile phone during the training done for our outlet team leaders.

I will be off to Singapore for a week long short course training on technical aspects of ice cream this weekend. Looking forward to the course as the speakers are flying in from America and between two of them, have decades of experience in the ice cream industry. I have already started listing my questions, exciting!

Just bought my tickets online at zero fare on jetstar! KK to Singapore direct at RM61.00. Incredible!

Note: I still have not started my climb training for the climb to mt kinabalu in mid may... and I am stressing my self crazy thinking about how not prepared I am for the climb.

Relocation of Vedablu Palm Square

I was feeling a little nostalgic overseeing the dismantling and breaking down of our kiosk in Palm Square last night. At 8pm we started disconnecting the machines and equipments, by 9:30pm the carpenters came to dismantle the kiosk itself.

Palm Square was where Vedablu first started and introduced our premium ice cream products to the people of Sabah back in 2006 October. I remember making the ice cream myself and then going to the kiosk standing there with my colleauges of the company, Laura and Christina scooping and selling ice cream to the large crowd all surrounding our kiosk to taste and get some of our products. From that outlet back in 2006 we have grown to another 4 more outlets in Kota Kinabalu, one in Tawau and another in Sandakan.

Based on some business strategic decisions we have decided to move to another shopping mall, after getting much feedback from our customers who frequently shop at 1 Borneo during the weekends. For customers who are shopping around Center Point, you still will be able to get Vedablu Ice Creams, just a few steps away from Center Point at our parlour at Warisan Square. You will be able to enjoy a broader selection of ice cream and other products there as compared to Palm Square.

We also opened a Factory Kiosk in Taman BDC Shoplots just across our factory. The factory kiosk also serve as a training ground for all our new staffs. Ice Cream prices are a tad lower compared to the shops to encourage customers around the Kelombong area and Taman BDC to come visit us.

We are commencing renovations in 1 Borneo very soon and we will soon announce our opening date. I personally thank you for your continous support and understanding.