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SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING & DESIGNFOUNDATION IN NATURAL & BUILT ENVIRONMENT

July Intake 2013Semester 2

English 2 (ENGL0205)Assignment: A Comparative Analysis of 2 Businesses of

Similar Industry in Different Geographical Locations

Lecture: Cassandra Wijesuria

Name Student ID No.

Yong Seen Yee 0315883

Tee Sin Yi 0315689

Leong Chee Mun 0316256

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Summary

This is a report for a Comparative Analysis of 2 Businesses of Similar Industry in

Different Geographical Locations. In this report, we will compare two seafood restaurants

that located at two different places which are Restaurant Ah Pek Lee Kou Hock in Sitiawan

and the other one is Sri Petaling seafood village in Sri Petaling. In this report, we will discuss

about how they remain the level of market profit earning. This would be depends of the

effectiveness of the firm’s strategies, size of the market, creativity of the business, nature of

product sold, quality of service, method of advertising and so on. Besides, we would also

discuss about the challenges and obstacles facing by these two restaurants. Lastly, we will

discuss the hidden future and present competitor of the two restaurants.

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Table of content

No. Title Page

1 Summary 2

2 Introduction(a) Research location(b) The group(c) The topic

4

3 History of seafood 5

4 Brief bio of the business(a) Restaurant Ah Pek Lee Kou Hock(b) Restaurant Sri Petaling Seafood Village

6-7

5 Comparative Analysis of the Businesses’ Competitive Traits

(a) Restaurant Ah Pek Lee Kou Hock(b) Restaurant Sri Petaling Seafood Village

8-10

6 Recommendations(a) Restaurant Ah Pek Lee Kou Hock(b) Resturant Sri Petaling Seafood Village

11

7 Meeting Minutes 12-17

8 Interview Notes 18-21

9 Appendix 22-26

10 References 27

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Introduction

Our Research Location

Our first research venue is Sitiawan. Sitiawan has an alternative name called Setiawan.

Sitiawan is a region in the Manjung district of Perak, Malaysia. It is a very small rural area

which is still undergoing development. However, the pricing over the area is counted as

cheap due to the reason that it is still not a fully developed area. Nevertheless, it is a small

town with many interesting cuisine and culture.

Our second fixed research location is Klang Valley is an area in Malaysia comprising Kuala

Lumpur and its suburban areas, and adjoining cities and towns in the state of Selangor.

However, our main research location is Sri Petaling which is a suburban area. Bandar Baru

Seri Petaling is a vibrant, self-contained suburban township with excellent infrastructure. In

fact, Sri Petaling is a place with a lot of delicious food waiting for us to explore.

Our Group

Our Group consists of three members who are Leong Chee Mun (0316256), Tee Sin Yi

(0315689), Yong Seen Yee (0315883). We are from the different slots of tutorial classes

which is Monday, 11a.m.-1p.m. (Yong Seen Yee) and Wednesday, 12p.m.-2p.m. (Tee Sin Yi

and Leong Chee Mun)

Our Topic

The main purpose of this assignment is to carry a research on two different businesses. So,

we decided to explore the food industry and we chose to investigate about seafood industry.

Our final selected seafood restaurant are Ah Pek Lee Kou Hock Seafood Restaurant and Sri

Petaling Seafood Village which are located in Sitiawan and Sri Petaling respectively.

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History of Seafood

The harvesting and consuming of seafoods are ancient practices that date back to at least

the beginning of the Paleolithic period about 40,000 years ago. Archaeology features such as

shell, discarded fish bones and cave paintings show that sea foods were important for survival

and consumed in significant quantities. During this period, most people lived a hunter-

gatherer lifestyle. Also, they moved from one place to another if there is a necessity.

However, there are early examples of permanent settlements such as those at Lepenski Vir,

they are always associated with fishing as a major source of food. The ancient river Nile was

full of fresh fish and dried fish were a staple food for much of the population. Thus, fish and

other seafood have become ingredients for business usage. Normally, seafood restaurant only

cater food for customers and they get ingredients from suppliers. Of course, there are some

seafood business which prey their catch on their own.

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Brief Description of the Businesses

(Sri Petaling Seafood Village Restaurant)Tracia is the founder of Sri Petaling Seafood Village Restaurant. She was born in

1962 in Belakong, Selangor. Originally, she and her husband was golf lover so they decided

to start their golf course business. Meanwhile, they found a jungle which is the current

address is suitable to develop as a golf course so they went to apply from the owner. After

setting all things, they started their golfing business in year 1999 with her husband’s brother.

In the same year, they considered that seafood restaurant have potential in future market.

Therefore, they had decided to exploit the land beside golf course since they can look after

two businesses at the same time. Now, they have hired 16 people in restaurant and Tracia will

be there every 9am – 5pm. The most popular food in this restaurant are baked crab with salty

egg yolk, ginger friend chicken, fried vegetable with scallop and baked prawn with cheese.

Besides, this is a halal Chinese cuisine establishment, which means there will be no pork

served in this restaurant. This restaurant is located at Lot 24221, Jalan Merah Silu, Bandar

Baru Seri Petaling, 57000 Kuala Lumpur. It is actually located at an unassuming spot, on the

road running somewhat parallel to the back of Carrefour. The place was brightly lit, open air

and already nicely filled with diners.

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(Restaurant Ah Pek Lee Kou Hock)Restaurant Ah Pek Lee Kou Hock is located at Sitiawan, perak. The outlet is just one

of the many popular restaurants located along Jalan Pasir Panjang in Kampung Cina. It is one

of the town’s most frequented open-air eatery. The founder is Ling’s family third generations

heirs named Ling Hoh Peng. The first founder of this business was Hoh Peng’s late

grandfather. Restaurant Ah Pek Lee Kou Hock established since year 1979. Initially, the land

was a coconut plantation and his late grandfather was a business man that was selling Toddy.

After that, his grandfather changed it to a seafood restaurant. Besides, Lim Hoh Peng is a

fisherman. He goes out for fishing every morning for six days in a week. The workers and

him will load up his sampan and spend a few hours fishing until their haul is big enough.

Therefore, they very emphasize on the freshness of the seafood, they don’t have specific

menu, the style it is cooked in is really what creates a scrumptious dish. However, the top five

popular dishes are steam flower crab, steam prawn, bihun soup with oyster, oyster omelette

and “Sar Jui Yee”. This is a halal Chinese cuisine establishment, which means no pork is

served. In other hand, this restaurant hired only 3 workers and helped by relatives, this means

that it is a family business. Hock Ping’s wife, Beh Ah Luan, does most of the cooking at the

restaurant and is helped by their three children. Although this is a family business and get the

support from the family, but he does not consider opening a franchise to expand their

business. In addition, Ling Hoh Peng is an open minded person to his business. He would

rather loss their customer when the restaurant cannot load too many customers to ensure the

quality of food. The opening hours of this business is from 10am-10pm.

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Comparative analysis of the businesses’ competitive traits

Brief Bio’s of their competitorsAh Pek Lee Kou Hock Restaurant can be said as the top seafood restaurant in Stitiawan. On the other

hand, Sri Petaling Seafood Village does not have any competitor which is also operating seafood but

there are quite a number of famous restaurants. There are three competitors for each business’

analysis.

For Ah Pek Lee Kou Hock Seafood Restaurant, their competitors are Villa Seafood Restaurant,

Restaurant Hai Tien Di and Amu Coconut Villa Seafood Restaurant. These are their briefly traits.

Name of Restaurant Brief Bio About Them Famous Cuisine

Villa Seafood Restaurant There is one special decoration of them which is you can feast under the shady coconut tree.

Their top 3 cuisine are "Pak Cheok Har" – Plain, steamed prawns with Ginger and ScallionsMarmite Chicken, Stir-fried "Choy Tum", Or Chien (Oyster Omelette) and Fresh Fruits on the house .

Restaurant Hai Tien Di This restaurant is located opposite a big Anglican church.

Their most attractive foods are steamed prawns, fresh oyster and steamed grouper.

Amu Coconut Villa Seafood Restaurant

The restaurant is conveniently located at Lorong Satu, Kampung Cina and about 5 minutes car ride from Tua Pek Kong temple.

Their top 3 most wanted food are oyster omelet with sweet onions, refreshing coconut juice and deep fried squid.Their handmade chili sauce is real good and a perfect combination with the deep fried squid.

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For Sri Petaling Seafood Village, their competitors are Restaurant Soon Fatt, Kam Lun Tai Restaurant

Sri Petaling and Restaurant Ye Look. These are their briefly traits.

Name of Restaurant Brief Bio About Them Famous Cuisine

Restaurant Soon Fatt Restaurant Soon Fatt is a popular dinner spot for Chinese families around Sri Petaling area.

One of their top 3 cuisine is Herbal Chicken with Soup. This is a precooked dish. Huge pot of tasty chicken and soup with generous amount of herbs. Highly recommended.The second one will be Braised Pork Ribs with Yam. This is another precooked dish. Pork and yam are well cooked and tasty. Recommended.Lastly, stir-fried Young Potato Leaves will be a good choice. Normal stir-fried vegetable.

Kam Lun Tai Restaurant Sri Petaling

Kam Lun Tai Restaurant was the venue for an investment talk thing when a couple of us were invited for some food session. Kam Lun Tai is a rather big chinese restaurant spanning 3 lots of double storey space.

Their most attractive foods are salad prawns, char siew pork andwrapped braised pork.

Restaurant Ye Look This restaurant is a little bit different from the other’s restaurant. Most of their foods are single order.

One of their top 3 most wanted food is pan mee, which is a type of noodle that is handmade from kneaded flour. This is one of the well-known Malaysian food. Bitter gourd in yong tau foo style also a hot sale.Their dry pan mee is always chewy and the chilli has its own recipes.

In order to survive in this field, our selected businesses had their own strategies to compete with them.

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Strategies Ah Pek Lee Kou Hock Seafood Restaurant

Sri Petaling Seafood Village

Pricing They set a reasonable price which can be said as market price. This restaurant has weaker pricing power than Sri Petaling Village. However, their business performance is still very stable as they could earn enough revenue.

Their pricing are set according to the economics’ flow as their restaurant is located in the town so their price would be slightly higher.

Advertising Previously, Astro ‘Ah Xian’ show had advertised for them for free as their brand is so wanting. Besides, there are some food columns in the newspaper will help them to promote without charging. Normally, they advertise their restaurant through internet. Of course, word-mouth spreaded by old customer is a vital approach as well.

They did distribute flyers before in order to promote their restaurant. However, this strategy had only lasted for few months. They stopped using this strategy after their business increased. Besides, their customers are mostly their golf club’s customers.

Product Variety Ah Pek Restaurant always innovate new cuisine with his own secret recipes. The justification is that their customers will not get bored easily toward their foods.

As always, they do create and invent new dishes so that they can attract more customers. They even differentiated their products. For instance, they will have fried prawns or salad prawns.

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Recommendations

We have some recommendations and suggestions after investigating these restaurants. It

might be helpful for them.

Ah Pek Seafood Resaurant

Having few branches

Their brand is undeniably popular among those seafood restaurants in Sitiawan. However

they do not have any intention or will to open branch. Nonetheless, I think they should have

do it as opening branch can earn extra revenue. Besides, each of his children can help him to

handle his branches when he grows older.

Executing marketing seafood business

Promoting their foods by using social media is quite a useful mean as people nowadays are

always depending internet. Besides, customers could enjoy the delivery service easily

through digital selling. Ultimately, they can increase their revenue.

Sri Petaling Seafood Restaurant

Advertising

They can advertise more as we found out that actually they did not put much effort in

advertising their business. They could advertise their restaurant through newspapers or even

creating an official website for their brand.

Creating new cuisine

They should keep updating their cuisine frequently. Of course, they invent new dishes but

they do not make them interestingly. For instance, they can promote their fresh dish of the

day or even have some value package come with the new dishes.

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MEETING MINUTES 1

DATE / TIME 21 April 2014 – 2.00pm – 4.30pm

MEETING TITLE Discussion of the Research Project

AGENDA TOPIC Discuss and decide what kind of industry, which shops and locations we want to interview

MEETING LOCATION Library

ATTENDED BY NAME:

Yong Seen YeeJoanne TeeLeong Chee Mun

INITIAL:

YSYJTLCM

PREPARED BY Yong Seen Yee YSY

Meeting Minutes

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NO MATTERS DISCUSSED ACTION DEADLINE

1

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To decide which kind of industry, shops and locations.

LCM and YSY Google search the restaurant

LCM and YSY had searched a few locations. For example, Melaka; Perak and Pahang.

Based on majority votes, all members decided to choose Sitiawan, Perak.

YSY is a key contact person for Restaurant Ah Pek Lee Kou Hock.

JT will in charge in preparing the interview questions.

All group member decided when to depart to Sitiawan

YSY in charge of preparing the transportation and shelter.

JT prints the interview note

YSY prepares the camera

LCM will be a note taker

INFO

LCM/YSY

LCM/YSY

INFO

YSY

JT

JT/YSY/LCM

YSY

JT

YSY

LCM

23/4/14

23/4/14

24/4/14

27/4/14

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28/4/14

27/4/14

28/4/14

28/4/14

MEETING MINUTES 2

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DATE / TIME 13 May 2014 – 2.00pm – 4.30pm

MEETING TITLE Discussion of the Research Project

AGENDA TOPIC To decide another seafood restaurant and location.

MEETING LOCATION Library

ATTENDED BY NAME:

Yong Seen YeeJoanne TeeLeong Chee Mun

INITIAL:

YSYJTLCM

PREPARED BY Yong Seen Yee YSY

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NO MATTERS DISCUSSED ACTION DEADLINE

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LCM and YSY Google search for another seafood restaurant

LCM and YSY had searched a few locations in Klang Valley. For example, Petaling Jaya; Subng Jaya; kelana Jaya and Sri Petaling.

Based on majority votes, all members had decided to choose Sri Petaling.

YSY is a key contact person for Restaurant Sri Petaling Seafood Village.

JT will in charge in preparing the interview questions.

All group member decided when depart to Sri Petaling

YSY in charge in preparing the transportation.

JT prints the interview note

YSY prepares the camera

LCM will be a note taker

LCM/YSY

LCM/YSY

INFO

YSY

JT

JT/YSY/LCM

YSY

JT

YSY

LCM

15/5/14

15/5/14

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MEETING MINUTES 3

DATE / TIME 21 May 2014 – 1.00pm – 5.00pm

MEETING TITLE Discussion of the Research Project

AGENDA TOPIC To divide the tasks to all the members

MEETING LOCATION Library

ATTENDED BY NAME:

Yong Seen YeeJoanne TeeLeong Chee Mun

INITIAL:

YSYJTLCM

PREPARED BY Yong Seen Yee YSY

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NO MATTERS DISCUSSED ACTION DEADLINE

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JT list out the tasks

JT and YSY translate the Chinese conversation into English for both restaurant

LCM in charge in video editing

JT and YSY in charge in report

All members in charge in power point slide

Divide the oral presentation part

JT presents background of Restaurant Ah Pek Lee Kou Hock; expansion and approach of both restaurants.

YSY presents background of Restaurant Sri Petaling Seafood Village and analysis of Restaurant Ah Pek Lee Kou Hock.

LCM presents analysis of Restaurant Sri Petaling Seafood Village and future plans of both restaurants.

All members rehears oral presentation

JT

JT/YSY

LCM

JT/YSY

JT//YSY/ LCM

INFO

JT

YSY

LCM

JT/YSY/LCM

20/5/14

22/5/14

26/5/14

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28/5/14

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2/6/14

Interview Notes

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(Restaurant Ah Pek Lee Kou Hock)1) What is your name?-Ling Hoh Peng2) What is the restaurant name?- Restaurant Ah Pek Lee Kou Hock3) Where is the current location? - No.135, Kampung Cina, Sitiawan, 32000, Sitiawan, Perak.4) When were the businesses started? -19795) Who are the founders? -My late grandfather6) What prompted the founders to start this business? Originally, this land was a coconut land. So there were actually a lot of coconut tree here. Toddy is created from the sap of coconut palms. Therefore, my late grandfather first started selling Toddy and seafood together because customers like to enjoy seafood with Toddy.7) Which generation are you?- Third generation8) How many years have you been taking over this business?-Since I started to take over this business, it has been 30 years and above.9) How many branch offices/stores do you have (if applicable)?- I don’t have any branch. One restaurant is enough for me. I think I am unable to handle too many businesses if I planned to operate branches. 10) How many employees do you have?- 10 included me 11) Who are your customers?- Local people, mostly Chinese and foreign customer12) Estimated current number of customers? - It is very hard to estimate and tell. Normally we have many old customers. So we earn revenue of 3 to 5 tables per day as an average. 13) Would you have more customers during weekends or holidays?-The amount of customers will increase for sure though it is still unstable14) What are the popular products sold?- “Sar Jui Yee”; Bihun soup with oyster; oyster omelette; steam prawn; steam flower crab15) What is your business hour?- We operate at 11am. We do not have an accurate closing hour as we would call it a day if we sold finish our catch. It is either afternoon or evening.16) How many competitors operate in your respective geographical markets? - As I know, there are around 11 or 12 seafood restaurants in this area17) Brief bios of each business’ top 3 competitors (E.g. who are they? What are their products? etc.)? - The top 3 competitors are Restaurant “Amu”, Restaurant “Villa” and Restaurant “Hai Tien Di”. Their main products are crab and oyster.

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18) Generally, do you feel it is easy or hard to enter this market? Why? - It is very hard to enter this market because you will have to face a lot of pressures.19) How do you compete with your competitors i.e. what strategies do you employ to divert customers away from your competitors? - No, we do not fight over each other intentionally. I do not own a lot of workers. Sometimes I can’t even handle extra businesses when out restaurant comes to a peak hour. We would rather suggest those unfortunate customers to visit other restaurants. No fighting remained peaceful.20) Do you own this land?- Yes. It is our right. Original, it was belonged to my late grandfather. After that, he divided equally the right of the land for my father and my uncle. Then, I saved adequate money and I bought the whole land right.21) Government had increased the pricing of electricity recently. Does it affect your business?- Yes. Our expenses had increased.22) Do you advertise your restaurant?Normally, my customers would help me advertise through Internet or spreading the word-of-mouth. There is once a show ‘Ah Xian’ from Astro helped us to advertise. It was totally free.23) Did your business’ revenue increased at the time?- There was a period when Pasir Panjang first built and became a hot tourism. It brought us a lot of businesses as they would have meal over here right after their tourism.24) Are your pricing decisions strongly affected by your competitors? No. Our product’s price is reasonable.25) Do you have meetings to discuss plans and strategies?-No. we do it according our will.26) Do you distribute bonus every year end?- Yes.

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(Restaurant Sri Petaling seafood village)1) What is your name?-Tracia2) What is the restaurant name?- Restaurant Sri Petaling seafood village 3) Where is the current location? - Lot 24221, Jalan Merah Silu, Bandar Baru Seri Petaling, 57000 Kuala Lumpur.4) When were the businesses started? -19995) Who are the founders? - My husband and I. It is a couple jobs6) What prompted the founders to start this business? - Originally I was a golf coach. Also, initially there was a café business then we expanded it into a seafood business.7) How many branch offices/stores do you have (if applicable)?- I don’t have any branch. 8) How many employees do you have?- 15 included me 9) Who are your customers?- Most of our customers are fixed customers who are also visiting our golf court regularly10) Estimated current number of customers? - It is very hard to estimate. We are not contribution businesses. All are walk-in businesses. We earned 10units out of 30units per day can be counted as good result already. 11) Would you have more customers during weekends or holidays?- Not really, it is remain normal12) How was your business recently? - It is not as good as it used to be.13) What is your biggest expense?- Rental is the biggest expense. This is because the rental keeps on increasing year by year.14) How much is your rental cost per month?- Around 10K15) What is your annual revenue?- Around 45K16) What are the popular products sold?- Baked prawn with cheese; Baked crab with salted egg yolk; Fried vegetable with scallop; ginger fried chicken17) How many competitors operate in your respective geographical markets? - I am not sure about that but I know some famous restaurants around here are Restaurant Soon Fatt; Kam Lun Tai Restaurant Sri Petaling and Restaurant Ye Look18) Generally, do you feel it is easy or hard to enter this market? Why? - It is very hard to enter this market. We meet difficulties every year. From the first day we initiated this business, we meet a lot of problems. It is like a challenge for me. 19) Do you own this land?

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- No, it is a rental.20) Government had increased the pricing of electricity recently. Does it affect your business?- Yes. Our expenses had increased.21) Do you advertise your restaurant?- I have distributed flyers. Besides, my customers would help me advertise through spreading the word-of-mouth. 22) Did your business’ revenue increased at the time?- Not really23) Do you have meetings to discuss plans and strategies?-No. we do it according our will.24) Do you distribute bonus every year end?- Yes.

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Appendix(Restaurant Ah Pek Lee Kou Hock)

Popular products

Steam flower crab “Sar Jui yee”

Steam prawn Bihun soup with oyster

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oysters omelette

Competitors

Restaurant seafood villa Restaurant seafood Amu

Business card

Group photo

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(Sri Petaling Seafood village)

Popular products

Baked crabs with salted egg yolk Fried vegetable with scallops

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Ginger chicken Baked prawn with cheese

Competitor

Kam Lun Tai Restaurant Sri Petaling Restoran Soon Fatt

Restoran Ye Look

Advertising method (Flyers)

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Business card

Group Photo

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Referencehttps://www.google.com.my/search?q=villa+seafood+sitiawan&rlz=1W4CHBA_enMY572&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=uGaIU_rsAceykAX-xoGACQ&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg&biw=1438&bih=684#facrc=_&imgrc=HNj4ieJ1K3QsUM%253A%3Bur96kwpH7cEmqM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ffarm4.staticflickr.com%252F3811%252F10726908313_811eb81456_o.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.j2kfm.com%252F2013-tua-pek-kong-temple-villa-seafood-coconut-jelly-sitiawan%252F%3B608%3B405

https://www.google.com.my/search?q=villa+seafood+sitiawan&rlz=1W4CHBA_enMY572&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=uGaIU_rsAceykAX-xoGACQ&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg&biw=1438&bih=684#q=ah+mu+seafood+sitiawan&tbm=isch&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=wxK_MC7TtLXnRM%253A%3B1Rf_q0yS2Wy-QM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252F2.bp.blogspot.com%252F--q0ItQBIR4w%252FUPvvdpj5m5I%252FAAAAAAAAIXQ%252FBRm54zhBDG0%252Fs320%252FIMG_4522.JPG%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fpurplesdiary.blogspot.com%252F2013%252F01%252Fyet-road-trip-to-sitiawan-pangkor-ipoh.html%3B240%3B320

http://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/fedex-partner-zone/top-tips-on-expanding-your-small-business

http://www.isaactan.net/2011/12/kam-lun-tai-restaurant-sri-petaling.html

http://www.eatonlylar.com/chinese-food/restoran-ye-look

http://www.slideshare.net/fullscreen/kaisintan/english-2-research-assignment-31191916/1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_seafood