Three friends set up wood-fired pizza business in Ipoh

IPOH, June 20 -- An avid traveller’s passion for good food has led him to open a shop selling wood-fired pizzas with his two best friends here.

 Abdul Rahim Abdul Razak, 34, said he and Muhammad Solehan Zulkifli, 22, as well as Muhammad Naser Johari, 24, had set up the Ipoh Pizza Kayu Api shop in March.

"The special thing about using this wood-fired brick oven is its distinctive aroma and we try to liven up the traditional way of using firewood for cooking. That's why we chose to use firewood instead of charcoal or electric oven.

"We are using our own recipes that I collected from my travels abroad. We are also using techniques that we learned from YouTube," Abdul Rahim told Bernama when met at his shop in Pengkalan Pegoh, about 15 kilometres from the city centre.

He said the pizza shop is only accepting take-aways at the moment due to the enforcement of the Movement Control Order (MCO) 3.0 and orders could reach up to 60 pieces a day.

"During this MCO period, we are slightly affected because there are areas in Ipoh that are subject to the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) and cross-district is not allowed. We also have to follow the standard operating procedures (SOP) including limited time to do business.

"We have just started the business but we will turn all these challenges into opportunities to strengthen our own brand.

“When this MCO ends, we have plans to expand the business further," he said.

-- BERNAMA