Eeyong Ho has always been a curious child. Born and raised in Subang, she often found herself learning new things off the internet and finding innovative ways to solve problems despite having limited resources.
“I enjoy breaking things down to understand the fundamentals of how things are built, just so I can rebuild them into ways I want them to be,” she shared.
This trait led her to pursue an engineering degree.
But with a chemical engineering degree from the University of Bath, how did she end up being the founder of Otter Barista, a startup offering automated vending and robotic coffee solutions?
Solving a pain point
In university, Eeyong found herself with quite a lot of free time on her hands, “because I wasn’t too interested in attending lectures,” she admitted.
At that time, working in cafes seemed to be the cool thing, so she went along with it.
But getting a barista gig in the UK wasn’t easy. Thus, Eeyong decided to get a certification from the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe, which helped her get hired.
“I truly enjoyed my time behind the bars, working closely with the team, chitchatting with customers, and getting positive feedback from them,” she reminisced. “I have done internships in factories and corporate offices before, so working in a cafe was a totally different experience.”
In fact, it didn’t feel like work—she found it fun to make coffee, all while earning money. That’s when she decided she wanted to continue her career in the F&B industry.
However, every industry has its own challenges. And the biggest one in F&B is manpower, she recognised.
This was an issue Eeyong also noted during her corporate career. To fuel the hectic corporate lifestyle, many relied on coffee to stay energised. However, purchasing from coffee shop chains can end up taking a big toll on the wallet.
“I understood that cafes need to price the coffee at such a price point because there are many other overheads to cover,” she said.
“So that got me thinking, if I could come up with a way to eliminate the high cost of rent and manpower, I should be able to reduce the selling price while maintaining quality.”
That’s how she came up with the idea of a robotic coffee vending machine, which eventually led to the establishment of Otter Barista.
Brewing up entrepreneurship
“There wasn’t like a spark of sudden realisation for me to pursue entrepreneurship,” she said. “For me, it was something I knew that I wanted to do since young because I always wanted to be able to make some sort of impact on society.”
Eeyong describes herself as a rebellious person—someone who loves to challenge rules, just because they’re rules.
“I like to challenge the norm, try new methods, new things,” she explained. “Even during my time in EY as a cyber security consultant, I was constantly looking for opportunities that I could jump on.”
With this mindset, it wasn’t actually scary for her to pivot into an unrelated field. A self-sufficient individual, Eeyong believes everyone has the same access to knowledge with the current access to the internet. It just comes down to how to utilise that knowledge.
“I was more worried that I would regret not taking the leap of faith than worrying about the consequences of taking the leap of faith,” she explained.
To get the idea off the ground, Eeyong’s family initially provided the funding for the business.
How it works
Otter Barista machines offer 13 drink selections. Aside from coffee, the machine can also prepare chocolate and matcha beverages. Additionally, customers can customise their drinks, such as adjusting the sugar level. Prices range from RM7 to RM9 for a 12-ounce cup.
“So far in Malaysia, we are the first and only coffee machine that provides a fully automated customer experience,” Eeyong claimed. “After customers make their payment, our machine will dispense the cup, start brewing the drink fresh, cover and secure the lid, then dispense it to the customer.”
Each machine deployed is equipped with an IoT system and a SIM card. This is so that the team can monitor their inventory status, as well as check for any errors or breakdowns.
Built by a manufacturing partner in China, each machine costs roughly RM30,000.
From January to June of 2024, Eeyong said Otter Barista has dispensed roughly 100Kcups across its machines.
Bringing affordable coffee to all
Aside from Otter Barista, though, there are a couple of other coffee vending machine players in the market such as CoffeeBot and Tao Bin.
“Our main competitive advantage is having a compact and sleek design,” she said. “Among the coffee vending players, our machine has the smallest footprint which allows building owners to install Otter Barista without worrying about space consumption.”
Aside from these other players, though, coffee chains still persist as a strong option.
“For customers who want a place to sit and chill for a meeting or to do work, they will always go for cafes. We are not targeting them,” Eeyong recognised.
What Otter Barista wants to hone in on is practicality. No fancy environment that charges a premium, just a grab-and-go cup of joe at a fair price with quality taste.
Having locations adopt Otter Barista has been challenging for the team, though, Eeyong said.
“Firstly is because of the common mentality that most people have on vending machines,” she elaborated. “We will need to spend time and effort to convince them that we are different.”
And unlike cafes which rent a dedicated retail space, Otter Barista typically asks building management to place machines in areas that weren’t designed for anything to be placed there. Thus, they end up requiring many layers of approvals.
Despite these challenges, Otter Barista aims to be the leading robotic coffee vending solution in Malaysia by strategically placing their machines where they’re needed the most.
Currently, the startup has 60 vending machines around the Klang Valley and Perak. Target locations include hospitals, office buildings, universities, and basically places with high foot traffic.
The team is currently focused on the Klang Valley area but will look at expansion into other states next year. To achieve this, Eeyong hopes to work with localised partners in each state.
Otter Barista also provides investment opportunities for individuals to invest in the machines and share a percentage of profit.
Most recently, the startup was recognised as one of the top five finalists of MYStartup’s third accelerator programme, bringing home RM10,000.
Fuelled by Eeyong’s curiosity, ambition, and coffee, Otter Barista aims to solve the labour crunch in F&B while fulfilling Malaysians’ caffeine needs.
- Learn more about Otter Barista here.
- Read other articles we’ve written about Malaysian startups here.
Featured Image Credit: Otter Barista