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The famous Buangkok min jiang kueh will be no more.

Teo Ah Bee, 74, is done selling min jiang kueh from home for good -- just two months after he started selling them from his Buangkok flat following the closure of his stall at a coffee shop in his estate.

Teo has decided to retire after all, once he is done using up his last bag of flour.

The news of the end of the pancake business was reported by Shin Min Daily News.

What happened

Teo used to operate his Kueh Pulau Pinang stall out of a coffee shop at Block 962 Buangkok Crescent.

His stall was there for about three years and won over many foodies.

The premises then underwent a renovation and the tray return station was shifted close to his stall after the makeover, which reduced his space, and affected his business.

He then decided to close down the stall.

The last day was on Aug. 31, 2022.

Home-based biz worked for a while

However, he went back to his pancake-making ways and opened a home-based business, where customers could make orders and arrange for a self-pick-up or delivery on their own.

This method appeared to work initially, as orders started coming in from all over the island with the publicity that Kueh Pulau Pinang was still around.

Orders started to slow

But then the orders started to dwindle, according to the Chinese press.

On one particular day, Teo only managed to sell S$5 worth of min jiang kueh, the equivalent of four to five pieces.

He ended up throwing away the raw ingredients as they were unused.

Teo said: "Our red bean and shredded coconut fillings take several days to prepare. If they are not sold out and are thrown away, it will be a waste."

"When I sold min jiang kueh in coffee shops, I could earn S$100 to S$200 a day, but now on average I earn less than S$30 a day."

"Even though many customers say that my Penang Kueh is delicious, they live far away and my home is remote, so they cannot come here often.”

Cannot provide delivery

Teo said he is not good with technology, so he cannot provide the food delivery service option.

Worse, he said there are times when customers make orders for the food in advance but fail to pick them up at his house at the agreed upon time -- without the courtesy of even informing Teo.

There was an instance where a customer called to order seven pieces of min jiang kueh.

Teo said he told the customer that he would make them on the spot when he arrived to pick up the food, but the customer insisted that the pancakes were made in advance and he would bring them home to reheat before consumption.

The agreed upon pick-up time was set at 4pm and the pancakes were prepared and made in advance.

Teo ended up waiting till close to 7pm for the customer to show up.

He then called the customer only to learn that he will not be turning up after all.

The customer subsequently offered to pay for the min jiang kueh, but Teo refused to accept payment.

Besides saying that min jiang kueh has to be made on the spot and eaten hot, Teo explained why the home-based business solution could not work: "Min jiang kueh is very cheap, and I cannot afford a car. The food delivery option is not cost-effective."

"And if customers place orders and don't show up, I will be reluctant to take orders in the future."

Will retire

Teo said he will now finish using his 25kg bag of flour and call it a day.

But he would need to sell 100 pancakes a day to close down in two weeks' time.

He has ruled out the option of opening a new stall due to his age, as he would need to take a taxi to work, which is inconvenient.

Teo said he would consider selling his recipe for S$20,000 though.