REKA July 2008

This is my first time appearing in a Malay magazine and it was indeed an honour that Berita Publishing is giving Fidani 3 pages of publicity in their bi-monthly magazine called Reka that comes free with the Anjung Seri (home decor) magazine. The July issue of Reka is featuring all the creative packaging in the food and beverage industry in Malaysia.

The Reka Magazine cover

Fidani had recently garnered the Best Ingenious Packaging Award from MIHAS and therefore, the magazine would like to interview my designer and myself on our success in creating the packaging. There were 3 winning products - Fidani Symphony, Fidani L'amour and the coming Fidani Chocolate Cigars. I have 2 designers for these range but only one of them managed to turn up for the interview. Carol is one of my best designers as she is very open towards new designs and concepts which makes it easier for clients like me. My boss would never like a conventional design for Fidani because he wanted to set a trail blazing approach in the chocolate industry. We want to make Fidani distinctive, and thus it would not be easy for others to follow.

Me & Carol (the designer)

The Article

Fidani has a standard of it's own. It's so exclusive that we take great lengths in developing the packaging that matches the quality of the product. The perceived value of Fidani is always greater than what you actually pay for. No doubt the pricing is at premium levels, from RM19 for 4pcs to RM99 for 25pcs, but what you get is top quality chocolate hand-crafted to perfection! Everything is done meticulously from making the pralines to the packing of the chocolates.

We are targeting a niche market. to know whether you're my target, all I need to do is to ask you one very simple question : Do you rather spend RM4 on a piece of chocolate or a plate of Nasi Lemak with Chicken Rendang?!! Well, if you choose Nasi Lemak with Chicken Rendang, then obviously I wouldn't be getting your business! We target those who are regular customers of gourmet chocolates, tourists and also those who splurge on the finer things in life. Fidani provides a platform to those who haven't try gourmet chocolates before by setting the price at 30% lower than rivals such as Neuhaus and Godiva. This allow new chocolate lovers to buy a taste of Fidani. After all, it's still chocolate from Belgium but only "assembled" locally like your Mercedes Benz.

Although Bolehland has had bad reputation for everything under the sun, be it politics, economy, dirty toilets and taxi touts, Malaysian chocolates are still way better than many Asian countries! For your info, most chocolates found in Taiwan, Japan, Phillipines, Singapore and Indonesia are all made here!!! It's only the packaging that deceives you. So support Malaysian made chocolates, especially Fidani.

Falling Sick

Falling sick is never a nice feeling. You woke up with a headache and you just wish that you don't have to get up for work at all! I had been having flu since yesterday and this morning it has gotten worse and my throat felt sore too. but still, I went to work because I have some urgent matters to settle this morning. At about 10am, I have finished all the important matters so I decided to see the doctor.

Our company have a policy where if you visit the panel doctors, you don't have to pay but if you visit other doctors, we have to pay first and then submit our claim at the end of the month. The allowed claim value is only RM30!!! What medicine can you get at RM30?!! Usually a visit to my family doctor at Kota Kemuning costs me around RM60-70!!! Thus, I need to pay the balance. That was not too bad, because after working for a year for the company, no one actually gave me a medical card. I only find out about the medical card thingy this morning! haih...

Another reason why our panel doctors sucked is because the Klinik Bandaran is located only at SS15 and USJ. If i can drive myself all the way to these clinics, then I'm not really sick right?!! Ish... So today, I went to the SS15 clinic but I can't find a parking so I gave up and drove to USJ and I managed to get a parking. I registered and then waited for my turn to see the doctor. At the meantime, I helped myself with some magazines on the table and to my horror, the magazines are all outdated - very outdated! It was all in 2003! OMG how could a clinic offer 2003 magazines for people to read as if they don't have money to buy some decent magazines or newspapers. One of the article featured was on Elaine Daly and she was only 25 years old then. Haha....

I went home and took a nap the whole afternoon and just hope that I will feel better tonight. Maybe it's due to stress, work stress and also lack of rest for the past 2 days as we were all busy for the graduation ceremony and the photo shoot at the studio. My youngest sister's graduation was on Saturday and she is a first class student in the Accounting degree programme and she also won the Leadership award (just like the big sister). The best of all, she was chosen to deliver the valedictorian speech. Well, that's a story for another day.

Miss Malaysia in the making!


I think Ziling really start to look like me now....