Wednesday, June 06, 2012

EastCoastLife's Visit to Julie's Biscuit Factory@Malacca - WW

My favourite Julie's biscuits - Peanut Butter sandwich, Golden Crackers and the new Oat 25

The first stopover on day one of A Date with Bloggers 2012 in Malacca was a visit to our event's main sponsor, Perfect Food Manufacturing (M) Sdn. Bhd. where the famous Julie's Biscuit is manufactured.

The reason for my participation in this blogger event was a visit to Julie's biscuit factory. Its peanut butter sandwich has been my favourite since I was a kid. I truly looked forward to seeing how my favourite biscuit is made.


It was a humid Saturday morning, yet the factory was humming with activity when our busload of bloggers entered the colossal gates.


As we ascended the stairs to the conference room, I couldn't help admiring the unique walls of Julie's biscuit factory. The tiles were prints of Julie's biscuits. Cool!

After a briefing by the Management, each blogger was issued a white coat, a hairnet, shoenets and a mask. We started fooling around and taking photos after putting on the prescribed attire. :D

We looked like surgeons!

For hygiene and safety reasons, visitors are required to be properly attired. Bad news for bloggers : Photo taking/video taping is STRICTLY PROHIBITED inside their factory. -_-

Julie's biscuits

Next came the actual tour! The first thing that welcomed us was the aroma! That feel-good, sweet-smelling, warm fragrance of oven-fresh biscuits! I took deep breaths and let the aroma filled me up. Such Heavenly smells!

The manufacturing area was extremely hot - about 40 degree Celsius. I respect the workers who have to work long hours in such hot temperature. I was drenched in perspiration 10 minutes into the tour. Free sauna and slimming! haha.....

I used to buy these tins of biscuits for my students' teatime snack

I watched dough being moulded into biscuits; peered into gigantic ovens that hissed; salivated at the biscuits sailing on endless waves of conveyor belts.

We were not allowed to touch the biscuits, it was pretty hard for me to control myself because the oven-fresh biscuits were too tempting as they sailed past me. :P

Perfect Food Manufacturing practised a philosophy that is, “what we don’t eat, we do not let other people eat”. I am pleased to learn that they do not add preservatives and do not use artificial colouring in their biscuits. They even filtered the water before they use it for baking.

A buffet of Nonya dishes

At the end of the tour, we were ushered to Julie's Cafe where a sumptious feast awaited us. Yes, they have a cosy little cafe in their factory.

ECL and hubby with the Filipino bloggers

Over lunch, I had a chat with Mr Ng Teng Chai, General Manager (Operations) of Perfect Food Manufacturing. I learnt that they have been donating to charities such as old folks homes, orphanages and schools for years. They also donated to victims of natural disasters such as tsunami in Indonesia and floods in China, Myanmar, Thailand and Pakistan.

In early 2011, Perfect Food Manufacturing started a movement called “Share-the-love” in Malaysia. Through this movement, they hope to share the passion and love they have for their company with the public. They hope everybody will express their love and care to people not only who are close to them but to whoever they come across.


After lunch, the Management and bloggers took some group photos. Each blogger was given samples of Julie's products. I was delighted to receive my peanut butter sandwich biscuits and Julie's famous Love Letters!


Crowds at Julie's during Singapore Food Expo 2012

Visiting Julie's biscuit factory was overall a great experience. I learnt about the stringent manufacturing process of their products through this tour and also had the opportunity to taste freshly baked biscuits right from their oven! :D

My colleagues were fortunate to taste Julie's classic and new products because I brought the biscuits straight to my office as soon as I returned to Singapore. I was mobilised for an urgent operation. Two days later, I was dismayed to find all my Julie's biscuits gone!      


PERFECT FOOD MANUFACTURING SDN BHD
AG 6876, Alor Gajah Industrial Estate,
78000 Alor Gajah, Melaka, Malaysia
Telephone No : 606-556 1401
Telefax No : 606-556 5746

31 comments:

  1. cheh, not true that i took a lot of food k, from your picture, there seemed to be a lot left, you slow motion only mah :P and btw, nice flowery pinky cup :P

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  2. Ken,
    I was busy taking photos and didn't take the food until everyone had theirs. The picture of the buffet was taken earliest after we entered the cafe.

    I didn't had much choice nor enough to eat. Aunty old already mah, of course slow motion lah. :D

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  3. how very interesting! Where do they export?



    Aloha from Waikiki,
    Comfort Spiral
    > < } } ( ° >

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  4. I have a similar flowery cup but mine is a cheap one lah... bought at Daiso. ^^

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  5. Hi Cloudia,
    Julie’s biscuits exports to more than 50 countries, including Asean, the Middle East, Japan, Taiwan, China, Mongolia, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, India, France, Spain, Portugal, Pacific islands, Indian Ocean islands, South Korea, Africa, the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. In Malaysia, Julie’s biscuits are widely distributed through all major hypermarkets, supermarkets, mini markets and other retail outlets.

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  6. Thank you for introducing me to this dynamic company!


    Aloha from Waikiki,
    Comfort Spiral
    > < } } ( ° >

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  7. Oh! Photography not allowed inside the factory? Too bad!

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  8. No preservatives and artificial coloring in their biscuits? Glad to hear that!! : )

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  9. Used to like eating biscuits last time, but I have cut down on them now : )

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  10. That's a good idea to organize a Blogger meeting hasn't happened here yet. I think with all these different languages in Europe it would also be wuiet difficult. Not everybody speaks English ! I am not so interested in sweets, but it was certainly very interesting to visit this factory.

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  11. foong,
    Yes, no photography inside the manufacturing facility. So many interesting machines to make the cookies.

    I like to snack on peanut butter sandwich cookies and dipped the cream crackers in Milo. :)

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  12. Gattina,
    It would be nice to have a bloggers meet in Europe when I travel there in the future.

    I love visiting factories. Some factories that I have visited manufacture ice-cream (yum yum), bread and pastry, beverage, shose, garment, condiments, furniture, tiles etc.

    These tours are educational.

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  13. This sounds like fun. I love going round factories, but usually it's not possible to do public tours even with factories that used to give tours. I suppose people are more security conscious these days.

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  14. It is worthwhile to visit food factory. You get lot of fresh stuff.

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  15. Jenny Woolfe,
    Right, the fear of competitors' sabotage or a stranger bent on destruction is scary.

    I do find lesser factories to visit these days.

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  16. Indrani,
    Oh yes, I love the food manufacturing factories as I could buy fresh products at discounted prices.

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  17. i'm not too fond of Julie's biscuits but you can count me in to savour those Nyonya dishes. :)

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  18. Mmm. Peanut butter. Looks like a fun day. Thanks for the visit.

    http://joycelansky.blogspot.com/

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  19. I've never heard of that brand, but the cookies sound yummy. I love peanut butter cookies.

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  20. Life Ramblings,
    The Nyonya cusiness in Melaka is so delicious, love the sambal!

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  21. Joyce.
    You too are fond of peanut butter?
    Visiting this biscuit factory was not only fun but educational.

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  22. Ken,
    I love peanut butter on bread and only this brand of peanut butter cookies. :)

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  23. You have a fun job! I wonder can I get these cookies here.

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  24. AVCr8teur,
    haha.... my job is really not this fun.

    Yes, Julie's biscuits are exported to the US too.

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  25. Nice to hear how contentious Julie's Biscuits are not to use preservatives. But sounds as though Julie's biscuit cookies are so scrumptious, and get eaten up so fast, they don't last long enough to even need any preservatives anyway :)

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