RM1 Kopi O

April 16, 2016 Saturday

By Olivia Miwil
olivia@nst.com.my

KOTA KINABALU: Customers comes first at a coffeeshop in the Kepayan Low Cost Housing area near here.

Because of that Kedai Kopi Vin Lap has kept the price of "Kopi O", or black coffee, at RM1 for the sake of regular patrons.

In a state where most coffeeshops would sell the beverage anywhere from RM1.50 to RM2.50, the simple family run outlet can be considered rare.

There is also little surprise on why the coffeeshop remains popular with breakfast, lunch and dinners patrons who comes from the many government anc corporate establishments in the vicinity.

Among them are the State police and prisons headquarters, those who work at the airport, teachers, clinics, from the Multimedia and Communications ministry complex as well as the many light industrial outlets.

On weekends the shop would also be packed with patrons after they attend mass service on Saturday evenings or mornings at the nearby St Thomas Church.

Its owner Connie Loi, 39, said her father-in-law opened the shop in 1997 and at the time Kopi O was priced at 90 sen.

"When my husband and me took over the business in 2009, the price was raised to RM1 but we maintained the price of Kopi O because it was a popular item among our customers.

“The profit from selling the Kopi O is not much but we it helps as we also sell a lot of other food and drinks items,” she said.

Loi said she would recognise many of the patrons and pointed out there would even be those who would come in more than once a day.

Other items maintained at RM1 are a serving of banana fritters, traditional cakes and plain fried noodles.

Its food items on the menu such as dry noodles or curry noodles are priced at RM6 but served in a big portion compared to most shops.

A regular Marvin Felix, 39, from here said the shop would always become the choice for his family and friends to eat and hang out.

“When I was a secondary school student, this place used to be the only restaurant at Kepayan area in 1990s for us to eat and gather with friends after school.

“Fast forward today, although the price has slightly increased, they are still cheap as the portion is big,” said Marvin when met with his son having breakfast.


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