Now 70kg of bananas are sold in less than three hours
Abdul Adib runs the Banana Dibs business in front of his family’s food stall
FROM just a short two-second video saying, “ordinary, does it mean ordinary?”, who would have thought it would bring luck to cheese-fried banana dealer, Abdul Adib Aidil.
The action has now become an ‘extraordinary’ phenomenon on the TikTok social site when many produced ‘stitch’ videos to react to the 24-year-old’s behavior.
Not only increasing the number of followers on social media, the impact of the short video also increased sales of Banana Dibs, which he has been working on for the past two years.
Sharing with Astro AWANI, the youngest of the three brothers said, he did not think that the viral video would be able to attract many customers to come and buy his sale that was being made in Kajang.
Since it went viral last Saturday, Abdul Adib said, his cheese fried banana sales have doubled, from 30 kilograms (kg) of bananas to almost 70kg a day.
Abdul Adib (right) with his sister receiving orders from customers
Even more exciting, the sale sold out in less than three hours.
“I have a staff of three people, including me. Before, we could say that in two hours only one customer came, but suddenly (sales) exploded and we were surprised.
“Since the last five or six months I’ve been in business, people have started coming less often. I really feel very depressed, even with (regular) work I can’t make it.
“So, my plan this year is to try to grow the business, because I started this business two years ago, but nothing has changed.
“That’s why I focused on doing ‘live’ on TokTik and Alhamdulillah after that sales started to increase,” he said when met in Kajang on Wednesday.
In addition to ‘hard sales’, Abdul Adib said, he received offers as ambassadors and clothing models from certain parties.
The beginning of Banana Dibs
Speaking further, Abdul Adib said, he started the Banana Dibs business after graduating from the Malaysian Flying Academy, Melaka in August 2020.
At that time, an offer as a pilot in a leading national airline had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, armed with assistance of RM500 allocated by the government at the time, the young man started a fried banana cheese business in front of his family’s eatery.
“Originally in 2020 I was studying in Melaka, and I like to eat bananas fried with cheese… almost every month I will buy them.
“During the time of COVID-19, I received RM500 in aid from the government and I used 100 percent of it for this cheese-fried banana business. In terms of the place of business, I did take over the family shop.
“But with the help of the RM500, I made capital to buy bananas… let’s say, today I buy, today I sell, and I save a little bit. Alhamdulillah, today the capital is getting bigger,” he said again.
One of the workers at the Banana Dibs stall shows the cheese fried bananas
Apart from the crunchiness, Abdul Adib added, one of the specialties of his fried cheese bananas is that they are fried in the size of ‘popcorn’ and use jackfruit bananas because they taste sweeter.
Most special, he also produces two types of flavors or ‘topping’, namely caramel and butterscotch.
“In terms of variety, maybe people come to taste my own sauce, whether it’s good or not. I learned to make this sauce from a friend and it just so happens that he also studied in the culinary field.
“In terms of the crunchiness of the banana, of course it’s because we use flour to make sure it’s crunchy and feedback from customers says that even when it’s cold, it’s still crunchy,” said Abdul Adib.
Want to pursue ambitions
In the future, Abdul Adib said, he plans to increase the number of employees to help him expand the Banana Dibs business.
Even so, despite the growing business, Abdul Adib admits that he has high hopes of becoming a pilot and is still waiting for an offer from an airline company.
“I’m still waiting, if the airline (Malaysia Airlines) calls me, Alhamdulillah. Of course we want to enter that field because it’s been a dream since childhood, to become a pilot.
“If there is sustenance, I will go (become a pilot) and at the same time the business will continue,” he said.
Abdul Adib with one of the customers
At the same time, he also advised people who are interested in doing business not to be afraid and give up on venturing into the field.
In addition to caramel and butterscotch, Banana Dibs offers a variety of flavors such as chocolate, nutella, strawberry, orea cheese, and macha with a price between RM10 and RM12 (small), while RM25 and RM30 for medium size.
