Jobbie
JOBBIE Sdn. Bhd.
Summary
Joseph + Debbie = JOBBIE; JOBBIE= You + Love + Peanut Butter
The JOBBIE story began when Joseph, a 20-year-old college dropout, and his girlfriend Debbie, an 18-year-old high school graduate, founded a small peanut butter business inspired by their love of food. Initially called ‘Walao-Eh!!!’, the business didn’t do well at first: in return for the backbreaking work they put in carrying 10kg sacks of peanuts up and down 4 flights of stairs before grinding those by hand, Joseph and Debbie were experiencing difficulty selling even 10 jars of peanut butter a month.
Given these circumstances, Joseph and Debbie could be forgiven for quitting to take up normal office jobs; instead, they persevered, tweaking the recipe every day based on feedback from family, friends, and complete-strangers-turned-taste-testers. Sales started to pick up, then the business, now rebranded as JOBBIE, reached its turning point: an angel investor provided them with the necessary funding to embark on an aggressive online sales campaign that introduced their labour of love to millions of peanut butter lovers craving a tasty, healthy, all-natural product!
What Makes JOBBIE Peanut Butter Special?
JOBBIE peanut butter can be either chunky or creamy, and either plain or enhanced with small amounts of salt and sugar, but one thing remains the same: our commitment to not using any artificial additives to protect our fans’ health. The sugar and salt-free versions, rarely seen on the market, are especially suitable for those on a restricted diet. Besides, we’re JAKIM halal-certified so Muslim fans can enjoy their daily peanut butter fix with peace of mind. Very few brands fulfil all these criteria, so we’ve definitely got an edge when it comes to winning over health-conscious foodies in Muslim-majority Malaysia.
How Successful is JOBBIE?
We’ve exceeded our wildest expectations. Last year, we recorded RM3.12 million in sales, which translates to 7.6% of the entire market for nut and seed-based spreads in Malaysia – looks like running up and down stairs in those early days was worth it after all! At the same time, we’ve amassed a huge online fan base mostly comprising fellow millennials and Gen Z, gotten our peanut butter into big grocery chains (like Jaya Grocer, Village Grocer, and Aeon), and collaborated with many other F&B brands to create tasty peanut butter-laced desserts and beverages.
What Will We Do Next?
We’re going to stick to our current business model, which has proven pretty effective so far: being responsive to customer feedback, targeted marketing using big data, and outsourcing production to reputable manufacturers. We’re also aiming to enter even more brick-and-mortar retail chains within these few years to enhance brand visibility, in addition to venturing into brand licensing in partnership with well-known consumer brands (think Nestlé, but of course we’re starting a bit smaller) to realise our dream of becoming a global brand with a cult following like Nutella.
We’re Offering You a Free Gift!
We know savvy investors, like you, always seek a little something extra to sweeten the deal. We’re also guessing that you must be a peanut butter fan in the first place to visit this page! Therefore, to show our appreciation, we’re offering all investors in this ECF round a super-secret, super-exclusive free gift that has something to do with our famous peanut butter… but we’re not revealing it just yet. Read on to find out more or even better, click on ‘Invest Now’.
Problem
Unpleasant Surprises Lurk in Store-Bought Peanut Butter
We don’t need to tell you peanut butter is delicious. Creamy, smooth, with just the right amount of richness, it’s the perfect complement to numerous sweet and savoury dishes. Unfortunately, you might not know that innocent-looking jar of peanut butter you bought from the store contains some preservatives and additives that can be detrimental to health in the long run, such as:
Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil | Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA) |
Added as an emulsifier to prevent the natural oils in ground-up peanuts from separating out, hydrogenated vegetable oil contains trans-fatty acids that clog up arteries and push up your blood pressure. | A preservative commonly used to inhibit the growth of mould and bacteria, this chemical has been found to increase the risk of cancer by the International Agency for Cancer Research. |
Not so appealing any more, we guess.
Solution
At JOBBIE, We Make Food Real Again
It’s probably no surprise to you, but the JOBBIE team is made up of die-hard foodies who spend most of their waking hours thinking about what to eat next. Shocked by the sheer amount of synthetic additives in our (now former) favourite peanut butter brands, we searched for tasty, healthy, all-natural alternatives – only to find there were none. A lightbulb went off in our heads: why not create a new product satisfying all criteria that would also help us make a good living?
Following countless failed experiments and many shameless attempts to make people try our peanut butter, we’re proud to present JOBBIE, a brand that is now synonymous with artisanal peanut butter in Malaysia. Crafted from 100% natural ingredients, JOBBIE peanut butter is spiced up with Joseph’s entertaining commentary and antics on social media – perfect for a lazy day spent snacking on peanut butter sandwiches while chuckling over our latest Facebook video!
Product
Core Products
Chunky Classic Peanut Butter | Creamy Classic Peanut Butter |
The right mix of sweet and salty, this iconic spread comes with large chunks of crunchy peanuts for that perfect mouthful. | A true fan favourite, the Creamy Classic is renowned for its silky smooth texture and intense aroma of roasted peanuts. |
Chunky Pure Peanut Butter | Creamy Pure Peanut Butter |
Made with peanuts and nothing else, the Chunky Pure is an ideal choice for peanut butter lovers on a low-salt, low-sugar diet. | The Creamy Pure is best used as an ingredient in recipes that call for pure nut butter to deliver an intense burst of nutty flavour. |
Our signature peanut butter range stands out from the crowd due to:
- A Super-Secret Home Recipe. Our recipe was refined over months using feedback from the people around us – friends, family, and complete strangers who were willing to taste-test peanut butter sold by two over-enthusiastic newcomers at a humble shopping mall kiosk. Nothing leaves the JOBBIE test kitchen until it has received the seal of approval from scores, if not hundreds, of people.
- No Animal Products and Artificial Additives. The only ingredients in our ‘Classic’ range are peanuts, sugar, and salt, while the ‘Pure’ range contains just peanuts with no additives. Apart from being good for health, this means JOBBIE peanut butter can be enjoyed by just about anyone, from vegetarians and vegans shunning animal products to athletes and invalids who must carefully control their diets.
- Halal-Certified by JAKIM. Halal status can be a sensitive issue, with many devout Malaysian Muslims exclusively purchasing food and drink from brands that are certified halal by JAKIM, the local authority on all Islamic affairs. To reassure our loyal Muslim fans, we’d like to affirm JOBBIE peanut butter has been certified halal by JAKIM, so you can continue feasting on our peanut butter daily without guilt.
- Minimal Wastage. We may be accidentally revealing a trade secret, but we don’t just incorporate the ‘nut’ part of the peanut into our peanut butter – we mix in the thin, brown, papery skin that covers each nut as well to add complexity to the flavour. Of course, this also serves to reduce food wastage, strengthening our claim to being an environmentally-friendly peanut butter brand!
Seasonal Products
Being creative people, we’re always experimenting with new ingredients to develop more sweet and savoury spreads that complement our core products. If a particular combination wins over our tasters’ hearts, it becomes our latest limited edition product, many of which have become so popular we have no choice but to continue production to meet incessant demand. Examples include:
Traction
Exponential Growth. We went from barely selling 10 jars of peanut butter a month in 2015 to achieving record-breaking sales of RM3.12 million in 2021, which translates into a 7.3% share of the Malaysian market for nut and seed-based spreads for that year. Not a bad achievement at all for a brand established by a young couple with zero culinary experience.
Products Sold by Major Offline Retailers. We are grateful to Jaya Grocer, the first Malaysian grocery chain to stock our peanut butter. Unlike many retailers that only sell goods from new, untested brands on consignment, Jaya Grocer was willing to purchase stock outright, showing their faith in us and giving us a massive confidence boost. Since then, Aeon, Redtick, Village Grocer, Star Grocer, and Ben’s Independent Grocer have followed suit, selling JOBBIE products in their stores across Peninsular Malaysia.
Expanded Presence to Singapore and East Malaysia. We want to make it easier for Singaporean and East Malaysian fans to satisfy their JOBBIE cravings. At the moment, they can only order via a few online channels, and East Malaysians in particular have to wait a long time for delivery. Not any more – we’re pleased to announce JOBBIE peanut butter will be available for purchase in Everrise, a Sarawak-based grocery chain; and NTUC FairPrice and RedMart, both Singaporean online grocers, from June 2022 onwards.
Successful Long-Term Collaborations With Other F&B Brands. We know our customers love to mix JOBBIE peanut butter with everything, so we went one step ahead and collaborated with many other F&B brands to create irresistible peanut butter-laced beverages and sweet treats. A few of these limited edition crossover products have even proven popular enough to merit a permanent spot on our business partners’ menus, the most notable of which are:
- Nutthing Eggette and Parmesan Nutthing Eggette at Eggette Labs
- JOBBIE Peanut Butter Chocolate at Love18C
Other brands we have worked with include llaollao, Famous Amos, Chek Hup, Chatto Coffee, Vanilla Crepe, and Mis Claire, a plus-sized fashion boutique (yes, Joseph is a plus-sized fashion ambassador).
Highly Effective Digital Marketing Campaign. We are masters of digital and social media marketing, churning out entertaining content at regular intervals to improve brand visibility, attract new leads, and keep current customers engaged. These efforts have paid off in the form of:
- No. 1 search result on Google for the keyword ‘peanut butter Malaysia’; achieved organically
- ~79,000 followers on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok
- ~50,000 members of the JOBBIE SuperNut Club, our customer loyalty programme
- A 6% conversion rate that is higher than the industry average of 2.5 – 3%; this means out of 100 visitors to the JOBBIE website, 6 will purchase a product from our online store
- A 45% return purchase rate that is higher than the industry average of 20 – 40%; this means out of 100 first-time customers, 45 buy from us at least one more time
- Average yearly spend of RM200 from each customer over a 3-year timeframe; this shows customers are highly loyal, buying about 8 – 10 jars of peanut butter online every year
Positive Media Exposure Enhances Brand Visibility. We wouldn’t be where we are today if not for local media taking a strong interest in our fledgeling peanut butter business. We were particularly fortunate to be interviewed by all types of media (print, broadcast, digital) reporting in multiple languages (Malay, English, Mandarin), helping us to reach out to as wide an audience as possible. To date, we have been featured in:
Raised RM375,000 in Our Angel Round. Back in 2019 when we were still young and inexperienced, we attracted our very first angel investor, who handed over RM375,000 in return for 30% of shares, with our passion, work ethic, and determination to succeed. Today, our company value has increased 10-fold, meaning her shares are now worth almost RM4 million – wouldn’t you like to follow in her footsteps?
Customers
Targeting Authenticity and Social Media-Obsessed Millennials and Gen Z
The JOBBIE team consists of the young and the young at heart, so it makes sense for us to leverage our understanding of what fellow millennials and Gen Zs seek from a product to convert consumers in that target group into JOBBIE peanut butter lovers! The strategies we employ to build lasting connections with our core market are:
Proving Our Authenticity. 90% of millennials say authenticity is an important factor when deciding which brands to support; this sentiment is shared by an even larger percentage of Gen Z. Given this, it’s no surprise we made a name for ourselves by staying true to who we are: we don’t try to hide our humble roots, we don’t pretend to be super sophisticated, and we always speak from the heart using plain language in all our blog posts and advertising material.
Being Active on Social Media. Social media is the new front in e-commerce, with 48% of millennials and 97% of Gen Z using social media as their main source of information about new brands, products, and services. As millennials ourselves, we have been using social media to reach out since Day 1, attracting attention by performing outrageous stunts like eating slippers (you can watch it here!) and inserting pop culture references into our promotional posts.
Business Model
We want to become the no. 1 gourmet spread brand in Asia, which will require a lot of hard work, funding, and strategic planning. We’re requesting your help with funding; meanwhile, we’ll work hard to make these expansion plans a success:
Short-Term Focus on Offline Retail. We’ve always been a predominantly online, DTC business. At present, online sales account for 60% of revenue, and the number could go up to 80% if we slightly intensified our online marketing efforts. However, we know having our product displayed in offline stores is the best way to promote our brand to consumers who wouldn’t have heard of us otherwise – so, for the next year or two, we’ll focus on getting JOBBIE into as many offline retailers as possible in Malaysia and Singapore.
Continue Utilising OEM to Grow Production Capacity. Some of you may already know, but Joseph and Debbie haven’t been painstakingly grinding peanuts by hand for quite a while now – we outsourced the peanut butter production process to a reputable manufacturer that also makes sweet spreads for many big brands. We’ll continue outsourcing production for the foreseeable future to ensure we can keep up with an expected surge in demand.
Continue Building Brand Loyalty by Providing Excellent Customer Service. Being nice to customers is good for business. Just ask the authors at the Harvard Business Review, who discovered customers were more likely to remain loyal if they received prompt, friendly service. Because of this, we’re very responsive to customers on both social media and our live chat widget – we want customers to feel warm and fuzzy inside after interacting with us, just like how they feel after eating our peanut butter.
Continue Engaging in Data-Driven Targeted Marketing. When signing up, members of the JOBBIE SuperNut Club agree to share information about their web browsing habits with us. We then make good use of that data to create personalised content for targeted marketing, which is, on average, twice as effective as mass marketing. As a result, for every RM1 we spend on marketing, we attract at least RM10 in sales – not a bad return on investment at all.
Venturing Into Brand Licensing. We dream of making JOBBIE a global brand with a cult following just like Nutella and Oreo. Imagine us partnering with Cadbury to create JOBBIE chocolate bars or McDonald’s to create the JOBBIE McFlurry – the possibilities are endless. Our next step is to build on our early successes at Eggette Labs and Love18C to enter into long-term licensing arrangements with even more well-known F&B brands.
Sweetening the Deal for Investors. JOBBIE is unique because we don’t just give you equity. To make the deal an even better one for you all, especially die-hard JOBBIE fans who just want to support their favourite peanut butter brand any way they can (thank you in advance), all participants in this ECF round will receive a very special gift. It could be a 1-year supply of peanut butter, a lifetime discount on JOBBIE products, or something else entirely – invest now to find out!
Market
Growing Demand for Healthier Food Options
Market researchers have predicted global demand for nut-based spreads (CAGR 7.1%) and sweet spreads in general (CAGR 3.2%) will increase moderately from 2022 to 2027. Locally, according to a EuroMonitor report, the Malaysian retail market for nut and seed-based spreads is valued at approximately RM42 million projected to grow at a CAGR of 5%, which is solid and a recurring staple food product market. Nonetheless, we are confident of beating the overall market growth rate and nearly quadrupling our sales to RM10 – 12 million by 2025 due to an emerging food trend that works in our favour: increasing interest in plant-based foods and healthy eating in general.
During the pandemic, Malaysians collectively embraced healthy eating: 61% increased their consumption of plant-based foods, especially protein-rich options like nuts and beans; while 44% stated they were willing to pay more for healthier food. We’ll take advantage of this trend to target consumers with advertisements extolling the benefits of our vegan-friendly, 100% natural, additive-free peanut butter, cementing our status as the spread of choice for health-conscious foodies everywhere.
Competition
Healthier Than Mass Market Brands. Based on our research, the 3 biggest brands in the local nut and seed-based spreads market (apart from us) are Lady’s Choice with 36% of market share, Skippy with 31% of market share, and Jif with 3% of market share. However, peanut butter from all 3 brands contains emulsifiers and preservatives that harm your health, giving us an edge when it comes to appealing to health-conscious consumers who still want great taste.
Halal Certification Sets Us Apart From Imported Brands. There’s no shortage of imported brands that occupy the same niche for premium quality peanut butter, like Smucker’s, Pic’s, and Mayver’s, but these are still missing one crucial ingredient required to compete with us on even ground: namely, halal certification from JAKIM. When confronted with a brand that boasts JAKIM halal certification and one that doesn’t, a devout Muslim will always pick JOBBIE – a win for the consumer and for us!
A Sense of Community Keeps Customers Loyal. A few other premium brands with local roots have ventured into the market for healthy, JAKIM halal-certified nut butters. Nonetheless, we’re confident the vast majority of our fans will remain loyal because of our consistent product quality, cited by 74% of customers as the main reason for not switching brands; and the resources we invested into fostering a strong sense of community among citizens of the JOBBIE-nation.
Funding
At present, the only issue limiting our growth is a lack of funding, so we hope to raise RM1.5 million in this ECF exercise at a pre-money valuation of RM12.5 million to achieve our short-term goal of capturing 30% of the Malaysian nut and seed-based spread market within the next 3 years. We’ll spend the funds on:
Forecasts
Historical and Projected Finances, 2019 – 2025
**Gross profit is derived by subtracting COGS and logistics costs from revenue.
**Losses in 2020 and 2021, despite a marked increase in revenue, were due to us reinvesting funds into expansion.
Exit
We are open to exiting via a trade sale to a larger F&B business seeking to enter the Malaysian market or grow its existing market share.
Vision
We aspire to become the no. 1 gourmet spread brand in Asia and for JOBBIE peanut butter to become as well-known and well-loved as Oreo and Nutella, on a global scale!
Team
Joseph and Debbie, the Founding Duo
Joseph Goh, Chief Operating Officer
| Debbie Ching, Chief Creative Officer
|
You may know Joseph as the star of the show in various promotional posters and videos released by JOBBIE, but do you know he’s also the talented copywriter behind many of JOBBIE blog posts? At the same time, he’s a sales, marketing, and logistics whiz, having taken on all these responsibilities in the company’s early days. | Cited by Joseph as his inspiration for starting a peanut butter business, Debbie is also the creative genius who came up with many of our most ingenious marketing concepts, such as the notorious slipper-eating video. She’s good at taking photos, recording videos, writing social media captions, and so much more – a perfect match for Joseph indeed! |
Other Core Team Members
Victor Chin, Chief Executive Officer
| Joanne Ng, Director
|
Peanut butter fan Victor is an accomplished technopreneur who founded and successfully exited an IT consultancy that was once nominated for the title of Oracle Partner of the Year. His marketing software business, AXP has also been sold to a regional agency. Since joining JOBBIE, he’s led our online retail segment from strength to strength. |
Our angel investor (thank you!), Joanne has been providing consultancy, systems integration, and enterprise application development services to public sector entities, commercial enterprises, and educational institutions in the Asia-Pacific for the last 25 years. She’s a great mentor who is constantly advising us on how to improve business practices. |
Lorence Khoo, Operations Manager
| Andy Tiw, Digital Marketing Manager
|
Lorence is responsible for managing JOBBIE day-to-day operations. As expected of an F&B veteran, her favourite part of the job is sampling new products from the JOBBIE test kitchen. |
Andy specialises in digital marketing automation and driving e-commerce conversions on 3rd party marketplaces. Our sales on 3rd party marketplaces have skyrocketed since he joined the team. |
Jeremy Chia, Virtual CFO
| |
Jeremy advises the JOBBIE team in running a tight ship on financial matters and compliance to ensure we have the right foundation for not only ongoing operations but future growth expansions |
Press
https://www.facebook.com/114544091918888/videos/1718563611516920/
https://www.jobbienutbutter.com/pages/%E6%96%B0%E7%94%9F%E6%B4%BB%E6%8A%A5%E6%8A%A5%E5%AF%BC
https://www.bfm.my/podcast/night-shift/breaking-bread/breaking-bread-ep33-jobbie-peanut-butter
Building an 'empire' out of peanut butter (nst.com.my)
AiFM - (3) 988 – Posts | Facebook
CityPlus - (3) Facebook
SPM Graduates Still Managed To Create Jobbie Nut Butter Brand In M'sia (vulcanpost.com)
BERNAMA - Building An 'Empire' Out of Peanut Butter
Astro AEC - (3) Watch | Facebook
These M'sians are Only SPM Graduates But They're Making Up to RM30,000 a Month! - WORLD OF BUZZ
Here's A Peanut Butter Made Especially For Gamers - Lowyat.NET
This peanut butter made for gamers actually sounds delicious | PC Gamer
- pitchIN and its officers and staff may also be investing in this campaign
- Under ECF Guidelines, valuation is determined and set by the Issuer. Investors are advised to carefully peruse all investment offers and documents before making investment decisions.