Lee’s Fandbee rebrands as Fandbee, investing RM100 mil to expand across southeast Asia
including Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR 17 June 2022 – : Third-generation food distributor Fandbee today announced its aggressive expansion plans to help Malaysians businesses and customers cope with the escalating food costs.
The brand, previously known as Lee’s Fandbee, will be investing RM100 million to expand
across Malaysia and southeast Asia by the end of 2022. Locally, the locations include Bukit
Mertajam, Alor Setar, and Kuala Terengganu among others.
According to Fandbee’s managing director Gareth Tan, the brand, previously synonymous
with supplying affordably priced chef-quality ingredients to food operators now has a new
mission – to strive toward food equality by offering high-quality products at the most
affordable prices.
“We are currently among the fastest growing and most innovative distributors in South East Asia with our operations centers in Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam. We are also looking to expand to two other countries very soon.
“In order to bring about food equality – offering high-quality products at the most affordable prices – as a business organisation, we must first have a better cost advantage. This means that our order quantity will have to be massive enough to be able to negotiate for the most competitive cost price with exporters globally,” Gareth said.
According to Gareth, Fandbee would be able to achieve this by rapidly expanding its
operations within Malaysia and across southeast Asia and incorporating advanced
technology to grow omnichannel – business-to-consumers, business-to-business, online and offline-to-online.
“With the escalating cost of groceries due to ongoing supply shortage from extreme weather, export controls and war, what better way to begin our mission if not from home?” he said.
According to Gareth, the business has grown by leaps and bounds since its humble
establishment as Lee’s Frozen in Kampung Attap by his maternal grandmother Mrs. Lee
Wing Kang in 1962. Since the commissioning of its growth plan in 2002, the business has
now achieved a 5,000 percent growth in terms of sales.
“The loyal support of Malaysians has put us in business for three generations. As such, we
will always be putting the interest of Malaysians first when it comes to expanding our
operations,” he said.
Gareth added that while Malaysians were experiencing lockdown back in 2020 and were
confined to a 10km radius of travel, Fandbee expanded its operations to 14 additional
neighbourhoods across Klang Valley in order to be close to its customers and provide job
opportunities for 300 people.
When the lockdowns were extended, the business went online with the promise to deliver
groceries right to its customers’ doorsteps within 24 hours.
To date, Fandbee is present in 17 neighbourhoods across Klang Valley, one neighbourhood
in Bukit Mertajam Penang and two others in Terengganu and Kedah.
“Not only do we offer competitive prices for frozen meat and seafood such as beef, chicken and fish, but we have now also expanded our range to cover fast-moving grocery items such as cooking oils, eggs, seasonings and baking ingredients among others,” he said adding that with the expansion, Malaysians have the option to not only shop online but also buy online and collect the items in-store or shop offline by visiting any of its store where it’s most convenient.
On Fandbee’s business model, Gareth said that the business-to-business model is still a
huge part of its operations. However, he sees at least double-digit in growth in the
business-to-customer segment by 2025 with its aggressive store and online expansion
plans.
He added that Fanbee intends to set up a national distribution centre in order to establish
outlets in every state in Malaysia. Similar business model is also adopted for its overseas
operations, making Fandbee the only Malaysian-owned grocery chain brand outside
Malaysia.
