If you’re a foodie who scrolls endlessly on Instagram and TikTok all day, you’ll surely have caught wind of a viral bagel specialty cafe in KL, affectionately named Grumpy Bagels. It is conveniently a 10-minute walk away from The Exchange TRX, they’ve only been open for 2 months and are already the talk of the town.
Despite having a pretty sizeable establishment, customers still had to wait outside in order to get in, and queue even longer for a seat! So many complaints were made that the cafe quickly installed umbrellas and large fans for those who had to wait outside.
If that doesn’t show you just how viral this cafe is, I don’t know what will!
But have you ever wondered what it’s like to experience a sudden rush of virality
Claire Tan, the owner of Grumpy Bagels, has lent a hand in it by documenting each and every step of the process of being a cafe owner.
Garnering more than 330 thousand likes on her ‘A Day in My Life as a Cafe Owner’ video series on Instagram, the videos detail even the hiccups and challenges that came with being a new cafe owner. She’s even built a following of over 25,000 on the Grumpy Bagels official Instagram page!
But the questions on everyone’s minds: Did they expect to go viral? What’s it like being shot to social media fame? Why did they name the shop Grumpy Bagels? Why are the bagels grumpy?
We asked those and more in this interview, so keep reading to find out more!
What was the inspiration and motivation behind starting Grumpy Bagels?
“Grumpy Bagels is a bakery cafe that specialises in selling different types of bagels and bagel sandwiches. I became a huge fan of bagels when I was still flying with Emirates. Bagels were always my priority whenever I went to New York. I was craving bagels and bagel sandwiches when I came back to Malaysia, and I realised that there were not many options here, so we decided to fill in the gap.”
What’s it like having a sudden burst of customers over such a short time?
“It’s incredibly rewarding to see our hard work and passion resonate with so many people. The excitement and positive feedback from our customers motivate us and keep us going through the hard times.
However, it was also quite challenging for us given that our team is still new and inexperienced. We had to scale our operations quickly to meet the sudden demand while ensuring we had enough manpower and maintained high standards of food quality. We were forced to close a couple of times during the first month of operation because we couldn’t estimate the crowd, and we ran out of food ingredients. Our team had to adapt quickly and streamline our processes to keep up with the crowds.
We are so blessed with the support from the community and take it as a valuable learning opportunity that has helped us grow and improve in a short period of time.”
Did you expect to go viral?
“The virality of our shop was unexpected but certainly a blessing for us. We were running out of budget and didn’t have the capacity to hire food bloggers or marketing agencies when we first opened, which led us to start doing videos and marketing ourselves. Besides, our location isn’t in a commercial area, so we needed to gain awareness about Grumpy Bagels before opening our shop.
Our intention has always been to create authentic and relatable insights and content that resonate with and inspire our audience.”
What unexpected challenges (if any), besides the power outage mentioned on your page, came up over the past month?
“In addition to the power outage mentioned on our page, we’ve faced several unexpected challenges over the past month. One major challenge was manpower issues. We did not anticipate the sudden burst of customers and did not have enough time to hire additional staff, which led to longer wait times and affected the overall dining experience.”
Why specialise in bagels specifically? How did you learn to bake bagels?
“I decided to specialise in bagels because of my personal passion for them. There were not many bagel options in Malaysia, so with my background in baking, I decided to bake them myself. My bagel creation was mainly self-taught. I wrote my own recipes and went through several months of trial and error. I even sent bagels to my friends for blind taste tests. My husband was having bagels almost every day, and our fridge was full of different types of bagels made with various recipes and ingredients. We kept experimenting until we found the perfect texture and taste for the local market.”
What’s your favourite bagel to make and why?
“I couldn’t decide. I love them all since they’re my creations. However, if you asked me to choose, I would say garlic cream cheese bagels for the savoury option and matcha red bean mochi for the sweet bagels. I love the strong garlic taste of the garlic cream cheese bagels. We use garlic butter to soak the bagels, then stuff the bagels with house-made garlic cream cheese and season with parsley herb.
As for the matcha red bean mochi, I’m a big fan of matcha. We use ceremonial grade Matcha to make our bagels and the bagels are stuffed with Japanese red bean paste and house-made mochi, topped with Matcha crust. Matcha and red beans are always the perfect combination. The umami taste of the matcha balances the sweetness of the red bean, creating a special aftertaste.”
Why name it Grumpy Bagels? Who’s grumpy?
“I was having a conversation with my husband about the name for our bagel shop. We wanted something fun and exciting, but he couldn’t agree with any of the names I suggested. Then, Grumpy Bagels just came out of nowhere when I saw his face. He’s always the grumpy one hahaha so we decided to name it Grumpy Bagels, and it somehow suits us because our customers are often a bit grumpy before they get to dine in our shops.”
We hope the customers ease up in their grumpiness now knowing the struggles of running Grumpy Bagels, the viral specialty bagel cafe in KL!
Grumpy Bagels
Address: 5, Jalan Kamuning, Off, Jln Imbi, 55100 Wilayah Persekutuan, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur
Halal Status: Pork Free, Alcohol-Free
Contact: 011-1113 4985 or Instagram page
Opening Hours: Closed on Tuesdays, 9am – 5pm
You should also check out: What is “kumpir”? We headed to Bukit Bintang to taste this viral Turkish street food for ourselves!
