On 11th May, Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad and I visited the new Gardenia facility in Shah Alam. I was invited to officiate the new plant – which is capable of producing 80,000 loafs of bread at maximum capacity production. This is the fifth plant which Gardenia has opened throughout the years and I am pleased that they chose the state of Selangor to be the location of its latest facility.
In recent times, there was a rumour that urged consumers to boycott Gardenia because it is owned by UMNO via Bernas which owns 30% of the shareholdings. Gardenia bosses told me that their company is owned by Singaporeans, namely the company that produces Indomee. Gardenia has to accept Bernas to be their shareholders due to the rules imposed by the government at that time that demand 30% of a public listed company has to be owned by Bumiputeras. However, they said, there is no UMNO influence in the company.
For me, I hardly eat bread, but I must reiterate my stand that we should not throw false accusations against others and should not bring race and politics into a company or its product.
I was recommended to eat the latest product of Gardenia, namely “Breakthrough“. It contains high fiber and elements that can help to control cholesterol and sugar level of the consumer.
Although many journalists were also there for the visit, it’s a pity that very little reports came out in the media. I hereby share my visit to this new bread manufacturing plant with you.
I am invited to say a few words on stage.
We had to cover our head and wear a “nurse-cap” before we entered into the production line
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Writer: Brenda Ch’ng
Published: Fri, 18 May 2012
SHAH ALAM: Gardenia Bakeries (KL) Sdn Bhd launched its fifth factory in Selangor last Friday in a bid to improve bread production.
Currently, Gardenia factories produce 200,000 loaves of bread and 240,000 pieces of waffles daily, in each plan, with the latest machinery and expertise fom various countries including Italy, Germany and Holland.
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| Kok (centre) together with Khalid (second from right) seeing how waffles are made, baked and packed. |
Beside baking, Gardenia also welcomes some 25,000 visitors to its factories annually.
“We get at least 10 visits a week at our factories and we are already fully booked until December. We hope this new plant will allow us to cater to more visits soon,” said Gardenia Group senior marketing manager Hazlinah Harun.
She explained the site visits were educational and informative for students, and they can learn the bread-making process and the hard work put in to produce a loaf of bread.
With about 35 workers in each production line, for every eight-hour shift, the new factory produces 8,000 loaves of bread in an hour.
Apart from the normal loaf, Gardenia also produces buns, rolls, snack cakes, waffles and bread spreads like kaya.
“We distribute to over 23,000 outlets nationwide, 365 days a year, seven days a week using about 700 vans and trucks,” said Gardenia Group general manager Koh Chin Huat.
He said they also export some of the breads to a few outlets in Singapore and they work hard to monitor the delivery trucks to ensure the breads arrive on time everyday.
Recently, Gardenia was also presented with the State Investors Appreciation Award by the Selangor State Investment Centre (SSIC).
SSIC is the state’s one-stop investment centre to help guide investors whether to start a new business or expand existing ones.
“Selangor is fortunate to have Gardenia setting up operations here. Other than being a clean and non-polluting investor, Gardenia has also created thousands of jobs,” said state executive councillor for industry and trade Teresa Kok.
Kok, who was present to launch the new factory last Friday, said Selangor recorded a total of RM8.7 billion in investment projects last year.
The figure was raised through 263 projects, making Selangor the second ranking state in the country behind Penang.
“We wish the best to Gardenia and would like to assure them of constant support from the various agencies and authorities in Selangor,” said Kok.
Joining her was Shah Alam member of Parliament Khalid Samad who was impressed by Gardenia’s “high sense of relationship with the society”.
“It’s wonderful that Gardenia provides fresh bread to about 60 charitable organisations everyday,” said Khalid.
These include orphanages, disabled homes, old folks homes and the less fortunate.
“They are also always ever ready to offer their support whenever we organise community events. Gardenia never lets us down as they provide free bread every time we ask,” he said.
Massimo stills taste better dude, got them for rm3.10 daily. Nothing to do with boycott, fell good if our choice and selection do make some impact on policy , transparency and governance….
Say what you may,I choose Masimo over gardenia any day for obvious reasons.
All my friends say the same.
The way things are progressing
with the gardenia people, only regret is on the horison.
They thought that they had pulled off a coup.
I was not influenced by any rumour, but switched to Massimo out of curiosity and I have been hooked on it since. Not only does it taste better, it also maintains its freshness longer. I have had experiences of Gardenia turning mouldy after a few days, but have never experienced such with Massimo – that itself is already good value for money, as I tend to quite long to finish a loaf of bread.
人家说什么，你信什么，不错不错！
Funny! My staff said she had switched to Massimo because Gardenia bread does not get mouldy even when kept outside the fridge, implying that it must be containing chemical preservatives.
Was recommended massimo and like the taste and freshness. Besides it is cheaper than gardenia and if buy fr medicine shop – its even cheaper. Visited gardenia before and no doubt on their haccp.
I am totally agree, Massimo taste much better than G. Btw, you better stay out of doing this again, you being elected not to do this PR show.
if the rumour is not true they should make a police report and make it court case ! for YB how you know the rumour is false accusations without police investigation ?
Please YB, for whatever reason, please do not spoil our support to PR by supporting any corporate which care nothing about the affordability of common people which raise their bread price so many time. When other company can make it more affordable and higher quality. Agree with one of our reply here, “ou better stay out of doing this again, you being elected not to do this PR show.”
I think YB is represent S’gor gov which is welcome every investor to S’gor.
massimo taste better but i still buy gardenia’s waffle because is really nice
I tried Massimo once – it was mouldy when I opened it about 1 day after buying it, and still not at it’s expiry date. So it is still Gardenia for me – maybe more expensive but cheaper than throwing the whole loaf away.
Just keep your bread in the freezer and pull out the Tip: slices you need.
Now I know why they discontinued Indomie Mee Goreng which was my favourite and changed to IBumie!!! Even looks the same, but taste a bit “LARI”
they should have invited bloggers (like Logoland Malaysia did) instead of only media because print medias has more important issues to write up.
As for me YB is not promoting Gardenia bbut its an innitiative to show the people tht how goverment force. Corporate to include Bernas.I’m sure all of u who commented,if u hv company there is a compulsory requirement to include certain percentage of bumiputera holders into ur business.No harm if she corrected the accusation as she is responsible for the Selangor State.Pls note the hidden message tht she is trying to reveal.
Gardenia “Breakthru” is the best for me but the price is not the best. However, I still support “Breakthru”