Cooking Up a Breakfast Storm
– Sr1 Commerce Breakfast Boss Battle

Jointly by:
Ng Choon Hau (Sr1A)
Yee Wen Shuen (Sr1C)
Eunice Ang Min Shi (Sr1ComA)

Business is all the rage these days. To increase students’ interests in career development, encourage students to innovate and train students’ logical thinking skills in the commerce field, the business department has held a Breakfast Boss Battle, with compulsory participation for all Sr1 Commerce students. Hectic is barely enough to describe the scene in front of the school hall every first recess from 29 July till 2 August 2019.

Students sorted themselves into groups of 10 to 12 beforehand and came up with their breakfast product. They had to be crafty and quick too – the opening capital for their stalls capped at RM100 and no breakfast products could be repeated. This birthed many products that ranged from heavier staples like Indomee and spaghetti to lighter treats like Korean rice balls and waffles. Afterwards was the matter of getting the word out, which mainly involved mass advertising over Facebook and Instagram. Students clearly went all out as seen from the posters and promotional videos made especially for this event.

The days of truth eventually rolled around, with each class (save for Sr1ComA and Sr1ComE) getting a day to sell out their products as quickly as possible. The following are the day arrangements for each class:

29/7: Sr1ComD

31/7: Sr1ComA and Sr1ComE

1/8: Sr1ComB

2/8: Sr1ComC

On each day, students only had the second and third periods to get their stalls ready for the main event during recess and needed everything cleaned by the two periods after recess.

As soon as the first recess bell rang on those four days, hordes of students immediately flocked to the front of the school hall to get their breakfast fix. One could see tons of students piling up in front of stalls while the Sr1 Commerce students struggle to keep their cool to keep everything in order. Each class’s respective Economic teachers were there to check on the students to ensure they weren’t breaking rules like setting up pre-orders. Giant banners were also waved around to attract customers to their own respective stalls. This scene could surely be described as chaotic, though it didn’t last for long – everything was gone in 5 minutes flat, at best. Many had to leave empty handed with slight sighs of disappointment. Once the crowd let up, each group took a group photo, signifying the end of their journey of hard work, and began with cleanup.

Overall, this event was a smashing success. Though many students sacrificed sleep just to get a perfect product (that won’t cause food poisoning) out the door, it was still a pretty fun first-time experience of selling food. From this event, students got to learn about event planning, money management, co-operation between their classmates, among other things, which are really useful skills in 2 years when they have to deal with the even crazier and chaotic mess of a crowd known as the Chinese New Year Bazaar. Customers loved the food, too, though some food was more lacking than others. The starting budget was the main criticizing point of this event; it was simply too low to provide for such a ginormous audience. Here’s to hoping that this event turns into an annual tradition since it serves as a great heads up for fresh seniors as to what awaits them later in real life.