Hailing all the way from Korea, Milkcow set the Malaysian dessert scene abuzz with its unique honeycomb ice cream. The brand opened its first Malaysian outlet at The Garden Malls, Mid Valley City on November 7th and had its official grand launch on November 28th.
The hype came as an unexpected surprise for Yeo Kian Howe, the co-founder of Milkcow Malaysia. Both Kian Howe and Blugroupe co-founder Ben Chin own the master franchise of the Milkcow brand. When asked about their decision to bring Milkcow to Malaysia, Kian Howe simply stated that it’s because of the rich milky flavour of the ice cream.
“I personally like it, my partner like it as well. When everyone likes the product so much, we knew that other people would love it to have a try as well,” said Kian Howe.
He then continued:
I love the concept of turning organic milk into ice cream with honeycomb topping so I thought our market would love to have this in Malaysia as well. After starting for about a month, the response has been ridiculous because we only planned to sell 300 cups a day! We are now doing 5 times of that now and struggling to cope with the demand. But everything has been going really well.
Best known for its premium soft serve ice cream, Milkcow was originally established by South Korea-based MCOSTAR Corporation Limited in 2014. Before venturing into the Korean food franchising business, MCOSTAR started its business in the apparel industry. However, the food franchising business helped the company and it has been on a steady progress for over a decade now.
Despite the language barrier, Blugroupe managed to sign the master franchise for Milkcow brand in Malaysia with MCOSTAR. Thus, they are currently overseeing the brand and planning to open more stores in the near future.
The brand’s first outlet at The Gardens Mall measures just over 200-sq-ft and space is very limite but that’s only because Milkcow Malaysia did not expect the response to be that crazy. Now that the brand is gaining wider appeal in Malaysia, we were told they’re planning to open 2 more outlets in the next 2 months. In fact, the brand is planning to open a café style outlet by the end of 2015!
Kian Howe revealed to us that the locations for the upcoming outlets have not been decided yet but they are definitely going to be opened in the shopping malls. As for the cafe, he said that they’ve only started to discuss about it and thus, nothing is in the works yet. He further stated that the cafe will take inspiration from the Milkcow cafe in Korea and the menu would be more compressed.
Served in a cone or cup, Milkcow soft serve ice cream was made using organic milk, a healthier alternatives to other brands of ice cream. This is how the brand differentiates itself from other brands of ice cream that is made from powdered or UHT milk and has a shelf life of 3 – 4 weeks. The must-try ice cream flavour is the Milky Cube, the signature soft serve ice cream with honeycomb topping.
The honeycomb they use is 100% natural and sourced from reputable local bee farms. Since the honeycomb is delivered in batch once or twice a day to the outlet, the honey they prepare daily will always be fresh because it only lasts a maximum of 3 days. But of course, honeycomb isn’t the only topping the store provides as 11 different toppings including homemade chocolate, macarons, organic cotton candy, and marshmallows are available too.
The soft serve ice cream without the toppings priced at RM8 while the rest are priced at RM11 or RM13, depending on the toppings. The Milkycube flavour is the most recommended flavour, but Macao Dream is a great alternative because the popcorn macaron isn’t too sweet nor flavourless.
Milkcow Malaysia is located at LG-K23, Lower Ground Floor, The Gardens Mall, Mid Valley City, KL
For more information, check out Milkcow Malaysia’s official Facebook page or follow them on Instagram.
*P.S: We hear that Milkcow is planning to bring its ambassador to Malaysia too! Check back our site for timely updates!