Best friends Su Jolly and Kat Perry are on a mission to get more people across the UK eating and understanding Malaysian food.
The pair are the founders of the Makan Malaysia cooking sauce brand that last month secured a Gold award in the Farm Shop & Deli Product Awards.
“Every recipe is inspired by the nostalgic flavours we grew up with in Malaysia, and taste like home,” says Perry.
Jolly and Perry’s partnership began on Perry’s first day of school in Malaysia, when she was paired with Jolly as her ‘buddy’. They have grown up eating together ever since.
Both moved to the UK for university and had no plans to launch a food business. Jolly was working in the lubricants industry and Perry was working in interior design.
The pair quickly realised it was hard to find Malaysian food in the UK, and that few people knew much about it. Hunting down south east Asian ingredients, they began cooking for friends and realised how excited people were to discover these flavours.
“Even though we were working in completely different industries at the time, it came to a point when we knew they wanted to build something of our own, something we were truly passionate about,” explains Perry
Launching in 2018, Perry and Jolly started small. Everything had to be developed from scratch, which meant a lot of experimenting, research, and trialling. They introduced Malaysian food to anyone willing to try it – testing recipes and getting feedback.
“We even made our friends fill out feedback forms after dinner,” adds Perry.
The first product they created was The Sambal, a Malaysian chilli sauce, which they still sell today. After cooking in Jolly’s home kitchen for more than a year, they moved into their first commercial kitchen and made Makan Malaysia their full-time jobs.
For the first six years, the business focused mainly on events, supper clubs and ready meals. Having started out in Jolly’s home kitchen, it eventually expanded into a commercial kitchen with a team of four.
“The business first grew through grassroots events such as local markets, supper clubs and pop-ups, where we introduced customers directly to Malaysian food and culture,” explains Perry. “Our growth has always been driven by our loyal and engaged community on Instagram and locally through word-of-mouth.”
“We’re a small, independent brand trying to shout about Malaysian food, so to have that work recognised means a lot”
A major change came in 2024 when Perry and Jolly decided to scale things back and refocus the business around what they felt had the biggest long-term potential: retail products that could bring authentic Malaysian flavours into kitchens across the UK.
Returning to being a two-founder team and working from a smaller kitchen unit, they launched their cooking sauce range.
“This was a huge turning point for the business,” says Perry.
Distribution initially focused on independent retailers and direct-to-consumer sales. At the beginning of 2025, the brand secured listings with Selfridges, and distribution has since expanded into retailers including Panzer’s, Raya and Ocado.
Following the growth in distribution, the brand now works with small-scale manufacturing partners to produce a range that includes chilli sauces, cooking sauces and snacks.
One of the newest products in the lineup is a Rendang Sauce that secured a Gold award in the Farm Shop & Deli Product Awards last month. A rich, coconutty curry paste, it contains toasted coconut condiment kerisik, lemongrass, lime leaf and spices such as cinnamon, cloves, star anise and cardamom.
“Our redang is born out of pure customer obsession. At our events, it is always the dish that disappears first,” says Perry. “It captures everything about Malaysia on a plate, but traditional rendang takes hours to prepare, so is not exactly weeknight-friendly. Our little jar makes it easy to get that depth of flavour at home, without cutting corners on taste.”
The pair say winning the Gold award is validation that their hard work is paying off.
“We’re a small, independent brand trying to shout about Malaysian food, so to have that work recognised means a lot,” adds Perry. “More than anything, it helps put Malaysian cuisine on a bigger map. It opens doors and gives people who’ve never tried rendang a reason to finally give it a go.”
And that can only help Makan Malaysia in its drive to get more UK consumers eating and appreciating Malaysian food, which they aim to do by growing the product range and by building their retail footprint.
Long-term, they also hope to develop closer relationships with ingredients suppliers back in Malaysia to tighten their supply chain and stay closer to their roots of their dishes.
“Food for us isn’t just the products – it’s the people, the stories, and the connection,” says Perry. “We want Malaysian food to be something people in the UK know, cook, and crave without thinking twice.”
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