PETALING JAYA: AYS Sdn Bhd, which produces microwaveable halal frozen ready-to-eat Malaysian meals under the Sri Kulai brand, hopes to penetrate the overseas market by the middle of this year.

Chief executive officer Liow Ren Jan said the company was looking at Dubai as its first overseas market due to the increasing demand there not only for halal food products but also for Malaysian food.

"We need to study carefully before we enter any overseas market. Besides Dubai, we are also looking at the Indonesian market," he told reporters after launching the Sri Kulai All-Time Favourite Recipes Search Contest here on Tuesday.

Under Sri Kulai, the company currently has 100 recipes and about 30 of them have been commercialised into products for the market.

The Sri Kulai products, which have 12-month shelf life, are currently available on AirAsia flights as well as selected Jusco and Tesco outlets.

Liow said supplying to the low-cost airline currently contributed significantly to the business and the trend was likely to continue.

"We are looking at supplying to other airlines. Currently, we are in talks with two airlines to supply them with the Sri Kulai products. Hopefully, we can finalise this in the next two months," he said.

The airline segment is expected to contribute about 50 per cent of the company's sales in the next one to two years, he added.

AYS, which is entering its second year of operation, hopes to achieve RM20 million sales in the next five years.

The company recently launched a licensing system under the Sri Kulai brand to encourage entrepreneurship among the public, Liow said.

"We hope that with the contest, this can garner interest among the public to start their own businesses. This is a good platform as the products offer wide opportunities for new business ventures," he said.

The contest requires participants to submit recipes for desserts, dim sum and dishes that use ingredients that are halal and microwavable.

The grand prize winners will receive, among others, five per cent of the sales of their winning recipes, which will be created into ready-to-eat products.

In addition, they will get a RM10,000 cash discount each when they become licensees of the Sri Kulai licensing programme under the lifestyle concept outlet.

Liow said under the concept, the company was targeting to have at least five outlets this year. - Bernama

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