ABOUT US
HISTORY
Since the 1950s, Lim Hock Lai worked along with his dad in a durian farm in Karak, Pahang, Malaysia. As education in those days was a luxury, he spent most of his days in the farm awaiting the harvest season under the huge canopy from the aged trees, he and his friends will gather in groups to play with marbles and hopscotches to spend their days.
Over the years, Hock Lai was able to differentiate the different breed of durians by just the appearance of it. There were multiple small-dark spots on his wrinkled skin, which was evident he stood outdoors most of the time.
When being asked the most common question, “Do durians really have eyes such that they will not drop on people’s head?” He joked in dialect (Cantonese) – “Durian drop only 2 second (the duration of the fall), where got so lucky hit your head? Whole life we are in the farm, i dont want my son to live the same way as me, so i saved up a bit of money when i sell durian so can let him see more things outside” said Hock Lai with face of pride. Hock Lai was a-little disappointed when his son told him that he wanted to sell durians over the borders in Singapore. “I tell him to think properly.. if he want to do i will arrange Soon (driver) to send the durians to you from our farm.” I also tell him “do business must be honest, if durian got a bit of problem must honestly tell customer and give them offer(discount).”
Who We Are
For years, they have been supplying fresh durians up to 100,000kg annually from their farm to Singapore and overseas vendors. Some might know, the descendant of Hock Lai is currently holding up the family’s business in the heartland district of Bukit Panjang.
Passing down the baton, Mr Say Lai (a.k.a Ah Lai) stand strong on the grounds of Bukit Panjang in continuation of the family’s tradition.
It was certainly a difficult year for Ah Lai, as the covid restrictions not only confined his regulars to their homes, it also meant that he had to spend his New Year, which often he most looked forward to, away from his hometown. “I open my shop on the first day of Chinese New Year, the whole street was very quiet. I had to call up a few of my regulars to tell them I am selling durian, if not my durian cannot sell then lose money. In Singapore also dont have relatives to visit, might as well open my stall.”
With that being said, Ah Lai knew that he would need to tap on the strength of e-commerce to spread the reputation of his stall. In year 2021, had his own domain set-up, www.ahlaiduriandelivery.com.sg .
“I insist the designer put my face on the website, people recognise me and know me through my face. I have been here for so long already. Only those people who do embarrassing thing to their customer scared to show their face. But I am not.”
As a durian lover himself, he have seen the frustration of consumers getting overpriced durian in the market, He wishes to leverage on current courier businesses and online platform to bring his fresh durians to a larger pool of consumers.
PRESENT
A recent follow-up with the kind-hearted descendants revealed that they will be moving their set-up to Bedok this year. This is due to dine-in restrictions in their previous location – Mei Ling Market. When probed the reason for allowing dine-in to happen, they shared that they would like to re-enact the old times [the days when they were in Malaysia Farm] of interacting with the customers who visits their stall and dining in, instead of simply just “taking-away”, which made them felt that hospitality was lacking in the business. “We hope the residents in the area will like us, we are just minutes away by foot from the local landmark - Bedok 85 Market.” At the end of our exchange, we concluded that this year, we could either savour their best fruits in their stall, or have it at the comfort of our own homes via their Durian Delivery Service.
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