MELAKA, Jan 18 (Sin Chew Daily) — A pilot of ten years has been grounded to selling laksa and prawn mee in Melaka during the pandemic.

Pan Guoxuan, 35, is now pursuing his dream on F&B as he cannot fly at this moment.

He found out that cooking noodle could be more difficult than flying a plane on the first day of running Ah Kor Kopitiam for delivery orders.

The delivery man arrived at the shop to pick up the food ordered by the customer, but Pan was fumbling as he did not know how to gauge the time from order made to delivery.

Customers complained as the delivery time for their orders were delayed.

"A pilot has to be very focused, accurate and highly alert with no room for mistake. The same goes for food and beverage industry.

"I still have room to improve. For making a customer unhappy, we apologize and compensate, just like how a captain deals with passengers on the plane," he said.

With his partner as the master chef, Pan, who starts afresh, believes he will be able to overcome all shortcomings as he accumulates more experience along the way.

Pan had been a pilot in Indonesia and Malaysia since 2010.

He was promoted to be a captain over a year ago, and flying from Malaysia to Hawaii was the longest flight for him.

His flight hours and salary were reduced since last April due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"From July to December last year, I was still flying one or twice a month, but have no chance to fly in January," he said.

Many of his colleagues and fellow pilots took up part-time jobs to sell insurance, multilevel marketing and construction.

Pan loves food and cooking since young. His dream has been to open a chain store in the F&B industry.

His favorite prawn noodle and laksa were from a coffee shop called Juat Lye in Peringgit. 

After learning that the coffee shop owner ceased operation last November, he mooted the idea of starting a coffee shop to sell prawn noodle.

As he was unsure of when he would be flying again, a F&B business would be good to compensate his income. So, he took the first step.

After some planning, Pan, his elder brother and the coffee shop owner started the Ah Kor Kopitiam in Tengkera.

Pan and his partner, the Juat Lye coffee shop owner, would be the main cooks while family members help in the kitchen.

Delivery service started on January 16 with good number of orders.

"We are all Hainanese and have decide to use Ah Kor as the name. This is how Hainanese call the elder brother. We hope our patrons will have a homely feel," Pan said.

Having tried many types of delicacies in different countries, Pan still prefers the Melaka local food.

That was the reason for him to start a food business in Melaka.

The Ah Kor Kopitiam is offering local breakfast options such as Hainanese coffee, toasted bread, half-boiled eggs, fish noodle, nyonya kuih and nasi lemak when dine-in was allowed.