PE Fund controls Bake With Yen

March 09, 2021

Bake with Yen was set up in 1987  at Taman Tun Dr Ismail and Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur by woman entrepreneur, Yen Khong Moi, to supply, distribute and retail baking ingredients, premixes, baking accessories and tools. The business did well and stores were opened in Sabah at Lintas (2000), Putatan (2003) and Kian Yap (2008). In Selangor she opened the popular Bake with Yen shop at Taman Megah, Petaling Jaya. Then more stores were opened in Puchong, Bangi, Kota Damansara, OUG and Klang and up north in Ipoh. By 2017 Bake with Yen had become a major supplier to home and professional bakers, and commercial businesses such as leading hotels, restaurants, cafes, and bakery chains. Bake with Yen produces its own in house brands baking products such as Butteria, Butterich, Cottura, Good Earth, Mama Lena and Sungold in accordance with the HACCP Based Food Safety System and MeSTI and over 500 of its products are HALAL certified by JAKIM. 

The growing success of this 15 store family run business (the second generation were at the helm) attracted investment from Creador, a Malaysian based Private Equity Fund (PE Fund). In August 2017 the Yen family divested their controlling stake in Bake with Yen. Creador reportedly paid RM57 million. Creador was founded in 2011 by a dynamic investor, Brahmal Vasudevan, who is the CEO of the PE Fund. Brahmal used to work with Astro Malaysia, BAT, the Boston Consulting Group, and was a General Partner and Managing Director of ChrysCapital, a leading private equity firm focused on growth capital investments in India, for 11 years. Brahmal holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and graduated with First Class Honors in Aeronautical Engineering from Imperial College, London. 

Bake with Yen has expanded to more than 50 stores now. In January 2019 Ricky Soon was appointed CEO of the retail chain. He comes with 25 years of retail experience.  

 
Read more 

  1. Bake with Yen. About us. Milestones. https://www.bakewithyen.my/our-business/ 
  2. The Star Online. 18 August 2018. Tee Lin Say. Creador commits RM1bil in Malaysia. https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2018/08/18/creador-commits-rm1bil-in-malaysia/ 
  3. The Sun Daily. 2 August 2017. Creador invests RM57 million in Bake With Yen. https://www.thesundaily.my/archive/creador-invests-rm57-million-bake-yen-FTARCH467053 
  4. Options. 12 December 2020. Petrina Fernandez. Bake With Yen CEO Ricky Soon on continuing a 33-year legacy. He talks about his online expansion and the bread-and-butter issues of a baking empire. https://www.optionstheedge.com/topic/people/bake-yen-ceo-ricky-soon-continuing-33-year-legacy 
  5. Deal Street Asia. https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/creador-invests-13m-malaysian-bakery-chain-bake-yen-79419/ 
  6. Creador. About Us. Portfolio. www.creador.com