In the 1980s when Kentucky Fried Chicken was the reigning American fried chicken franchise in Malaysia, an enterprising nurse, Nancy Liew, gave up her job to start a small fried chicken restaurant with her husband, Lawrence. Nancy was only 25 when the venture began with the first outlet at Jalan Wong Ah Fook, Johor Bahru. She didn’t have much money and the seed capital of RM120,000.00 for the restaurant set-up came from their joint savings and borrowed funds from relatives and close friends. Nancy still remembers how banks were unwilling to finance their business and told her, “you can open a shop today and close tomorrow.” The business began to take off in 1986 with the first franchised outlet. And then the cash registers began to ring when prospective franchisees began knocking at the door. MarryBrown serves Crispy chicken, satay burgers, Nasi MarryBrown, Fish n Chips, Mi Kari, Chicken Porridge, finger foods etc and local drinks.

MarryBrown is currently the world’s largest Halal QSR (quick serving restaurant) restaurant chain originating from Asia. It has more than 130 QSR (quick serving restaurants) in Malaysia and more than 350 restaurants overseas. 38 years of hard work and entrepreneurial foresight, the Liews have certainly come a long way.

Why MarryBrown and not MerryBrown or MaryBrown? Nancy Liew said it was just a name that came off the cuff and it was easy to pronounce.

More than 80% of outlets are franchised. Visit the www.marrybrown.com site to check out the franchising opportunity.