Behind ZUS Coffee is a chief operating officer who perseveres in the name of passion. Prior to building the brand, Venon Tian has more than a decade of business experience under his belt.
The path to success
Perseverance, resilience, and persistence — these are some of the attributes that businessman Venon Tian has upheld throughout his 10 years in the industry.
Having worked in various fields of business, he is currently the chief operating officer (COO) of ZUS Coffee.
Despite being in the business sector today, he revealed that he is a law graduate from a university in the United Kingdom.
“During my time there, I started an e-commerce business and managed to pay my way through university. It was also at this time that I became interested in this field.”
Tian had established a business as young as 18 years old, buying and selling rejected or outlet clothing to overseas clients.
Years of watching his parents operate a food and beverage business, where he learned a variety of skills, fuelled his passion.
“Observing their tireless efforts, I began to develop a thorough understanding of business operations. Among the many skills I had learned were how to run things, negotiate with suppliers, serve customers, and so on.”
After he graduated, Tian spent two years working in the corporate field in the United Kingdom, where he met an agent, investor, and mentor who funded his business idea.
In 2013, he returned to Malaysia and established his first business in the laundry service industry.
Adapting old skills to new environments
Using his knowledge of the law, he had incorporated them into his businesses.
Tian sees studying a different industry and entering another field as neither a deterrent nor a hindrance to learning new things.
With critical thinking and the ability to network instilled in him during his time at university, he applied these skills in new environments.
When asked if he would return to study business instead, he said that as humans, we often have the desire to pursue many things at once, but we cannot.
“I used to wonder why I didn’t pursue computer science so that I could code for myself? Why didn’t I study engineering to get better at structured thinking, or business to become better at finance?” However, nobody is perfect.
Tian also said that recognising the limitations of his own skills allowed him to realise that the founders of large corporations do not handle every work alone.
“They would hire the best talent in town so that they could all grow together. That, in my opinion, is a positive mindset for leaders to have. There’s only so much you know.
“For me, the beauty of running a business is in a leader’s ability to guide and empower his team to do great things with their skills. Many times, it is just about giving them your trust and a clear direction in terms of what you want them to do and achieve,” said the 36-year-old.
Growing with ZUS Coffee
Tian’s first encounter with the coffee chain was after hearing a good friend share about the business model in 2019.
He later became a regular at the chain as their first outlet was below his then office. He joined ZUS Coffee as COO not long after.
During the initial stages of developing the coffee chain, he believed there was a gap in the coffee market.
“I came on board to help scale the business since there was a gap in the market. I thought there was a chance for improvement, and there are many exciting plans that could work well.”
Describing the gap, Tian pointed out that in the current coffee market, there are three categories of coffee providers: kopitiam coffee, convenience store coffee, and premium coffee.
“And the gap is basically between coffee that costs between RM6 and RM10, which is your everyday coffee. This coffee focuses mainly on caffeine content and often consumed for functional purposes.”
Tian believed that a coffee that serves its purpose and tastes good without breaking the bank was the market’s missing piece.
Aside from the price, he said that ZUS Coffee had introduced seamless ordering even before the customer gets into an outlet.
The COO said by developing a mobile application that allows for pre-ordering, we can ease our lives and save time.
“What we’ve always wanted to do is provide good coffee at a reasonable price. With our customers in mind at all times, we make ordering a cup of coffee easy and effortless. Like our tagline, ‘it’s a necessity, not a luxury’, all we do is to provide the necessary, rather than to keep it at a premium.”
Climbing the ladder of success
Tian recalled how, like many businesses, the initial route to building the coffee chain to what it is today was filled with challenges one after the other.
The brand endured several rejections and difficulties as it entered the market in 2019.
Nonetheless, he was grateful to have met so many partners who believed in ZUS Coffee.
“The beginning is always the hardest. When you reach a certain point, people will start to believe in you.”
When asked what the secret to the coffee chain’s success was, Tian revealed that the team behind the brand contributed significantly to the brand’s rapid growth.
With over 220 stores across Malaysia, the brand name ZUS — a combination of Z for Zealous and US for Us — is a representation of the various stakeholders.
“If it weren’t for the people, we wouldn’t have what we have today.”
As for the iconic logo, Tian said that it is an image of Kaldi, an Arab Ethiopian goatherd who discovered the coffee plant in 850 CE.
With Sarawak as the next state to be expanded into, the COO hopes to provide an everyday coffee experience here as well.
As he drafts plans for the coffee chain’s future, he believes that patience is the key to success.
“We never imagined that ZUS Coffee would grow to be what it is now when we first started it. It was only through dedication and faith in the possibility of success that we were able to expand to the size we are today,” he said.
