A Shwe Myanmar Pancakes vendor prepares a delicious pancake at his trolley.

THE mouth-watering aroma of butter sizzling in a pan on a vendor’s trolley manned by two young men wafts outward and attracts the hungry stares of passersby. Up the road people emerging from their offices and houses are similarly caught by the intoxicating combination of smells and sounds that come from the vendor’s banemok, or pancakes.

The two vendors busily go about their work and their wide grins betray the kind of happiness that goes with selling a product that customers love.

U Soe Soe, owner of Shwe Myanmar Pancakes and employer of the two vendors, says a day’s earnings from one trolley can amount to K70,000. His company employs 20 vendors who use 10 carts to sell the delicious treats in Insein, South Okkalapa, North Dagon, Kamaryut, Tarmwe, Thingangyun, and Sanchaung townships.

Each pancake sells for about K1200, with K800 in profit, depending on the area it was sold. The cakes themselves are initially baked as large dinner-plate sized cakes and then chopped up and put into bags for sale.

However, U Soe Soe says that he changes his prices depending on where the trolley is based.

“Profits depend mostly on the area and I can’t sell my pancakes at a fixed price everywhere because in some areas people have money to spend, while elsewhere they don’t,” he said.

U Soe Soe says that the pancakes must be of the highest quality or customers just won’t buy them. “I always remind my workers to maintain the quality of the pancakes, which I believe is the key to a successful operation,” he said.

And while business is good now, U Soe Soe says that hasn’t always been the case; his early years were “very difficult” and he thought the business might fail because there were so many competitors.

“I came to Yangon planning to become a successful businessman by selling pancakes. I believed in myself and trusted my business, even though some of my friends thought I’d fail,” he said.

Before moving to Yangon, U Soe Soe and his family ran a pancake business in Myaung Mya township in Ayeyarwady Division but he left in 1999, heading to Yangon with barely K200,000 in his pocket. At first he said he tried to sell more than 10 different traditional snacks but gave up because people only wanted the pancakes.

His counts himself as successful and recently bought a house in Kaukmyaung; he plans to further expand the business by buying more trolleys and hiring more workers. He’s even reluctantly opening a shop.

“I’d prefer to sell food from trolleys rather than a shop but I want to reach people from all walks of life,” he said.

Another restaurant owner, U Maung Maung Than, who runs Shwe Yi tea shop at Myaynigone Junction in Sanchaung township, says he’s disappointed that traditional foods such as banemok, are usually only available at street-side vending trolleys.

“Every time I look at the menus of other established restaurants they mainly have Chinese or Indian foods and the only Myanmar food is mohinga or coconut noodles.

“It’s embarrassing that shops don’t offer more traditional foods to people,” he said.

U Maung Maung Than says he’s in favour of roadside vendors but worries about how the food is made, and what ingredients are used.

“But if the food is made properly then I welcome these stalls, whatever they are selling,” he said.

Daw Aye Aye Thwe, who sells pancakes and akyaw (fried batter) on the side of Anawrahta Road in downtown Yangon, says business is very competitive and it’s not always easy to cover her daily costs.

Daw Aye Aye Thwe says that every day she must pay K100 to the Yangon City Development Committee, with occasional police casual taxes too. While she says she struggles to get by downtown, U Myo Hlaing, who works on Yangon’s outskirts, says he would quickly trade places with her.

U Myo Hlaing sells pancakes in East Dagon township but says he would rather be downtown because there are more customers.

“I’m sure that I’d sell more pancakes downtown because there are more people,” he said, adding that he sells about 50 pancakes a day at K200 each.
U Myo Hlaing says he that he would also relish the freedom of owning a trolley.

“If I had a trolley I’d be able to sell more because I could wander around to different locations but I can’t afford to buy a trolley because it costs about K150,000 and I don’t have that much money.”