Co-Founder
NOMS | Peanuts & Anchovies
Business is about solving problems... Opportunity comes when a problem is solved. The bigger problem you solve, the bigger the outcome is going to be for you
From Episode 16: From Food Trucks to Multiple Outlets: How This Sarawakian Built an F&B Business
Biography
Avertino Phua is a Kuching-born Malaysian entrepreneur and the co-founder of NOMS (an American street-food concept) and Peanuts & Anchovies (a modern Malaysian kopitiam brand). Raised in the Staror Sky Garden and Kinyang areas of Kuching, he developed an early drive for financial independence, working his first job at a local grocery store at age 16 and selling snacks to classmates to cover personal expenses.
In 2015, at age 19, Avertino co-founded Kuching's first modern food truck with a RM30,000 startup loan borrowed from a co-founder's mother. Facing a total absence of municipal regulations for mobile eateries at the time, he worked alongside local authorities to help establish the licensing framework for food trucks in Kuching.
Over the past decade, Avertino expanded NOMS into brick-and-mortar locations across Kuching, Sibu, and Miri, and later launched Peanuts & Anchovies, which won the GrabFood 5-Star Award for Best Malaysian Food in 2023. Today, he oversees a team of over 80 employees across multiple corporate and franchise outlets throughout Sarawak.
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EP. 16: From Food Trucks to Multiple Outlets: How This Sarawakian Built an F&B Business
Avertino Phua shares how NOMS grew from a food truck into an expanding F&B brand with multiple outlets, highlighting the challenges, partnerships, and lessons behind building a successful Sarawakian business
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