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‘I chucked in my Frankfurt banking job and turned my food blog into a career’

A young Malaysian expat had a "dream job" at Deutsche Bank. But she had the courage to do what many only fantasize about - she left it to pursue her passion.

Published: 22 May 2017 10:20 CEST

'I chucked in my Frankfurt banking job and turned my food blog into a career'

Grace Teo, founder of Nyonya Cooking. Photo: Nyonya Cooking

Ever wanted to leave your job and become your own boss? Would you do it in Germany? Grace Teo has done just that.

The 30-year-old moved from Malaysia to Frankfurt in March 2011 to pursue a career in banking. But within a year, she had set up an online cooking publication as a side project – and it was so successful that she has since turned her hobby into a business.

The cooking blog Nyonya Cooking was born out of Teo’s frustration with the lack of authentic Asian cuisine in Germany, the young entrepreneur tells The Local.

“Unfortunately, there aren't many Southeast Asian restaurants in Frankfurt,” Teo laments. “There are some Thai restaurants, one or two Malaysian ones, one Indonesian.”

But even then, Grace finds the food to be “adapted for a German market.”

So Teo vented her frustration by developing a YouTube channel and then setting up a website.

“I would post video recipes of food I liked or I was craving. At that time, there were no channels really for Malaysian cuisine. I then linked videos of the recipes to the website version, and began taking requests from my viewers.”

Slowly, the site gained in popularity.

“There was gradual growth. There was no point where we were like 'wow, now it’s growing crazy!' It was just a weekend thing.”

But five years after she set it up, her YouTube channel has amassed more than 12 million views, and her website enjoys 36,000 individual visitors per month, she says.

At the moment, the business earns money through online advertising, and Teo is hoping to develop a tangible food product in the future.

Teo's Chilli Pan Mee. Photo: Nyonya Cooking

Leaving her job

Having a full-time banking job and simultaneously running Nyonya Cooking was highly demanding. So in 2016, Teo decided to focus on her blog full-time.

“Leaving banking was a very difficult decision. Working at Deutsche Bank was my dream job and I had a very good mentor there. It was really tough to say 'I’m leaving everything behind'. I tried to organize a part-time position, but the nature of the job didn't allow for that. There were lots of deadlines and meetings.”

Family support gave her the final push to start her own business.

“I spoke to my mum, and she said 'If that’s what you want, go for it. I just want you to be happy.' My husband is also very supportive.

“I sometimes miss the corporate life,” she admits. “I miss meeting a lot of people, having people contact and colleagues being around. I’m by myself now, no one is watching over me! Now I have more control over my own work. The toughest part is staying self-motivated.”

Working for yourself is “tough but interesting, since you have to consider things you never had to before,” she adds.

“At work you get assigned to do tasks, now I have to think 'what’s the next step?' and 'is it the right step?' Depending on yourself is tricky.”

Establishing a business in Germany

Nyonya Cooking has been a German company since February, taking about two weeks to register at the Gewerbeamt (trade office), with another two months' worth of paperwork from November 2016 onwards with the Arbeitsamt (employment agency), a process Teo notes is normally quicker when Christmas isn't involved.

Getting the business up and running “wasn’t really difficult”, she says. But the biggest challenge was “doing everything yourself in another language.”

“You need to fill out the correct documents, sometimes with difficult vocabulary. As well as having a business plan, you can call your local trade office directly, since they are friendly, helpful and can dispel any myths you may have heard from friends regarding starting a business in Germany.

“Knowing German for business is very important. Of course you can get help, but knowing German makes things easier and quicker. You can just pick up the phone and call rather than doing things by post.”

Teo also recommends getting informed about starting a business in Germany by speaking to those who have already done it, such as vi meet-ups in your local area.

Teo's Steamed Tofu. Photo: Nyonya Cooking

Asian food in Germany

At the moment, Teo’s audience is mostly to be found in South Asia, as well as in English-speaking countries such as the USA, UK and Australia. But she hopes the development of her German website, established in March, will help to attract a larger audience in her adoptive homeland.

“The Germans are quite conservative when it comes to food. I think there is a saying that goes 'the farmer won’t eat what he doesn’t know'. I want to slowly teach Germans about more authentic Asian food.”

Teo is currently figuring out how best to do this.

“Asian food has a bad reputation in Germany for containing monosodium glutamate (MSG) and oil. I want to show Asian food is different and healthy, that you can do it yourself – and that it is fresh, fast and easy.”

But is it possible to get the correct ingredients for Southeast Asian cooking in Germany?

“Of course!” Teo enthuses. Though her family sends her the occasional product from Malaysia, Teo says she gets the vast majority of her ingredients in Germany.

“In bigger cities, like Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt and Düsseldorf, you can go to Asian supermarkets, including getting fresh Asian vegetables.”

Note: This article has been updated to clarify one of Grace Teo's statements.

Essential guide for travelling with allergies in Sweden

EU allergy laws

“Sweden is covered by EU laws on the 14 most common dangerous food allergens,” Liselott Florén, head of communications at Sweden’s Asthma and Allergy Association, told The Local. “When you eat out in restaurants, cafés, hotels, or similar places, they are legally obliged to be able to explain what the food contains.”

When buying prepackaged food, you’ll usually see any ingredients containing one of these allergens highlighted in bold or capital letters. Here’s a list of the 14 most common food allergens with their Swedish translations.

Cereals containing gluten – spannmål, som innehåller gluten
Crustaceans – kräftdjur
Eggs – ägg
Fish – fisk
Peanuts – jordnötter
Soy beans – sojabönor
Milk – mjölk
Nuts/tree nuts – nötter
Celery – selleri
Mustard – senap
Sesame – sesam/sesamfrön
Sulphur dioxide and sulphites – svaveldioxid och sulfit
Lupin – lupin
Molluscs – blötdjur

Depending on your allergy, it can be a good idea to learn the Swedish words for common food items that may contain your allergen, like ost, grädde or vasslepulver (cheese, cream or whey powder) for milk allergies, although these will often be followed by the name of the allergen in question, too. For example, you might see whey powder listed on an ingredients list as vasslepulver (av MJÖLK) [whey powder (from MILK)].

Common cereals you should look out for on Swedish ingredient lists are vete (wheat), råg (rye), havre (oats) and korn (barley), and tree nuts include hasselnöt (hazelnut), valnöt (walnut), cashewnöt (cashew nut), pekannöt (pecan nut), paranöt (brazil nut), pistage (pistachio) and makadamianöt (macadamia nut).

Be aware that this is not an exhaustive list, so double check any ingredient highlighted in bold on an ingredient list before eating to make sure it’s not something you’re allergic to.

Note that many Swedish words are compounds, so these words might crop up as part of other words too, for example matvete (wheat berries, often served as an alternative to rice) or havredryck/mjölk (oat drink/milk). These are usually highlighted in ingredient lists with the allergen in bold, for example matvete or havredryck.

Some more important phrases are kan innehålla (may contain), kan innehålla spår av (may contain traces of) and fri från (free from). People with egg or milk allergies should also be aware of the Swedish words used to mark vegan food – vegansk or växtbaserad (plant based). Don’t confuse this with vego, which can also mean vegetarian.

Be aware of common Swedish foods which may contain allergens. Some foods described as a salad (sallad) often contain mayonnaise, and eggs, fish and shellfish are all popular ingredients. Those with fish or crustacean allergies should watch out for prawns (räkor), crayfish (kräftor) and herring (sill), especially around Swedish holidays.

Sauces and gravys often contain cream, butter or milk, so make sure to check these, and there are a number of traditional Swedish cakes which contain almond (mandel) such as the mazarin and mandelmussla.

Always have a dialogue with staff in restaurants

Knowing the EU allergens can be useful for reading menus and ingredient lists in the supermarket, but Florén from the Asthma and Allergy Association warns people with allergies not to rely on written information alone when ordering in restaurants.

“In our experience, Swedes are better when it comes to oral information than written information,” she said. This is partly due to the fact that menus often change with the seasons, and may not always have the most up-to-date information.

“Swedish restaurants have come a long way when it comes to sustainability, creating new dishes based on the available ingredients. That’s why it’s always better to have a dialogue with the serving staff, or even better, the kitchen staff.”

In most restaurants, you’ll see the words ‘Allergi? Prata med personalen!’ (Allergy? Talk to staff!) displayed somewhere, and staff should be happy to help you.

Decide whether to make or buy an allergy card

Swedes are famously good at English, but for people with allergies it’s important that you’re completely confident that the person you’re talking to has understood what you’re trying to tell them.

It can be a good idea to write up some sort of message or card with information of your allergies included in Swedish which you can show to staff (you can also buy one of these online with information in multiple languages), but Florén said you should be wary of relying too much on this, and always discuss your allergies with staff directly.

“You can do that, but it’s really important that you don’t end up thinking ‘I’ve shown a card, I assume you can understand this information’, without some sort of dialogue,” she said.

It can also be a good idea to let the restaurant know about your allergies in advance, if possible, whether that’s by phone or online.

If you do choose to create a card or written message to show to staff, here are some useful phrases in Swedish which you can include:

Jag har en allvarlig/livshotande matallergi. – I have a serious/life-threatening food allergy.

Jag är allergisk mot… – I am allergic to…

Det är inte en [gluten/laktos]intolerans. – It is not a [gluten/lactose] intolerance.

You may also want to list some common foods that often include your allergen. For someone with a milk allergy, for example, you could write the following:

Det betyder att jag inte kan äta mjölk eller mjölkprodukter, som smör, grädde, gräddfil eller ost, till exempel.

(That means that I cannot eat milk or dairy products, like butter, cream, sour cream or cheese, for example.)

If you have an allergy to tree nuts, you may want to explain which nuts are included.

Jag är allergisk mot nötter, det vill säga hasselnöt, valnöt, cashewnöt, pekannöt, paranöt, pistage och makadamianöt.

(I am allergic to nuts, that means hazelnut, walnut, cashew nut, pecan nut, Brazil nut, pistachio and macadamia nut.)

You may also want to explain what you can eat. Things like pine nuts (pinjenötter), peanuts (jordnötter) and coconuts (kokos) are not tree nuts, for example, and those with milk allergies may need to explain that they can eat things like eggs (ägg) or mayonnaise (majonnäs), or traces of (spår av) certain foods.

Jag tål… – I can eat…

What to do if you have a reaction

You always have the right to acute healthcare in Sweden, no matter where you come from. This includes treatment for serious allergic reactions. The emergency number in Sweden is 112.

Depending on where you come from, the price of this healthcare varies.

Residents of Nordic and EU/EEA countries pay the same as someone living in Sweden if they need acute healthcare in other countries.

A Swede visiting the emergency room would pay around 400 kronor (35 euros), depending on the region, and around 130 kronor (12 euros) per day spent in hospital. You’d also need to pay extra for any medicine used in treatment, although this usually heavily discounted, and cannot exceed 2,850 kronor (250 euros) in a twelve month period.

Nordic residents will need to show ID and give their home address, while EU residents must show their European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). It’s a good idea to always carry this with you while you’re in Sweden.

As a general rule, non-EU residents will need to pay the full price of any treatment themselves (which is why it’s a good idea to get travel insurance before your trip). The cost of a visit to the emergency room for this group is anywhere from around 3,800 to 6,000 kronor (330-520 euros). That doesn’t include any extra costs, such as medicine or an overnight hospital stay.

There are some exceptions for residents of certain countries, for example residents of Australia, Algeria, Israel, Turkey and the state of Québec in Canada can access certain healthcare at the same cost as Swedish residents.

UK residents can no longer get an EHIC card, unless they have rights under the Withdrawal Agreement, but they can show a GHIC (Global Health Insurance Card) instead to access healthcare at the same costs as Swedish residents.

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