Khairul Amin Kamarulzaman, better known as Khairulaming, has made a name for himself in Malaysia as a social media celebrity chef since 2016. At the time of writing, he boasts 3.2M followers on TikTok and 44.5M likes while on Instagram, he has 3.6M followers.

He is also known for building his Sambal Nyet Berapi empire, and as of February this year, they surpassed sales of RM21.5 million. This feat is especially noteworthy considering the Kota Bharu native only launched his sambal paste business in January 2021.

With all that success, the social media star and entrepreneur proves that he still appreciates the people who helped him to build his business and become who he is–– his staff.

In a video that has now gone viral with over 3.3M views so far, Khairul shared how he closed both of his sambal factories to give his staff a treat. In celebration of the month of Ramadhan, he brought his staff shopping for Raya clothes, broke fast at a hotel, and gave a special Raya bonus.

In the video, all 60 of his staff are seen browsing through various outfits like baju kurung and baju Melayu which took 4-5 hours due to their excitement. Then, he brought the staff to the factory and some of the staff were seen tearing up as he personally handed them Raya packets with a thick wad of cash inside. He said that seeing the staff tearing up also made him want to tear up himself, “I really appreciate their hard work all this while and this is the fortune that I am able to share with them.”

@khairulaming Semalam kita tutup kedua-dua kilang sambal untuk meraikan staff. Kita bawa semua pergi shopping baju raya, berbuka puasa kat hotel dan bagi bonus untuk raya. InshaAllah lepas raya nanti kita pergi bercuti pulak hehe #InspirasiRamadan #BukaPuasa ♬ original sound - Khairulaming

He then treated them to a lavish buffet spread at a hotel as he revealed that the demand for his Sambal Nyet Berapi had tripled during the month of Ramadhan, but they only produced the amount within their capacity in order not to overwhelm the staff. He also revealed that he has plans to bring them on a holiday after Raya although the location is to remain a surprise for now.

Praised poured in from his followers on his Instagram page as others joked that they had sent in their resumes and others lamented that they themselves had not received any bonus for four years.

Taking His Staff on Holiday

Just in October last year, he also posted on his social media pages that he closed his factory to bring all of his staff on a holiday at a resort with 17 chalets that he fully booked out for them. Rather than having boring staff activities, the trip was purely for them to relax and enjoy nature. Wearing their own custom ‘Nyet’ caps, they tucked into a spread of Thai dishes and engaged in activities like archery. Their generous boss even personally whipped up a fruit cocktail for the trip and served it to them.

Kudos to Khairul! We hope that more Malaysian bosses, who are known for their stingy nature in general will take note of this!

Image credit: @khairulaming