Pastry Entrepreneur Sues Younger Sisters And Brother RM1.5mil In Ultimate Sibling Rivalry
The pastry entrepreneur claimed that her siblings resigned from their company and set up a new one using the same branding and recipes.
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It’s pretty normal for siblings to get into a tiff every now and then. It could be over a small thing such as who gets the front seat of the car when going on a car ride with mom and dad, or something a bit more serious such as reading another sibling’s diary.
But, what happens when there’s bad blood over a business that cost probably hundreds of thousands in the making?
That’s what happened recently between four siblings, whose quarrel has escalated into a million-ringgit lawsuit.
A pastry business owner claims she and her siblings were sued by their eldest sister
Engku Putri Nadira Arshad, a co-owner of pastry outlet Eclairis, claimed on Instagram yesterday (6 May) that The Ordinary Baker, owned by her eldest sister Engku Putri Sharizad Arshad, is suing Eclairis for RM1.5 million.
“One of us made a decision that left the other three of us with no choice but to walk away. We didn’t take a single cent. We just left. Quietly.
“And now we’re being sued for RM1.5 million. It still hurts to say that out loud,” the caption wrote.
The four siblings started The Ordinary Baker together in 2020 amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, and business was good. Throughout 2021, they operated out of their home, baking cream puffs and all sorts of pastries with whatever they could fit in their house.
Come November 2021, they opened their first store in Setia Alam, which quickly went viral and was even featured on national television (RTM). Later in 2023, they expanded by opening another store in Shah Alam and went viral again, with local television channel TV3 featuring them on a segment of ‘Nona’.
The eldest sister claims she paid to set up the business, and settled her siblings’ debts
Meanwhile, according to a Facebook post by Sharizad, the eldest of the four siblings, The Ordinary Baker is fully owned by her and fully paid for by her own capital.
She claimed that the last of her investment into The Ordinary Baker was meant for a wedding cake business she wanted to set up for herself.
“I sacrificed my dream so they could have theirs. None of them contributed a single cent. But that’s ok, after all OB was set up to help my family who at the time had no jobs,” she wrote in the caption.
The entrepreneur then said the initial plan was to give the store’s shares to her siblings but claimed that two of them were blacklisted. She then decided to delay putting their names on the company’s shares until she settles their debts, which she claimed she did.
She claimed that her siblings had accrued debts of up to RM100,000 which included money owed to TEKUN, a governmental small-to-medium enterprise (SME) development organisation, an education loan, loan sharks, and to her husband.
“Why is it important to clear your names before entering the company? For OB to grow, it needs financing, and financial institutions will do a background check – this is the reason their names are not there. I decided to go solo so it’s easier for me to manage risks,” she said.
The three siblings resigned after their eldest sister refused to open a third outlet
In the same Facebook post, Sharizad accused her siblings of executing a coordinated attack on her by resigning with a 24-hour notice from the company on 1 November, 2024.
She claimed to have no prior knowledge about it and ran the company single-handedly, hoping her siblings would return to work. However, they set up a new company two weeks after they left. The new business, Eclairis, allegedly used the same branding and recipes as The Ordinary Baker.
According to her, this happened after she refused to open a third outlet just months after opening their first and second ones, explaining that the second store has not even reached its target return on investment (ROI).
Amidst the chaos, she also highlighted the welfare of The Ordinary Baker’s staff, who face risks such as retrenchment and paycuts, if she were forced to close one or all the outlets.
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