From being a competitive Latin dancer to marketing to co-founding a music collective, you can say Johann Razali has done it all. Born and raised in Petaling Jaya, the twenty-eight-year-old came from a family of mixed heritage which, according to him, has led to a rather interesting life filled with diversity and colliding perspectives. After a fruitful family vacation, he returned with fond memories of his time spent in the land Down Under and the divine revelation that our local burgers were nothing compared to theirs. “Why don’t we have more of this in KL?” Johann thought to himself.
Apart from burgers, he is also known to be quite the giver—he can often be seen devoting his time and considerable resources to help advance the welfare of others, Johann is truly a man with no limits.
LET’S TAKE A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE AND DIVE INTO THE NITTY-GRITTY OF FOWLBOYS. HOW DID THE IDEA OF STARTING IT COME ABOUT?
The idea of Fowlboys came to me while I was on a family vacation in Sydney, Australia in October 2019. I took a stroll in Surry Hills and stumbled upon a fried chicken joint cum streetwear store called Butter. The concept of an eatery meets retail store really caught my eye. I decided to walk in and order myself a chicken sandwich from them. Lo and behold, it took me back to my university days in Arizona where I got the chance to enjoy buttermilk fried chicken sandwiches and thought to myself, “Why don’t we have more of this in KL?”.
Upon returning to KL, I reached out to a good friend Shaq, who is now co-founder of Fowlboys, to share the idea of starting a buttermilk fried chicken joint in KL. After Christmas 2019, he invited me over to his house where we started cooking up some burgers and the rest as they say, is history.
YOU’VE RECENTLY OPENED A NEW BRANCH IN SS15, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE SUCCESS AND SUPPORT YOU’VE GARNERED OVER THE YEARS?
Since we opened our flagship store in SS15, the response has been incredible. To see returning customers from all over Klang Valley visiting SS15 just to have a taste of our food was definitely a gratifying feeling. I feel really blessed and an immense amount of gratitude for the love and support given by the community around us, from the customers all the way to the industry peers as well as the Fowlboys family. To witness the hardwork and dedication my team gives every single day never fails to humble me.
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS?
I just believe in the fact that with sheer determination and fortitude, anything a mind can dream of is definitely one hundred percent attainable.