SOME rightist-minded netizens have interestingly revived the Gardenia-Massimo bread rivalry which goes back to 2011-2013 when the former got framed online as a UMNO crony brand to paint a picture of so-called Chinese racist attitude towards Malay-owned businesses.
A good example will be this post by Threader @mangkuk999 who ticked off the Chinese for defending ‘unpatriotic’ Oriental Kopi in the no-BM-in-menu brouhaha while poking fun at the clarion call to boycott the popular Nanyang-style kopitiam chain as a “typical B40 cry-baby mentality”.
“It’s so funny the Chinese (are) mocking the Malays about boycotting Oriental Kopi which I’m not boycotting since the owner has already apologised,” remarked the self-proclaimed “have no qualm to speak out even from the toilet” poster.
“You think we don’t know the Chinese boycotting Gardenia and buy Massimo because the owner is Malay? Come on lah, don’t talk about boycott. U already did first. We just keep silent [Sic].”
Beyond the two bread brands, @mangkuk999 further observed that the Chinese “also rarely shop at Mydin (Bumiputera-owned hypermarket)”.
“Do you know why? 😏” he jibed. “Just that we the tolerant Malays couldn’t be bothered.”
Like it or not, the claim by @mangkuk999 was verified by one Kak Lala (@sewavellfiresemenyih) who recounted an auntie telling her to “better buy Massimo which pay taxes, taste good, blah blah blah”.
“The auntie must have thought I’m not as smart. But I’m a nurtizen (slang for social media users who support aspects of morality that are considered correct) la,” teased the Vellfire car rental owner.
As a self-proclaimed Chinese footballer revealed that “I buy Gardenia if they’re available and Massimo when they’re out of stock”, another Malay woman recalled a former Chinese officemate “got scolded by another Chinese colleague because she bought Gardinia instead of Massimo”.
To quell suspicion of his biasness towards this Chinese given “many Chinese friends DM (direct message) me denying any boycotting of Gardenia from the Chinese community”, @mangkuk999 who was adamant that “this is an open secret” resorted to attach the following screenshot.
In fact, his post elicited so much attention from rightist-minded netizens till political influencer ahmad abdul nasir (@ghazoff) started wondering if “it’s true that Chinese is boycotting Gardenia and even Petronas (petrol) because both are owned by Malay entities”.
Well, true or otherwise, one commenter reckoned that this is inevitable as “the Buy Chinese First (BCF) mentality has been inculcated from childhood”.
“I had one engaged in a heated exchange on Twitter (on a similar subject) and someone admitted to it. But they get angry when we Buy Muslim First (BMF) as this will affect their market.”
Truth be told
At the end of the day, the Gardenia vs Massimo perception is misplaced given that market share study reveals that Gardenia Bakeries (KL) Sdn Bhd dominates roughly 70% of the market with its bread products enjoying an extensive “route-to-market” distribution network reaching over 23,000 stores, high-volume automated production and strong brand loyalty.
Moreover, Gardenia is not an entirely a Bumiputera entity but a 50/50 joint venture controlled by Singapore-listed food and beverage group QAF Ltd and Padiberas Nasional Bhd (BERNAS) which is linked to tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary through Tradewinds (M) Bhd.
On the other hand, The Italian Baker Sdn Bhd which is the parent of Massimo holds an estimated 8% to 10% consumer preference share.
The brand competes through vertical integration, quality-focused branding and competitive pricing backed by parent company FFM Bhd which has since been privatised and delisted from Bursa Malaysia in 2004 after it became a subsidiary of PPB Group Bhd which was founded by Malaysian billionaire Tan Sri Robert Kuok.
As a matter of fact, Massimo boasts a more nationalistic feature given that it is a 100% Malaysian-owned business compared to Gardenia. – Oct 18, 2026
Main image credit: Kay Koo/Facebook
