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A Singapore
Investor: Old Chang Kee
By Michael Alan Hamlin
August 30, 1999
A long-time friend from Singapore,
Bob Tan, recently decided to come to the Philippines and invest
in the fast food business. Together with another friend, Loy Teck
Wee, he set up the Singa Millennium Food Corporation and quickly
opened a food stall at Robinsons Galleria. It’s called Old
Chang Kee. Mr. Tan related his experiences in the Philippines to
Monette Hamlin last week, and agreed to share his new insights into
doing and promoting a business with us. Below, Monette relates their
conversation.
"Old Change Kee boasts of two
mainstays: healthy Hainanese Chicken Rice and Curry Puffs. There
are two kinds of Hainanese Chicken Rice: white chicken or roasted
chicken, served with chicken rice and Singapore atchar (atchara
minus the ‘a’) and a delicious trio of sauces: ginger,
chili and dark soya sauce. Curry Puffs come in two versions too,
chicken or pork. Bob sources all his ingredients from the Philippines,
except for the curry powder, which comes from Singapore.
"Hardworking fellow that he
is, Bob decided to live above his commissary in Mandaluyong —
which will eventually serve at least eight stores — so that
he can personally supervise operations. A typical working day for
Bob lasts from 14 to 16 hours. His work habits are rubbing off on
his staff of 20. They are up at dawn to prepare the food fresh every
day. Bob handles the operations while his partner Loy, a qualified
chef with vast culinary experience in Singapore, Canada, and Bermuda,
oversees preparation of the product. They have a third partner,
Han, the founder of the Old Chang Kee chain. Han’s stores number
22 in 10 countries: Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, India,
Japan, South Africa, New Zealand, Myanmar and now, the Philippines.
"When Bob opened shop a month
ago, he faced an interesting marketing situation: how to get noticed
in the crowded food court at Robinsons Galleria’s first level.
While his yellow and white décor was attractive, it somehow
was lost in the bustling sea of food stalls screaming for attention.
So he developed an innovative strategy to distinguish his stall
from the competition.
"On Day One, he delivered 1,000
attractive yellow and white paper bags with his logo — a portly
Chinese chef that looks not unlike Bob — to all supermarket
and department store staff of Robinsons Galleria. On the reverse
side was a prominent come on: ‘Free (No Purchase Required):
Please fill up this bag with 1 curry puff at Old Chang Kee, located
in the food court.’
"On Day Two, he stationed two
promo girls at the lift lobby of the Robinson’s office block
just before lunch. As hungry employees streamed out of the elevators
on their way to lunch, the girls distributed 2000 bags. On Day Three,
he teamed up with Robinson’s supermarket by giving away his
promo bag to everyone who purchased at least P500 worth of groceries.
"On Day Four, Bob had his promo
girls circulating around the food court giving away 1,000 tiny servings
of chicken rice with a slice of chicken on a plastic spoon served
with a curry puff. But then, he ran into a roadblock. Bob noticed
that very few people came to the stall. They ate the rice and the
curry puff but that didn’t translate into new business.
"So on Day Five, Bob changed
tactics. He stopped giving away curry puffs. His girls just offered
the rice samplings and encouraged people to visit the stall and
exchange the now empty spoon for a curry puff. The result: long
queues formed, but a number of the "redemptors" would
go in search of another promo spoon as soon as receiving a curry
puff. And they did this several times.
"Eventually, some of the repeaters
bought the chicken dish (probably as a result of the delayed nudging
of their consciences). And the results were good enough for Bob
to continue his promotion for two more days: the redemption rate
was a whopping 90%. The lesson he learned was that you must get
people to go to your stall with a redemption offer first and then
let them taste the food.
"’If the food is good,
they will come back for more,’ Bob says. In just one month,
Bob says he is almost at breakeven point.
"I brought a dear friend to
visit Bob’s stall last week. She had just returned from a week
in Singapore where she fell in love with Hainanese chicken. When
I told her about Bob’s stall, she begged me to bring her there
to relive the experience. We encouraged him to serve a greater variety
of Singapore dishes, including personal favorites carrot cake and
laksa. A two-week trial run of laksa, for instance, would tell him
whether Filipinos will warm to the spicy noodles, and selfishly
would give me a chance to eat laksa everyday.
"Bob was worried about the acceptance
of these dishes by Filipinos. In fact, he has adapted the curry
puffs to Filipino tastes by making them a bit sweeter than their
Singapore counterpart (I personally prefer the hot version). But
we urged him to offer the original Singapore version here, too.
After all, if Filipinos want to eat Filipino food, they have lots
of stalls to choose from at Robinsons Galleria, but those who want
something different can go to Old Chang Kee. Besides, the proliferation
of restaurants offering alternative cuisine ranging from hot Thai
and Vietnamese food to Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Italian and Spanish
restaurants shows that Filipinos like variety as well. After all,
eating is the preferred pastime of Filipinos.
"What we couldn’t understand
was why Bob chose Robinsons for his first stall. Bob explained that
he had first approached another leading mall (Guess who!), but they
had turned him down because he wanted to offer curry puffs and chicken
rice in the same stall (Go figure.). They pooh-poohed his offer
saying it would never work. Undaunted, Bob shopped his idea around
and Robinsons was the first to make a concrete offer. In a few months,
they will open their second stall at Robinsons Place in Ermita.
And after six to eight stores, they intend to start franchising.
By the end of lunch, my friend had decided to apply as a franchisee
of Old Chang Kee.
"Which is great news: I’ll
get curry puffs and chicken rice closer to home."
Copyright © 1999 The Events
& Awards Managers of Asia and
Hamlin-Iturralde Corporation. All rights reserved.
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