Taiwan Day 4: L'elan Enterprise

Friday, 25 April 2014

Forth and final day in Taiwan.

We arrived at L'elan Enterprise (www.ez66.com.tw), a physical and online store catering to aging population needs. My opinion of L'elan Enterprise is that they are opportunists, they saw the pattern of an aging population in Taiwan and the need for elderly care arises. They chanced on this opportunity and started out this elderly care supply business to meet the demands of the aging population.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), any persons aged >65 is considered old people. Hence, the website's address www.ez66.com.tw. 66 years old, the first year of an elderly person.

The 'lazy' man's glasses!

They started out as an online store to cater to the busy Generation X adult children who are buying for their Baby Boomers elderly parents.

Mr Chang explained to us their business by using the analogy of infant care store.  What an infant needs is also what an elderly person needs. It is an interesting way of sharing the company's core business to us.

I am touched that L'elan Enterprise is not profit driven but improving the lives of the elderly community. Their plans for the future is to become a portal for the elderly, a community hub for elderly and of course be the No. 1 brand for elderly care products in the Chinese society.

The lunch at Hsin Chu Golf Country Club Restaurant marks the end of our 4D3N Taiwan Learning Journey!

A big THANK YOU to our facilitators, Johnny and Anne; Lee Mei from NTUC LearningHub; the transport and logistics people from Transinex and last but not least, all of us CEPs for making this trip memorable!

Bravo!

Au Revoir!

Taiwan Day 3: Vigor Kobo & La New

Thursday, 24 April 2014:

Vigor Kobo, the ultimate 5-senses interactive marketing experience 'machine'!

Upon arrival at Vigor Kobo, we are quickly sifted through the crowds into a pineapple tart making workshop where we get our hand greasy with making our very own pineapple tarts.

Ready for the oven.

The pineapple tarts are ready for the over and we are all put through the marketing mill as well.

Our 'baking' process starts here. The entrance of the pineapple tart factory tour.

Through the Pineapple scented tunnel, where we all smelled pineapple-y at the end. 

'Pineapple plantation' walk-thru with a panoramic screen show.

All of us get to taste freshly baked pineapple tarts, where we end our journey at the display of pineapple tarts artifacts. 

Vigor Kobo showed how important marketing research and trends are. They used guerrilla marketing tactics, such as the use of media to get free exposure of their brand. They marketed pineapple tarts as Taiwan's national product, hence became a souvenir stop for all travelers into Taiwan. With the rise of incoming Chinese tourists, they offered packing services for customers. They even allowed packing for items not sold by them. Using their packing service, Vigor Kobo study the consumer buying trends of their product so as to better cater to their customers. They took consumer feedback seriously and came up with premium products such as the Charcoal Pineapple Sticks. Technically, the new products that they introduce has very similar low food cost as the older products, however, with packaging and branding, they are about to priced them at a much higher premium. 

I found Vigor Kobo to be a marketing guru, there are lots to learn from them, a company that sells low priced food products, similar to Mr Bean. 

The use of mascots to educate the young Taiwanese about their traditional pastries.

The last stop for the day was La New, a custom-made shoe manufacturer. We visited the head office and one of their flagship store. 

At La New, we learnt about the process of understanding the customers needs and measurements to manufacture a custom pair of shoes for a specific customer. After going through the process of getting a custom shoe made, we were brought down to their product quality testing facilities. At that facility, we were first taught about the different qualities of cow hide and materials they used for their shoes. Next, we went into the testing lab, where we were shown industrial testing machines they used to stress test their shoes. They use specific machines for specific tests. This was an interesting place for me as I was a shoe fanatic.

The head office of La New handles the niche customers, whereby the stores in town handles generic walk-in customers. 

Lastly, we went to the store, where we were flanked by well-prepared sales staffs, eager to sell us their shoes. At the store, there were a large selection of shoes, ranging for low-cost work shoes to high-end exotic skin shoes. I nearly parted with my money at this store if not for Johnny, our facilitator whom I had a long conversation with at the store. 

Tonight is the last night in Taiwan, we were all eager to head out to the night markets to experience as much of Taiwan as possible. 

Taiwan Day 2: Formosa Chang, Association of Service Industries of Taiwan (ASIT) & Din Tai Fung

Wednesday, 23 April 2014: 

Formosa Chang was one of the most inspiring food business success story experienced during this 4-day learning journey. We were privileged to have the second-generation founder/CEO Mr Chang to share with us his wisdom and his father's famous 'Lou Rou Fan (Meat sauce Rice)' business.

Mr Chang who worked 20hrs-a-day helping his father at the night market, had visions of bringing the business from a push-cart stall to one with a store front. It took him 2 whole years to convince his father that in order for their food business to grow, they got to expand. He shared with us, how his central kitchen came about, starting from his own home, expanding as the business grew bigger.  Today, Formosa Chang operates a state-of-the-art central kitchen with ISO certifications.

Last 30% of their food preparation done in outlet's kitchen.

Mr Chang has a strong emphasis on his food's quality and consistency that he develops stringent standard operating procedures to ensure them. He even ensures that each batch of rice is cooked and tasted by the cook to ensure that the taste and texture is consistent throughout. Precision cutting of the meat with specific dimensions is also key to ensure that each spoon of sauce is the same. This respect towards food is learnt from his father's constant chiding whenever Mr Chang cooked wrongly. When Mr Chang burnt each batch of rice, his father would insist that he recook a new batch of rice.

He was also particular about the ratio of sauce to rice, and how each bowl of meat sauce rice should look like. For example, how much white rice has to be exposed and not covered by the sauce.

The outlet that we visited was Formosa Chang's flagship store and museum cum tourist attraction. This particular outlet is unique. It has lots of history of Formosa Chang injected into it.

Bowl that was used during the days when Formosa Chang was a push-cart stall.

Rocks found at the front of the store before moving in was converted to a  'rock-wall' decoration.

They had 'best photo angle footprints' to encourage visitors to take photographs. I believe they knew travellers are now all social-media savvy and took advantage of these for indirect marketing.

In order not to let the returning customers of the old night market days feel awkward dining in a store. They tried their best to maintain the rustic and nostalgia of the night market feel by having furnitures and lighting fixtures designed to represent the street carts of a night market.

Formosa Chang also actively participates in community event to gain free advertising and publicity. They had the biggest bowl of "Lou Rou Fan' weighing 50kg for a commemorative event.

My company Superbean International also actively participates in community event such as National Day Parades, perhaps we can look into having the biggest bowl of beancurd this year!

Mr Chang also shared with us the labour problems they run into, such as their employee turnover rate. However, the average turnover for his was 5 years which was higher that what we experience in Singapore. I believe it could be the lifestyle of Taiwanese and the working culture there. Mr Chang believes in grooming from the bottom up and intangible factors such as recognition are the key to retaining his staffs.

The trip to Formosa Chang ended with a #selfie with the man himself, Mr Chang!

Look how sporting, Mr Chang is! 

Not forgeting the purchase of Formosa Chang ready-packed products to bring home for my R&D.

Next up, the Association of Service Industries Taiwan, where we get to observe an industry sharing session with passionate entrepreneurs pitching to us their new products. I was intrigued by this particular burger chain that I network with and a Paper Camera manufacturer.

At ASIT, it was also my first time presenting my company to the Taiwanese people in local dialect. My delegation from Mr. Bean was not competent in Mandarin, therefore I decided to lighten the mood and connect with the locals with a presentation in Hokkien (a dialect very similar to Taiwanese local dialect).

Taipei 101, here we come! Well, not exactly to the top of Taipei 101 though. It was at the foot of Taipei 101 where we had our dinner at the well-known makers of Xiao Long Bao that got awarded Michelin star in another outlet in Hong Kong, Din Tai Fung.

Our delegation was late for this visit and we were treated like any other ordinary guest. Nonetheless, with acceptable service. The food was consistent throughout different outlets around the world, having personally dined at outlets in Hong Kong that won the Michelin star and in Singapore. I dare say that the consistency of the food was decent, and only minute differences detected, such as the freshness of the ingredients. However, service at both Hong Kong and this Taiwan outlet was way better than that I experienced at home.

Notable service moments are those, such as providing a bag storage stand, and replacing broken Xiao Long Bao.

Never had that much Xiao Long Bao in one night!

Stay tuned for Day 3!

Ciao!

Taiwan Day 1: Arrival, 'Reconnection' and Dinner at Wang Steak

Wassup People of the World!

This is my virgin blog post of my exciting twenty over years of my life!

Kudos to NTUC LearningHub's 4D3N Taiwan Learning Journey, for the birth of this blog!

Tuesday, 22 April 2014: Arrival at Taiwan, Taoyuan Internation Airport via SQ876

I used to love flying but after the MH370 incident, it changed my love for flights. Flight on SQ876 was smooth and we arrived safely at Taoyuan International Airport. We were herded quickly after immigrations check and whisked into the Taipei on our very own tour bus that sticked to us throughout the entire trip.

First stop, Chunghwa Telecom HQ, where all of us surrendered 300NT willingly, just to stay connected (prepaid data sim cards) on our smartphones. How dependent on technology we are these days, that even a learning journey trip requires a time slot for us to get reconnected. This make good business sense to me, perhaps a big commission is earn here? Hehe...

Next up, Wang Steak, the one of the few itinerary that I really look forward to.

Upon arrival to Wang Steak, we were greeted by friendly smiles and warm service. The host at the ground floor showed us up the stairs to our conference room, where the restaurant manager, Jerry awaits for us.

Jerry shared with us WOWprime the corporation that owns and runs Wang Steak, very similar business model as Breadtalk locally in Singapore.

Wang Steak's success was due to their focus on 3 Wows: "Wow! Looks good", "Wow! Delicious", and "Wow! Good price". These are the exact same 3 wows that Jerry shared, word for word.

The food definitely looks beautiful, every plate to plated with balance and thought with functional garnish and designs. The attention to detail the chefs and service staff give is impeccable. It goes to the extent of even fanning out the toothpicks in its holder. Everything has to look good.

I shall not comment on the taste of the food before this blog post turns into a food critic/review, but it definitely taste OK.

Last of the 3 wows, the price, was indeed a 'WOW!' to me! NT1350 + (SGD$60+) for a 4 course dinner with palate cleansers in between courses. Not forgetting, the restaurant ensures that every plate is satisfactory, if it's not, they would re-fire a new plate just for you. Overall, it's a steal!

Their emphasis on the quality, presentation, taste and value are immaculate. Every dish goes through stringent food sampling and surveys before it ends up on the menu. Jerry even shared that they even go to the extent of looking through the garbage just to know their customer's preference.

Dining at Wang Steak, reminded me of service class. We were scrutinizing their service all the time. I picked up one learning point about their service. Whenever they serve their steaks, they would barge-in and ask politely from you, your utensils, and cut up your steak for you. They would then ask to check the doneness and instruct us on how to eat it. Don't get me wrong here, what they did was a very well thought out gesture, by them cutting up the steak in front of the guest, this ensures that the doneness is done right and guest will not have the chance to finish half the plate and complain that the steak was not done right. Also, in asian setting, it makes the diner feel like he is 'king'. However, if this was done to a westerner, who love their chunky slab of goodness (steak), they would go: "Hey! Do not mess with my steak!."

The night a Wang Steak ended with a birthday 'surprise'. (Not much of a surprise, with the tour leader asking whose birthday was around the corner before arrival to the restaurant.) The surprise to me was, how far would they go to make it special. Everyone was filled to the brim by now, but they (servers) are not done yet. Here comes the birthday cake and a balloon lollipop.

Jerry and the 'Lollipop'

Stay tune for Day 2...