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!