Better Than Jerky

08
Successful Investors
Better Than Jerky
Barbecued meat manufacturer and retailer Bee Chang Hiang has won
over the hearts — and stomachs — of Koreans in just a couple of years
“So the Korean market drew our management’s attention,” San said.
Richard Wong Teng San,
Managing Director of
Bee Cheng Hiang
I
n its nearly 20 years in Hong Kong, Bee
Cheng Hiang has opened 18 outlets. In
its two and a half years in Korea, it has
opened 21.
The explanation?
Koreans like their barbecued pork.
With outlets everywhere from Myeongdong
and Gangnam to Busan, and in all of Korea’s
major department stores, Bee Cheng Hiang
sells barbecued pork, beef and chicken that is
called “bakkwa” in Chinese dialect. But for
anyone tempted to call the products “jerky,”
Richard Wong Teng San, Managing Director
of the Singapore-based Bee Cheng Hiang,
points out a crucial difference: His bakkwa is
fresh barbecue.
Bee Cheng Hiang’s barbecued meats go
through a two-step process. Raw meat is
processed in a factory until it is cooked. It is
then delivered to retail outlets, where it is barbecued on the spot.
“Jerky is 100 percent dried in the factory
and then they pre-pack, then display it in the
supermarket,” said San. “It’s a totally different
concept.”
Koreans took to this new concept overseas,
while visiting countries where Bee Cheng
Hiang is popular, including China, Hong
Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan.
Koreans not only liked the product, they asked
about franchise opportunities.
April 2013
Chop Hup Chong (CHC) Food Industries,
the company for which Bee Cheng Hiang is
the house brand, began operations in Korea in
the summer of 2010 with a factory in Shiwha
Gongdan, in the city of Siheung. Within a
year, the factory’s production capacity proved
too small for the market demand. So San and
his staff moved to a bigger factory nearby last
October.
Bee Cheng Hiang produces 240 metric tons
of barbecued meat in Korea a year using all
local products. Annual retail sales domestically
in 2012 reached USD 8 million. San attributes
his company’s growth in Korea not only to a
love of barbecued products, but strong buying
power resulting from high living standards.
BEE CHENG HIANG PRODUCES 240 METRIC TONS
OF BARBECUED MEAT IN
KOREA A YEAR USING ALL
LOCAL PRODUCTS.
“We are very very happy we can achieve
this production in two and a half years,” he
said. “In other region, we haven’t experienced
[growth] so fast.”
While foreign companies in Korea are
known to cater their products or services to the
domestic market, Bee Cheng Hiang sticks to
how they do things in their 260 other Asian
outlets, save for the occasionally offered kimchi-flavored barbecued pork. In fact, San and
his staff of 75 are trying to get Korean consumers interested in another product popular
in Bee Cheng Hiang’s overseas outlets —
floss, or snack products made out of pork,
chicken or fish.
But when it comes to production method,
Bee Cheng Hiang has adjusted its process to
be efficient in all of Korea’s seasons. In
Singapore’s climate, the company’s ovens performed consistently year-round. In Korea,
winters proved to make them less efficient.
San’s staff resolved this problem by redesigning their ovens and took the redesigns back to
Singapore for more energy-efficient operations
there as well.
“So we learned a lot from Korea,” said San.
Bee Cheng Hiang aims now to expand
beyond retail sales in Korea and distribute barbecued meat and floss directly to restaurants,
hotels and other establishments. Considering
the high quality of Korea’s pork, the company
also aims to start exporting bakkwa from
Korea to Hong Kong, Japan and other countries, the managing director said.
“[With] the Korean image now, the quality
is very high,” San said. “So if we can export
from Korea, this can put up our image, our
company brand. I think this is very important
for us.”
By Chang Young
[email protected]
Did you know?
- Bee Chang Hiang was started in
Singapore in 1933 by a man selling
barbecued meat from a mobile stall on
the street.
- Floss, one of Bee Cheng Hiang’s
products, is said to taste good in
porridge or gimbap (rice and
vegetables wrapped in seaweed).