Page 11 - Food and Drink Business Magazine May 2019

IN 1978, Mr and Mrs Chen arrived in Australia as refugees from Vietnam. While they didn't speak English (rather learning it in their 30s), they did “speak food”. Mr Chen was one of 13 children, helping his parents who sold groceries and
salted duck eggs.
It was his desire to share his
love for food – particularly dumplings – with Australians, that sparked the eponymous Mr Chen’s food business.
Daughter Nancy joined the business 15 years ago, followed five years later by her sister Lucy. Four years ago the Chen siblings took the reins of the now second-generation business.
ON A MISSION
Lucy Chen says, “We were children living in housing commission in Richmond when our parents started the business. They both worked day shifts and night shifts just to start their lives here.
“They started bringing in food from overseas because back then there wasn’t as much as there is now.
“Dad was kind of a one-man show, and for a long time it was just the two of them. They were both still doing their other day and night jobs for quite a number of years.
“It was only when they’d saved enough to get the business going they moved to doing it full-time.”
Chen says for several more years there was only a few people “doing everything”. “But we’ve been growing
“ We were living in housing commission when our parents started the business. They both worked day shifts and night shifts just to start their lives here.”
packaging design is done in-house.
With authenticity being so important, the Small Bites ranges are individually handmade.
“So that’s about 70 per cent of our products. With dim sum or yum cha, there are just some dumplings you can’t get machine made because the skin is too thin and too difficult to work with. It’s these hand-made ones we have mostly contract manufactured overseas; being individually handmade is definitely one of the things that separates us from other dumpling brands.”
Chen says it was a matter of ethics to partner with overseas factories who pay their adult-only employees a fair wage in decent working conditions.
AUTHENTICITY
Lucy Chen says it’s a combined striving for quality and the drive for authenticity that have seen their growth gain traction.
“We aim to launch only high-quality products. One of Dad’s main learnings he’s passed on to us is that
you don’t just bring something into the market for the sake
of it, because if it doesn't sell,
really fast. We needed to make sure that we’re having sustained growth, and in the last 12 months our team has doubled and there’s now 20 of us.
“The growth happened over the past couple of years, but Nancy and I didn’t realise that we were just taking on more work. It wasn’t until one of our marketing people said,
‘It’s amazing what you guys have done’. I didn’t say ‘oh, yeah!’, I wanted to cry – so
I think that means we needed more help!”
HAND-MADE DIFFERENCES
Based at Dandenong in outer Melbourne, Mr Chen’s contract manufactures both in Australia and overseas. All marketing and
RIGHT: Lucy Chen (left) and her sister Nancy are focused on expanding the business started by their parents in the 1970s.
www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au | May 2019 | Food&Drink business | 11
RISING STAR
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