Fei Fah Novelty Food will open its first flagship retail store and cafe on August 1, finally giving Singaporeans a taste of a home-grown product sold in China and the US.
The store, branded 155 South Bridge, opens at Pagoda St on August 1, selling Chui Lau Heung mooncakes, already a delicacy across the two continents.
Fei Fah CEO and MD Lawrence Lau, developed the food brand after meeting a durian mooncake maker who was seeking partners in 2003. Lau, at the time, was trying to find a way to diversify the family’s struggling medical business.
“It was challenging understanding the product, learning about food storage, logistics, and how to market the product in Hong Kong,” he said in an interview with Today Online.
While local Singaporeans are less enamoured with the polarising flavour of durian than consumers in China and Hong Kong, growing numbers of Hong Kong tourists in the mid-2000s saw demand skyrocket for the Chui Lau Heung mooncakes.
“With durian, once they tried it, they went nuts over it. Today, 70 per cent of Hongkongers are not put off by durians and demand is so much higher. In fact we are seeing demand also from Mainland China, and that is a huge market,” Lau said.
Since its launch, Chui Lau Heung has grown to be one of the top five selling mooncake brands in Hong Kong.
While Chui Lau Heung mooncakes will undoubtedly be the major drawcard of the new two-storey Pagoda St store, it will also feature other products from the Fei Fah stable, including durian honey, fish bak kuah, and lines from the original Fei Fah Medical business, such as traditional balms and medicinal oils.
