The
history of Old Chang Kee go as far back as 1956 when it started with
just a small stall in a coffee shop outside the former Rex cinema along
McKenzie Road. People just loved the delicious pastry stuffed full of
curried potatoes, chicken, a slice of egg, fried with several herbs and
spices. Each curry puff was carefully handmade and properly sealed to
lock in the unmistakable aroma that won the hearts of many Singaporeans.
In 1986, Han Keen Juan made a pivotal decision that was to change
his life as well as the food scene in Singapore. He traded a comfortable
job with an established MNC for the hot and greasy kitchen of Old Chang
Kee. With whatever savings he had, he bought over the control of the
company. Facing an uncertain future ahead of him, he had only one goal
in mind - to transform Old Chang Kee into a successful business entity.
Strategic Move
Han
quickly set about modernizing and re-engineering the business. He
implemented new systems and took critical steps to ensure quality
standards. He launched aggressive programme to grow Old Chang Kee to
become Singapore's leading brand of curry puffs and other hot savories.
His hard work paid off for in 1992, he was awarded Entrepreneur of the
Year and was hailed by Newsweek and the now defunct Asia Magazine as the
man to watch.
In his true entrepreneurial spirit, he took another big gamble by
investing in a 20,000 sq ft modern factory in Woodlands. Back then he
was producing his curry puffs from a small corner of the coffee shop and
later moved to a slightly bigger premise in a flatted factory in UBI.
But he knew that in order to bring the company into the big league, he
had to keep upgrading and hence his move to Woodlands. With the move to
bigger, modern premises came bigger challenges for him. He had to change
the mindset of his people. He had to convince them that the modern
machineries and modern processes were not designed to replace them but
rather to standardize the work flow and to ensure stringent quality
control.
Old
Chang Kee markets its curry puffs through various concepts - from
kiosks along the road, to supermarket outlets and to modern shopping
malls. With one of the best curry puffs around and achieving high marks
in accessibility, variety and wholesome goodness, Old Chang Kee has also
diversified and extended its product range to include other snacks,
desserts and complementary products such as chicken spring rolls, sotong
balls, fish balls, crab claws, sesame balls, sotong fritters and
pineapple, corn and yam pies, etc, all produced with the same high
quality standards that go into making its classic curry puff.
Our New Leader
After
bringing Old Chang Kee to its height, Han soon realized that it was
time to groom a new leader. He needed a strong visionary leader to bring
the company to the next level and so in 1995, he brought in William Lim
Tao-E, a young graduate of an Australian university. He brought with
him fresh ideas and applying innovative marketing strategies to keep in
sync with shifting consumer trends.
As Managing Director, William Lim together with Chairman, Han Keen
Juan embarked on the next stage of the journey, which is to establish
Old Chang Kee as a major recognizable brand in modern Singapore while
preserving its valuable heritage.
We Are Halal
In 2004, Old Chang Kee set on to fulfill one of its brand values
which are to develop products that would appeal to the multi-cultural
and multi-religious segment of society. We draw our inspiration of the
various spicy finger foods from different ethnic cultures. Recently we
achieved "Halal" certification to reach out to the Muslim community.
The 'Old Chang Kee' Brand
Today, we are delighted that Old Chang Kee brand has become a
household name. Our painstaking effort to achieve top of mind awareness
among Singaporeans has paid off handsomely. In 2004 and 2005, Old
Changkee was awarded the Singapore Promising Brand Award and also the
Singapore Heritage Brand Award.
Our Stars
Each brand name embodies the unique promise, aspiration and
personality of the product. In order to differentiate the product from
others in today's competitive market, Old Chang Kee has developed
memorable and distinctive brand names for all our products.
Brand Mission
Our mission is to deliver superior quality hot finger food and
ready meals at a value-for money price positioning; in a clean, and
customer friendly retail environment.
The Old Chang Kee brand aims to fulfill the following promise
To deliver consistently a wide variety of high quality hot
finger food and ready meals through standardized food preparation
processes.
To refine, and modernize traditional food recipes for the modern, multi-cultural customers.
To provide an alternative to fast food for the busy and mobile city dwellers.