Bird flu inspires chicken vendor to deliver the goods
Hospital staff and government workers with a preference for fresh chicken but who are afraid of catching bird flu have turned to an online chicken vendor for help.
The service allows people to place orders on a website or by fax. The birds are then cleaned, slaughtered and delivered within an hour.
'Our selling point is that everything is made in Hong Kong. The website is designed and run by Hong Kong people, the chickens are raised here and the slaughterhouse and delivery staff are local,' owner Chung Yiu-wah said.
'Even the chiller bag we put the chickens in was developed by a local inventor.'
He added: 'People have trust and faith in Hong Kong food. You just don't know about mainland food any more. Plus, people don't want to have any contact with birds. This is an alternative.'
Mr Chung, who has run a poultry stall in North Point for two decades, set up the business in 2004 following the fallout from Sars and various H5N1 outbreaks.
He said his online business had grown by 30 per cent in recent months.
Delivered anywhere in Hong Kong, his chickens cost $108, or $148 for two.
'Two or three days ago, a group of hospital staff bought 15 chickens online. They said they were particularly sensitive about visiting wet markets at this time,' Mr So said.
'Other civil servants have also been ordering our chickens. Sometimes they are even buying them as gifts. Someone just bought 10 the other day.'
The partners are considering launching English and Japanese versions of the site, and may expand the delivery operation.
They have also set up a forum on the site to allow users to discuss bird flu.
Mr Chung believes the service is a good interim measure to lower the risk of people being infected with bird flu until a central slaughterhouse is built.
'Sometimes, when people come to my chicken stall and try to touch the birds, I tell them not to.
'I don't want them walking into the shop. It is an unnecessary risk,' he said.
'If they leave without buying I am not worried. You need to make sacrifices to help people learn to do the right thing.'
The website offers four types of chicken, with the most popular being 'kamei chicken' - a breed that took the University of Hong Kong's Kadoorie Agricultural Research Centre five years and $10 million to develop.
The bird, which costs 30 per cent more than regular chickens, is supposedly tastier and leaner than other types.
