Household brand Kee Wah updated its image to produce the perfect blend of traditional practices and progress
A brand that prevails for half a century may give customers a dated impression, but that perception can be changed if the management style evolves to meet the market's need.
Kee Wah Bakery, a pastry manufacturer with its own retail network across Hong Kong and famed for its traditional Chinese pastries, including wedding cakes, is a perfect example.
Managing director Kevin Wong Sik-cheung, a descendant of the company's late founder Wong Yip-wing, has skilfully combined his western management style with traditional Chinese business philosophy.
The company was founded in 1938 as a small neighbourhood grocery store on Shanghai Street in Kowloon. During the war, there was a severe shortage of everything, so the founder made simple cakes and pastries with whatever ingredients he could lay his hands on and sold the products to boat dwellers in the nearby harbourside. That is how Kee Wah started its business as a bakery.
Born and raised in Hong Kong, the 63-year-old managing director spent a significant amount of time living in the United States. Mr Wong, a typical self-made businessman who had once run a local stock-trading company with British and Australian partners, made a big decision to join the bakery in 1995 at the repeated requests of his father. As the eldest son in the family with a mission to sustain the family business, Mr Wong understood that even a household brand could not compete if it stayed the same old way without revamping its image.