'Sell what you love and the money will follow' may sound like what one reads in a business management book, but this advice has guided the success of young Hong Kong entrepreneur Regina Sam.
The 32-year-old franchisee of Awfully Chocolate, a Singaporean cake business, brought the brand to Hong Kong in 2008. Sam became hooked after tasting its signature chocolate sponge cake at an Awfully Chocolate store in Shanghai. She later became the exclusive franchisee in the city after fending off two other rivals who applied for it.
'At first, I didn't think about setting up my own business,' said Sam, who was an account manager at the Royal Bank of Canada in Vancouver for four years before returning in 2004 to Hong Kong, where she earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree at the University of Hong Kong.
'My sister was working in Shanghai in 2006 where there is an Awfully Chocolate store. Whenever I visited her, I would buy a cake. We became friends with the franchisee in Shanghai, who suggested we bring the brand to Hong Kong,' she said. 'I think I was chosen by the franchisor because I love the cake so much.'
To start her cake business, she initially invested about HK$2.6 million to pay expenses such as royalties, rent, and renovations. She managed to break even in six months, and has now expanded the business to four stores selling a total of 200 large chocolate cakes a day.
Besides being the sub-franchisee of another brand, New York Fries, in Hong Kong and Macau, Sam decided to launch her own brand Cheesess last year. It sells different types of cheesecakes at three locations in Hong Kong. Despite being open for less than a year, Sam has already received enquiries from potential franchisees for her cheesecake brand.
