Gigi Ng: When Girl Meets Snakes
It has been seven years since Gigi Ng ditched her banking career to run a snake shop that has become an icon of Hong Kong’s local culinary scene. She tells her girl-meets-snakes story to TC Fung.
HK Magazine: You were a banker. So why switch to snakes?
Gigi Ng: The shop is my family’s business. My great-great-grandfather first started the venture one hundred and twenty years ago in Central, selling snake soup, steamed rice and more. It’s quite a success. I’m the fourth generation. But the idea of running the restaurant didn’t come to my mind until my father died in 2003. I decided to quit to assist my mother. I did struggle a bit but my fondest childhood memories are of being in the shop, helping my parents and having fun.
HK: You have a MBA. Can you put what you learned at university into practice here?
GN: Not a bit. The business world cannot be more different from the theoretical one, especially when you are running a family business. Take our restaurant. The upside is that it is well built and has a solid foundation. But there is a clash of cultures when you bring anything new into it. Say you want to change some of the staff’s obsolete practices; you will end up having a hard time.
HK: I guess you’re not afraid of snakes, right?
GN: No. I find them really horrible, even the frozen ones. I can come up with innovative snake dishes but I’m not capable of killing a single one. Life is so ironic sometimes.
HK: What has been your worst moment so far?
GN: It was in 2003, when Sars hit Hong Kong. My father was suffering from liver cancer. It was really frustrating to see him and the whole catering industry suffer. But instead of cutting costs, my mom just spent extra money on better ingredients. She said that it would be the only way to retain our customers. And the good relations my parents built with the suppliers gave us a lot of leeway. My mom is really tough and visionary, but I guess this toughness is common for people of her generation.
HK: How do you compare this to banking?
GN: Running business is a lot more taxing, and particularly in the food industry because competition is getting stiffer. Don’t think I'm the kind of boss that sits in an air-conditioned room. I have to run errands and do chores for the restaurant. But there's a sense of satisfaction when customers praise my food.
HK: Anything new on the horizon for you?
GN: I'm a happy-go-lucky person so I just take everything in stride. Right now I want to raise the quality of the food and service even higher. Some people asked me to expand but I would rather focus on one shop. Sometimes thinking bigger doesn’t mean doing better.