#choong

New Post has been published on http://www.therakyatpost.com/news/2015/02/19/braving-conflict-adversity-transform-traditional-family-business/

Braving conflict and adversity to transform traditional family business

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19, 2015:

For former auditor Choong Kok Leong, transforming the family’s traditional Chinese grocery and medicine shop business had been beyond his expectation.

Choong initially gave up due to the resistance of his parents, who disliked his ideas on how to rejuvenate the business, including a makeover of the rundown shop in their hometown of Semenyih, and decided to run the business as it had been to prevent further arguments with them.

But deep down, he was unhappy as he felt the business could be improved with creativity and innovation.

“My parents did not want to do anything as they believed the business will close down anyway with the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST),” he told The Rakyat Post.

He had returned to help with the business seven years ago after his father had fallen ill, but he only “woke up” thanks to a rival in the family’s newspaper vendor business and the Bersih 3.0 rally on April 28 three years ago.

“There was this aunt who gave us a stiff competition by delivering newspapers directly to the readers.

“It was a wake up call as my father had been vending newspapers from the wet market in Semenyih for decades. It made us realise that competition will come to you no matter what,” he said.

He added that the Bersih 3.0 rally taught him to speak up for what he believed.

“The rally taught me that it is up to each of us to take a stand against what we think are unfair practices.”

Choong went on to renovate the shop, much to the dismay of his parents who even scolded him, and also repackaged the family’s specialty product, the Chinese five-spice powder.

Used primarily in Chinese cuisine, the Chinese five-spice powder is often a mix of star anise, cloves, Chinese cinnamon, Sichuan pepper and fennel seeds.

His family uses a special blend inherited from his grandfather’s recipe.

Instead of outsourcing to prepare the spice mixture as they used to, Choong invested in machines to process the powder himself.

He also repackaged the Chinese five-spice powder in a modern contemporary design, knowing that a nice packaging might make someone try a new product line they had never heard of.

Without packaging, material-handling would be messy, inefficient and costly, and modern consumer marketing would be difficult, said Choong.

“For decades, we had been selling the powder in small transparent plastic bags.

“The new packaging provide details about the product, including contents, ingredients and nutritional value as well as cooking instructions and recommended use-by dates,” he said.

The packaging also comes in different sizes, to cater for family units of varying sizes.

Even then he had difficulty in selling the product as retail chains were reluctant to carry the product.

Choong did not give up. Later on, he managed to convince Econsave Cash & Carry grocery retailers to help sell the five-spice powder.

The product is currently sold in at least 13 Econsave retail outlets and a number of traditional Chinese grocery and medicine shops in the country.

30 Day K-Pop Challenge 

Do you want to be added to the smut group?: yes Character’s information: Do you para? (Yes or No) no Character name: Park Chorong Group: APink

Accepted! 

Welcome onboard to the LOVE boat. We’re glad to have you as part of our family! Make sure to add the admin team within 72 hours to set sail to your future on LOVE land. We hope you’ll enjoy your time here!