That year, Snack Empire made it to Forbes Asia's Top Under One Billion List as one of only six Singaporean companies with a market value of approximately $ 23 million (S $ 31.3 million).
Snack Empire is known for its signature XXL Crispy Chicken and owns the Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks brand, which is a mainstay in the local F&B scene.
The group was chosen for its steady sales and earnings growth, despite falling below the billion dollar mark.
Snack Empire grew its revenue 13.77 percent year over year and increased net income 57.11 percent, according to a 2020 Financial Times report.
The group currently has sales of HK $ 137.99 million (S $ 24.4 million) and net income of HK $ 20.23 million (S $ 2.55 million).
In this interview with Vulcan Post, Snack Empire co-founders Daniel Tay and Melvyn Wong share the secret of their successful F&B business.
The fateful trip to Taiwan during the Nazi regime
The idea for the Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks brand was first developed when Daniel and Melvyn were doing an overseas exercise in Taiwan while on duty in Taiwan.
During the trip, the two had a choice of Taiwanese cuisine at night markets, ranging from finger foods and desserts to tastier dishes.
Many of the dishes they tried are now recreated under the Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks brand, such as authentic Taiwanese crispy chicken, crispy floss crepe, handmade oyster mee sua, seafood tempura, and even boba milk tea.
Oyster Mee Sua / Photo Credit: Daniel Food Diary
The two were immediately enthusiastic about “calming and delicious” Taiwanese street snacks and decided to forego a stable career after graduating from the National University of Singapore and start an F&B company.
We made the decision to be an entrepreneur, go into business for ourselves and start the business fresh from school. After that there was no turning back.
(Also) there was an untapped market: Nazi boys familiar with (Taiwanese street snacks) invariably introduced it to their friends and families.
Daniel Tay and Melvyn Wong, co-founders of Snack Empire
Recreate the taste of authentic Taiwanese snacks
The two are very careful to stay true to the authentic style of Taiwanese street food cuisine so that customers can enjoy the cuisine without actually having to fly to Taiwan.
In order to reproduce the taste, Daniel and Melvyn personally traveled to Taiwan to convince the master chefs to impart their knowledge and skills and spent many hours in the kitchen optimizing the cooking processes.
Authentic Taiwanese cuisine alone was not enough. The duo also insisted on providing the same kind of hospitality and care that they experienced overseas.
Taiwanese street food culture places a lot of emphasis on providing good value for money and genuine service to the customer.
The focus is not on how much the brand can make, but on how you can offer your customers the best at an affordable price.
Daniel Tay and Melvyn Wong, co-founders of Snack Empire
Crispy chicken at a Shihlin night market / Photo credit: Taiwan Tourism Bureau
According to the duo, only first-class ingredients are used at Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks.
For example, fresh chicken breasts are used in place of frozen meat. Their mee sua is also hand cut, although the machines are cheaper, while their egg crepes are made to measure and imported from Taiwan.
In connection with the desire to recreate authentic Taiwanese street food, the two also wanted to build an "efficient and scalable system for expansion".
“At first, given our limited resources, it was very difficult to reconcile these goals,” they admit.
The entry therefore required a lot of savings. When the two first opened a branch on Far East Plaza in 2004, they had to worry about tight funds.
This meant taking charge of renovating the stores, producing your own marketing materials, and even painting the point of sale itself as there was no money left to hire a contractor.
Establishing an international franchise
"Right from the start, we had a very keen interest in selling our concepts locally and overseas," said the co-founders.
"We haven't done much franchise marketing over the years, and our overseas franchisees are actually loyal customers of the brand before they decided to take the next step."
While the core offerings of Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks remain the same, their franchises adapt to different market requirements.
This includes running ad hoc promotions with a localized menu to target the local markets and hiring local marketing directors who have a basic understanding of the local food culture.
Photo credit: Aroma Asian
By 2006 the brand had already sold one million XXL Crispy Chickens worldwide.
Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks opened its 100th store in 2012 and expanded into the US in 2016.
This year the brand is estimated to have sold nearly 63 million XXL Crispy Chickens.
Almost 250 branches worldwide
In October last year, the brand filed for listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under Snack Empire Holdings Limited. The listing got the group on Forbes' list and put them in a "better position to take on the big boys".
Before going public, the Snack Empire brand had grown “organically” over the past 16 years, say the duo.
(We) have focused on doing what it does best, relying on process efficiency and using capital skillfully to expand efficiently and in a risk-controlled manner.
We also believe that by treating our customers with respect while maintaining brand value, we can ensure customer loyalty, which in turn enables the group to benefit in an honest manner.
Daniel Tay and Melvyn Wong, co-founders of Snack Empire
The Snack Empire Group may consider expanding into other businesses by acquiring interests in its partners, but the Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks franchise will continue to expand.
Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks currently has nearly 250 stores in four countries around the world. Despite the chaos that Covid-19 is ruining in retail, expansion into three as yet undisclosed countries is planned.
"We will continue to seek out quality franchisees, quality locations and continue research and development so that we can continue to bring new Taiwanese street foods to our customers."
Selected image source: The Standard / Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks Facebook
