Profile

Summary: Kong Cheong Food Industries was formerly known as Chop Kong Cheong, which name was changed in 1997 to the existing name. It was founded by Mr. Chan Seng in 1944 with a vision to produce high-quality soy sauce for every household. The family business has been running for 71 years and it keeps expanding from one generation to another. Mr. Chan Eng Kong, the owner of Kong Cheong Food Industries, currently plans to promote the soy sauce to other Asian countries.

Kong Cheong Food Industries was launched by Mr. Chan Seng in 1944, which mainly produced soy sauce. He always told his children, “nothing is comparable to the soy sauce with a natural taste of beans”. People nowadays might not understand the perspective of Mr. Chan Seng. However, just imagine you were to live in the era of World War II, where food was scarce let alone condiment, you might have a grasp on Seng’s insight. A pot of porridge with a few drops of soy sauce would be the best meal for Mr. Chan Seng and his family during that period of time. This experience eventually aspired Mr. Chan Seng’s to pursue his life goal – that every household would own a bottle of aromatic soy sauce.

In 1942, Mr. Chan Seng and his eldest son, Mr. Chan Yong Lam, spent two years working as disciples in a soy sauce factory. In 1944, Mr. Chan Seng and Mr. Chan Yong Lam established their soy sauce factory, which was an exciting news for the whole family. However, the journey to success was not entirely smooth. Notwithstanding the success of producing decent soy sauce, they lacked transport to deliver their products beyond the neighbourhood. The demand for soy sauce from the nearby areas started to decrease after a few months. This undoubtedly became the first crisis of the factory. Upon realizing the issue, together with his siblings, Mr. Chan Yong Lam decided to deliver soy sauce by bikes. It sounds ridiculous to envisage that one travelled by bike for 20 miles (about 32 km) just to deliver a dozen of soy sauce, but that was what Chan’s family actually did for years.

They were not insane but simply lived up to achieve the dream of Mr. Chan Seng, namely every household should own a bottle of soy sauce.

Due to various factors such as political unrest, there were ups and downs in the family business for 13 years before it finally settled down. In 1957, the year when Malaysia gained independence, Mr. Chan Yong Lam obtained soy sauce permit and officially registered Kong Cheong Food Industries in year 1964 (contemporary name of that time was Chop Kong Cheong and was changed to Kong Cheong Food Industries in year 1997). Over the years, the delivery method of soy sauce changed from walking to biking, then motorcycling, and eventually driving. These fully portrayed the determination of Chan’s family in pursuing the dream of Mr. Chan Seng. Between 1957 and 1981, Kong Cheong Soy Sauce expanded to southern Kedah and part of Penang mainland areas.

In 1981, two of Mr. Chan Yong Lam’s sons, Mr. Chan Meng Kong and Mr. Chan Eng Kong, took charge of the family business.

By virtue of their far-sighted marketing strategies, Kong Cheong Soy Sauce slowly made its way into the markets of Peninsula Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore. The eldest brother, Mr. Chan Meng Kong, was an expert in networking; whereas Mr. Chan Eng Kong was gifted with a logical and scientific mindset. The former dealt with external business while the latter managed internal matters. For example, Mr. Chan Meng Kong and other siblings had to promote and market the brand. At the same time, Mr. Chan Eng Kong was responsible for scheduling the factory expansion in order to further improve the quality of soy sauce and to develop unique recipes for different condiments. The effort of Chan’s family in advancing the quality of soy sauce isrecognized under the certification of Halal and Mesti (link to Certification) issued by the Malaysian government.

In 2010, Mr. Chan Eng Kong’s eldest son, Mr. Chan Kin Mun who graduated from International Marketing joined the family business. With five years of endeavor, Mr. Chan Eng Kong and Mr. Chan Kin Mun further consolidated the foundation of Kong Cheong Food Industries in Malaysia. Now, both of them perceive it as the right time to promote the products to the other Asian countries.

Shuang Er (a pair of geese) brand, is the main type of soy sauce produced by Kong Cheong Food Industries. The brand was founded by Mr. Chan Yong Lam since 1957. According to Mr. Chan Yong Lam, the inspiration for this logo struck him while he was reading the story “The Ugly Duckling” to his children.

There are two geese in the logo, which symbolize the process of making soy sauce and the development of Kong Cheong Food Industries respectively. Mr. Chan Yong Lam asserted that the process of making soy sauce is not easy at all (link to process). The soy beans have to be steamed under high temperature, fermented and soaked in salt water. The early process is tough just as the newly-born ugly duckling. However, as time passes, it will eventually be transformed into soy sauce with fine quality, just as the ugly duckling that grows up to be a beautiful swan. Besides, the story of “The Ugly Duckling” also reminded Mr. Chan Yong Lam of the family business tough old days (link to History page), of which he and his siblings had been delivering soy sauces by bikes for years before the business was on track.

A fun fact behind the story of the logo design: Swan and goose are generally known as Er in Chinese. Mr. Chan Yong Lam perceived the swan in The Ugly Duckling as goose, which later became the geese brand instead of swans.

Farmer brand was founded by Mr. Chan Meng Kong and Mr. Chan Eng Kong. Chan brothers decided to make a production line for this logo to commemorate the dream of Mr. Chan Seng, “every family could own a bottle of aromatic soy sauce” and the determination of Mr. Chan Yong Lam to keep the family business running (link to History).

Rice, as farmer’s product, is a staple food of most Asian families. It is not merely a source of food, but a sense of culture. Mr. Chan Seng therefore sought to realize his aspiration that soy sauce would be afforded by every household just as in the case of rice. Furthermore, the process of farming paddy, is to remind the perseverance of Mr. Chan Yong Lam’s generation to develop the family business.

Malaysia is located at the equator, which ensures sufficient sunlight and optimal temperature for the fermentation of soy beans. Soy sauce produced by Kong Cheong Food Industries is fermented under the sun for 4-6 months, which is more than the standard timeframe of 3 months. As a result, the products have a richer and mellower flavor than the ordinary soy sauce. In addition, Kong Cheong Food Industries used non- Genetically Modified Organism (non-GMO) soy beans as the primary ingredients. Therefore, this enables the soy beans to retain its natural flavor in the product.

1) Soy beans are carefully selected and steamed under high temperature.
2) Steamed soy beans will be mixed with flour and put in Koji room to ferment for about 4 days.
3) The fermented soy beans are soaked with brine and left to ferment in the sun for at least 4 months.
4) The raw soy sauce is drained, filtered, mixed with other permitted ingredients, and pasteurized.
5) All the procedures are strictly supervised under the provision of Food Act 1985.