熱度 1 ||
This is the traditional style of displaying soy, sauces and seasonings.
Its products include thousand-years duck egg, salted duck egg, vinegar, sesame oil, preserved bean curd, oyster sauce, preserved sour ginger and of course soya sauce.
Kowloon Soy Company Ltd. (Kowloon Soy) was founded in 1917, this means it has nearly100 years’ history in Hong Kong in 2014. Its former name was Mei Chun Soy (美珍醬園). Since Mei in Chinese (美) also has a meaning of the U.S. Its name was changed to Kowloon Soy in the Second World War. After the War, Mei Chun was mainly for overseas markets, while Kowloon Soy for Hong Kong local market. Kowloon Soy is now operated by the third generation.
In the 50s and 60s, it was the glorious moment of Kowloon Soy and was one of the five major soy suppliers in Hong Kong. At that time, it had totally five outlets and hired more than one hundred employees. For the sake of saving time and cost, and increasing margin, the traditional method of making soy was no longer used by some soy markers. But Kowloon Soy insisted on following the traditional method (i.e. expose the yellow bean under sunlight and natural fermentation). www.isletforum.com Its business swindled in the 1970s. All outlets except the one in Central were closed gradually and the number of employees was reduced to about sixty.
The time needed to make soy is about 4-5 months by the traditional method. But for the new method (i.e. add chemical substances into yellow bean to enhance fermentation and there is no need to expose to sunlight), it takes less than 1 month. Though the price of soy from Kowloon Soy is about 6-7 times higher, and without promotion and advertising, its products can still get the appreciation by celebrities and restaurants, like Luk Yu Tea House. Because of the comparatively higher price, there not still not too many support from customers in Hong Kong. Its revenue is mainly generated from overseas market. Hong Kong market only accounts for about five percentage of the total income.
Since there is no chemical additive in soy making, soy from Kowloon Soy can always pass the respective stringent test of western countries. Its products are now available in the U.S., Canada and some European countries. Even though the revenue generated from Hong Kong market is relatively small, Kowloon Soy has no plan of closing the outlet in Hong Kong. It is anyway the base of this family business. They think that they also have the responsibility to keep this traditional method of making Chinese soy, at least, in the nearest future.
