Yet, another miracle happened again.
An old customer, who was an accountant, suggested the boss of Tai Cheong to join him. But he had a request which the bakery needed to forgo the old business model. He wanted Tai Cheong to expand, formulate the business, and open more chain stores.
At the beginning, the boss was afraid that the quality would be lowered down and the brand name would become notorious later. The accountant then recommended him to teach the secret rule of making the egg tarts, such as how many eggs and how much water needed to put in the egg tarts, in order to let more people know and make it successfully.
The two men argued for a long time. Finally, the boss decided to continue his business, but he insisted to manage the old shop, that is the Central one, by himself. For the other chains, he gave the right to the accountant.
An egg tart which experiences the changing of Hong Kong
– Tai Cheong Bakery
Let's Lose in Central,
Discover in Central!
However, in 2003, after the SARS, the owner of the shop raised the rent dramatically. Although Tai Cheong has opened for over 50 years and was renowned at that time, it still could not escape from the high rent so that it needed to close down. After the announcement of the closure of Tai Cheong, a spate of people grasped the chance of trying the last best egg tart in Hong Kong. They even needed to wait for more than one hour to buy an egg tart. But still, a lot of people were willing to do so. On the last night before this bakery was closed down, it has sold around 2000 egg tarts. This broke the record of Tai Cheong.
At first, Tai Cheong Bakery was only a small shop in Central. Many people living there loved to eat the products of it, especially the egg tarts. How could this bakery became popular later? It is because of a man. This man certainly changes the life of Tai Cheong.
He was the last governor of Hong Kong: Christ Patten. Once he tried the egg tart here, he loved it very much. Whenever he came to Hong Kong, he needed to have a taste on it. He even called it “the best egg tart in Hong Kong”. After that, Tai Cheong bakery became famous. There was always a long line outside this bakery.
However, they discovered that the boss of Tai Cheong has never registered for the brand name. There was already someone who registered the name when the bakery was going to close down. He was a famous actor called Alfred Cheung (張堅庭). They tried to communicate and bargain for a long time. At last, Cheung decided to give up the brand name.
Finally, we can eat the best egg tart in Hong Kong again!
Further Thinking:
Is formulating the business or collaborating with some big companies the only way for those small shops to continue their business?