- Chris Huang, founder of The Golden Duck, started the snack brand in 2015 with one product – salted egg yolk chips.
- After a decade, it is sold in more than 3000 stores and plans to expand in the United States this year.
- From selling his cars to salaries in the epidemic, here is how to build work.
This exciting article depends on the conversation with Chris Huang, the 33 -year -old founder at Golden Duck, a light brand singaporean. It was released for length and clarity.
In the twenty -third, I left the Faculty of Law to start the golden duck, Light brand, glamor that re -imagine Asian flavors such as salted egg yolks; After a decade, it is sold in more than 3000 stores all over the world. We put our attention to expansion in the United States in 2025.
I have no cooking experience, but I love food.
The idea of the brand came when my founder, Jonathan, one day and asked me: “What do you think of the salted eggs?”
I thought, “salted eggs are great. I love them in a Chinese restaurant Zi Char. I love salted egg crab.”
I asked him what was going on in his mind, and said: “What about making salted yolk pots?” I thought it would be a kind of chips that come with declines, a Western concept that does not sell well in Singapore.
He said, “Listen to me. I found a way to put it on a slide in a dry format.”
I sat with him and a chef for us, and tried him. It was very good. The flavor, with hot pepper and curry leaves, is completely coated with chips. I said, “We have to do this work.”
Cooking from a small kitchen
In 2015, we launched with only one product – salted egg yolk chips.
Initially, our ability was so limited that we were taking it out of the home kitchen, as it produced only about 50 packages per day.
We started selling it in a small seven -foot -emerging booth in Singapore in City Mall for $ 7 for pop.
On the first day, sales were not very crazy. But on the second day, the waiting list began to be formed. By the third day, we sold it by 3 pm and we had to set maximum orders of five packages for each request.
Our products are often granted as gifts or purchases as souvenirs, and I think this is the place where it started. People began to bring their friends to help them buy more packages, and they became a gift for friends and family.
A great opportunity for original flavors
Golden Duck sells snacks and box chips.
Golden duck
We now have two lines of products: Our snack boxes, which include flavors like salted egg crabs for Tempura, and salted egg -leather fries, and a line of potato chips.
Asian flavors gain traction in the West, and I think people around the world are eager to real experiences.
We all know what a sour flavor, onions or barbecue tastes. But why do you not have a sour cream and a churchha?
This is one of our latest flavors in the packaging line that we launched in 2024, along with others like Truefle Wagyu and Himalayan Pink Salt.
Challenges in expansion
We were hesitant to expand at the beginning, afraid that it was just a flash in the pan and that it would come out quickly. So we were very hesitant to make the capital to create a store.
We have popped up for a few months until we finally reached a small store in the Chinese district, which had enough space for one person to work in.
From there, we continued to expand. From 2016 to 2018, it grew to 10 stores in Singapore and more stores abroad. At peak, we had about 15 stores, and we were also selling for retailers like 7-Eleven and other supermarket chains.
Some of the biggest surprises in our business came from increasing our manufacturing. The moment we tried to give a shelf life product, we had to think, “How would this taste be after six months?”
The employment of the right people was a key. If you employ someone who hates to be in a hot place, your products will appear very badly. We needed to employ people who were interested in their food.
Waterpiece of the epidemic
The lowest point came in the work during the Covid-19 pandemic when our tourism revenues evaporated overnight.
I share the ideology that leaders eat recently. I thought – if the company cannot bear the salary statements and cannot meet its obligations to continue its business, I will sell my cars.
From 2019 to 2021, I sold three cars so that I could drive donation efforts during the epidemic.
We also had to restructure the team, moving from 200 heads to about 120 over one year.
We had to tell friends that we brought on board that we would not be able to work together and that we regret the workplace.
We now have a team of 25 people, where they have achieved results near the 200 people of only five to six years ago.
Eyes placed on the expansion of the United States
Two years later, we are now selling in countries around the world, including China, Australia, Germany and even Trinidad and Tobago.
Now, we look to the United States as our new market.
I just returned from the United States in December. It is a huge snack market, which is not higher. The American consumer is very special and excited, and they are happy to consume and experience new things.
We wanted to develop something to find exciting and exciting but still familiar, so we did not want to re -invent the wheel.
This new line of box chips is similar mainly to better. It is very easy to clarify the Americans because we do not have to tell them what is fish skin or what is Tempura.
