Noodle maker's revamp is a recipe for success

Going back to the drawing board helped a failing producer avoid bankruptcy. Dara Wang reports from Hong Kong.

Jiangxi Wufeng Food, a small rice-noodle mill in Huichang, Jiangxi province, has achieved near legendary status in Hong Kong after nearly crashing and burning in the late 1980s.

Today, about 150 bowls of the company's noodles are sold every minute at two of the biggest rice-noodle chain restaurants in Hong Kong - Tam Chai Yunnan Noodles and Tam-Jai SamGor Mixian.

Aficionados credit the noodles' popularity to their distinctive chewy texture.

Jiangxi Wufeng's success only came after three years of trial and error, effort and frustration, but it stands as an example of how small companies can overcome the odds.

Before becoming a subsidiary of China Resources Ng Fung in 1996, Jiangxi Wufeng was a 20-worker factory that had been administered by the Huichang county food bureau since the 1960s.

Sales were poor, and production was less than 10 metric tons a year. In 1989, the situation deteriorated further when customers complained the noodles were causing indigestion, gastric pain and flatulence.

It was time to create something better or go broke.

Seven workers, including Guo Yonghong, who later became the company's manager, formed a research and development team to oversee machinery design, data handling, plant operations and quality control.

When she was asked to join the mill's research and development process, Guo hesitated for several days out of concern for her 1-year-old daughter.

She finally decided to accept the offer, but she sent her daughter to live with her parents in nearby Ruijin county because the work schedule was so demanding. Guo's greatest regret is that her daughter did not live with her until the girl entered Grade 3 at primary school.