Formosa Chang 胡须张

Lunch for Day 2 was held at 

Formosa Chang 胡须张, 

a restaurant well-known for its 卤肉饭 Braised Meat rice.


If you google Formosa Chang, you notice its website header is '懷念的古早味' . 

Website: http://www.fmsc.com.tw/

Yes, today Formosa Chang has more than 30 branches across Taipei, and the restaurant chain has been in business since the late 1980s. Formosa Chang is one of the more successful ventures that have brought street food staples into the realm of mass production. 

(information from a restaurant review written at website: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2011/08/26/2003511675)

卤肉饭 Braised Meat rice. Delicious.

A glimpse of the presentation held at Formosa Chang. It is inspiring to learn of the hard work which built up this restaurant chain, especially so since Formosa Chang started out very small, as an outdoors food stall.

Listening intently.

 Below are some learning points I took away from Formosa Chang:

1) Importance of customer assurance, especially in the F&B industry- Certification of quality and success. In 1999 Formosa Chang attained the ISO 9002 certification and eventually many other awards. 

2) Creativity- Infusion of popular culture: collaborating other trendy brands with Formosa Chang.

An example is this video where a trendy clothing brand Pizza Cut Five collaborates with Formosa Chang to create this commercial: 

潮流品牌Pizza Cut Five找來美食鬍鬚張 聯名CF，大大翻玩鬍鬚張的形象。

Another example is the trendy packaging, also a collaboration with the brand Pizza Cut Five.

3) Flexibility during unexpected crisis- the swine flu period. At this point of time, a staple ingredient, pork, was limited due to the swine flu. Customers did not dare to eat any pork in fear of jeopardizing their health. Formosa Chang thus came up with a chicken dish to tide through this unexpected crisis.

Formosa Chang's chicken dish.

4) Financial planning and gearing. There is a need to strike a balance between expansion and finances. If expansion happens too fast, it will be difficulty in absorbing shock when financial issues arise, for example, if interest rates increase. This may greatly jeopardise any business.

5) A reminder from one of the presentation's slides- Jeremy Lin's lessons.

Definitely applicable to everyday life.

These said, thank you Formosa Chang for an inspiring lunch.