By Xavier Kong
In this final part of the Mamee-Double Decker series, KiniBiz takes a look at the direction the company will take in the years to come.
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With the launch of its Mamee Chef line of instant noodles with mi tarik technology, along with the opening of its factory to the public and media, as well as opening the doors of its new concept store, Mamee Jonker House at tourist attraction Jonker Street, Mamee-Double Decker Sdn Bhd seems poised to reappear after having delisted from Bursa Malaysia two years ago.
Pierre Pang Hee Ta
Speaking to the company’s general manager of sales and marketing, Pierre Pang Hee Ta, KiniBiz inquires as to the future of the instant noodle company that made the snack from many childhood memories.
“We are definitely planning to re-list regionally, perhaps within the next three years,” said Pierre, who added that the reason for the delisting was because the company needed to “realign” itself.
Mamee-Double Decker Bhd recorded a 20.4% growth rate recently, compared to peers with market growth of about 3.2%, a remarkable thing, according to Mohammad Fadli Mohammed Hafetz, marketing manager of the company, who noted that the instant noodles market is a very competitive market where players tend to see single digit growth percentages.
“The instant noodles market is a very mature market, having been around in Malaysia for 60 years. But what we’ve done is to introduce a paste as seasoning, rather than powder. It is uncommon to find a paste seasoning, with most instant noodles coming with a powder seasoning instead,” said Fadli, jokingly adding that if the growth was single digit at around 3%, one might as well just keep their money in the bank.
Mamee Chef
The Mamee Chef line makes up 12.5% of the company’s total revenue at this time, as it also makes up 50% of the company’s revenue from the instant noodle segment, which contributes 25% to the company’s overall revenue.
Now, the Mamee-Double Decker brands have penetrated a total of 4.2 million households in Malaysia, which is a substantial figure, considering there are a total of 5.47 million households in our country. The company had also achieved a 14.7% share of the market in the 2013 financial year for its instant noodle line.
“We are among the top two brands in any category we compete,” said Fadli with pride, noting that the Mamee brand had won the Frost and Sullivan Malaysia’s Excellence Award in the Home-Grown Packaged Food Company of the Year category in 2013 and 2014, as well as achieving a silver medal, two bronze medals, and a special mention in the Foodstuff category at the Putra Brand Awards in the last five years.
The Mamee Chef line of instant noodles have even been acclaimed by American instant noodle enthusiast and blogger Hans Lienesch, better known as the Ramen Rater, who had placed the Mamee Chef Curry Laksa flavour in 7th place of his Top Ten Instant Noodles Of All Time 2014 list, claiming “a pleasant surprise”, and that he “did not expect an entry so late in the year to make it into the top ten”. To emerge as 7th place among 1365 entries, arriving late nonetheless, speaks for the noodles.
Part of moving forwards for a food and beverage outfit is, of course, the introduction of new products. With RM15 million invested in research per annum, Mamee-Double Decker definitely has its own new products in its lineup, but these are more towards modifications, apparently, as there will be a new flavour for the Mamee Chef line, but in two formats for the line of instant noodles.
Pierre and Chef Ismail intimated that the new format will be a beehoon variant of the flavour soon-to-be available in the line of noodles, which Pierre believes will bring the instant beehoon market to the next level.
“In Malaysia, beehoon is widely consumed. All this while, in the instant noodle market, everyone has been doing mee, mee, mee, mee, mee. So we asked ourselves, how are we going further? We go to the market. At hawkers, in restaurants, everywhere. Malaysia, we love our beehoon as well. But why hasn’t anyone brought this up? And that is where we see opportunity,” said Pierre excitedly.
“The new noodles will be rice noodles, vermicelli. Vermicelli is globally accepted, and it also gives a chance for those who are sensitive towards gluten products a chance to try our offerings,” added Chef Ismail.
Riding on popularity of local food
Prospects are also bright, with Mamee-Double Decker “quite excited, considering CNN has rated asam laksa among the top ten food products around the world”, according to Pierre, who was referencing CNN Travel’s “50 best foods in the world”, where asam laksa took 7th place.
“Malaysia has a very strong asset. Our food is something that we are very popular for. But the thing is that, not everybody has the opportunity to travel to Malaysia to try it,” noted Pierre, adding that it is Mamee-Double Decker’s responsibility as a Malaysian manufacturer to play the role of bringing Malaysia’s flavour out to the world to promote Malaysian cuisine, by using technology to recreate the flavour.
“This is to allow the rest of the world to try Malaysian cuisine,” said Pierre.
This concurs with the vision of the company, which is to export the flavours of Malaysia to the rest of the world.
“Our end goal is not to control market share, but to provide the best product we can, not just for Malaysia, but for the world. We believe that if we have a good quality product, market share will naturally come in,” said Pierre, adding that the company had taken on the mantle of a challenge, to preserve the quality of the food products and make it available in a three-minute format anywhere around the world.
Quality control
The vision of the company is also backed by the principles called the 4I’s, which, according to Fadli, stands for integrity, innovation, involvement and intensity. From what KiniBiz heard and observed, it appears integrity is, indeed, one of the cornerstones of the company, what with the emphasis placed upon the quality control of the company’s products.
One particular example was a mention by Kenneth Pang Hee Lip while he was leading the factory tour. He had noted that each noodle cup, once sealed, was weighed. This was to ensure that the contents of the cup are as advertised: noodle cake, seasoning, and a fork. If the weight was even slightly off, say, by virtue of an extra packet of seasoning, or lack thereof, or an extra fork, or lack thereof, the cup was immediately rejected.
“We have allocated RM50 million for the automation of the cup noodle packing line, as well as the Mamee Monster packing line, both of which are currently being done manually, with completion expected within the coming months, to a maximum of six months. That figure also covers automation for seasoning placement and carton packing as well, reducing the number of human hands involved in the process, thus lowering human error,” said Kenneth.
Another titbit was that the factory floor maintained two eight-hour shifts, keeping the factory running for only sixteen hours a day. While Kenneth had mentioned that this was for maintenance and quality control, Pierre explained it in further detail.
“We avoid twenty-four-hour operations, because we intend to preserve the quality of our offerings, and that quality is very important to Mamee. During the eight hours off, we focus on the maintenance and cleanliness of the machines, so that we are always able to provide the best quality,” explained Pierre, adding that the company also had control of the material, control of transportation, and that all parties involved in production and transportation had to submit to an external audit.
It was also noted that the primary factory in Malacca is capable of expanding its operations on location, as “senior management had designed the factory to cater to expansion”.
“During the tour, you saw our factory floor, but that was just one floor. We have another floor above us, which allows us to increase production here by 80% if we have to,” said Pierre.
For a scope of how much the factory can produce, Kenneth had shared approximate figures as to the production of the factory.
“We produce 3,000 cartons of Mamee Chef a day, with 40 packets a carton. The Mamee Monster Noodle Snack is about one million packets a day, with our cup noodles at about 3,000 cartons a day with twenty-four units in one carton, while our Slrrp and premium products combined hit 3500 cartons a day, with 40 packets per carton,” Kenneth recounted.
As of now, Mamee-Double Decker has five plants in Malaysia, spread out over three areas. One facility in Kuantan, two in Subang, and two more in Malacca, including the primary facility. The company also has a plant in Myanmar, and is looking towards expanding overseas operations as well.
However, one thing made clear was that the company would hire local talent.
“By hiring locals, we help to create job opportunities for the people in that country. Also, the people there would be more in touch with their local culture than someone who is sent there,” said Pierre, adding that Mamee-Double Decker has more than 1,500 staff across its facilities worldwide.
Yesterday: A day at the noodle factory
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