Photography, Food, Chinese Medicine and Marketing

Hong Kong Startups and Investors

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 04:09:00 +0000

There is an article on technode that talks about why Hong Kong startups are in need of investors. I believe there are things that ought to be put into the proper perspective.

I don't understand why, but the definition of a startup is generally referred to a technology-related small company by certain people. To me, a startup is just any small company starting out. It can be in any industry. In Hong Kong, the government has a term SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) which says that a non-manufacturing company employing fewer than 50 people is by definition an SME.

Many people see all the big companies (still small compared to those really big multinational companies) today in Hong Kong but they forget that all of these companies had a very humble start. When we hear their stories, what immediately comes to mind is that these companies were started with creativity and passion, and the initial investment was insignificant. Here are a number of examples:

The Maxim's Group (美心集團) - It was started by two brothers who were treated badly at a Western restaurant during the British colonial rule in Hong Kong. They decided to start their own Western-style restaurant for the Hong Kong Chinese. Today, the Maxim's group of restaurants and its related businesses make over HK$5 billion annually and has operations all over Asia.

Wanchai Ferry Dumplings (灣仔碼頭水餃) - After immigrated to Hong Kong from China, Ms Chong lost her job due to injury. Using only HK$500, she bought a wooden cart and some ingredients for making dumplings. She started selling these dumplings to customers as a hawker. Today, Wanchai Ferry is a well-known international brand with investments from Pillsbury in the USA.

Itamae Sushi (板長壽司)/Itacho Sushi (板前壽司) - Ricky Cheng went to Japan to study as a teenager. When he returned to Hong Kong, he worked as a tourist guide before deciding to put his knowledge acquired in Japan to start a Japanese restaurant. Today, his Japanese restaurant chain can be found all over Asia including Japan.

In my opinion, the fundamental entrepreneurship rule holds true whether the company is technology-related or not. If you are passionate about what you are trying to do, you will figure out ways to survive.

Sina Versus Twitter, Fight!

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 08:23:00 +0000

Twitter is based in the US and has about 200 million global users. Sina Weibo is based in China and has about 50 million users (as of Oct 2010). Both of these platforms are known as microblogs which allow users to publish instant text messages on the internet within a 140-character limit.

Over the past few weeks our web application was enhanced to integrate with these two social media platforms and we notice some similarities and differences that may be of interest to others. However this blog post isn't meant to be an exhaustive comparison.

Similarities

Has a 140-character text message limit (although in the Chinese language, one can express a lot with 140 characters)
Adopt the followers, following, mentions etc for the friends' social graph structure.
Has API for many languages (php, python etc) for developers to integrate applications into these services
Has URL shorterning services.
Supports OAuth 1.0a (a secure authorization standard).

Differences

Sina Weibo allows uploading pictures (in JPG, PNG etc formats) in a text message. Twitter requires the use of a 3rd party service such as Twitpic.
Sina Weibo supports identity verification. Users which are tagged with the letter V are verified users. Well-known celebrities seem to have their screen names tagged with the letter V. For regular users to be verified, they need to submit identification to prove who they say they are. When a new user signs up at Sina Weibo, a list of verified users is recommended to be added to his/her follower list. At Twitter, we had a few spammy users automatically following us after we first signed up.
Developers who are building applications to integrate with Sina Weibo are required to get verification in order to have their application logo/image shown during the authorization process. This may mean submitting their business licenses or certificates to Sina. Twitter allows application logos to be shown without any verification process and there's no verification for individual users.
Sina Weibo supports commenting on text messages. Twitter does not.
Sina Weibo supports saving anyone's text messages. Twitter requires the use of a 3rd party service such as BackupMyTweets which only seems to save a user's own tweets.
We work with the Python SDK for both services. Twitter's python SDK is Tweepy developed by a 3rd party. Sina Weibo Python SDK is supported officially by Sina, and is basically a slightly modified copy of an old version of Tweepy.
Twitter is blocked in China while Sina Weibo is accessible globally.
Sina is listed in NASDAQ in the US stock market. Twitter is a privately held company.

So which services should your web application integrate with? In our experience, once you get Sina Weibo integrated, the integration with Twitter is very similar (in other words, buy one get one free). Sina Weibo is your friend if you want to reach your potential customers in China.

Amazing Food Bloggers in Hong Kong

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 07:21:00 +0000

Traditionally, Hong Kong has termed people who talk about food with special authority as Eating Gods (食神). They claim to have good knowledge on all kinds of food, and are often invited to appear on television programs to show off their knowledge. They sometimes write books on food as well. They act as spokespersons for restaurants or named brands once they gain enough popularity, but I do not agree that using celebrity endorsement is an effective promotion strategy.

Ever since I discovered the food blogger network foodbuzz last year, I was surprised to find that in this part of the world there is a lot of very high quality food blogging going on. To me these bloggers are far more capable than the Eating Gods because they are usually the webmasters of their blogs, photographers, photoshop experts, chefs and writers combined into one! In the past few months, I wandered across the internet and found these Hong Kong-based food bloggers who love food and enjoy sharing their passion with the rest of us. The following is a brief introduction of each one of them.

Mochachocolata Rita is a food blogger who is also an expert in food photography. Her food photos especially those taken in low-light restaurants are really good. She uses a Canon 7D DSLR camera to take food photos. She's also a featured publisher in foodbuzz. Her blog is in English. Her twitter is @mochachocolata.

Gregoire Michaud works at the Four Seasons Hotel as a pastry chef. His blog is in English and is full of pastry photos (and lots of closeup shots too). His twitter is @gregoiremichaud.

Hong Kong Food Blog by Anna is a down-to-earth food blog that tells the world about the traditional Chinese food in Hong Kong. Her blog is in English.

mandykwok1031 has tons of photos of ordinary dishes that people make at home. Sometimes recipes are also provided. "Mandy" sometimes appears at www.discuss.com.hk. The blog is in Chinese (Cantonese style).

tkocell sometimes hangs out at the www.dchome.net and www.discuss.com.hk food forums. There are tons of food photos taken at home and at restaurants. The blog is in Chinese.

fatjoykitchen categorizes its blog with Chinese cooking techniques which is very useful to find recipes based on techniques. There are tons of food photos too. The blog is in Chinese.

Jason Bon Vivant has lots of food photos taken in the restaurants he visits. The photos are really nice.

wokwithnana produces many food-related videos. Most of the videos are in English. Their twitter is @wokwithnana.

Cai Lan (蔡瀾) is a well-known food critic (but nobody calls him an Eating God for some reason) and author. He appears in many food-related television programs and has written many books on food and restaurants. Lately he takes as many food pictures as he possibly can with his iPhone: raw beef, Japanese rice etc and put them in his microblog. His blog is in Chinese.

The Chinese Soup Lady is a project between sisters Lisa and Tracy. It has lots of soup recipes and pictures. The blog is in English.

If you come across any other amazing food bloggers in Hong Kong, please let me know!

Location-based Marketing Tactics for Restaurants

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 04:28:00 +0000

Hong Kong is one of the top 3 cities in the world with the highest rent. Many restaurants are established in sometimes the most obscure locations to avoid the high rent to survive. Operating restaurants in different locations requires different marketing tactics to attract the greatest number of customers. This post focuses on the different promotion tactics for each type of location.

Shopping Malls

It is very common to find many restaurants located on the top floor of many shopping malls around the city. Having customers go all the way up to the top floor and passing through all the shops increases the likelihood of shopping. Some new shopping malls have plenty of floors (for example, the Megabox shopping mall has 19 floors of restaurants and shops) and restaurants are established on dedicated floors.

If a restaurant has decent products and services, it is not difficult to find customers coming into the restaurants by themselves. Usually the shopping malls organize promotion events (perhaps seasonal events such as the Chinese New Year's eve or Christmas) and can draw huge crowds during the holidays.

The marketing tactics for having a restaurant in a shopping mall are:

joint promotions with the shopping malls. One example of such promotions is to offer meal discounts for those who spend over a certain amount at the malls.

Streets

A large number of restaurants are established in regular streets. Some restaurants just don't do anything in terms of promotion because on a busy street, someone is bound to walk in. For this reason alone, the rent for a restaurant in a busy street is often extremely high. Some restaurants therefore move into hidden streets in which not many people have a reason to go there to eat. These restaurants therefore must promote a lot to give people a reason to visit.

The marketing tactics for having a restaurant in a street are:

for those restaurants in busy streets, every once in a while having a huge promotion sign near the restaurant entrance can draw huge crowds.
for those restaurants in hidden streets:

tell potentials customers about the uniqueness of the products and services using targeted advertisements such as in food related publications, food websites or celebrity endorsements etc.
those without a budget can make use of the internet. Promote in internet food forums, food websites or use social media platforms such as facebook or twitter etc. Word of mouth or word of mouse works best.
promote in travel publications. Tourists don't mind spending time to find good restaurants in foreign countries.

Buildings

Many new restaurants now move into commercial office or residential buildings because the rent is substantially cheaper. However, the price to pay for cheap rents is that it is much harder to get people to take the elevators to visit these restaurants. Without any promotion, nobody will know that there are restaurant establishments inside any of these buildings.

A lot of cafes are established inside commercial buildings in a busy shopping district. Young customers are generally more receptive to patronizing these places. They don't mind taking the elevators.

Some restaurants such as private kitchens (restaurants which serve only 12-24 customers each night) often do not want too many customers. Some may only open for business on the weekends. They rely solely on word of mouth promotions.

The marketing tactics for having a restaurant in a building are:

promote in youth related magazines.
use word of mouth heavily. It may take a while to secure a group of loyal customers. Having good products and services is essential.
use social media platforms to spread the word.

Factory Buildings

According to the laws of Hong Kong, restaurants inside factory buildings cannot have any sign that says "this is a restaurant". Restaurants located in these buildings look just like any manufacturers or factories. Most of the factories in Hong Kong have moved north into China, so in the last 20 years or so more and more of these factory buildings have become offices. These restaurants don't even serve customers on weekends and align their working hours to the 9 to 6, Mondays through Fridays schedule.

The marketing tactics for having a restaurant in a factory building are:

promote by fax, email etc to offices inside or nearby factory buildings.

Agglomeration

In some of the tourist attraction areas, many restaurants are established one next to another. This is called an agglomeration and is a powerful marketing tool. One example of an agglomeration for restaurants is Lan Kwai Fong where many restaurants and bars are established in the same area in the Central district in Hong Kong. If customers cannot find seats in a restaurant, they can just walk to the next until they can find seats. Usually restaurants in an agglomeration promote together during special events such the New Year's eve celebration.

The marketing tactics for having a restaurant in an agglomeration are:

joint promotion with other restaurants during special events such as Halloween.

Conclusion

Restaurants in each type of location have different challenges. Location is only a small piece to the big picture. Although it has become more and more difficult to operate a restaurant due to rising costs, those who are able to survive are the ones who can come up with creative survival ideas.

Potstickers with Congee

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 08:00:00 +0000

There are many kinds of potstickers (also known as dumplings). The most common kind is to use pork as the main ingredient:

minced pork
cabbages
circle wrappers

Chop the cabbages into very small pieces. Mixed the minced pork with the chopped cabbages. Add salt or other condiments to give more flavor. Put the right amount of this mixture in a wrapper and fold the top for a few times (see the following picture). Put the potstickers in a hot pan and add water. When the water dries up, repeat this process 2 more times. The potstickers should be thoroughly cooked by then.

For a healthier meal, serve the dumplings with congee.

Chinese Medicated Food: Pan Fried Chicken with Orange Day Lily and Lily

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 03:24:00 +0000

Both Orange Day Lily and Lily can be eaten when cooked. The ingredients for this dish are:

dried Orange Day Lily (金針花)
Lily (百合), preferably fresh
sliced chicken

Soak the dried Orange Day Lily in hot water for a few minutes. Keep changing the water until it becomes clear. Put the Orange Day Lily in a hot pan and fry. Add the chicken slices and fry them until they are thoroughly cooked. Add the Lily and once the Lily turns transparent, turn off the heat (this should happen fairly quickly).

What is this dish good for? Orange Day Lily can refill the blood level in a human body and can make people feel calm. Lily also has the ability to make people feel calm. This dish is good for people who need to think a lot in their daily routines.

Introduction to Chinese Medicated Food: Potato Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 00:42:00 +0000

There is an old Chinese saying:

Medicine and food come from the same origin.

That means in the Chinese medicine philosophy, medicine and food are actually the same thing. There is a subject area in Chinese medicine that studies the use of Chinese medicine in food for medical purposes.

Medicated Chinese dishes are actually quite easy to cook. Here's an example of potato soup. The ingredients are:

Dang Shen (黨參, English name: Radix Codonopsis)
Ginger
Potatoes

Peel the potatoes. Add water and all the ingredients in a pot. Once the water starts boiling, turn the heat all the way down. Keeping the soup heated for about 30 minutes.

What is this soup good for? Dang Shen can refill the air and blood inside a human body. It is sometimes referred to as the ginseng substitute because it is cheaper. Potatoes can provide detoxification to the body and prevent constipation.

Lit Your Food Subjects Nicely With Little Budget

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 07:53:00 +0000

When you are doing food photography at home, you have two choices for lighting your food subjects. Either you use natural light or artificial light. Using natural light means you need to set your food subjects near the window so that the sunlight can actually shine on the subjects. That isn't always an option if your window is far away from the food subjects. For me, my dining table is far away from the only window in the living room so I cannot use natural light on my food subjects.

The only other choice left for me is to use artificial light. There are many options but I opted for an option with relatively little money. I got a photography softbox set for about US$37. It comes with a halogen light bulb (5500K), a stand and a softbox.

The halogen light bulb is big and it is rated to provide 5500K color temperature:

There is a cover on the softbox and I can remove the cover if desired:

Here is a picture with the light bulb on:

Here is a picture with the cover on:

This thing is called a softbox because the kit looks like a box is designed to soften the light.

This picture was shot without the softbox lighting:

This picture was shot with the softbox lighting:

The difference is quite big. A softbox kit is relatively inexpensive and can provide the necessary artificial lighting at home. Another good thing about this kit is that it is portable and can be disassembled and stored easily. This kit is highly recommended.

Number 1 Myth of Entrepreneurship Debunked: Be a Loner to Succeed

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 05:32:00 +0000

Last year I decided that I could no longer work for anyone. I keep realizing that I don't like to answer to anyone especially my superiors, and I don't like the work I am doing at any company that I work for. Therefore after my contract ended with my last company, I left without any hesitation.

I have always wanted to start my own company. Back in 2003 I quit my job at Oracle in the USA and came to Hong Kong to start my first company. It was a SaaS (Software As A Service) company also known as an application service provider (ASP) at that time. I spent one year building the technology by myself. Towards the end of the first 12 months, I had an epiphany which was the fact that I was lacking the fundamental skills in marketing that prevented me from finding paying and non-paying customers. So I went back to school and spent two years to get my Master degree in Marketing. Here I am again, thinking that marketing can provide part of the solution to my business problems. I am ready to take the leap of faith and try the entrepreneur thing again.

A Master degree in Marketing only changes the way I think. Our professors often like to say: these marketing concepts are going to be difficult for you to understand and you may never understand them. While I may not be smart enough to understand everything there is to understand, but now I understand that at the startup stage, my company has to offer value to a very small group of people. Marketing needs to target these evangelists: find them, partner with them, pay them to use my services etc. Do whatever necessary to turn them into paying or non-paying customers.

For the last few months, when I tried to turn my friends into these very small groups of customers, I keep getting the same reaction. Whenever I tell them about my advertising business and ask them for help, they will say yes but there is no action. Sometimes I even offer money and hope that in return I get some help from them. None whatsoever. Perhaps the money is not enough to motivate people. On one occasion when I offered money to a friend in exchange for some nice-looking food photos, she kept saying that the money wasn't enough. Eventually she just told me to get the pictures from her facebook photo albums and pay her. Sometimes I think that I just ain't a good enough friend to them that they are willing to give up their time and energy just to help me out. Sometimes I think it's a cultural thing for the Chinese: don't do this unless it gives you something in return that is worthy.

We entrepreneurs keep hearing the myth that an entrepreneur who is a loner is destined to fail. I think it is wrong. If anyone can survive in business as a loner, he or she will excel as an entrepreneur. Think about it. Most companies are founded by a few friends, but in the end it is always left with one single founder. Great musical groups or bands break up because the founding members always have different agendas or goals at some point in time. When we entrepreneurs go for outside help, nobody is going to help unless you are ready to offer lots of money with no guaranteed return, just like gambling. If you ask your friends for help, they will make you wait forever, because they just say they are happy to help but not really act to help. When we small companies want to work with larger companies, they never respond to our proposals or inquiries. Mr. Li Ka-Shing, one of the wealthiest individuals in the world, remembers what his father taught him: it is always better to ask yourself for help than to ask somebody else for help (求人不如求己).

This greatest myth of entrepreneurship must be debunked right here right now: be a loner and you are better off doing the entrepreneur thing all by yourself. You may ask: those Venture Capitalists look at the team behind a startup, not at an individual. Then I say to you: don't even bother with Venture Capitalists. Some of the greatest startups survived and grew exponentially after all of the Venture Capitalists told them NO. You may ask: I don't know everything and I must get help from someone. Sorry to break the news to you: you need to do everything by yourself. I am not a web designer or any designer for that matter, but I have to do it for my website. I don't want to do the programming but I get more scared if I pay someone else to do it because there are so many cheating freelancers and outsourcing firms out there. I am not a photographer but I need great looking food photos for my advertising business. A professional photographer offered me the pictures for an amount I couldn't afford. I have no choice but to learn how to take professional looking food photos because this is the most cost-effective. Over the years I keep doing the "impossible" and find that it can progressively become easier to overcome the next "impossible" task. I have learned how to systematically acquire the knowledge necessary to complete each task.

I am not trying to discourage anyone from being an entrepreneur. However, if you are ready to become one or are already one, try not to have any partners or ask your friends to help out (as a favor). Learn to do everything by yourself. When your business takes off, pay your non-friends (or sometimes friends) as regular employees/contractors to do the work that you don't have time for. Remember that you are the only person who is willing to run your company for free. Nobody else (including your friends) is willing to work for free or for very little money. Before you can afford to pay someone, do it by yourself. It is going to be difficult, but the "training" will make you prepare for the even more difficult problems (which very likely you have to face by yourself) in the future.

Fresh Made Burgers: the End of McDonald's?

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 01:10:00 +0000

Here in Hong Kong, there are many burger joints which offer fresh made burgers: Monster Burger, BLT Burger, MOS Burger etc. These joints offer a different kind of service than the traditional burger joints such as McDonald's or Burger King. The moment when you order a burger, the shop will make it from scratch. Therefore these burgers are fresher and hotter.

One good example of fresh burger joint is the famous MOS Burger from Japan. It is the second largest fast food franchise in Japan with shops in many Asian countries. At the time of this blog post, there are 15 MOS Burger joints around Hong Kong.

After you order a burger, and if you decide to eat inside the shop, you pick a seat and wait for your order. After your burger meal is made, it will be delivered to you by a waiter or waitress. The following picture shows a fish burger at MOS Burger:

The burger was really hot and it is the way I like it. Of course, the service offered by MOS Burger comes with a price. A fish burger meal is about HK$37 whereas a fillet-o-fish meal at McDonald's is about HK$24. So customers are paying more than 50% premium for MOS Burger's service.

There are way more variety of burgers at MOS Burger than McDonald's. At the same time, the number of seats is a lot smaller. What customers get is a comfortable (that is, not crowded) place to enjoy an expensive burger meal with relatively good customer service. The question is: are customers willing to pay this price?

The answer is an astounding yes. Life is short. Take your time and enjoy your food.

A Brief Review of the Tamron 18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC Food and Travel Lens

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 07:51:00 +0000

I am a Nikon D3000 user and I have never owned any Tamron lens before. Last week when I went to Northeastern China, I had to take a travel lens (that is, one single lens for all purposes) with me for food and travel photography. Before the trip, I got the Tamron 18-270mm F/3.6-6.3 Di II VC lens. Although the lens covers a wide focal length range, to my surprise it is a relatively light lens.

For daytime landscape shots, it is a lens that exhibits extremely good clarity. With VC (Vibration Compensation) turned on, it compensates shaky hands at the long range:

In low light situations such as inside a Buddhist museum as shown, the lens can capture vibrant colors with little loss in details:

For closeup food shots at restaurants (usually with low lights), I was able to shoot at much shorter focal lengths with all the details in the food subjects being maintained:

For anyone who needs a versatile lens for food and travel purposes, I highly recommend the Tamron 18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC lens.

The Marketing of Art

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 09:52:00 +0000

The city of Shanghai turned a giant steel factory in the heart of the city into a huge art producing facility called the Shanghai Sculpture Space (紅坊). If you walk around the outskirt of the facility, you can see some truly amazing work by the artists.

This is a Mercedes Benz made with bricks:

This is a steel sculpture of Albert Einstein:

This is a steel sculpture of Deng Xiaoping:

Here is a collection of feet:

Here is a steel knight:

Here is an instrument made with a laptop and an abacus:

This robotic animal looks scary:

While most people cannot buy these sculptures and put them in their homes, what does such an art facility do to help the artists?

This place has become a tourist attraction spot in Shanghai. Tourists are usually compelled to look at everything in a tourist attraction spot in detail because they know that they may not come back to these places in the near future. Unlike an art gallery or show where people may need to pay to get in, these open art facilities create a superb channel to connect the general public to the art world.

A tourist attraction spot is often a place for people to appreciate beautiful things. Art is beautiful even though for non-artists like myself, I cannot describe why a piece of art is beautiful. Just by look at beautiful things, I feel happy. By combining art and tourism, it is a perfect strategy to market art without doing it in-your-face.

The Myth of Green Tea

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 06:28:00 +0000

We have all heard that green tea is good for our health. But what exactly does it do to help us improve our health?

In Hangzhou, China, there is a lake called the West Lake (西湖). Near this lake, there are many farmers who make a living growing and selling Longjing/Dragon well green tea (龍井), which is known by many as the best kind of green tea. The tea leaves are required to be hand-fried (that is, use the bare hands to fry the green tea leaves) with a hot wok before packaging. Below is a picture of a master who has been doing this for over 60 years:

In addition to drinking the tea, these tea leaves can be eaten as well. Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher came to Hangzhou and tried the green tea. She was told by the Chinese president Deng Xiaoping to eat the tea leaves. Hesitated at first, Ms. Thatcher eventually ate the tea leaves and found them to be quite tasty.

Green tea leaves can help clean the intestines, thus having the effect of detoxification of the human body. Therefore in addition to drinking green tea, eating the leaves is also recommended.

Making green tea is quite easy. Just grab the green tea leaves with 3 fingers into a glass. Pour hot water at around 50 degree Celcius into the glass. The first glass is the best with the most powerful taste. 2 additional glasses of green tea can be made with the same tea leaves. Afterwards, throw away the tea leaves and make another glass with new green tea leaves if desired.

A Beauty Pageant Contestant's Success Story

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 12:32:00 +0000

Here is a startup company story you don't hear every day.

Erica Yuen was a beauty pageant contestant. She started blogging as a way to tell her relatives what's going on in the pageant. Shortly after she won the 5th place in a beauty pageant contest, she thought she could be a star and be good at it. Unfortunately things didn't turn out as expected. The media pictured her as a fiery person who liked to make enemies with other female stars.

She continued to blog and somehow the media exposed her blog to the public. Her fans started to read her blog regularly. Occasionally she would write about a certain beauty product she used and things got interesting when she asked if anyone wanted to buy the same product. She would bulk order the product from the USA. She got over 300 requests through email.

Erica saw a business opportunity. In the beginning, she would hang out at Starbucks and distribute the products to her new found customers. But doing this was very time consuming. She thought she needed some kind of e-commerce website that could handle the orders better.

She didn't know how to build a website. She knew that those web design companies would rip her off. She was wary of freelancers. Finally she struck a deal with elle.com.hk. Erica was a guest blogger on elle.com.hk before, so she asked elle.com.hk to build a website for her and in return, her e-commerce website would provide elle.com.hk with a few banner ads. Her website was up in a couple of months.

Erica uses a lot of web tools to help with the marketing of her new business. She has a Youtube channel. She interacts with her customers through her own blog, her blog in elle.com.hk and her facebook page. She monitors the comments in her blogs, facebook and other forums very closely to make sure that there are no unhappy customers. Since business was so successful, she opened two brick-and-mortar stores to sell her products. Her business has now acquired over 10,000 customers within a few months.

Erica knew in her heart that she wanted to take control of her life and be her own boss. Her beauty pageant fame might have helped her get a head start, but it is the relentless pursuit of her goals that keeps her business moving forward.

What Does it Take to be Shown in the Michelin Restaurant Guide?

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 01:25:00 +0000

Hong Kong is the food capital of the world. You can find virtually anything to eat here. Every year Michelin publishes their restaurant guide. There has been some controversies with the guide because many say that the restaurant list doesn't represent the true restaurant scene in Hong Kong. The list has been seen as bias towards Western restaurants serving non-Chinese cuisines.

At one point Michelin started to include more local Chinese restaurants in its list, but these restaurants refused to be named, claiming that they don't need any foreign authority to say that they are good or bad. Regardless, the controversies do help to get these restaurants exposed in the media and people would take notice of these restaurants. Promotion is free so take advantage of it.

A few weeks ago I visited a Michelin 2010 listed 2-star Chinese restaurant in the Langham Hotel:

We ordered a few dishes and it turned out that one of the dishes was incorrectly put into the order system by the waiter. We said it's okay and would be glad to pay for it (we are a loyal customer and have been to Ming Court many times before). The waiter immediately said in order to make up for his mistake, he would like to offer an expensive desert to us free of charge.

In service marketing, this is called enpowering the frontline employees. These employees have the authority to do whatever necessary under the circumstances to resolve issues with the customers. This is almost unheard of in the local Chinese restaurants, since most owners tell their frontline staff that if you make mistakes, they come out from your paychecks.

Ming Court dishes are not that outstanding among all the available Chinese restaurants in the city. However, not many restaurants will be able to match its service. Keep in mind that the service is part of the marketing strategy a restaurant should have, since it affects the perception of the restaurant's brand.

Promoting Restaurants with Celebrity Endorsements?

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 06:22:00 +0000

There are two types of food critics here in Hong Kong: one is called Food Critic (食評家) and the other type is called Eating God (食神). The term Eating God has become very popular after the release of Stephen Chow's 1996 movie called The God of Cookery:

The other day I walked by a restaurant and saw a picture of a well-known Eating God (he's known as the Young Eating God) with the restaurant owner posted on the front doors of the restaurant. I cannot help but wonder if a celebrity says he/she patronizes this restaurant, will I be tempted to patronize the restaurant myself as well?

Celebrity endorsements used as a marketing tool for products and services are quite common. Personally I never understand the appeal or effectiveness. In the context of a restaurant business, would I intentionally go to a restaurant just because a certain celebrity endorses or visits it frequently?

Restaurants or food are different from other products or services in the sense that people have great differences on why they like to eat certain kinds of food. The likeness factor is very personal. Some people love spicy food but I cannot eat it. So if my favorite movie star says he often goes to a particular curry restaurant, that's not going to affect me because I don't eat or like spicy food. Nothing he says is going to change that fact.

What makes us like to eat a certain kind of food? Is there any criteria for likeness? It is very difficult to come up with a laundry list of reasons because everyone can have very different preferences.

A better promotion strategy for restaurants is to use social media. When 10 friends say that this particular is restaurant is good, I will at least try it once and see what happens. On the contrary, one person (celebrity) says I should try it doesn't make it persuasive enough for me to take action.

Ordering the Same Dishes Every Time

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 01:35:00 +0000

Have you noticed that when you go to your favorite restaurant (or one of the many restaurants you visited before), you look at the menu and order the same dishes you ordered last time you were there? If you do this, you are not alone. I went to a Japanese restaurant last weekend and I ordered the same salmon sashimi during my previous visit:

Why do we do this? Isn't it boring to eat the same dishes every time in the same restaurant? Don't we want to explore the wild? Here are a couple of reasons:

Reading the menu is a waste of time. We go to restaurants because we want to eat. We hate spending all the time only deciding what to eat and not eating.
People are afraid of change. It is a safer investment to order the dishes we know we like, rather than take the risks to order something new and it turns out to be bad.

Any restaurants practicing any sort of customer relationship management strategies can exploit this behavior .

Instead of giving the customers a menu, ask the customers if they want to order the same dishes based on their past ordering history. Now that is customer service.
Reduce the operation costs by getting rid of dishes that aren't popular.
Focus on improving existing dishes instead of designing new dishes.
Cross-sell new dishes that may be of interest to the customers given what they usually order.

Remember that only the food in a restaurant is not enough to keep customers from coming back. The atmosphere, the service (very important), the hygiene etc are all important factors in creating royal customers.

Yin Yang and the Chinese Medicine Philosophy

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 04:00:00 +0000

Chinese Medicine has thousand of years of history through real-world practice. It has a very different philosophy than the world's other medical system, Western medicine which is based on science. Some say that Chinese medicine is not science and they refuse to believe that Chinese medicine can cure any disease. This controversy has been going on forever, but nowadays there is a trend to find the best possible cure for patients by blending Chinese and Western medicine practices.

One of the core foundations of Chinese medicine is that it is based on the notion that the Yin (陰) and Yang (陽) in a human body must be balanced:

So what are the Yin and Yang in the human body? Yin can be interpreted as either the coldness or wetness. Yang can be interpreted as either the hotness or dryness. A Chinese doctor can determine whether a person has too much Yin or Yang inside his/her body by using a variety of techniques, such as looking at the color of the tongue, checking the pulse pattern etc. The idea is the maintain the right amount of Yin and Yang such that the person can feel normal.

We can also maintain the right among of Yin and Yang ourselves without taking any Chinese medicine. Use common sense. For example, in the winter, when it is cold, try not to eat any ice-creams. In the summer, when it is hot, try not to eat hot and spicy food. Too much Yin or Yang can make a person feel sick and it is best to maintain the correct balance between them.

Are you Brave Enough?

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 12:10:00 +0000

Hong Kong is in the proximity of many Asian countries and Japanese food is one of the most popular cuisines here. Just walk down the street and you can hardly not see a Japanese restaurant.

A lot of people go to Japan to learn how to cook Japanese food, come back and start their own Japanese restaurants in this Chinese city. Some local restaurants even hire Japanese chefs direct from Japan.

When I was a student at the University of Wisconsin - Madison in the USA, I met a lot of mid western guys and girls who have never traveled outside the midwest. One guy I knew was from St. Paul, Minnesota. I remember one time I took him to a Chinese restaurant in Madison, Wisconsin in the USA (mind you, the Chinese restaurants there aren't really Chinese restaurants, at least not like the ones in Hong Kong). I asked him if he could eat Japanese food like sashimi (thin slices of raw fish). He said he couldn't. Take a look at this:

I mean, how can you resist eating this? Not only it looks beautiful, it also tastes wonderful! For those who aren't brave enough to devour, the taste is a little sweet but you have to dip the sashimi into soy sauce and wasabi before eating it. I told this guy he should be a real man and try it.

I once heard from a university professor that the earth is running out of food resources. As technology advances, people and their submarines can go deep into the ocean and get the seafood from there. Deep ocean fishes or other animals unfortunately look horrible in their appearance. Can human beings be brave enough and eat them?

Back to the Basics: Internet Word of Mouth Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 11:16:00 +0000

Last month my parents told me to get two tailored suits. There is a shop on the 4th floor in an old office building located in the financial district in Hong Kong. I asked them how they knew about it. They said they were introduced to this shop by a friend, and my dad bought a couple of tailored suits from there. He was quite pleased with the suits.

I went there and it was an extremely small shop. However, the moment I stepped into the shop, I saw foreigners trying on their finished suits. When the elderly gentleman (I suspect he is one of the owners of the shop) was taking my measurement, many customers came in to either get new suits or paid their finished suits.

While I may not know much about this custom tailor business, just by looking at how many people walked in and out of this shop, I would say this business is a high revenue business. A regular suit costs HK$998/US$129/€94. I counted there were about 3 people walked in during my 30-minute stay in the shop. Each suit requires a HK$500/US$64/€47 deposit. Assuming each person pays that amount on average throughout a business day, the shop makes HK$24,000/US$3,905/€2,259 a day. From the business card, it says that this custom tailor company has two retail shops. So the annual revenue can reach up to a total of HK$14M/US$1.8M/€1.3M.

About a month later I got back the suit. Every suit has this logo stitched in the left inner pocket:

Some people have long heard that US presidents like George W Bush, Bill Clinton or Prince Charles etc often buy tailored suits in Hong Kong. How did they hear about these tailors in Hong Kong in the first place? Did they do a search in Google? I doubt it because most of these tailors don't even have websites or any kind of advertising.

Throughout all these years, what still works is the Word of Mouth promotion. It is never going to change. When your parents/friends/someone you know recommend something, you normally won't ask too many questions but will listen to their advice and go to their recommended restaurants or visit the same doctors.

I made my first purchase on Amazon because one of my friends said it's good, not because I saw a banner ad on some random websites. I created my account on facebook after my friend said I could locate my high school classmates from there, not because I read about this thing in the news.

With all the fancy tools available today for internet marketing, nothing beats your friends' recommendations.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Marketing of US Hosting Providers

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 03:43:00 +0000

A few months ago when we were about to launch our first web application to the public, we were evaluating a VPS (Virtual Private Server) solution. Fortunately (or unfortunately), the local hosting providers were quite expensive and technically inferior compared to the US-based providers. In addition, we try to avoid providers that require 12-month contracts. We don't want to be stuck with problematic providers for a year if we find out they cannot deliver what they promise during the first week after we sign up.

Doing the shopping requires a lot of reading on the internet, then actually signing up and see if there are surprises. It was an interesting exercise. We realize that every company has a different marketing personality and we are able to categorize these personalities into the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Bad
Dreamhost
Some comments around the internet gave high marks to a US-based provider called Dreamhost. So we went ahead and tried to sign up. During the signup process, after we entered the credit card, clicking next didn't seem to take us to the next step and there was no error message. We didn't know if the transaction went through or not. After a few minutes, we logged in to the Dreamhost account management system and found that our account was indeed created, but it was in a pending status. What happened here?

It didn't inspire much confidence for customers that there was trouble getting past the very first step. So we decided to do nothing and see if Dreamhost knew a problem had occurred and took proactive action to contact us. So far Dreamhost didn't contact us. Until today we are still able to log into the Dreamhost account management system with our account status as pending.

We have no way to know if Dreamhost is a good provider. What we do know is that a technical problem had occurred and Dreamhost didn't know about it. Can they find out problematic accounts by scanning their account management system? Probably. But to us that doesn't matter. We left and probably would never go back, and we will discourage anyone from signing up with Dreamhost.

Rackspace
Next we went to Rackspace. It is another US-based hosting provider and was credited for providing hosting services to Youtube. It has opened a local office here and its website has a localized web domain. We visited their local website to check out their plans.

So their first plan caught our eyes for 4xx dollars per month. It was a great deal because the hardware options were extremely powerful. However we had a question on the contract terms. It didn't say if the price was only valid if we signed a long term contract. We tried to contact their sales. There is a link on their website that launches some kind of a chat window.

After a while, a live sales "person" came online at the other end. We asked about this particular plan and asked if we needed to sign a long term contract. This other "person" asked if we had trouble signing up and could walk us through the signup process. We said we only wanted to ask if we needed to sign a long term contract if we wanted to get the 4xx dollars per month plan in our local currency. This "person" then said the price was in fact in US dollars, not our local currency. We asked how that was possible. We went to their local website and common sense said that it should be in the local currency (since there's no US$ in the front). This "person" said they are a US company so every dollar value is in the US currency. So this "person" made the assumption that local customers coming to this local Rackspace website know that Rackspace is a US company, and hence only the US currency should be used.

We were quite annoyed by that time. This "person" wouldn't stop but kept saying he/she could walk us through the signup process for that plan. We politely said if you had put a simple US$ in front of the prices we wouldn't have this "conversation". You wasted our time.

We tried to ask simple questions but were bombarded with pushy behavior to get us signed up. It was also funny that such a "big" company had trouble using the right currency on their website (now I think about it, maybe they did this on purpose). That sure is an effective way to push potential customers away.

Openx OnRamp
We needed to serve ads from our web application with the openx ad server and we wanted to see if the free Openx OnRamp service can help us. We submitted our application to use this service. For many days we didn't hear anything and one day we got an email from openx telling us that we downloaded a white paper from openx and asked us to contact them. First of all we didn't download any white papers from openx and you were lying. Secondly, please tell us if you had denied or approved our application. The silence is killing us. Well it doesn't matter anymore because we will never use this service ever again or recommend it to anyone.

The Ugly
We tried to find a hosting provider that can provide hosting services for our openx ad server. The name Arvixe kept popping up so we decided to sign up to see if it could meet our needs. Their plans are very reasonably priced and there's no contract. Customers can pay month-by-month if desired. We opted for a monthly payment option just to test Arvixe out.

After signing up and logging in, we immediately went to install openx in our hosting account. The installation is done through another software known as Softaculous that can be launched from the Arvixe account system. After the openx installation, we realized that there was a problem with the openx plugins. So we contacted Arvixe's customer service by submitting a ticket through their support system.

Arvixe has a 24-hour customer service team so within a few hours we got a response. It told us to reinstall openx in our hosting account. We did that but the problem was still there. We contacted customer service again. After exchanging a few messages, one of their staff said that we had to get support from openx and they couldn't help us resolve the problem because openx is a 3rd party thing.

It is always easy to blame someone else for your own problems. We said Arvixe advertised openx hosting. Now you are telling me to go somewhere else for an installation problem which obviously came from your own system. We even googled the problem for Arvixe and the problem might be related to Softaculous. We asked Arvixe to resolve the problem with Softaculous, but if you insisted us to go somewhere else to solve this problem, we wanted a full refund immediately and we would take our business elsewhere.

We reinstalled openx again for the one last time and to our surprise, the openx plugin problem went away. We started putting in ads to the openx ad server and so far it is able to serve ads properly without problems.

We were about to leave Arvixe but somehow they quietly admitted their fault and quietly fixed a technical problem without telling us. We will wait and see but we are staying with Arvixe at the moment. But it doesn't give us a warm feeling that we were told to go somewhere else for support.

The Good
We were hoping to give Dreamhost our business but we couldn't even sign up. Perhaps our fate was destined to find another hosting provider. We were very glad we did.

We found the following US-based company Linode.

We had never seen such a clean and error free signup process. It accepted our credit card (we are outside the US so we thought our credit card might have caused Dreamhost the glitch) without problems. Once we paid we were given full control to our virtual private server. In a few hours we were up and running.

Linode doesn't require customers to sign a contract and we can pay month-by-month. So far we have zero problems. In the future when we expand we may signup more servers with Linode. We are not afraid to recommend Linode to our partners and friends.

Lesson Learned
Some companies like Linode are technically superior. This is a big marketing win because it gives potential customers a safe feeling that their businesses are in good hands. Some companies are technically challenged. But that doesn't matter. What matters is companies can take a step forward, own the problems and solve them, instead of ignoring them or telling their customers to go away. Some companies just want to close sales using whatever means and simply won't listen to what their customers are saying. Whatever these different companies do, it has a big impact on their company's brand images. Potential customers may never be their customers. These potential customers may tell their partners and friends never to patronize these companies. Losing 1 potential customer can mean losing 10 more potential customers.

Retromarketing for the Restaurant Business

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 14:28:00 +0000

I once read a marketing paper titled Torment Your Customers. It talks about successful marketing is done based on playing hard to get to the customers, which goes against modern marketing thinking that customers are always right. In modern marketing, businesses must do everything they can to fulfill customer needs.

Here in Hong Kong, some of the most popular restaurants have non-appealing store fronts. Take a look at this restaurant Fai Kee:

It doesn't look good, in fact it looks pretty bad compared with the norm. However, this restaurant is the most successful restaurant on the island of Ma Wan.

So you ask what the secret formula of success is. Let's take a look at what it does:

It is located in a hidden alley.
It closes on Wednesdays.
One can hardly get a table reservation on the weekends. Tables are available at around 6:00pm or after 8:30pm.
Customers mostly serve themselves inside the restaurant, like getting hot water or tea.

As you can see, this restaurant is almost practicing retromarketing with great success. It is playing hard to get, but people still enjoy dining there without any customer service. I don't think a restaurant like this can survive in a country such as the USA. On the contrary, I often see foreigners patronizing this restaurant happily.

In the Chinese culture, restaurant customers are accustomed to poor customer service. Most restaurants often advertise themselves as serving the best food and that is all that matters. Most customers believe that customer service is less important than the food itself.

A restaurant owner must put things into the proper perspective. Most dishes in most restaurants are similar and there is actually little differentiation between the restaurants. The differentiation has to come from other factors besides the product itself. Customer service is one factor. The location is another.

If a restaurant has awesome dishes, can it practice retromarketing and be successful? Let's put it this way. Providing good customer service may not guarantee success, but not having customer service increases the chance of failure. I think it is obvious that in today's competitive restaurant business, if doing one thing can increase the chance of success and decrease the chance of failure, you will do it.

Increase the Depth of Field in Closeup Food Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 02:36:00 +0000

I must admit that for the longest time, I am an opposer of using any post-processing on digital photographs because I think it's cheating. However, as I am starting to get into food photography, I find that most of my pictures have been less than satisfactory.

One day I was surfing online and found this great article by norecipes:
http://norecipes.com/2009/01/10/adobe-lightroom-tutorial-aka-my-dirty-little-secret/

I said to myself, perhaps this is what my food pictures were missing: the vibrant colors, the nice contrast, the correct exposure and white balance. Without an expensive camera and all the elaborate lighting equipment that the pros use, I think I should give this a try. It is the most cost effective solution. I already have Photoshop CS5 but I haven't devoted the time and energy to learn how to use it properly.

It is always easier to learn something new by applying the knowledge to solve a real world problem. I am told that some of my closeup pictures of fried rice were too blurry in the background. Without retaking the pictures with a smaller f stop, is there something Photoshop can do to increase the depth of field? As a matter of fact there is.

I took two pictures of the same fried rice but with the focus set in the front and the back. This is the first picture with the focus set in the front:

This is the second picture with the focus set in the back:

Start Photoshop CS5 and launch the mini bridge application:

Load the two images into Photoshop CS5 as layers:

Select the layers and auto-align them:

Choose Projection->Auto. Unchecked the lens correction (I think my 18-55mm Nikon lens is okay):

Now auto-blend the layers:

Perform the necessary post-processing of the merged images and here's the final image:

In the final image, there is little or no blur from the front to the back of the fried rice.

I will be using more Photoshop to post-process my food photos from now on.

Taking Food Photos at Restaurants

noreply@blogger.com (Saul Karl) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 02:00:00 +0000

In food photography, lighting is everything. The camera doesn't really matter in comparison. As I am starting to get serious in this craft, I try to figure out the cheapest possible ways to take the best pictures.

I was having dinner at Ruby Tuesday the other night. I took my Ricoh GX200 with me. Lighting in most restaurants is terrible and they don't appreciate you using your camera flash. In general, flashing directly at the food often results in too much light and the details of an image are lost.

Without using the camera flash and when the lighting is inadequate, I had to increase the ISO sensitivity on the camera. Unfortunately in my opinion this camera produces fairly grainy images at ISO sensitivity 800 or above, even with noise reduction on. It is best to leave the ISO sensitivity at 400.

I usually use the A (Aperture) mode on my cameras. To avoid blurring the food image too much, I try to set the F stop on the Ricoh GX200 to a high number (for example, above 6). However, the shutter speed will need to increase when the f stop is relatively low. Any shutter speed higher than 1/60 seconds may result in shaky camera images. The only solution is to put the camera on a steady surface and take the pictures. This time I brought a very small tripod that looks like an octopus:

It is a very cheap tripod that I bought in a local camera accessory store. It allows me to put my Ricoh GX200 on it and shoot steady images especially in low-light situations. I set the self timer to 2 seconds to avoid having to press the shutter, which may result in shaking the camera.

I wanted to take pictures of the full rack ribs I ordered. However, the ribs were dark. I didn't like the picture because I could hardly see the texture on the ribs:

I gave my Nokia E63 to my girlfriend. She took out her Nokia E63 at the same time and turned on the flash lights on the phones. These flash lights are constant light sources. After shining the flash lights on the ribs, I shot the ribs again and this time the texture was clearly visible:

I used the same technique and shot the smashed potatoes:

Although the shadows might be a bit too much, the pictures were bright and clear. One can also be more creative and bounces strong lights off from a white napkin to soften the lights further.

The lesson to learn here is that lighting is important in food photography especially in low-light situations such as in restaurants. Try to be creative about the light sources.

Finally, I want to thank Ruby Tuesday for letting customers take pictures of their food.