''Song Song' pork meatballs are a local delicacy hidden in the streets of Macao. They have  evolved from being local street food to today's renowned "Macao brand", from hand-made meatballs to today’s automated production by the company’s founder Poon Kin.

 All kinds of frozen meatball products

Founder Poon Kin (left) and Poon I Meng (right)

(Photo provided by the company)

San Song Song owners Poon Ieng Chou and. Poon I Meng in front of the restaurant in Avenida do Ouvidor Arriaga

Secret of tasty classic “Song Song” meatballs

        According to Poon Ieng Chou, the current owner of Estabelecimento Comidas San Song Song Macao, the his wife’s father Pun I Meng and the previous two generations sold pork for a living. Normally, the pork that was not sold would be made into meatballs. Over the years, they worked out a set of unique hand-made techniques. They added salt to fresh pork with an appropriate amount of fat then stir it all together so that it was combined with the fat until it became “sticky”. By beating the ground meat repeatedly at a low temperature, they then marinated the mixture in some home-made seasonings, raising the temperature to shape the meat into balls. In this way, the chewy tasty pork balls were born. In 1999, they set up a stall to sell "Song Song" meatballs at the Ponte 16 flea market in Macao (next to Ponte 16 in Rua do Visconde Paço de Arcos), and the meatballs proved to be very popular and were sold out in less than three hours.

 “Song Song” meatballs sold at a stall

(Photo provided by the company)

Opening of the store on Avenida do Ouvidor Arriaga

(Photo provided by the company)

Automation to expand production

        Making the meatballs by hand everyday was time consuming and it became difficult to keep up with the demand.  In order to solve the problem, Poon asked his engineer friend to help design equipment for the automated production of meatballs. He spent countless hours trying to make the taste and texture of machine-made meatballs close to the hand-made ones. He finally realised his plan of automated production in 2018, and founded the Estabelecimento Comidas San Song Song, and was able to significantly increase the production capacity. Nowadays, the company can provide more than 20 types of meatballs, meat patties, minced meat and sauce products, and now supplies many supermarkets, frozen food shops and department stores in Macao. 

Factory environment

 Meat grinder

Heating and shaping equipment

Rebranding and upgrading brand image

        At the same time, the company is also keeping pace with the times to reshape the brand image and packaging. They work closely with a local young designer who has loved the Song Song meatballs since childhood, rebuilding the brand image together. They won the "Special Award- Macao Brand Design" of “Macao Design Award 2019”.

Inside the restaurant after rebranding

 Attending local MICE events

(Photo provided by the company)

Enhancing promotion through Macao Ideas   Aiming further at In-depth Cooperation Zone

In recent years, San Song Song joined Macao Ideas under IPIM. The company hopes to increase the brand awareness through the MICE platform of Macao Ideas. In addition, it also actively participated in the business delegation visit to Guangdong-Macao In-depth Co-operation Zone in Hengqin (In-depth Co-operation Zone)” organised by IPIM to learn more about development opportunities in the In-depth Co-operation Zone. Poon Ieng Chou pointed out that it is difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises in Macao to broaden their horizons if they only stay in a small city. He expressed his expectation to receive more cutting-edge information from the In-depth Co-operation Zone, and frankly hoped to build a larger factory in the mainland to make "San Song Song" a well-known trademark from Macao.

Joining business delegation visit in In-depth Co-operation Zone organised by IPIM

Attending business matching sessions “Macao Ideas, Join & Match” organised by IPIM

Contact San Song Song

If you are interested in discussing co-operation with the above-mentioned company, please contact the staff of “Macao Ideas” during office hours.

Tel.: 

Ms Cheang +853 8798 9707

Ms Chong +853 8798 9739

Email: 

fionacheang@ipim.gov.mo 

elizachong@ipim.gov.mo