Seeking excellence from homogeneous competition “Pinbely” expanding to mainland market through IPIM’s MICE platform

Fábrica de Produtos Alimentares Hokkaido was founded by master baker Ieong Weng Ngai in 2008. Ieong Weng Ngai, who ran a small bakery in the early years, seized the business opportunity when Macao's tourism industry took off and expanded his business to Macao souvenir and specialties for tourists. Later, a factory was set up in Macao to supply baked goods to hotels. In 2020, Ieong Weng Ngai founded snack brand “Pinbely”, shifting the development goal to the mainland market. With the opportunity of participating in the "Macao Week" roadshow and matching events in the mainland with IPIM in 2021, the company successfully put a variety of "Made in Macao" food products on the shelves of a convenience store chain in the mainland.

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Sea Salted Cheese Butterfly Cookies

(Photo provided by the company)

Macaron Cranberry Cakes

(Photo provided by the company)

Ieong Weng Ngai, Executive Director of Fábrica de Produtos Alimentares Hokkaido

Seeking perfection and difference in the industry, staying tuned constantly with market trends

Products of from Fábrica de Produtos Alimentares Hokkaido cover a wide range of snacks, including Macaron Cranberry Cakes, Chocolate Mochi, Crispy Ice-Cream Cone, Sea Salted Cheese Butterfly Cookies and, Hami Melon Cookies to name a few. New products are launched almost every season. As the executive director of the company, Ieong Weng Ngai pointed out that there are many similar souvenir food factories in Macao, and it is difficult to break through by simply copying other people's existing products. However, he believed that the company’s own advantage is insisting on learning new baking techniques from various places, researching specialty bakery products of many places, and responding to the public’s taste, creating a difference and even an advantage in the homogeneous competition.

Equipment in the kitchen

Inside the kitchen

Packaging room

Strictly following mainland export requirements, handling both quality and quantity carefully

In order to export products to the mainland, the "Pinbely" snack series strictly complies with the mainland customs declaration requirements from the initial product conception, trademark registration, formula formulation, ingredient testing, packaging specifications to text labels. Ieong Weng Ngai is delighted with each successful shipment, and believes that fast customs clearance will not only help shorten the time for products to reach customers, avoid stockpiling of goods, save storage costs, but also quickly eliminate products with poor sales and reduce the costs of trial and error.

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Freshly baked products

(Photo provided by the company)

Joining MICE events with IPIM and achieving wider business opportunities

Apart from taking part in “Macao International Trade and Investment Fair” (MIF) and Guangdong & Macao Branded Products Fair (GMBPF), Fábrica de Produtos Alimentares Hokkaido also joined the series events of “Macao Week” organised by IPIM in various mainland cities. "Made in Macao" products are popular with local consumers. The nearly 100 boxes of goods prepared for the roadshow were often sold out within the first two days of events; the company also found suitable mainland distributors through the business matching sessions held at the same time. The whole product line of "Pinbely" snacks has been launched in many convenience store chains and supermarkets in the mainland, successfully introducing "Made in Macao" into the vast mainland market.