Noodle maker Cheung Wing Kee: a Hong Kong success story
Founded in 1957 by immigrants from Guangzhou, the key to Cheung Wing Kee’s success is its ability to look ahead while staying true to its roots
As with many Hong Kong factories, noodle maker Cheung Wing Kee was started by immigrants from China.
“Cheung Wing Kee was founded in 1957 by Cheung Wing-lit and his mother, who were from Guangzhou,” says Frankie Hui Yee-leung, the company’s current owner.
Hui, who took over the firm in 1984, lived in the Hung Hom neighbourhood where Cheung Wing Kee was located.
“When I was a teenager in the 1960s, I was always at Cheung Wing Kee helping out,” he says, adding that although he wasn’t paid, he was there to observe and to learn a skill. “I worked hard and Cheung Wing-lit took a liking to me. He made me his godson, and his apprentice.”
Noodle making wasn’t the most logical career choice for Cheung. He was from a family of intellectuals and, Hui recalls, his mother graduated from Guangzhou University with a degree in economics. Like many of the educated class, they fled China in the 1950s and started a business in Hong Kong.
