How Din Tai Fung M’sia is preparing for the Chinese New Year reunion dinners – Wired PR Lifestyle Story
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Entering From Tai Fung At Sunway Pyramid, I came across a small group dinner chat. The restaurant was not yet full to capacity, as my visit was in a matter of hours, and the Chinese New Year (CNY) was still a few days away.
As soon as I arrived, I was quickly taken to the back dining room and greeted by Amy Chia Din Tai Fung Chief Operating Officer of Malaysia.
After a short talk, our conversation began. I was there in Din Tai Fung Malaysia to prepare for CNY to learn what happened behind the scenes.
With reunion dinners a great opportunity for families and businesses to look forward to at the beginning of each year, I thought the CNY period would be the busiest time of the year for the restaurant.
But contrary to what I think, December is the busiest month for school holidays and end-of-year layoffs.
This does not mean that the CNY is a quiet moment, as a few days of celebration are enough to ensure that the restaurant is prepared for the guests 2-3 months in advance.
In addition, at CNY, Din Tai Fung generates higher sales and revenue as a result of higher-spending families and businesses.
For the 2022 CNY, preparation began in November 2021.
Dealing with year-end supply problems
Most of the restaurant’s CNY preparation revolves around its food. Din Tai Fung already serves Chinese cuisine all year round, their CNY menu doesn’t deviate much from it, like other Chinese restaurants.
(This year, for the reasons I explained later, Amy told me that they will leave it to a CNY menu, and instead focus on the offer. you sangAlso a Cantonese-style raw fish salad called “Prosperity Toss”.
So the preparation isn’t much different either, as the CNY coming after the end-of-year vacation can be a little harder to get a supply of.
Amy shared that the suppliers themselves will normally take long permits in December, which is why preparation should begin in November so that the restaurant can still block orders for later delivery.
One thing that has helped the team to function effectively in this area is the analysis of data from recent years. Based on the data, they will be able to project how many parts need to be made, and from there, the amount of raw material needed.
This is especially important because getting fresh seafood in exchange for CNY can sometimes be challenging as a result of the monsoon season.
Seasonal vegetables can also be an issue, so the data help the team predict supply and demand issues.
With this strategy, Amy said they have never experienced major disruptions, and working with multiple providers also alleviates those concerns.
Make specific dishes by hand one hour before serving
As we were talking, Sam, the CEO of Din Tai Fung Sunway Pyramid was busy putting some dishes on the next table to take pictures later.
What immediately caught my eye was the high mountain of crushed vegetables inside them you sangA dish that definitely stars at every CNY reunion dinner.
By Tai Fung you sang it’s now a version of smoked salmon, an arrangement they made last year to keep the dish cooler, when demand for shipments was at an all-time high.
The pandemic made it impossible for the group to meet in person, so instead of reunion dinners, corporations were delivering. you sang to employees who can heavy (raffle) together in a virtual celebration.
Din Tai Fung was so big that it created a variety of dish sizes to cater to corporate employees of all family sizes.
But this year, the restaurant has retained its only size. Amy predicted that the trend they will see by 2022 is that pedestrian diners will celebrate CNY in smaller groups of six or less.
This trend is due to the lack of a CNY menu for 2022, which is usually for the convenience of much larger groups.
As such, they are still ready to prepare important parts of Din Tai Fung’s distinctive dishes, such as prawns with salted egg, chicken soup, fried rice and, of course, their xiao long bao (soup dumplings).
Fun Facts: Din Tai Fung outlets have a very expensive rice frying machine that removes the grains after cooking, leaving the finished dish light and smooth. This is one of the many investments the restaurant makes to maintain food quality consistency.
The central kitchen, which serves as the basis for some dishes, helps lighten the burden of the restaurant throughout the CNY, but there are still several dishes that need to be finished by hand.
For example, the xiao long bao and the unfortunate cannot be fully prepared for the day before. Although the meat is prepared by the central kitchen, each dumpling can be weighed and collected one hour before serving.
If prepared in advance, the skins of the balls will become obsolete and yellow, leaving the diners with an unsuitable dish.
Sacrifice their family reunion dinners
As a large-scale business should, Din Tai Fung does not store all its eggs in one basket. Aside from the cooked food, Amy told me that packaged pineapple cakes are surprisingly also in high demand, so they have increased CNY production.
They also sell rice vinegar, chilli oil and frozen dumplings, but in the end, the dishes they have just made are still approaching the crowd.
In the months following the massive vaccinations in Malaysia, local tourism has boosted the business. The Sunway Pyramid Hotel is an important part of the family of dining guests.
After all, Din Tai Fung’s position makes it a strategic location along the seam between the hotel and the mall to catch the holiday buyer hungry.
After an hour of chatting, we soon finished the conversation to take some pictures of the wonderful food in front of us. (Fairy, Amy and Sam asked me for some tips on taking good photos on Din Tai Fung’s social media.)
Later, we threw it away you sangAmy mentioned something gratifying about the good food we were sharing.
Our previous interview focused on Din Tai Fung preparing to give CNY a dinner to remember her customers, but her staff also deserved to celebrate.
Unfortunately, the need to work more hours during the CNY period makes it difficult for them to celebrate with their families.
Thus, it is a Din Tai Fung tradition for each CNY to close its outlets for a two-hour reunion dinner the day before.
For me, this really prompted what kind of sacrifices service staff have to make to provide a good customer experience in this meaningful celebration.
So if I want to end this article with something, it’s a good thing to remember that we need to be more patient with restaurant staff during peak hours, especially at this CNY.
Happy celebrating, and Gong Xi Fa Cai Vulcan Post with us!
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