 A Hong Kong Businessman Sparks Backlash After Blaming Muslims for His Restaurant's Failure in Malaysia.

This post was originally published on July 7, 2017 in
Chinese on citizen media outlet inmediahk.net.
A popular Hong Kong-based dim sum Restaurant, Tin
Ho Wan, decided to shut down its business in Malaysia
on July 4 after entering the Malaysian market three
years ago. When explaining the decision to Hong Kong
media outlets, the founder of the Michelin-starred
restaurant, Mak Gui Pui, said the business failed
because of cultural differences — the majority of the
population in Malaysia is Muslim and don’t eat pork,
while pork is the main ingredient in dim sum dishes
like BBQ pork bun and shao mai (steamed pork
dumpling).
It was for this reason, he said, that the restaurant did
not have enough customers and suffered from heavy
losses. He also compared running a Chinese restaurant
in Malaysia to “operating a sauna business in a remote
desert.”
The news triggered some discussion among Malaysian
Chinese. Many have argued that it is irresponsible for
Mak Gui Pui to blame Muslim culture for his business
failure.
The Chinese Cross-Border Question and Answer project
interviewed a Malaysian Chinese citizen journalist, Wan
Qing, about the issue.
Q: The founder of Michelin-starred
restaurant Tin Ho Wan said that the main
reason for the business closing in Malaysia
is related to the fact that people in
Malaysia do not like pork. Is this true? What
is the main reason?
A: According to media reports and further
clarification from Mr. Mak, the main reason
behind the shutter is the heavy loss of
approximately 896,000 Malaysian
Ringgit (288,000 US dollars), from which
they could not recover in a short period of
time. The real issue is related to business
strategy — if Mr. Mak has conducted
market research, he should have known
there are a huge number of dim sum
restaurants in Malaysia. You can found BBQ
pork bun everywhere at food stands. The
selling point of “steam upon order” is not
appealing in Malaysia as the food culture is
so diverse and dishes are always freshly
cooked. The Michelin star attracted some
people to line up, but it won’t be people’s
primary choice in their everyday lives.
Moreover, the two Tin Ho Wan restaurants
were located in Columbo and Selangor’s
shopping malls. While the influx of
customers is huge and there had been very
long queues outside the restaurants in the
beginning, the expensive rent must have
raised operation costs. According to
reactions from Malaysian netizens on
Facebook, the price of Tin Ho Wan is too
high, the quality of food is so and so,
service is poor and the flavors of the
dishes were not localized. These are more
likely the main reasons for its failure.
Actually, in the shopping mall home to Tin
Ho Wan’s branch, there is another dim sum
restaurant competitor. It has a large
number of customers and they also sell dim
sum with pork. How come it has not been
suffered from a lack of customers because
of Muslim pork-less food culture?
Q: Is the Chinese population too small in
Malaysia for Chinese restaurant operators
to survive in the market?
A: According to the 2016 census, there are
about 6.65 million Chinese in Malaysia,
which is equal to 23.4 percent of the
national population. Mr. Mak’s claim that
only 10 percent of the total population is
Chinese is wrong. Of course, not all
Chinese eat pork, but at the same time, not
all non-Chinese are non-pork-eating
Muslims.
Those who have a basic understanding of
Malaysia would have known that Malaysia
has been greatly influenced by Hong Kong
movie and TV culture, they embrace the
food culture and would not reject it. At the
same time, Hong Kong's entertainment
industry has depended on the overseas
Chinese market, and the entertainment
sector has also invested in food businesses
in Malaysia. There is nothing new about the
sector.
The 6.65 million Chinese population is equal
to 90 percent of Hong Kong's population,
so it can support the Chinese restaurant
business. The core issue is that a
sustainable business should not be
dependent on reputation only.
Q: Why is the Malaysian Chinese
community so upset about this news?
A: The news has triggered a huge number
of criticisms from netizens because they
found Mr. Mak’s explanation to be off the
mark.
Tin Ho Wan use of cultural differences as
an explanation is an attempt to paint a
picture of a cultural minority versus the
Malaysian Muslim majority. At the same
time, there is a sense of cultural superiority
in the presentation.
The majority of overseas investment in
Malaysia just wants a share in the Chinese
market but has not done enough research
into the country’s diverse cultures. They
impose their own culture onto the
community, which has resulted in a sense
of cultural superiority and hence a failure in
business. It is regretful that the business
blames its failure on local customers’
preferences.
It is more genuine and convincing to say
that [Tin Ho Wan's] BBQ pork bun failed to
cater to customers’ tastes than to say that
Malaysians cannot eat BBQ pork bun
[because of Muslim culture].
The reaction is also due to the fact that
Malaysian Chinese really love pork. Have
you heard of Bak Kut Teh and Glass BBQ
pork? Though Malaysia has religious
conflicts, it has nothing to do with the
closure of Tin Ho Wan. I would say, please
do not project your stereotypes onto the
imaginary other and do more homework for
your business strategy.

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