Young people set up a pastry social enterprise, hire women of golden age to make innovative Chinese traditional pastry image

When it comes to traditional Chinese pastries, people generally feel very old-fashioned and greasy.

It's a huge serving size every time, and can't be eaten all the time, but can they only have this inherent image?

Yang Mingzhu, founder of Pastry Time, observed this situation and set up a special page to share the cold knowledge behind these pastries, but unexpectedly attracted a group of people who were interested in traditional Chinese pastries, and found business opportunities from them, and developed into helping group purchases of various old stores. Chinese traditional pastries.

Last year, she even set up her own business and hired a group of golden-aged women to make traditional cakes, preserving traditional craftsmanship. She will also jointly develop different innovative flavors and repackage the cakes, hoping to revitalize the image of the cakes.

When it comes to traditional Chinese pastries, people generally feel very old-fashioned and greasy.

It's a huge serving size every time, and can't be eaten all the time, but can they only have this inherent image?

(Photo by Lu Yiming)

"My mother eats cha kueh all day long, and she feels so old-fashioned, white and oily."

Yang Mingzhu, founder of Pastry Time, said.

Daily observations made her wonder whether traditional pastries have only one image.

In recent years, the popularity of ancient and early-style food in Hong Kong is being transformed from some traditional foods. "Taiwan has sun cakes and pineapple cakes, and Japan has Japanese-style wagashi. These are all good and historical foods, but they are repackaged. After that, it became very popular. You can’t resist buying pineapple cakes when you travel to Taiwan.”

The founder of Pastry Time, Yang Mingzhu, started to think about whether traditional pastries can only be like this.

In recent years, the popularity of ancient and early-style food in Hong Kong is precisely transformed from some traditional foods.

Taking this as an opportunity, Yang Mingzhu and a like-minded friend co-founded an online page dedicated to sharing traditional Chinese pastries, which is also the predecessor of Pastry Time.

(Photo by Lu Yiming)

Taking the sharing of pastry knowledge as an opportunity to start a business

Taking this as an opportunity, Yang Mingzhu and a like-minded friend co-founded an online page dedicated to sharing traditional Chinese pastries, hoping that by providing cold knowledge of pastries, more young people will know the origins and stories behind each pastry. The special page has also become the predecessor of the pastry time.

After the page was established for a period of time, it successfully attracted many interested people by providing different pastry knowledge.

At the same time, Yang Mingzhu began to receive a lot of people going to the special page to inquire about the places where they can taste these traditional cakes. She pointed out that since these cakes are still sold in Hong Kong mainly by traditional old shops or hawkers, even if readers are provided with a place, they may not necessarily can be found in person.

Under the epidemic, Yang Mingzhu saw that many old stores were affected and closed down. He thought it was a pity, so he decided to start a group purchase. He personally visited the old stores to buy a lot of cakes, and then sent them to various MTR stations for settlement, so that readers can enjoy the cakes. It can also help make up the business of the old shop.

After everything was on track, Yang Mingzhu found that there was room for development of traditional cakes, so she tried to make them, "I usually eat a lot, and I have to do it myself. I really don't know. It seems to be a basic skill, without a recipe, but it is all about eating well."

Since many mothers-in-law who sell Chinese pastries operate without a license, Yang Mingzhu employs some senior or semi-retired women from the grassroots level. In addition to using their crafts to make pastries, it can also allow them to have an extra income and build a social circle of women. .

Yang Mingzhu (middle) pointed out that there was a group of heroes behind the scenes who decided to boldly open a physical store in Sai Ying Pun, hoping to give customers a better cultural experience. Hiring women's teams also allows them to have a more stable income.

(Photo by Lu Yiming)

Kneading Hong Kong Trends, Designing Innovative and Delicious Pastries

Since then, pastry time products have gradually taken shape. Currently, traditional pastries such as glutinous rice cakes, tea cakes, beef ear cakes and port cakes are sold. There are as many as 20 sales points and 10 grassroots women are employed.

Among them, glutinous rice cake and sesame candy cater to the public’s health care trend in recent years. The former replaces white sugar with calorie-free stevia, and the latter is made from healthy foods such as walnuts, red dates and wolfberries. It is healthy and delicious, a change from the traditional tradition The impression of "heavy burden" of sweets.

The women's team also develops new flavors in traditional pastries from time to time, such as the spicy dried cabbage tea cake. "I was surprised when I first tried it. It feels like a Hong Kong-style pizza flavor, but you may not find a match."

Push Home Pastry Lazy DIY Pack to enjoy traditional pastries at home

With the support of a group of behind-the-scenes heroes, Yang Mingzhu decided to go a step further and open a physical store in Sai Ying Pun, hoping to give customers a better cultural experience. The team also allows them to have a more stable income.

As for why it is located in Sai Ying Pun, Yang Mingzhu believes that the geographical location of the area is good. There are universities, middle schools and old shops nearby. It has also become a hot spot for young people in recent years, which is in line with its goal of promoting innovation and revitalizing the image of traditional Chinese pastries.

In the past, the pastry time held workshops and entered the campus to promote the pastry culture. Under the epidemic, many activities can only be carried out online.

Yang Mingzhu said that she was fortunate to have received the sponsorship and support of Cre8 by AIA, which allowed them to boldly develop and mass-produce home-made pastry lazy DIY bags for tea cakes and port cakes. Even if people stay at home, they can make traditional cakes and DIY cakes by themselves It will also be available in physical stores soon.

A mother-daughter social enterprise designs barrier-free functional clothing. The founder hopes that the disabled can dress with dignity. The social enterprise receives more than 200 old school uniforms every year. A barter creation platform to promote a waste-free barter culture

01 Community