Koi Kei Bakery (; pt, Pastelaria Koi Kei) is a chain of food souvenir shops based in

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...

. The bakery is most famous for its

peanut brittle Brittle is a type of confection consisting of flat broken pieces of hard sugar candy embedded with nuts such as pecans, almonds, or peanuts, and which are usually less than 1 cm thick. Types It has many variations around the world, such as ''p ...

and

almond biscuit An almond biscuit, or almond cookie, is a type of biscuit that is made with almonds. They are a common biscuit in many different cuisines and take many forms. Types of almond biscuits include almond macaroons, Spanish ''almendrados'', qurabiya (a ...

s, but also sells

beef jerky Jerky is lean trimmed meat cut into strips and dried (dehydrated) to prevent spoilage. Normally, this drying includes the addition of salt to prevent bacteria growth before the meat has finished the dehydrating process. The word "jerky" derive ...

, ginger candy, egg rolls, and other pastries and snack products. It has a 74.4% share of the pastry souvenir market in Macau. Koi Kei currently operates 21 stores in Macau, and operates branches in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

History

Koi Kei was founded by Leoung Chan-Kuong, an immigrant from Foshan, China, who initially started selling peanut brittle and ginger candy on a pushcart in Macau. Leoung's new business did not receive much support from his family, so he had to resort to selling his apartment and borrowing from friends to collect the required to start the business. In 1997, he purchased and opened Koi Kei's first store. Leoung frequently crossed paths with triad gangsters, who sought to eliminate industry competition by setting fire to his shop. The company began distributing internationally in 2004.

Advertising

In 2007, Hong Kong food critic

Chua Lam Chua Lam (also known as Mandarin: Tsai Lan, Cantonese: Choi Lan, Teochew: Chùa Lāng) (simplified Chinese: , traditional Chinese: , born 1941 in Singapore) is a Singaporean columnist, food critic, and occasional television host based in Hong ...

filmed an advertisement for Koi Kei in Macau. He was filmed holding an almond biscuit, taking a bite, and saying: "Koi Kei almond biscuit, when eaten it has a biscuit flavour. () The ad triggered a viral response online, causing the phrase "when eaten it has a biscuit flavour" () to become synonymous with the Koi Kei brand.

Sponsorships

Since 2010, Koi Kei has sponsored many

TVB Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong SAR. The Company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Cantonese language service, and ...

productions such as ''

Gun Metal Grey ''Gun Metal Grey'' is a 2010 Hong Kong police procedural television drama produced by Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB). It originally aired on Jade from 1 November to 10 December 2010, consisting of 30 episodes. ''Gun Metal Grey'' is a dram ...

'' and '' Lord of Shanghai''. The 2013 TVB drama ''Brother's Keeper'' is based on the story of Koi Kei bakery.

Edwin Siu Edwin Siu (; born 23 March 1977) is a Hong Kong actor and singer. Siu started his career as an idol singer and was formerly managed by Music Nation Group. In 2002, Siu left the Hong Kong entertainment industry to start his career in mainland Chi ...

was cast as a character based on Leong Chan-Kuong, the company's founder, and

Kristal Tin Kristal Tin Yui Nei (, born (); 28 September 1977) is a Hong Kong singer and a former TVB actress. Career Tin's career began with a first place in a singing contest in 1993. After the competition, she was offered a contract at Asia Televisi ...

was cast as Koi Kei's general manager. Edwin Siu has since become a

brand ambassador A brand ambassador (sometimes also called a corporate ambassador) is a person engaged by an organization or company to represent its brand in a positive light, helping to increase brand awareness and sales. The brand ambassador is meant to emb ...

for Koi Kei.

Mainland China trademark issues

In recent years there have been many cases where the Koi Kei trademark was being fraudulently used in Mainland China and other places. Koi Kei has since brought the issue to the Chinese courts. Although the company has been to China for many exhibitions, the company has not expanded into Mainland China. These issues were depicted in the 28th episode of the TVB drama ''Brother's Keeper''. Around 2008, Koi Kei applied for an international trademark, which failed only in Mainland China because there was another food company in Macau that applied for the "Koi Kei" trademark ahead of Koi Kei Bakery. As the Koi Kei trademark had already been registered in all other countries, the Mainland China trademark holder found it difficult to compete with Koi Kei Bakery. Koi Kei ultimately spent over 1,000,000 to acquire its trademark rights in Mainland China.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.koikei.com/ Companies of Macau 1997_establishments_in_Macau