Maria Chong on why fun is key to Lee Kum Kee’s evolution

Maria Chong is all about the fun. The MD of Lee Kum Kee (Europe) uses the ‘f’ word on eight separate occasions while outlining her mission to revolutionise how her brand communicates with consumers. She’s keen to reposition it away from being “a very traditional brand”, pointing out: “Even though we have a long history, it doesn’t mean we’re old-fashioned.” Given that the Chinese sauce and condiment giant is a heritage brand in Asia, with a history dating back more than 130 years, striking the right balance between tradition and modernity is a challenge.

Just last week, the brand teamed up with Japanese toymaker Bandai to launch a collection of gashapon – mini toys dispensed from vending machines – in Hong Kong and Macau. Each toy is a tiny replica of Lee Kum Kee’s most popular sauces. Chong admits similar ­innovations are under consideration for the UK and Europe.

“It might not be gashapon in particular, but anything fun, we want to do it,” she says. “My ambition is not just to sell food products but also these kinds of gift items. There’s already been a proposal for kitchen utensils and machines, maybe an air fryer.”

While a Lee Kum Kee-branded air fryer looks set to remain pie in the sky for a while yet, the company’s target of attracting new, younger consumers did lead to the launch of its first chilli sauce range earlier this year. Wow Chilli Sauce comes in three flavours – Makrut Lime Leaf, Yuzu, and Sesame – and launched into Sainsbury’s, Ocado, Amazon and independent Asian retailers. In a further push against the brand’s traditions, the launch included recipes for a range of four cocktails and mocktails incorporating the sauces.

“Consumers here love chilli sauce. People know about sriracha and Thai sweet chilli, but they are already quite commoditised, there are too many brands. We wanted something different,” Chong says. “The cocktail idea was because we think these flavours will appeal to the younger generation, and we know that British people love drinks. It was all about giving consumers something to inspire them.”

Rebranding imminent

The new sauces’ packaging also features a fresh label design – very different from the brand’s traditional look. Chong says it was designed to be “more appealing” to a younger consumer, “especially western and European eyes” – and reveals exclusively to The Grocer that the branding for Lee Kum Kee’s classic products looks set to follow suit next year.

“There’s a definite need to upgrade the current design. Our HQ is working on it,” she says. “I’ve advised them to look at things from a more global perspective and, in particular, to target mainstream consumers.”

Indeed, Chong has observed the brand is now winning favour among a wider variety of UK shoppers – what she calls “British-British”, not just the Asian community and scratch cooks that loiter in the world food aisle. Getting active on certain social platforms has helped – the brand started its TikTok account last year and is making its content “better and more targeted” – but it’s all part of a wider objective to show shoppers that its traditional sauces can be utilised in a variety of foods, not just Chinese and Asian fare.

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Last year, for example, the brand sent out a sampling activation in the form of a food van offering doughnuts filled with chilli jam made using Lee Kum Kee’s Chiu Chow Chilli Oil. The brand has also worked with foodie rapper Big Zuu, who wrote and recorded a rap for Lee Kum Kee’s YouTube channel about its Char Siu Sauce that included the lyrics: “Man bus’ it up on any occasion/You can have it on food that ain’t Asian.”

“We’re trying to modernise,” says Chong. “There’s a lot of crossover between western and eastern cuisines. We all use beef, pork, fresh vegetables, so why can’t we merge? Why can’t Chinese flavours be added into western cooking? We don’t want someone to buy one of our sauces and keep it in the fridge for three months.”

The mission has certainly changed over the years. Chong has been with Lee Kum Kee since the days when it had no listings in UK supermarkets and the priority was “demystifying ingredients and pushing back against the myth that Chinese cooking isn’t healthy”.

This is becoming less important, she says, as people become “more exposed to different food cultures” thanks to social media and overseas travel. The Asian cuisine trend has helped Lee Kum Kee thrive in supermarkets, with listings now secured in Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Co-op, Waitrose and Ocado.

Last year, Lee Kum Kee (Europe) turned over £55.4m, up from £49.1m in 2023, with profit before tax of £333k. Chong says “all companies are looking at how to manage costs” but insists “growing the market” is its top priority. “We see so many opportunities in the UK and across Europe. So our priority is definitely growing the brand, growing the top line through these categories,” she says. “We’re looking for the gaps in the market.”

It’s for this reason, she reveals exclusively to The Grocer, that Lee Kum Kee is moving into convenience food for the first time in the UK, with product launches expected in the last quarter of this year. Chong says it’s “too early” to say too much, but admits the brand is “looking into” frozen products and confirms the first product to be launched is likely to be plain noodles.

“Quality noodles are definitely missing in the supermarkets. It will be plain noodles because we have sauces, so it’s complementary. We can’t give people a noodle recipe, tell them to buy our sauce for it, but then have them go buy Blue Dragon noodles because they’re not right. People should have better noodles.”

Having swapped her native Hong Kong for London, she now dedicates a lot of her time to combining the two food cultures she loves.

“Chinese food has evolved a lot in the past 3,000 years,” says Chong, and sometimes that’s been by happy accident: the founder of Lee Kum Kee, for instance,  invented oyster sauce completely by chance in 1888 when he forgot about a pot of oyster soup until it had reduced down to a thick gravy. Chong adds: “There’s also a lot of beauty, history and culture in British food. It’s always evolving,” she says. “In the western world, we can see things merging too. Nowadays, there is no border – there is no limit.”