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Our Heritage: The Birth Of A Finest Brand Of Edible Birds Nest
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The Beginnings
Dragon Brand’s founder, Mr Tan Kim Pheow, attempted to travel from Chaoan in the Teochew province of South China to renuite with his merchant father and family in the 1940s.
With a limited travel budget, he only managed to disembark at Sarawak and decided to make a living there. With the meager earnings he had, he sent them to his family in Singapore.
After some time, he decided to use the remaining money he had to make his way to the island state. Landing on this island state with only 50 cents in his pocket, he reunited with his family.
The war came, and life got even more difficult.
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1950s
After the war, Mr Tan started working in a small marine foodstuffs trading company at the boat quay area. Being a principled salesperson, he was affected by the quality of raw edible bird’s nest he was tasked to sell. He was perplexed by the cleanliness level.
One evening, he bought some edible bird’s nest home for his young wife. Being good in handicraft, Mrs Tan started cleansing the raw edible bird’s nest beside a lamp, well into the night. Mr Tan was impressed by the finely cleansed bird’s nest the next day. He realised that he had found a solution to the problem that he was so eager to solve.
Mr Tan then started a small trading company to resell finely selected and cleasned edible bird’s nest. He then decided to give a brand name to his bird’s nest in the year 1957. Remembering his roots, he decided to call his own brand of finely hand selected and cleasned edible bird’s nest, Dragon Brand Bird’s Nest.
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1960s
Dragon Brand’s business grew and had become a brand known for the highest quality edible bird’s nest products among fine dining Chinese restaurants and sophisticated customers. The products were also widely distrbuted to medical halls in Singapore.
A raw edible bird’s nest processing facility was then first setup in the Pandan loop area and subsequently at the Hougang area. A group of selectors and cleansers were then trained under the supervision of Mrs Tan. They represent the pioneer group of edible bird’s nest processors in the industry.
Soon the small processing facility were producing tons of finest edible bird’s nest by a large group of well trained artisans.
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1970s
Dragon Brand opened its first boutique at the Peninsula Hotel. The edible bird’s nest boutique is the first-of-its kind in the industry.
Mr Tan managed the boutique together with a few professionally trained salespersons and they began selling a premium brand of edible bird’s nest to walk-in customers. Words spread about the premium boutique concept and soon the boutique began to attract sophisticated customers, mainly socialites and businesspeople from prominent families in Singapore. Celebrities from the region also made it a point to visit the store after their promotional tours. Mr Tan was then given the nickname of Bird’s Nest King by the community and his brand of edible bird’s nest became well-known in the region.
The second Dragon Brand boutique was launched at the Fok Hai Building in the year 1977 following the success of the first. The boutique was renovated using the finest materials and furnishing so as to give Dragon Brand customers an unparalleled shopping experience.
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1980s
The eldest son of the founder, Mr Tan Soo Pong, had been taking the lead in corporate sales. He was joined by his three other brothers and they took over various functions of the business.
Mr Norman Tan, the second son of the founder, who studied electrical engineering in university, explored the idea of bottled bird's nest. He devised a plan and sought assistance and research through a team of advisors. In the year 1986, Dragon Brand successfully launched the first bottled edible bird's nest in the industry.
Bottled edible bird’s nest was a breakthrough for the industry, enabling the original good taste of bird’s nest to be retained without preservatives by using a new vacuum sealing technology. The bottled edible bird’s nest managed to garner support from customers in Japan and Taiwan.
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1990s
Dragon Brand’s revenue began to hit the multi-million dollar mark and the company continued to expand its operations.
Dragon Brand opened its standalone boutiques in various prime locations and continued to serve sophisticated customers its high quality products. The Company also started to offer a variety of traditional health products and delicacies to customers. The company began to distribute its bottled products to various countries around the globe including Canada, USA, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Australia and Malaysia.
Sophisticated machinery as well as innovative processing and bottling technologies were further explored to keep the Company at the forefront of innovation in food technology.
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21st Century
Entering the 21st century, the brand continued to seek growth and business opportunities in the region.
With mainland China's and Taiwan's growing consumer market, efforts were made to make inroads into the market. Trading offices, Dragon Brand China (龙标燕窝中国)and Dragon Brand Taiwan (龍標燕窩台灣), were created to serve these 2 markets
The third generation of the Tan family has joined the business, and elders are making significant efforts to communicate the founder's vision and values to the younger generation. The brand values of honesty, integrity, and compassion are constantly emphasized in business meetings. Combining the experience of the second generation with the drive of the third generation, Dragon Brand strives to continue to serve consumers innovative, high quality and tasty traditional Chinese health products.