By Xavier Kong
In the first of a three-part series, KiniBiz looks into the past, and explores the beginnings of Mamee-Double Decker, a widely-known brand name. We follow the company as it opens its doors in Ayer Keroh, Malacca.
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Mamee-Double Decker Bhd remains a household name that is known to many in Malaysia. Who can forget that memorable blue monster that was the mascot of a favoured childhood snack? However, this group that is the owner of a multitude of brand names familiar to Malaysians comes to us homegrown, and this is their story.
The group had begun at a yellow noodle factory in Ayer Keroh, Malacca, founded in 1971 by Pang Chin Hin, and began production in 1972. Pang Chin Hin came to know of and became interested in instant noodles, and sent his son Pang Tee Chew to Japan to learn the secrets of that particular trade.
The company then started producing its instant noodles, coming up with a brand called “Lucky” as the company’s debut brand of instant noodles. However, Pierre Pang Hee Ta, the company’s general manager for sales and marketing and also grandson of founder Pang Chin Hin, also professed that the company’s Lucky noodles did not really do all that well.
“For good reasons or bad, just because we name our brand ‘Lucky’ does not mean that we will be lucky,” said Pierre, quoting the founder Pang Chin Hin, noting that the initial brand Lucky failed due to the lack of experience the family had in the instant noodle field.
However, the family maintained a stiff upper lip and learned from their mistakes, and thus was the Mamee line of instant noodles born, with the company incorporated in 1991. It was noted by Pierre that before the instant noodle business, the family was actually selling automobiles, with Pierre’s grandfather and his brothers possessing technical skills in that area. However, with the advent of the convenience of instant noodles, the founder, decided to take the plunge towards this industry, honing his technical skills further by learning about the machines involved in the production of instant noodles.
With all due respect to that vision and entrepreneurial spirit, KiniBiz had one more question about the beginnings of the brand: How did the name “Mamee” come about?
“From the time a child is born, the first words we tend to hear are the child calling “Mommy, Mommy” for its mother, and that is why we picked Mamee as our brand name, because it is the first word most of us learn to say,” Pierre echoed the words of his grandfather, adding that the Mamee line of instant noodles did moderately well.
“However, we here at Mamee-Double Decker aim for innovation. Our competitors offer the same thing with little variation, according to our market research,” said Pierre.
“However, don’t get me wrong. Our competitors are very good at what they do, just that for us here at Mamee-Double Decker, we want to push that boundary,”
With that innovative spirit in mind came Mamee’s big move into the snack industry, which itself was a stroke of fortune for Pierre’s father Pang Teng Chew, who came upon the idea.
“It happened when he was out making deliveries of our Mamee noodles in a more rural area,” shared Pierre.
“He was making the deliveries when he saw these children eating the raw instant noodles directly out of the packet, and he realised that this might be a way forward for the company,” continued Pierre. “He thought if kids were already eating raw instant noodles out of a pack, why not make a noodle snack just for the kids?”
With the first product of Mamee’s snack line of products now in place, came a need to promote it to the masses, bearing in mind the target audience of young children. As the sessions went on, the idea was given form, and function was given a means of fulfilling itself, as the Mamee Monster was born.
The brand’s mascot
The mascot continues to be the face for the Mamee Monster noodle snack, even today, and the snack is currently distributed to more than 100 countries, commanding an 80% slice of the market, with the blue Mamee Monster holding strong to its place as the brand’s mascot through several packaging redesigns for the noodle snack.
“The biggest market for the Mamee Monster noodle snack outside of Malaysia is Australia,” Pierre shared, adding that there are more than 1500 staff in the company worldwide.
In addition to the company’s Mamee line of instant noodles and noodle snacks, Mamee-Double Decker Bhd is also responsible for the Double Decker line of snacks, most known for its prawn and chicken crackers, the Corntoz brand, which features snacks made of corn, the cultured milk drink brand Nutrigen, the Cheers carbonated and noncarbonated lines of drinks, the Lite Yo yogurt drink, the Rio Fiesta fruit juice brand, and the Mister Potato line of potato chips.
Of note is that Mamee-Double Decker Bhd had just concluded a three-year sponsorship deal with football club Manchester United, with Pierre noting that there will not be a renewal, as “the deal has already done its job, of bringing our Mister Potato brand in front of the world”.
The company had listed on the main market of Bursa Malaysia on the 18th of March in 1992, but had later delisted on the 9th of January 2012. When KiniBiz inquired about the reason for the delisting, the answer came back that “we needed to realign the company”.
In the next part of this Enterprise series, KiniBiz joins a media tour to visit Mamee-Double Decker Bhd’s primary facility in Malacca.
Next: A day at the noodle factory.
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