Finding success on a road less traveled
Pret A Manger branches in Hong Kong initiated something
which was a "first" its worldwide among branches - half-sized
sandwiches. The idea came from Pret A Manger Hong Kong
Managing Director, Winne Lau, who observed that Chinese
customers prefer to share food and take smaller portions.
Pret's 'half-sized' portion became a runaway hit attracting
not only westerners, Pret's loyal customer base, but
locals who have yet to adopt sandwich culture in a big
way. The idea was so popular that even the UK branches
have ultimately adopted for their customers.
Pret's "Petite" sandwiches are just one of the many
creative ideas Winne originated during her weekly food
meetings where senior staff and branch managers (Pret
calls them 'general managers') huddle together to discuss,
create and taste new recipes.
During those sessions Winne would be lost in her world,
combining the attention-to-detail of a scientist and
the keen eye of an artist. She devotes herself completely
to the job, one she has long dreamed of.
"I am one of the lucky few who love what they do. I
have always been passionate about this job and so it
doesn't feel like a job to me at all. My vocation is
my vacation," said Winne, whose idea of fun, apart from
watching musicals and visiting art galleries, is cooking
for friends during weekends.
Dare to be different
Winne Lau was born to a family with Shanghainese roots
who exposed her early to the variety and tastes of Asian
cuisine. But at first, her parents made it clear to
her that cooking or 'kitchen work' was not the career
they would have wanted her to choose.
"Some Chinese people think cooking is a 'lowly' job
and not quite a profession. To them, having a profession
is being a lawyer, doctor, engineer, and so on. I wanted
something different, something unpopular, but something
I really love," she said.
Winne persisted and after graduating with a degree
in Hospitality Management, she went abroad to take formal
training in traditional French cooking. Early years
in the business saw her taking part in the design of
hundreds of menu for restaurants, hotels and catering
companies across Canada and the United States.
Her expertise, experience and passion for work have
been her key to entering Hong Kong's prestigious culinary
circles, when she was appointed Executive Sous Chef
of The Grand Stanford Inter-Continental Hong Kong. Winne
was Hong Kong's first female executive chef - an achievement
not repeated since.
Winne admits to the drive to prove her worth in a male-dominated
world. "I did see some jaws drop when it was announced
that I would take over as second in line at The Grand
Standford Inter-Continental kitchen. But at the end
of the day, people will look at what you can do and
what you can do for your staff and your customers and
if you deliver, you earn the respect of your staff,
your peers, and your company. It doesn't really matter
whether you're a man or a woman!"
Winne joined Pret A Manger as Executive Chef/Director
of Food and Supply Chain in September 2002 and went
on to become its Managing Director in 2004. Pret A Manger,
a UK-based sandwich retail chain, which prides itself
on creating handmade sandwiches using the freshest ingredients,
had a vision that matched well with Winne's philosophy,
which is "Passion for Food".
Since taking the helm of the company's Hong Kong operation
in 2002, she has helped customize 20% of Pret's menu
to cater to the taste and preferences of Hong Kong customers.
Having carved a name for herself in Hong Kong's highly
competitive food and beverage industry, Winne has this
to say to those who wish to follow her vocation: "Don't
be afraid of making mistakes. I have never known of
any successful person who hasn't made a bad decision.
Herman Melville, the author of "Moby Dick" said, 'he
who has never failed somewhere, that man cannot be great'.
The most important thing is learning in the process.
It's similar to driving where you always look ahead,
you don't look at the rear view mirror all the time.
But occasionally, you have to look at the mirror and
reflect on where you have been to determine where you
wish to go," she added.
Tools of the trade
Asked what sort of changes executives must embrace to
succeed in a highly competitive business environment,
Winne said, "Technology! IT has become so much a part
of our lives, enhancing the way we live and work. We
need to embrace to keep in step with the times."
"Having been in this business for quite some time now,
I am very much aware of how IT has truly revolutionized
the food industry. If you visit restaurants in Hong
Kong, you'd see that most of them are now using Point-of-Sale
systems, which helps facilitate efficient workflow between
the kitchen staff and the servers. It works the same
way for global food retailers like Pret that needs to
share business information between branches and offices.
IT helps hasten the decision making process, helps us
serve our customers faster, better," she added.
Winne said user friendliness of line of business IT
tools makes them acceptable to people who are not traditionally
'technical'. "Take the kitchen staff and servers for
instance. A lot of them are used to error-prone paper-based
order taking and are initially opposed to the idea of
using POS. But you train them, get them up to speed
with the system, and they eventually like them. After
all, our goal it to get things done and do them well.
IT enables us to do just that," she added.
Winne, however believes, that technology should not
be too fancy that it overwhelms people. "We always have
to go back to the basic purpose of IT at work, which
is to make people more efficient in their jobs. People
are still the driving force in any business, not technology.
So our job is to use technology to our advantage. At
Pret, our business is about making sandwich by hand
using the freshest ingredient; it's about people serving
your coffee - no machine or computers can replace that."
She also likes the fact that IT is no longer the domain
of technically-inclined male executives. "I must admit
that I do depend on my friends and staff to help me
install things, and work out some software issues, but
generally, executives these days don't really need much
help in using business tools on a day to day business.
Men and women are on equal footing nowadays when it
comes to using IT tools at work," she concluded.
(Last updated: 20th February, 2006)
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