Past Events
Yuen Hing Long Noodle Limited 源興隆麵家
Paul
擁有超過47年歷史的西環老字號麵店，一直堅持做善事不遺餘力。因為「傳承」 二字，店主Paul毅然放棄高薪厚職，決定接手麵店。
With a history of over 47 years, the old-fashioned noodle shop spares no effort in doing charity work. Paul, the restaurant owner, gave up his high-paying job to preserve this authentic, hidden gem in the neighbourhood.
Q1. 為甚麼會參加食物券計畫? Why do you join the Food Coupon Scheme?
今年是我們店的47週年，在西環算是老店，另一個同區比較舊的小店是祥香茶餐廳，我地在這區算得上是「老字號」了。餐廳由我岳父創辦，而他一直以來都做很多善事。他同時也創辦了盂蘭勝會，一直都做好多善事，例如每年的7 月份都會派米。因為傳承的原因，餐廳由我接手之後，我地自己都會派券，通過社工探訪老人家的時候派出去，只認券不認人，隨時都可以來免費進餐，所以我們今次也參加「食物券計劃」，同時也有向教會捐款，希望可以讓更多人受惠。我地做很多不同類型的慈善工作，例如早上會關門幾個小時，讓有需要的人在這裏免費吃飯。但現在由於疫情限制，相關活動也就減少了，但是如果看見老人家路過，我們也會派券，有人用食物券來這裏吃飯之後，我們也會再向他們派發一張新的。
This restaurant has been opened for 47 years now, and it is quite an old shop in Sai Wan. Cheung Heung Tea Restaurant and us are basically the two shinies in this region. My father-in-law made this restaurant and it has been committed to charitable work. He also founded the 盂蘭勝會, which has also done a lot of charitable work like handing out free rice in July. I would like to pass it down, so after I took over this restaurant, we hand out food coupons that are delivered to elderly by social workers during visits. And we welcome whoever with the food coupons to enjoy free meals here and this is why we join this scheme as well. We also donate to churches so more are benefitted. Sometimes in the morning, we are closed for a few hours and we let the needy eat free meals. But now we seldom do these due to pandemic restrictions but we still hand out food coupons to elderly who pass by or people who come here for free meals.
Q2. 接手之後餐廳有甚麼變化？What are the changes you have experienced after taking over the shop?
我是2017年接手餐廳的，當時我的太太說沒有人想接手餐廳，覺得這樣對於岳父和社會都很可惜，所以我就從原來的職業過來接手餐廳，因為我想傳承、想繼續做善事。我以前也有經營公司的經驗，擴大原本小公司的規模，但是有些事情都不會，不過就「做到老，學到老」吧。接手餐廳之後我也沒有作太大的更改，只是加了一些我覺得適合的事物，所以你來到這裏可能會覺得這裏好像博物館一樣。
我雖然只是中學畢業，很早就出社會工作，很幸運地慢慢升職，和現在這一代不一樣，他們很多都含著「金鑰匙」出生。我在2017年5月加入這裏，一邊做一邊學，我也引進了很多新的東西，包括以前在大公司上班的經驗，例如我加入後的第二年，在2018年，我就跟全體員工一齊去旅行，那幾天都算是都係公司的假期；到了第二年，連員工的家屬也一起加入我們的員工旅行。作為管理層，我負責帶領員工，希望能像一條橋一樣，令餐廳運作得暢順。在改善舖面方面的同時，我也會保留屬於舊時代的元素，不會突然加好多令人摸不著頭腦的東西令客人覺得奇怪。我以前是做眼鏡生意的，對於品牌建立也有一些心得，有一樣我一直很想但還沒有時間擺的東西就是「的士咪錶」（計程車收費錶），所以就擺在這裏了，這個是我的個人興趣。
I took over in 2017 because my wife told me shutting the restaurant down was a pity to both my father-in-law and to the community. Therefore I quit the job I had back then and took over the restaurant because I wanted to pass it down and kept doing the charitable work. I had experience in business-running before and I knew how to expand a business, but here, I was still unfamiliar with many things but I would learn till old age. I did not change much since I took it over, other than adding things I thought were suitable and you see it looks like a museum.
Even though I only had an education level of secondary school, I worked at an early age and I slowly climbed up the social ladder. The young generation now, however, are so much different and many of them were born in wealthy families. I joined in May 2017 and learned as I ran the restaurant, but I have also introduced a lot of things that were only found in big corporations where I worked before. For example, we held the staff travel the next year after I joined during the holiday that we granted to the staff. In the following year family members of the staff joined as well. As part of the management, I hope to be like a bridge that makes things run smoothly.
… (In terms of changing the interior design) I preserve things that belong to that time and avoid adding things that do not fit in. I used to work in an eyeglasses store and I know how to deal with branding. There is one thing that I have wanted to put here and never get the time for, which is the meter used in taxis. This is my hobby.
Q3. 2017年接手的時候有沒有遇到過一些從來沒有處理過、不知道怎麼解決的情況？Have you encountered any situations that you struggled to handle after you took over?
起初我們的生意不好，所以上一手其實說要結束營業，但我不認同這個看法。到這裏之後，我發現以前在公司做管理層的做法到現在並不適用。有時供應商都會欺負我這個新手，敷衍我、看不起我，提供的價錢與之前相差很遠，明明是一模一樣的貨物，價錢竟然可以差一千元，有次有一家供應商在我很忙的時候過來收貨款，說現在不付款就不供貨，我當時與他討論了一會就立刻說不要這批貨，選擇另一個供應商，之後我都換了大部份貨物的供應商。
When I took over, the business was dim, which is why the staff back then wanted it shut down. But I thought otherwise.
There were major differences between where I used to work in and working here. For example, the way of treating and training the staff. Sometimes suppliers would not treat me seriously, looked down on me or even lied to me about the prices since I was new. The exact same kind and amount of ingredients would differ in price for a thousand dollars. There was once when someone from the supplier visited and told us to pay for the ingredients when it was really busy or else we would not receive our ingredients. We negotiated for a while and after it failed, I said I didn’t need his products and I found another supplier. I have changed the majority of suppliers since then.
Q4. 對於餐廳未來有甚麼規劃? What are your plans for the restaurant?
我以前的公司有試過接受時尚雜誌訪問，所以有的時候我會和太太打趣道：「不知道會不會有時尚雜誌來訪問我們呢？」我太太當時就取笑我：「我地是一家麵店，怎麼會有時尚雜誌來這裏訪問呢？」但是最後我們真的試過接受時尚雜誌訪問，因為當時有一個設計師來這裏吃麵，當時他留意到我身上戴著的鏈，他很喜歡，於是他就用這條鏈和我地的菜色——芥蘭做了一件T恤，在連卡佛就可以買到。
其實，我很希望讓更多人能夠嚐到我們的食物，但是如果只有我的話，這是一件沒可能的事情，第一是金錢的問題，第二是需要一個團隊，所以其實我希望是有人能夠收購我們，我願意把這家店的formula告訴他們，然後把它擴大，但是因為這家店是我岳父留下的，所以我想保留店名。短期內，我只是想這裏可以繼續營運下去，我很難要求所有人都喜歡這裏，但是最低限度，我希望顧客進來可以開開心心食一碗麵。大家可以去看一下大J（a Youtuber) 在2021年11月初跟我做的訪問，當時我以日文受訪，因為他的太太是日本人。
One of the companies I worked in was once interviewed by a fashion magazine and I used to talk to my wife about when we would get interviewed by a fashion magazine. My wife teased me saying how would a restaurant that sold noodles ever get the chance to be interviewed by a fashion magazine. But it did come true. There was a designer who ate here and he liked the chain I wore that day. He subsequently made a T-shirt design using that chain and kale. It is sold in Lane Crawford.
I actually want to expand this place but it is impossible if it is only done by me. First it is about the money and secondly, if I need to do this, it would take at least one team of people and it is unachievable if it only has me. So I actually want somebody to buy our restaurant and I will be willing to share with them the formulae so that it could be expanded. But I would rather keep the restaurant name unchanged as I got it from my father-in-law.
For the time being, I just want to keep this restaurant running. It is difficult for everybody to like it but at least, customers would enjoy their meals here. You could go watch the video of 大J (a Youtuber). He conducted an interview with me in early November where I talked in Japanese during the whole interview as his wife is Japanese.