East and West could meet over N.Z. lamb

Press, 17 October 1987, Page 16

East and West could meet over N.Z. lamb

ROSALEEN McCarroll

meets a man who understands marketing.

What the New Zealand lamb needs most is someone like him, says the Chinese international best selling cookery writer and TV cooking star, Ken Hom. He reckons marketing such an excellent product in Asia would be simple compared with some of the briefs he takes on.

Such an opportunity for New Zealand may not occur again because, he reminds us, we are talking about millions of Asians, lots of them rich as rich, and they all have to eat. And it is plainly silly trying to sell our produce to countries where there is already an agricultural surplus when many of our closer Asian neighbours can’t grow enough food. What’s more, food is a whole lifestyle that goes way beyond simple fuel to keep body and soul together. Although the public know him through his three cookbooks, two of which reached the London “Times” best-selling list, and his BBC-TV series “Ken Hom’s Chinese Cookery,” that is not how he makes his money.

The cut he gets from books and telly is small potatoes, compared with the big bikkies he earns as a consultant to companies which want to sell food across cultural barriers. When asked how much money he actually makes, he simply replied: "Lots!”

Talking about potatoes, Chicago-born Ken Hom is employed by the American Potato Board to market potatoes in Asia — both to get rid of the surplus and to create a market where previously’ there was none. And he does the same thing for the Californian Raisin Board.

His expertise ranges from grassroots slicing and chopping through to international diplomacy, versed as he is in the cultures of both East and West He has bases in California, Hong Kong and Europe.

He speaks English, French, and Mandarin (although he can’t read it) and he reads two international dailies and 30 to .40 news magazines a

month to keep himself current. He travels widely to learn about countries and cuisines first-hand, which is essential if you are trying to break into their stomachs. When asked about the culinary nuances between Australia and New Zealand, he said ... "Australians eat octopus!” There are as many differences as similarities between Asian countries which influence marketing strategies. For instance, Hong Kong and Singapore are" more deeply westernised than Japan and most other Asian countries, which follow a much more feudal system. But in whichever Asian country we attempt to market our lamb (and also New Zealand salmon) we should concentrate pn the top-end, selling only the very best and forgetting about value for money. Red meat is losing ground to very powerful and effective health groups, Ken says, so we should act fast as it is very difficult to gain ground already lost His marketing plan, which is consistent with the Asianjifestyle and the philosophy of jhe health

groups, is to sell half as much of the very best cuts of meat, using a two-to-one ratio of meat to vegies.

Never compromise on quality. This way you can have your meat and eat it, as they do in Asia where heart disease is practically unknown. And talking about unknowns, lamb is virtually unknown in Asia according to Ken Hom. There are sheep in China, but there is no grazing so it is not possible to raise lambs

as we know.. Locally raised sheep meat is mutton, which is strong-smell-ing and tough and not suitable for Chinese-style stir frying. If you want to sell lamb to the Chinese you have to know how the Chinese eat, what cuts of meat you can use for stir frying, and then take a western style, nke New Zealand lamb and asparagus and translate it, he advises. Ken Hom was in New Zealand this week to promote his westernised version of the traditional Chinese wok and his books. It’s all part of his strategy to bring east to west, and west to east. New Zealanders are more likely to cook in an eastern style if the wok is presented to them looking and behaving very much like our standard frying pan. This super salesperson, who sees himself as an educator introducing • a lifestyle, will not take on a product unless he believes in it. He refused to -market a substitute salt product because he said it - was just a chemical. “A reputation is hard to get and easy to lose.” When asked if there would be any apparently legitimate brief that would be too difficult he responded: “I would never try and sell cheeses to the Chinese.” Why not? “Eighty per cent of Chinese have a lactose deficiency which means they cannot digest dairy products. They give them diarrhoea.” It’s inside info like this that makes this Chinese whiz-kid worth a packet to big international companies trying to peddle their edibles across cultural barriers.