Mongolian Economy 
“Mongolian Economy” spoke with Tan Wang Cheow, Executive Chairman of Food Empire Holdings Ltd, a famous Singaporean-Listed company when he visited Mongolia last month.
– First of all, please tell us about Food Empire company, its history, vision, and brand concept.
-The company started off back in the 1980s as “Future Enterprises Pte Ltd”, trading and distributing personal computers and IT peripherals to eastern Europe. It slowly made its transition to fast moving consumer goods focus in the 1990s and today operates as Food Empire, a global branding and manufacturing company in the food & beverage sector with 8 manufacturing facilities worldwide. Its products are exported to over 50 countries around the world, in markets such as Vietnam, Russia, Ukraine, China, Mongolia, the Middle East, Kazakhstan, and Central Asia.
Our vision when we started is “We aim to be a leading global food and beverage company providing quality products and services. We will achieve this goal as we have the people, the passion, and the enterprising spirit to make a difference. “
As a leading food & beverage company with more than 17 brands, Food Empire has provided quality products and services to its customers and stakeholders. Our products include a wide variety of beverages, such as regular and flavoured coffee mixes and cappuccinos, chocolate drinks and flavoured fruit teas. It also markets instant cereal mixes and produces and markets potato crisps.
A passionate believer in the power of brands, I am actively involved in the marketing and branding activities across the Group.
– Food Empire has been recognized as one of the most valuable brands in Singapore and one of the best companies in Asia. In your opinion what has contributed to the success of the company?
-We build the trust in our consumers through our brand and deliver quality products. We won’t be able to achieve what we are today if not for the ever-hardworking staff that we have around the world, from our people in the factories at the upstream business all the way to the delivery team delivering to the supermarket at the downstream, ensuring only quality products reaches our valuable consumers. This is in line with our vision as mentioned above.
– Please recount to us how and when your company started your cooperation with the Mongolian market and its customers?
-We have been very fortunate to work with Nomin from the beginning. First, it all started with the relationship that we have with the company and the leader behind the firm, Mr. Bayarsaikan.
We have a good personal relationship from the very beginning. It is the kind of chemistry between people that goes beyond business relationships.
– Many Mongolians know and use many of the brands produced by Food Empire. According to your data, what brands or products have been most popular or sold in Mongolia? What do these stats suggest about Mongolian customers?
-MacCoffee, MacCereal, MacTea, MacChocolate are the most well-known products in the Mongolian market. Our consumers are very loyal to our brands which is what they trust. We have been in the market via Nomin since 2000 and our market share is still growing rapidly.
– What do you think what qualities make good business cooperation prosper in today`s business world?
– It is fundamental to have good business relationships with our supply chain partners and distributors, as they help us in ensuring the products, reach our consumers. It is also essential for us to keep abreast with the everchanging market trends and understand the requirements of our consumers. On top of that, we are fighting very hard to keep our prices reasonable and maintain our quality standards according to customer expectations.
– What do you think about the business environment of Mongolia? What were the challenges you have encountered so far in Mongolia in terms of doing business?
-The past 3 years have been very tough since we started our operations in Mongolia, with the Covid-19 pandemic and inflation proving to be our biggest challenges so far.
As mentioned above, we are fighting to keep our prices reasonable and maintain our quality standards according to customer expectations as we are committed to riding over this difficult phase with our consumers and we believe the Mongolian economy will improve soon.
– How do you see your business cooperation with Nomin in the coming years?
-Nomin has a wide business platform Food Empire can tap upon and provides a very good foundation for us to get into the market fast with new products. It also helps that the company is financially strong and allows us to just focus on expanding the business. We hope to develop more products according to the taste of the Mongolian people and go in-depth in business consumption. We also hope to venture further in our business collaborations that go beyond the current distribution model.
