Chitchat John Tan's Company Now Making Tens of Thousands Of Mooncakes Each Day To Sell To Sinkies And Samsters! Please Support!

[JohnTan]

If you ever thought to yourself that the mooncake you popped into your mouth must have been hand-crafted to perfection by an elderly woman wearing a hairnet while sitting on a stool having dedicated the past five decades mastering the artisanal art of putting fillings into dough and kneading them painstakingly by hand as she protects the fire of this dying trade from extinguishing in this era of instant gratification, look away now.

Lao Zi Hao, mooncake manufacturer in Aljunied

Because Lao Zi Hao is a mooncake producer located in Aljunied.

The six-year-old business is single-handedly responsible for churning out 650,000 mooncakes a year for restaurants and hotels across Singapore.

And the one you put in your mouth from that fancy shmancy box? It is, more likely than not, made by them.



Mass production
Not that there is anything wrong with making mooncakes the 21st century way by applying copious amounts of automation and precision engineering.

According to the video produced by Michelin Guide Singapore, the finesse involved in the mooncake-making process is as painstakingly detailed and artisanal as it can get.

For example, the salted egg yolks are still carefully removed one-by-one by hand, plenty of manpower is needed to prepare the raw ingredients and the chefs need to experiment with new flavour offerings and human judgement is required more than ever with mooncake tastes and annual trends changing faster than the weather.

Precise measurements
Moreover, mooncakes have a fixed weight and size. For example, each mooncake weighs 187.5g a piece for a box of four. And each mooncake consists of 25g of thin crust.

For a machine to create the same product with the same consistency while incorporating different ingredients? That’s an engineering feat.

Moreover, the dedication to the task at hand is a labour of love, as every year in late August, some 20,000 mooncakes are made daily in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival by workers who start the day at 4am.

Lesson learnt: It is easier to outsource to a manufacturer with economies of scale as it is more convenient for external mooncake makers to supply enough mooncakes to meet Singaporeans’ insatiable demand.

Top photo via Michelin Guide Singapore video

https://mothership.sg/2017/09/lao-z...onsible-for-making-650000-mooncakes-annually/

 

[jw5]

Thanks JohnTan, but I won't be taking them even if they were free! Thanks anyway!

 

[laksaboy]

The Chinese mark the four seasons with special food/pastries.

Of the four, mooncakes seem to have the highest profit margin. And lots of hotels peddling their own mooncakes.

Even fucking Starbucks is selling mooncakes now.

 

[po2wq]

John Tan's Company Now Making Tens of Thousands Of Mooncakes Each Day To Sell To Sinkies And Samsters! Please Support! ...

hoi! ... stop sabo-ing other people biz ...

 

[syed putra]

Halal?

 

[eatshitndie]

i like sinkie mooncakes. tremendous amount of variety, creativity, color, tastes, flavors, etc. can i have my sambal stingray mooncake please?

 

[Semaj2357]

i like sinkie mooncakes. tremendous amount of variety, creativity, color, tastes, flavors, etc. can i have my sambal stingray mooncake please?

pse stand in line, after my buah keluak ones with lotus paste filling

 

[winnipegjets]

Halal?

Definitely. But you will get food poisoning. John Tan is a pure capitalist; maximize profit with total disregard of anything. So, he will use the lowest grade ingredients and even artificial ones. Never mind if you die after eating it. That is the pure capitalism way like the Ah Tiongs are practising.

 

[zhihau]

Thanks JohnTan, but I won't be taking them even if they were free! Thanks anyway!

I’m partial to savoury treats too

 

[winnipegjets]

Halal?

Pork can be halal, why not moon cakes?

What is halal pork? Pigs that are fed grains and kept in hygienic conditions are halal.
In the olden days, pigs were haram because they were dirty and fed garbage. Now, pig farming has cleansed the animal. Thus, halal pork. Please encourage your buddies to eat halal pork.

 

[Scrooball (clone)]

What a useless article. What’s the point of this article anyway? It ends off by saying it’s best to leave it to manufacturing with economies of scale.

Wow that came out of nowhere!

 

[greedy and cunning]

What a useless article. What’s the point of this article anyway?
It ends off by saying it’s best to leave it to manufacturing with economies of scale.
Wow that came out of nowhere!

yes , pointless to the point of stupidity
both the writer of the article and the member posting it here
must be eat full too free