Anita Lee and Celeste Yeung are co-founders of the social venture Time to Gold. Both used to serve in news organisations and are fond of traditional Chinese puddings. Noting that hawkers and street-side stores selling the food they love are fading out together with the traditional food craftsmanship, they determined to revitalise and promote traditional Chinese puddings.
First, they looked at how traditional Chinese puddings are produced and sold. They concluded that a more hygienic production and sale method coupled with product variety and attractive packaging will appeal to Hong Kong people, in particular the youngsters, helping this cultural heritage to develop sustainably.
In 2021, Time to Gold was granted funding from the SIE Fund to launch a project that recruited pudding chefs to teach grassroots women how to produce traditional Chinese puddings. The women were then given job opportunities in pudding development, production and sale. While revitalising traditional culture, emphasis was also put on empowering the women. In 2022, Time to Gold won the “Most Innovative Idea” award in the “Hong Kong Social Enterprise Challenge 2021-22”. With another grant from the SIE Fund, it recruited women of diverse race to team up with local Chinese women to develop fusion puddings, aiming to promote cultural inclusion.
As of March 2023, Time to Gold has about 20 points of sale, in addition to an online shop, a flagship store and three branch shops. It also offers recipe packs and organises workshops. As the business grows steadily, the co-founders remain humble, always giving credit to the lady chefs.
Profession
mediaScope of Services
vocational training
retailBeneficiaries
low-income familiesRead more
- Prototype projects “Time To Gold” and “Time To Gold - Intercultural Cakes R&D Scheme” funded by the SIE Fund