Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

CELEBRATING CHINESE NEW YEAR 2008

Chinese New Year is now firmly established as part of the British celebratory calendar. The Year of the Rat begins on 7 February 2008 and Mr Wing Yip, the man behind the UK’s leading Chinese grocery empire, is available for interview or comment – please see fact file below.

Wing Yip plc currently supplies most of the UK’s Chinese restaurant market, as well as catering for the domestic shopper and has four superstores, plus an online shopping service offering a wide range of truly authentic products.

We have recipe ideas and tips for hosting an Oriental banquet to celebrate the occasion, as well as further information on the Chinese zodiac, Chinese New Year traditions and details of trends/demands for particular products from both the foodservice and consumer markets during this important event.

If you are interested in progressing any of these opportunities, please call Rebecca Mee or Julie Price at Seal Communications on 0121 200 0780 or e-mail rebeccamee@sealcommunications.co.uk

WING YIP
FACT FILE

• Mr Wing Yip arrived from Hong Kong on a boat in 1959 and has since become one of the UK’s most successful Chinese businessmen.

• Eighteen months later Wing and business partners opened a restaurant in a former tea shop in Clacton-on-Sea. This was quickly followed by the opening of three other restaurants and two takeaways in East Anglia.

• In 1970 Wing Yip and his brother Sammy opened their first specialist Chinese grocer in the heartland of Birmingham. It supplied more than 1,000 different Chinese products initially to local Chinese families, restaurants and takeaways.

• Wing Yip has quickly become the UK’s leading Oriental grocer and now has four key sites - Birmingham, Manchester, Cricklewood and Croydon, employing more than 300 staff.

• The Birmingham store incorporates a wide range of amenities including a Chinese restaurant, Chinese dentist, doctor, travel agent, accountant, solicitor, bank and printer.

• Wing Yip has an online shopping service which means customers can access more than 850 Wing Yip products and more than 150 Oriental recipes. The address for the service is www.wingyipstore.co.uk

• Wing Yip imports produce directly from the Far East, with each store stocking more than 2,500 items ranging from cooking utensils, including woks and chinaware, to a vast selection of Oriental sauces, meats, fish, vegetables, rice, herbs and spices, as well as more diverse products such as chicken feet.

• In the centre of Birmingham is a Chinese pagoda which was a gift from Wing Yip and his brothers as a thank you to the people of Birmingham, the city which enabled their business to become so successful and provided a home for them and their families. The pagoda is hand carved from solid granite and stands 40 ft high. Created in China, it was shipped over to the UK in sections and assembled on site.