Photo: LIM BENG TATT/The Star
GEORGE TOWN: For this second-generation family shop, grilling 200kg of bak kwa (dried meat) daily is just “business as usual” come every Chinese New Year.
“We grill about 200kg of meat from 7am to 4pm every day for our walk-in customers and those who order from our online store,” said shop manager Shu Huey Chong.
This is done over open flames at the back of the Tuck Kee Dried Meat shop here to meet the demand for this festive period.
“As the meat is prepared fresh and with limited shelf life once it is cooked, we only start making the products as the festival nears,” she said.
Although their dried meat products are available all year round, she said the demand has surged since early this month due to the coming Lunar New Year.
Dried meat products are said to symbolise abundance, prosperity and the preservation of good fortune.
“We are selling not only to the locals but also tourists from Indonesia, Singapore and China,” said Shu, 32.
She said the family-run business, which started in 1979, sells 10 types of dried meat products made using pork, chicken or beef.
The meat, priced at RM100 per kg for most of the varieties, are all made at the shop.
“We buy directly from local butchers and process the meat ourselves to ensure quality. This has allowed us to maintain prices for the past three years.”
The shop also offers sausages, cured meat, dried meat floss and an array of other meat products.
However, sales of dried meat products this year seem slower than previous years, as financial constraints and rising costs have made them premium gifts.
Sundry shop owner Koay Tong Huat, 68, who operates his shop behind the Chowrasta Market, said prices of both imported and locally produced dried meat products have increased in recent years.
“In the past, dried meat products such as bak kwa and lap cheong (sausages) used to be festive staples which customers buy in large quantities.”
“Lap cheong used to cost between RM30 per kg for locally produced ones and RM50 per kg for the imported stuff. This has now increased to between RM50 and RM80.”
“Due to the high price, many customers now just buy it for their own consumption,” he said.
“Premium versions, which are those imported from Hong Kong, are usually bought as gifts for friends and relatives.”
Checks found that many shops have started displaying assorted dried meat products including bak kwa, lap cheong, salted duck, cured pork belly, dried fish and seafood.
