About Us
Our story began with our diligent forefather and founder, Lee Chong Kee. Arriving from Canton in the 1950s to Singapore, Mr Lee started working as a cook. After working hard for his dream, he finally managed to save enough to begin his own business. With authentic recipes from his hometown in Canton, he started a stall in Chinatown. His trade? Selling delicious and traditional Chinese cookies.
In the late 1950s, word spread quickly and Mr. Lee’s products became popular. He invested in a factory in Geylang and began manufacturing and packing his treats under the name as we know it today – Chui Hiang. Packed into tins and glass bottles, the wide array of biscuits made their way to many provision shops and coffeeshops (to be enjoyed with a cup of coffee), and most importantly, into the hearts of many local Singaporeans.
In the 1960s, Chui Hiang started our foray into the snack market and became the first in Singapore to develop and sell prawn cracker sticks. The appetising snack was developed to be sold in handy little paper bags, and saw great demand at school canteens.
Because of the broad appeal, it naturally led to the start of our export business. Our snacks were welcomed in regional countries including Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.
We started the 1970s with a firm vision to scale the business viably in line with growing demand. Our founder Mr Lee made a personal visit to Japan to investigate into automating the production process.
In the spirit of pioneering, and as a result of his research, he brought in nuts processing technology and machinery from Japan – the first company to do so locally.
With new tech developments, Chui Hiang started to expand our product range. This gave rise to a new nuts range, including classic favourites like salted peanuts, broad beans, chick peas, green peas and more.
This catapulted the business growth, which meant more space was needed. This led to Chui Hiang’s relocation to a larger premise in Joo Chiat.
Keeping it a family affair at the helm, the 2nd generation entered to manage the business in the 1980s. The focus was to further expand the market while maintaining quality control over the products.
With the continuous upgrade to the production process, more machinery was acquired – this time from the United States. This included an automated frying system to ensure top quality products, as well as other enhanced packing processes.
Eventually, the next expansion happened in the 80s to the factory, and we moved it to the current location in Senoko.
Chui Hiang today remains very much a family-run business to upkeep authenticity and time-honoured values.
Meeting today’s consumer needs is top-of-mind and we have done extensive research to improve our product range.
Today’s customers make more health-informed choices as well. To meet this demand with modern health-conscious trends, we developed and launched our Combe Snacks range in 2000, a product that has zero trans-fat and cholesterol, has been certified healthier choice by the Healthier Promotion Board, and yet remains full on flavour.
Our vision to continually explore and innovate, from ingredients to technology, will always be aimed at developing better and tastier snacks to serve our loyal customers. Who doesn’t want the perfect tidbit to go with that drink? We give you classic favorites, yet experiment with new flavours to give you unexpected tasty options. New machines ensure everything is prepared, sealed and presented in convenient handy portions fitting the modern urban lifestyle.
One thing is for certain – from machine to munchy, Chui Hiang will always aim to be the snack company of choice for businesses and consumers alike.