AugustMan (Malaysia)

HAKKASENG

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VINCENT PAUL YONG is a profession­al photograph­er with an exceptiona­l talent for visual arts. Known for his eye for details, he is a celebrated photograph­er sought after by a number of fashion labels and with works often featured in influentia­l publicatio­ns. With his passion for photograph­y, he founded his own studio called Studio Verve. However, with a handful of projects and campaigns being cancelled due to the Movement Control Order (MCO), Yong had to search for ways to survive throughout the year̶and that is Hakkaseng.

We caught up with him recently to ask him about his new career.

What inspired you to sta Hakkaseng?

Hakkaseng was born out of my time cooking at home when the partial lockdown first started back in March 2020. After weeks of replicatin­g over 40 chap fan (mixed rice) dishes for my @_chapfan account, I thought of cooking something which would enable me to reconnect with my Hakka roots and childhood̶and that was when the thought of Hakka Noodles specifical­ly the Seremban Hakka Noodles popped into my head. I shared my cooking on social media, not knowing people would have a craving for the same dish like I did. With a little push from my fiancé and some actual demand we’ve received from our friends and social media, we proceeded to establish Hakkaseng. Fast forward to today, it has grown from producing only one dish to having 12 dishes on our menu rotation.

A er all the years of hard work you’ve put into becoming a photograph­er, how did the news of your photograph­y career being put on hold hit you?

At first we took the Movement Control

Order as an opportunit­y for us to slow things down and spend some time with each other. But when we noticed how serious this pandemic was, reality hit us pretty hard. Many of our clients began to announce budget cuts, projects and campaigns were being cancelled indefinite­ly, some even announced permanent closures. Realising

the need to restrategi­ze, I had to scale down on my photograph­y business and was on the backburner for some time. It definitely wasn’t easy doing that after 16 years in the industry, but I had to move on and embrace the unthinkabl­e to survive.

How did you pick yourself up a er that and how are you doing now?

I am grateful for the birth of Hakkaseng which enabled me to push through the unpreceden­ted year. It gave me a platform to still be able to express myself creatively by introducin­g new dishes every now and then, while my photograph­y career is forced to a halt. I am also grateful that my fiancé has recently joined me full time in managing both Hakkaseng and my photograph­y business. We have already laid out some ideas, strategies and upcoming projects so I am really excited about what’s to come in 2021!

Are there any struggles you’ve faced in sta ing a new career path? If so, what are they?

I would not say that the both of us are starting a new career but instead we have embraced juggling both businesses at the same time. It’s a balancing act we are still trying to refine, the struggles we’re facing while in the midst of understand­ing the F&B scene is definitely one we are still trying to fathom, since we started from ground zero with no experience whatsoever. Sourcing for fresh ingredient­s was one of our first struggles, then the next was to understand our customers and lastly the preservati­on of our food and delivery before it reaches the customers ̶these were mostly our worries at that point in time. However, with the ease of the MCO, we are faced with new challenges and we realised how customers would still prefer to dine-in. Hence, we certainly have plans to open up our own pop-up store in the near future.

“I AM GRATEFUL FOR THE BIRTH OF HAKKASENG WHICH ENABLED ME TO PUSH THROUGH THE UNPRECEDEN­TED YEAR. IT GAVE ME A PLATFORM TO STILL BE ABLE TO EXPRESS MYSELF CREATIVELY BY INTRODUCIN­G NEW DISHES EVERY NOW AND THEN, WHILE MY PHOTOGRAPH­Y CAREER IS FORCED TO A HALT”

 ??  ?? Vincent Paul Yong
and Donna Yeoh
Vincent Paul Yong and Donna Yeoh
 ??  ?? Hakkadon
Hakkadon
 ??  ?? Hakkaseng
Hakkaseng
 ??  ??
 ??  ?? Hakkapow
Hakkapow
 ??  ??

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