Young men in an old man's trade

DESPITE having only two products, The Golden Duck has made quite a splash so far. The gourmet snacks startup came to be just two years ago. Salted egg yolk was a trending wave that everyone wanted to ride - from buns to salted egg chicken. Even McDonald's had salted-egg flavoured burgers. The startup's products are salted egg yolk potato crisps and fish skin crisps.

"It was Jon's idea and he pulled together a team of us and said why don't we do it on a snack, nobody's done it on a snack," co-founder Chris Hwang recalls, attributing partner Jonathan Shen's innovative thought to a businessman's intuition in spotting upcoming trends. Both co-founders have had experience setting up companies on their own as well as collaborated on a few together in industries such as nightlife, restaurant bars and media. It is, however, their first time venturing into the food manufacturing industry.

With The Golden Duck growing at such a fast rate, they have had to invest all their time and energy into the business, thus passing the baton in their previous startups. Naming the brand The Golden Duck was a balancing act between preserving the culture and nostalgia surrounding salted eggs and appealing to the millennial audience. As a young company, they wanted a cute symbol that people felt was approachable, thus settling on a duck as their ambassador.