【VIDEO】Mr Potato | Co-owner of Dhan Waffle - Straddling cultures and careers
Mr Potato is a Hongkonger in his 30s, who runs a food stall, Dhan Waffle, with his business partner at London’s Maltby Street Market. Find out about his experience in running a local food business in London and his personal journey on stepping out of his comfort zone.
“I learned that this world is not only all about finance and money... it is possible to make a living doing anything.”
Journalist: Penguin
Translator: Sam Bridges
Videographer: Yellow Shy Guy, Crazy Man
Video Editor: Yellow Shy Guy
Photographer: Yellow Shy Guy, Crazy Man
I am Mr Potato, a 31 year-old entrepreneur currently living in London. On weekdays, I teach Mandarin Chinese in a school I run with my wife who is Taiwanese. I do marketing projects for my Hong Kong clients on the side.
On weekends, I run and cater a food stall business called Dhan Waffle, selling Taiwanese egg waffle dessert (https://www.dhanwaffle.com/) at the Maltby Street Market.
Running Dhan Waffle as a “novice”
Back in Hong Kong, I had always done marketing jobs. While some clients would be from the food industry, I was never physically involved in a food related business until I met the founder of Dhan Waffle, Irene.
I first met Irene from a meet-up of startup entrepreneurs. After the meet-up, she contacted me, looking for a business partner to grow the business. This is how I started my Dhan Waffle journey. Irene and I would often brainstorm together to create a version of the Taiwanese egg waffle suitable for the UK market. With time, we integrated our different ideas together and we ended up with the creation we have now—the Dhan Waffle.
Traditionally, these egg waffles have no fillings or sauces on top because the general Asian population doesn’t really enjoy eating snacks that are too sweet. This is where our Dhan Waffle is a little different. Aside from our secret waffle batter recipe, there are different sauces to choose as toppings, such as peanut butter, salted caramel and nutella. You can also personalise your Dhan Waffle by adding different fillings such as custard, taro, and chocolate. We made our little English twist on the traditional egg waffles!
Putting past experiences into the mix
In a way, running Dhan Waffle is very different from what I’ve done before, but I can’t say that it is completely unrelated to what I’ve done in the past.
I’ve worked in advertising companies since graduating from university. Even if I encountered clients in the food industry, my job would be focused on making an advert for their businesses, which is why running Dhan Waffle is definitely out of my own comfort zone.
What I found particularly challenging running a food business is that I have to be involved with every single process of the business, not just marketing. I have to handle unfamiliar procedures, such as processing food, developing protocol, and certifying for food hygiene. Obviously, I have applied marketing knowledge and my prior experiences to help fine tune Dhan Waffle. I’ve tried making the website and social media more accessible and appealing to the wider audience. Afterall, some matters still involve marketing!
Starting a food stall is certainly not easy, but it is definitely very interesting. It’s also a business that many Hongkongers I know are not keen on doing. However, the most important thing to starting a food stall is to take action now.
The very first thing you need to do is to pitch your idea to the market manager. You need to really plan out every single thing about your business including your brand, the type of food and its presentation. We had to convince the manager that Dhan Waffle would attract people to visit the market, so that they would give us a chance. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship. Due to the popularity of posting and “checking in” on Instagram, being able to persuade the market manager that your food is “Insta-worthy” definitely strengthens your business case for a test run. Once one food stall is up and running, it’s much easier to expand into other food markets.
Differences between street food in the UK and Hong Kong
I think that the essence of street foods between Hong Kong and the UK is very different, culturally speaking.
When street-food-crawling in Hong Kong, we often eat junk food such as fish balls, siu mai, or beef entrails. Hongkongers rarely go for street foods to have their main course meals. However, UK’s street food culture sells food ranging from baked goods, main course meals to desserts.
To me, this type of street food culture and experience is very wholesome. It feels complete. For proper food, you can go for the stall that sells main hearty meals, but if you want some lighter bites, you’ve also got that choice in food markets. The other major difference is the stringent food hygiene regulations here as the hygiene of Hong Kong food stalls can be quite inconsistent.
Promoting Hong Kong culture from catering
When we first began catering here at Maltby Street Market, there weren’t many Asians visiting this place, even with the tourists. I would chat with different people to find out where they were from. Since London is a hub for people from all around the world, most of them would not actually be British. This is why London is such an interesting place for me.
Although I’m far away from Hong Kong, I still closely follow the news. I think the Hong Kong spirit is defined by our perseverance—we will not be defeated. No matter where you go, Hongkongers will find a way. This is what’s precious about the Hong Kong spirit. Of course, what it means to be a Hongkonger right now is very simple: it’s “Five demands, not one less.”
As the Anti-ELAB Movement continued to develop, I thought about what I could do to help and how I could show support.
I thought that the movement had reached a point where Hongkongers should seek international support whether it was through raising awareness or actually doing something concrete. Therefore, I cut out an Anti-ELAB advertisement in an English newspaper which was paid for through crowdfunding by fellow brothers and sisters from Hong Kong. I laminated it to showcase at our food stall. Over time, people took notice of the advertisement poster. I realised that I could really reach the locals as well as any travelling foreigners by raising awareness through the poster. This was my contribution to bringing this movement to light and spreading the Hong Kong culture to westerners.
First time living abroad as a Hongkonger in the UK
Prior to opening the Dhan Waffle, I had actually spent two years on a working holiday in the UK.
When I decided to come here, I wanted to wholeheartedly blend into the local culture. After I arrived, I felt that London was a very multicultural city, and there seemed to be many opportunities.
What I found funny when I first arrived was that I almost felt like I hadn't really learned English properly, even though I had used English through my entire education. I felt like I couldn’t understand what others were saying, especially when I was trying to find a job over phone interviews.
The most important experience for me during the working holiday was living in a hostel for the first two months. As I was immersed in an English-speaking environment, I was basically forced to speak English with other lodgers who were often Europeans. I was able to build a conversational English foundation from there. With time and practice, I eventually got better at conversing in English and the culture shock gradually reduced as my English improved.
If your intent of going on a working holiday is to experience a different culture, make sure to use this chance to widen your horizons by finding jobs that put you out of your cultural comfort zone. It could be retail or office work—it doesn’t really matter as long as you get a different cultural experience from your life in Hong Kong.
Why choose the UK over other places in the world?
While I was working in an advertising agency back in Hong Kong, I felt that I didn’t have enough worldly experience. Many of my seniors were very cultured and often made references to things from foreign countries. I thought to myself that it was time for me to seize the opportunity to explore the world and widen my horizons.
I think that the world is a very big place. There are a lot of destinations worth visiting. I kept an open mind during my working holiday experience and towards whether or not I would want to come back and live in Hong Kong afterwards.
Back then, going on a working holiday wasn’t really popular. My only options were either Australia or the UK. I didn’t want to spend my time in the rural areas of Australia, so I decided to go to the UK. Ultimately, there are also much deeper and stronger ties between Hong Kong and the UK.
When I first arrived in the UK, while walking down the streets of London, I felt like I had somehow teleported back to the olden days in Hong Kong. It felt strangely familiar and comfortable. I also felt that London was less stuffy and crowded and unlike the quick pace of living in Hong Kong. As a result, I started to slow down and appreciate life from a slower pace.
I learned that this world is not only all about finance and money, or that we have to obtain some professional and practical degrees to survive. I realised that it is possible to make a living doing anything.
After the working holiday, I went back to Hong Kong for three and a half years. I realised that I miss the UK’s lifestyle and started to look for a way to return—I wanted to return to the UK. Here I am now.
“I am Mr Potato, I am a HKer.”
Support our Journalism with a Contribution
Many people might not know this, but despite our large team of contributors, which we are immensely grateful for, We Are HKers is still a small bootstrapped group that runs on no outside funding and loans. Everything you see today is built on the backs of warriors who have sacrificed opportunities, time, meals and sleep to help give HKers all over the world a voice and keep our culture alive.
However, we still face many trials in the running of our platform, from finding the necessary equipment for our video interviews, to subscribing to the necessary tools to facilitate our remote work process of our global team, to trying not to get fired from our main jobs as we run this project secretly in the background, and to keeping our platform running and storing our files securely.
We hope you consider making a contribution, so we can continue to provide you with moving stories of HKers all over the world and keep our heritage and culture alive. Even a £1 contribution goes a long way. Thank you for everyone’s support. We love you all and can’t appreciate you guys enough.
**Please note that your support of We Are HKers Ltd. does NOT constitute a charitable donation. We really appreciate your support in independent journalism. If you have any questions about contributing to We Are HKers, please contact us here.
- February 2022
- December 2021
- August 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019