By Casey Neill
“We’ve always believed in hard work and tried to be sincere to everyone. Basically, that’s it.”
TanGold Pastry Australia’s Tian Tan said the company’s success at the Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce Business Awards was that simple.
“The family has worked very hard,” he said.
“We’ve been in Australia since 1983 as refugees.”
Tian acknowledged his mum Eap Sok-Huang, sister Anita and brothers Clifford and Tee when accepting the Small Business Award at the Wednesday 30 November cocktail event at Greyhounds Entertainment in Springvale.
The siblings sold their Melton bakery and started TanGold Pastry together in February 2000.
“We’d expanded the bakery to a maximum. It was time to move onto something bigger,” Tian said.
Providing consistency to the bakery industry was their aim, knowing how hard it was for individual bakers to achieve daily.
They initially worked 9am to 5pm marketing their products, but moved their hours to a 1am so they could more effectively access the decision makers at bakeries.
They kept that up for 12 months, building foundations for the success that’s followed.
TanGold each day produces 90,000 croissants, pastries, tart shells and more.
It started out in Stephens Road, Dandenong, before moving to a purpose-built manufacturing plant in the Logis Estate off Hammond and Greens roads in Dandenong South.
Tee was heavily involved in the facility’s layout and design, planning for efficiency improvements and further expansion.
The business has experienced 15 to 20 per cent sales average sales growth each year, supplies to about 200 clients Australia-wide and employs 20 full-time staff.
The Cambodian-born siblings came to Australia via a Thailand refugee camp and attribute their success to hard work, commitment and respect.
“Be sincere and honest. People can read each other. If you are trying to be clever it might backfire,” Tian said.
