Yung Kee Restaurant Unearth New Market Potentials with REAL QR

For over 80 years, Yung Kee Restaurant has been famous for its secret charcoal-roasted siu mei and authentic Cantonese cuisine. The management began expanding into festive foods and gifts, such as preserved meats, as the business grew steadily in the 1970s.

This year, in collaboration with its contemporary brand Yung's Bistro, Yung Kee introduces 4 distinctive Mooncake sets, namely "ENRICH", "EMBRACE", "APPRECIATE", "CHASE", including the highly anticipated Mini Lava Custard Mooncakes, to meet the tastes of all age groups.

While the brand develops and produces its own foods mostly, it did not track the products’ after-sales flow, like if they are more for gifting or self-use. Upon learning that GS1 HK’s Real QR could be used for product tracking and anti-counterfeiting, the company joined other best-selling mooncake brands in applying Real QR to its mooncakes and canned ginger for traceability and channel management. 

For years, Yung Kee has used GS1 product barcodes for listing and checkout. This year, it further adopted GS1 HK’s Real QR solution by putting a unique QR label to each mooncake box. Whenever a QR is scanned, staff can track the location, time and mobile device of the scan. If a large number of products are scanned outside the designated market, it may indicate parallel imports or unauthorized distribution channels, driving the management to consider whether to explore those untapped markets for new business opportunities.  

Protecting Brand Reputation and Food Safety

Yung Kee has previously struggled with counterfeits by forgers claiming to be “Yung Kee suppliers”, which affected not only sales and reputation, but also losses to consumers who mistakenly bought the fakes. Applying REAL QR to Yung Kee products enables consumers to authenticate instantly by scanning with their phones, which helps strengthen consumer confidence and trust.

The REAL QR leverages patented anti-forgery micro-printing technology embedded with GS1 global standard-based unique ID to prevent copying; if counterfeiters attempt to replicate, a fake product warning will appear during consumers’ mobile scan and immediately notify Yung Kee, allowing the staff to identify and contain the source of counterfeit goods.

Value-for-Money

One of the reasons that Yung Kee chose GS1 HK’s REAL QR is because other suppliers normally require a large order volume for such labels which is costly for SMEs. REAL QR offers flexible order quantities and cost-effective label options (such as stickers or laser labels), while seamlessly combines tracking, anti-counterfeiting, and digital interaction, enabling flexibility for Yung Kee to apply on products at any time.

Future Deployment

As a leader in Cantonese cuisine, Yung Kee learned that prominent industry peers have been adopting REAL QR to boost customer confidence and demonstrate innovation in traditional foods, so Yung Kee decided to charge in and set the industry benchmark. The leadership team also plans to extend the labels to packaged preserved meats and festive pastries, further enhancing buyer interaction and showcasing Yung Kee’s spirit of tradition and innovation spanning more than 80 years. 

Yung Kee Restaurant uses REAL QR to:

• Track product distribution and sales channels, aiding market exploration;
• Enable customers to scan easily, boosting interaction and confidence;
• Demonstrate brand innovation with cost-effective and flexible deployment. 

• REAL QR solution

Company Profile

Established in 1942, Yung Kee is an integral part of Hong Kong’s culinary landscape and its heritage. Located in the heart of Central, the iconic Yung Kee Restaurant offers causal and fine dining, serving preserved family recipes for charcoal-grilled barbecued meats and Cantonese classics, upholding Hong Kong's food tradition and remain a popular destination among locals and tourists.