MAMEE-Double Decker (M) Berhad - Pang's family builds a Noodle Snack Legacy

October 18, 2021

The Chinese believe that the best business to be in is the food business and it only takes one right product to set the cash register ringing for a long time. For the Pang family from Melaka, it was the MAMEE noodle snacks that was launched in 1974 and its blue MAMEE Monster mascot that has become a hit among Malaysian children. The chicken and curry flavoured noodle snacks can be eaten straight from the pack. With the success from its first factory in Melaka’s Air Keroh Industrial estate, the family-owned company, Pacific Food Products Sdn Bhd (Pacific Food) was set for the big time.  

Pacific Food pampered local consumers with innovative flavours like tom yam and lontong and Malaysians gave them the thumbs up for getting the right local taste. Pacific Food then was producing half a million packets of instant noodles snacks per day. After two decades of proven success in the local food industry, the Pang family took the company which was renamed MAMEE-Double Decker Sdn Bhd to an IPO in January 1992. 

The potato chips brand, Mister Potato which was launched in 1992 is reputed to be the No. 1 potato chips brand in Malaysia (www.mamee.com). MAMEE Chef has also  been rated in the Top Ten Instant Noodle category consistently by the Ramen Rater (www.theramenrater.com) MAMEE-Double Decker is a household name for over 50 F&B products which are exported to over 100 countries around the globe. MAMEE-Double Decker has manufacturing facilities in Myanmar and Indonesia in addition to its production location in Malaysia. All facilities have been awarded ISO 9000s, HACCP and Halal certifications.

Founder, Datuk Pang Chin Hin, and his two sons, Tan Sri Pang Tee Chew (Group Managing Director ), 67,  and Datuk Seri Pang Tee Nam (Group Chief Operating Officer), 66, are at the helm of management of the MAMEE-Double Decker group. Despite being in his late 80s, Datuk Pang Chin Hin is still very interested in the business he founded and remains as the Executive Chairman of MAMEE-Double Decker. The closely family-run business has led MAMEE-Double Decker to win the Frost & Sullivan Award for Best Home-grown Packaged Food Company (2013 & 2014) and a Putra Brand Award under the Foodstuff Category (2014). MAMEE-Double Decker recently won a Deloitte’s global award for being one of the 4 Best Managed Companies in Malaysia 2021 (https://www2.deloitte.com/my/en/pages/deloitte-private/articles/meet-best-managed-companies-2021.html).  

Why MAMEE? 

In a 2011 interview with Terence Lee of Tech-In Asia, Datuk Pang Chin Hin revealed that in his struggling days of the 1970s, his cheapest meal was wonton noodles which cost 30 sen at that time. And he needed to eat a double portion so he would order “ma-meen” in Cantonese. From that the “MAMEE” brand was born.

Third Generation

Pierre Pang, Group Executive Director, Mamee-Double Decker

 Pierre Pang Hee Ta, grandson of the founder and second son of Tan Sri Dato’ Pang Tee Chew, is currently the Group Executive Director of MAMEE-Double Decker. He was chief Brand Manager and then Marketing and Sales Director before being elevated to Group Executive Director. A graduate of the University of Melbourne, Australia, Pierre Pang was with Ogilvy & Mather advertising group before he joined the family business in January 2009.

Vuitton Pang, CEO of emart24 Malaysia 

Vuitton Pang, eldest son of Tan Sri Dato’ Pang Tee Chew, holds a double degree in Information Systems and Commerce from the University of Melbourne. He is married to Maythini Upatkoon, the youngest daughter of Tan Sri Dato’ Surin Upatkoon (Chinese name, KK Lau), a Thai national who is a permanent resident of Malaysia. Tan Sri Upatkoon is the Chairman and major shareholder of Magnum Berhad which main business is running the licensed lottery business 4-Digit numbers or 4-D. Magnum used to belong to the Chinese investment company, Multi-Purpose Holdings Berhad in the 1980s.  

Vuitton Pang was recently appointed the Chief Executive Officer of the S. Korean convenience store emart24 Malaysia. The major shareholders of the franchisee company, United Frontiers Holdings Sdn. Bhd, are Tan Sri Datuk Pang Tee Chew (Group MD of MAMEE-Double Decker) and Datuk Seri Pang Tee Nam (Group Chief Operating Officer of MAMEE-Double Decker). Todate three emart24 outlets have been launched, the first of which was opened in Bangsar South in June 2021. (read more about emart24 under Convenience store chains in this website). Vuitton Pang had been working in MAMEE-Double Decker for more than a decade before his current appointment. Running emart24 as CEO will be a totally different ball game but he is enthusiastic about it.

**This Article is part of an on-going research on a special Business publication titled Malaysian Family Businesses to be published by Sparrow Publishing House in 2022.  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

  1. Mamee-Double Decker (M) Berhad. About us. https://www.mamee.com/aboutus.html 
  2. Sally Cheong. Chinese Controlled Companies in the KLSE Industrial Counter. (ISBN no. 983-99791-0-80. 1 August 1992. Published by Corporate Research Services Sdn Bhd.  
  3. Malaysian Business magazine. February 1-15 1992 issue. 
  4. Marketing-Interactive. Pierre Pang Hee Ta, Group Executive Director, Mamee-Double Decker (M) Berhad. https://conferences.marketing-interactive.com/content360-sg/pierre-pang-hee-ta/ 
  5. Vulcan Post. 23 October 2020. Faye Lee. https://vulcanpost.com/719564/mamee-malaysia-history-instant-noodle/ 
  6. Tech-in Asia. 17 August 2011.  Terence Lee. https://www.techinasia.com/now-even-manchester-united-loves-mamee 
  7. The Star. 19 April 2019. M. Mageswari.  https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/04/19/marketeers-need-to-brand-differently-to-millennials 
  8. Deloitte. Malaysia’s Best Managed Companies 2021 Awards. https://www2.deloitte.com/my/en/pages/deloitte-private/articles/meet-best-managed-companies-2021.html 
  9. Korea JoongAng Daily. 16 September 2021. Jin Min-ji.  Emart24 opens third store in Malaysia in three months. https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2021/09/16/business/industry/emart24-convenience-stores-malaysia/20210916172200270.html 
  10. Ssmeinfo search on directors and shareholders of United Frontiers Holdings Sdn.Bhd. On 30 September 2021.  
  11. CNA Luxury. Meet Vuitton Pang, scion of Malaysia’s Mamee-Double Decker snack empire - CNA Luxury (channelnewsasia.com) 
  12. South China Morning Post. 22 June 2019. Hannef Esquander. https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3015482/mamee-monster-noodles-story-malaysian-childhood-snack-was-no