Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp (TTL, 台灣菸酒公司) has been marketing its Hua-Tiau Chiew Chicken Noodles for five years, but it was not until the secret behind their flavor was revealed last month that they became the hottest instant food product in Taiwan.
The noodles suddenly catapulted into the limelight after a netizen nicknamed “Sigma” decided during a sleepless night to put up a post about the “fragrant noodles” on Taiwan’s popular bulletin board Web site PTT.
Sigma wrote on Nov. 23 that TTL had a large cache of 15-year-old Hua-Tiau Chiew (花雕酒) — a wine made from fermented rice — in its inventory and wanted to use it, so it supplied the brew to its instant noodle contractor to be used in the product.
The post garnered interest among netizens, who wanted to learn Sigma’s real identity. After an online search, it was discovered that Sigma was a young, attractive female TTL assistant technical specialist, which triggered tremendous interest in the product, immediately boosting its sales.
TTL senior vice president Su Kuei-yang (蘇癸陽) said that since the post went online, the instant noodles have been selling at a pace of 40,000 boxes — or about half a million bowls — per month, more than double the amount they were selling previously.
Crediting Sigma’s post for fueling interest in the noodles made from the old wine, Su said the company has had trouble keeping up with demand, but he expected the situation to change.
“We are stepping up production. The short-term shortage will ease soon,” he said.
Su attributed the product’s success to several factors beyond Sigma’s marketing ingenuity, including its unique recipe, saying that TTL is the only producer of Hua-Tiau Chiew in Taiwan.
“If other instant noodle manufacturers want to produce Hua-Tiau Chiew chicken, they can only buy the wine from us,” Su said.
He also said that the wine is light and rich in amino acids, making it the perfect complement for food.
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