Judy Wong was born to run restaurants, before you even utter your first question, you already have an invitation to her home for lunch, dinner or afternoon tea.
“I guess it’s in my blood, I just love making people happy through my food and it’s what I’ve been doing almost all my life.”
Judy arrived from Hong Kong in 1976 as a sixteen-year-old with $20 to her name. She spent the next 30 years building her businesses, firstly in Sydney and then in Rockhampton, before selling up and opting for an early retirement.
But she quickly realised that retirement was not for her and in 2011 opened her first “FantAsia” outlet serving fresh, restaurant quality food at takeaway prices.
Five years on, Judy is about to open her tenth Queensland outlet with a brand new concept store at The Pines Elanora on the Gold Coast, turning the food court takeaway model on its head.
“Unlike most Asian takeaways we minimise the amount of processed ingredients we use,” Judy Wong said.
“The vast majority of our ingredients are fresh, including our herbs and spices, which our customers always comment on.”
“So the quality is far superior to most other outlets and therefore it was a natural thing for us to say, hang on, why don’t we continue on the same path with our service and provide the opportunity for customers to dine in and enjoy restaurant style service,” Judy said.
FantAsia’s menu has been developed by her husband, John, whose chef experience spans over 40 years and covers cuisine from countries all over Asia. Their signature dish “Slow-Cooked Tokyo Beef” is proving so popular it’s estimated each week more than a tonne is served to eager diners.
And it’s not often you see a Steamed Barramundi dish on a shopping centre menu, with a price tag that Judy Wong says will have some customers doing double takes.
“My favourite saying is we pride ourselves on providing quality products with friendly service and value for money. Give these to the customer and the rest will fall into place.”
“Customers are becoming far more interested in eating fresh food and more educated about what ingredients go into making their food…we’ve had great success capturing that market with our offering.”
The Pines Elanora Centre Manager Hilary Jacobs says the arrival of FantAsia has furthered bolstered the centre’s reputation as a local food hub.
“Offering a dispersed food layout throughout the centre has worked for us. The outlets we welcome are attractive to customers as individual offers,” explains Centre Manager Hilary Jacobs.
Whilst statewide results show Queensland’s food catering sales are contracting, The Pines Elanora recorded a lift in its market share growing by 5% over the 12 months to March 2016*.
“And with the arrival of FantAsia, this continues our strategy to be a shopping destination with an authentic, diverse food offering that keeps us ahead of the pack,” Hilary Jacobs said.
“Our unique positioning in the market is reflected in our food catering sales numbers, which show we’ve hit a sweet spot with customers who are looking for more than your traditional shopping centre fare.”