What happened in the last three years has turned Hong Kong and the world upside down, presenting unprecedented challenges to entrepreneurs and business owners. But were the challenges really “unprecedented”? Norma Chu, founder and Chief Executive Officer of DayDayCook, thinks otherwise. “Nobody is unique. The things we do, the problems we encounter, are not uncommon in history. The two fundamental human problems - the economic problem about how to meet our material and social needs, and the existential problem about how to live wisely, agreeably and well – are the same as 2,000 years ago,” she says.
Chu grew up in the United States and studied economics and finance in the University of Washington. She started working in the investment banking field after graduation and was relocated back to Hong Kong in 2007. Before she found DayDayCook in 2012, she was the Head of Equities Research North Asia at HSBC Private Bank. Her passion for cooking and professional knowledge on economics and finance have led DayDayCook into great success; yet the success did not come without hurdles and failures.
Norma Chu, founder and Chief Executive Officer of DayDayCook
There are always challenges
DayDayCook started off as an online recipe hub and has since become a popular go-to place for original recipes and cooking advice. When Chu ventured into the mainland market in 2015, it was a bumpy road. “Back then, the hot word to attract investments was ‘O2O’, which stands for ‘Online to Offline’. As a content provider, it was difficult for us to raise fund without actual online and offline business,” she recalls. But at that time infrastructure for O2O was immature and many businesses failed. In 2016, when people refocused on content, DayDayCook began to attract funding. However, in 2018 it came the Sino-US trade conflict. “We have US investors and since then, the environment has become challenging again.” Fast forward to 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak turned the world upside down. The pandemic is still ongoing, but people have started to adapt to it since 2021. And here we are in 2022, there is a war, and many China companies are blacklisted by the US. Chu recounts and concludes, “When you look back, it is a journey filled with opportunities and challenges.”
Business ups and downs are a part of an entrepreneur's life. Chu has read a variety of books to learn from the others. One of her favorite authors is Ryan Holiday who wrote “The Obstacle is the Way”, in which he revived a 2,000-year-old Greek philosophy: stoicism. Stoics focus on the things that they can control and let go of everything else, turning every new obstacle into an opportunity in order to get better, stronger, tougher. Chu read the book in 2019, and these words of wisdom have been planted in her heart and carried her through the most difficult time during 2020.
Staying strong along the journey
“You have to have the grit, the mental toughness to take a long-term view,” she shares the first tip of how to stay on the business journey. “If you focus only on the present moment, you will easily get caught up in priorities that do not give you a clear head to solve the real problems that matter.” She agrees with Ryan Holiday that many people live in borrowed fear and imaginary stress – what if something happens? “Well, wait until it happens,” she jokes. “We often stress ourselves out.” But not to be mistaken, Chu does plan for the future but she believes that only by looking at the big picture and the long term can one have clear solutions for present problems. She suggests other entrepreneurs to train themselves to be mentally strong enough to confront any fear and keep a level-head in any situation no matter how difficult and stressful it is. “I run 10 kilometers every morning and it is a training that helps build my mental toughness. A tough mind, then a tough body, or the other way round.”
Staying positive is also important. “Over the years I discovered two contradictory mindsets: some people see possibilities, some see difficulties,” Chu finds. “We see possibilities and strike to achieve them, even though there are hurdles along the way.” But if we see difficulties first, we will think that we are never going to get there. “If we look at a 10-year timeframe, what happen in one or two years are really short term.”
Last but not the least, it is the dedication, which does not need further elaboration in its importance towards success.
Be curious
Busy managing her business, Chu still managed to find the time and engage in a number of public and charitable services. For instance, she is the co-founder of FoundersHK, President of Greater Bay Young Entrepreneurship Association and the founder of Good Food Movement, a program to incubate start-up food tech companies. She is keen to share her experience in overseas business expansion. “You need to be aware of the opportunities, be curious of what is on offer, and have an open mind to learn and understand more.” Taking the Greater Bay Area as example, there are a lot of supporting policies and available funding of which one can maximize the resources to plug and play into his or her business strategies.
In fact, be curious and never stop learning are two traits that summarize how Chu built the DayDayCook empire. She learned to take photographs, use photoshop, and produce videos from scratch for her online success. She observed how the experts work and tried to imitate. Yet, she also values innovation.
Competition is good
Apart from online platforms including its website, mobile app and social media channels, DayDayCook now also develop and manufactures its own branded ready-to-heat, ready-to-cook and plant-based products since 2019. It also began livestream selling later that year. All these new ventures helped DayDayCook capture a larger-than-expected growth in 2020 amid the pandemic.
“The market is competitive but competition is good,” Chu is confident that the markets for ready-to-cook meals and vegetarian meat are big enough to accommodate multiple market players. They are launching co-branded plant-based meal solutions with some of the largest global FMCG brands like OATLY and Nestle China.
Unlike in 2015, DayDayCook in 2022 is more ready for O2O commerce.