🍳 Chris Hwang: From Law Books to Salted Egg Dreams – The Story of a Singaporean Snack Empire
In the bustling heart of Singapore, a city known for its gleaming skyline and world-class cuisine, a young man once stood at a crossroads that would redefine his destiny. His name was Chris Hwang. At the time, he was a 23-year-old law student, toeing the traditional path lined with textbooks, internships, and long nights of legal debate. But in his heart, something stirred—something that smelled not of justice and courtrooms, but of salted egg yolk and spice.
This is the story of how Chris Hwang walked away from convention to chase a flavor, and in doing so, built one of the most iconic snack brands Asia has ever seen—The Golden Duck.
🎓 The Law Student with a Different Hunger
Chris wasn’t someone who lacked ambition. In fact, from a young age, he had been fiercely determined. He excelled in academics, represented Singapore in national-level bowling competitions, and seemed perfectly on track to become a successful lawyer. But even amidst his achievements, there lingered a curiosity—a fascination with food, culture, and innovation. He admired the pulse of the hawker stalls and the complexity of Singaporean flavors, and somewhere deep down, he began to ask: “What if I could package that magic and send it around the world?”
He shared this thought with a close friend, Jonathan Shen. The two clicked instantly over a shared dream of creating something bold, something flavorful, something… snackable.
🧑🍳 A Crunchy Idea is Born
One night, as they stood in Chris’s small kitchen trying out salted egg recipes, they hit gold—figuratively and literally. Salted egg yolk chips. Crispy, rich, slightly sweet and spicy, and absolutely addictive. At the time, salted egg wasn’t yet a global craze. It was still deeply rooted in Asian culinary traditions—seen in mooncakes, prawns, and custard buns—but the idea of turning it into a gourmet snack chip? That was radical.
They decided to take the plunge.
In 2015, armed with only passion, a recipe, and $15,000 scraped together from savings and loans, Chris and Jonathan launched The Golden Duck. No factories. No retail stores. Just ambition and bags of salted egg yolk chips sold from a humble booth at Suntec City.
What happened next surprised even them.
🚀 Lines, Likes, and Viral Buzz
People didn’t just like The Golden Duck’s salted egg chips—they loved them. Lines formed before the stall opened. Customers bought not one or two but ten bags at a time. Social media exploded with photos and rave reviews.
Overnight, the booth became a sensation. But that was just the beginning. Chris wasn’t just selling chips; he was selling a story—of modern Asia, of tradition reimagined, of indulgence that made people feel proud of their cultural identity.
The duo worked around the clock. From sourcing the right duck eggs to ensuring every batch was crispy, golden, and coated just right, Chris obsessed over the product. He believed people didn’t just deserve good snacks—they deserved great ones.
🌏 From One Booth to 3,000 Stores
Within a few short years, The Golden Duck had outgrown its pop-up roots. Demand poured in from across Asia. Soon, bags were flying off shelves in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, and beyond. Tourists began taking Golden Duck bags back home as souvenirs, and Chris knew it was time to expand strategically.
He set up supply chains, streamlined manufacturing, and built a team of food technologists to constantly innovate. The product line grew beyond salted egg chips. There was salted egg fish skin. Then came chili crab seaweed tempura. Mala hot pot chips. Each flavor crafted with precision, each bag a passport to Asian street food.
By 2025, The Golden Duck was in over 3,000 stores across 20+ countries—and it all began in a kitchen the size of a closet.
💥 The Pandemic Storm
No entrepreneurial journey is without storms, and in 2020, the world changed.
COVID-19 devastated the tourism industry, one of The Golden Duck’s major revenue streams. Airport stores closed. Logistics stalled. Sales plummeted. The dream now stood on the edge of collapse.
Chris didn’t panic—but he did hurt. He made heartbreaking decisions. Downsizing the team from 200 to 120. Selling personal assets to pay salaries. Putting his own comfort second to keep the dream alive. But through it all, he stayed focused.
He turned inward—to the community. To his team. To innovation.
💡 Reinvention and Resilience
Chris and his team doubled down on e-commerce. They built a stronger online presence, launched subscription snack boxes, and tapped into food influencers. They also focused on local markets to reduce dependency on tourism.
Even in crisis, Chris’s curiosity never faded. He began developing snacks tailored for Western palates—sour cream & Sriracha, truffle wagyu, and Himalayan pink salt. The goal? Crack the U.S. market. And not just as an “Asian snack brand,” but as a global gourmet powerhouse.
Chris wanted The Golden Duck to be in every pantry—next to Pringles, Doritos, and Lays—but with a story that felt richer, deeper, and unapologetically bold.
🏆 The Man Behind the Brand
Despite his success, Chris remains grounded. He doesn’t see himself as a mogul, but as a storyteller. He speaks often about the importance of listening—to your customers, your team, your intuition. He credits his success not to brilliance, but to discipline and taste—the discipline to never cut corners, and the taste to know what customers will crave before they even know it.
He also champions young entrepreneurs. He tells them: “You don’t need a fancy degree to build something meaningful. What you need is conviction, grit, and the guts to fail.”
Today, The Golden Duck isn’t just a snack—it’s a symbol of daring to dream differently.
🔮 The Future is Flavored
As 2025 unfolds, Chris Hwang is looking toward new frontiers. The Golden Duck is expanding into the United States with bold flavors designed for adventurous American palates. There are talks of collaborations with celebrity chefs, limited-edition lines, and even Golden Duck-themed experiential stores.
But even as the brand grows, Chris still walks into the kitchen, still tastes every batch, and still remembers the night he chose flavor over fear.
🥚 One Egg at a Time
Chris Hwang’s story is not just about chips, or salted egg, or global expansion.
It’s about the courage to quit law school at 23 because you believed in a snack.
It’s about fighting through a global pandemic because your dream was too delicious to die.
It’s about making every crunch count.
And most of all—it’s about knowing that sometimes, the best way to make a mark on the world… is to make a mess in the kitchen first.
🌶️ From Quiet Confidence to Crunchy Confidence
When Chris first stepped away from law school, it wasn’t met with applause. In fact, many people around him—friends, relatives, even well-meaning mentors—were concerned. “You’re throwing away a stable future,” they said. “Snacks? Are you serious?”
But Chris was used to pressure. As a national bowler in his youth, he had learned how to stay composed in high-stakes situations. Bowling taught him rhythm, precision, and mental focus—traits he would carry into entrepreneurship. Where others saw snacks, he saw a global opportunity wrapped in foil packaging.
And so, with every step into the unknown, Chris Hwang doubled down not just on product, but on purpose.
🧪 Crafting Snacks Like Fine Art
The Golden Duck was never just about tasty chips. For Chris, it was an edible canvas—where culture, science, and storytelling collided.
He and his co-founder didn’t simply want to mimic traditional flavors. They wanted to elevate them. That meant researching regional cuisines, understanding umami balances, and hiring food technologists to help translate complex recipes like chili crab or mala hotpot into a chip format.
Chris once joked, “We’re not a snack company—we’re a flavor lab.” And that wasn’t far from the truth.
He insisted on small-batch testing, quality ingredients, and maintaining flavor intensity with every bite. One of his biggest frustrations in the early days was inconsistency in texture. Some chips broke during shipping. Others absorbed too much oil. So they kept tweaking the machinery until they got it right. And once they did—the feedback was ecstatic.
People weren’t just buying snacks; they were experiencing Singapore, one crunch at a time.
🌍 The Cultural Export Nobody Expected
As The Golden Duck’s bags flew off shelves across Asia, something extraordinary happened: people outside the region started falling in love with the taste of Singapore.
Chris realized that food was his generation’s version of diplomacy. It was how culture traveled now—not through textbooks or politics, but through taste buds.
Soon, orders started coming in from unlikely places—Dubai, Berlin, Tokyo, Johannesburg. Expat communities became unofficial ambassadors. Celebrities shared photos. Airlines placed bulk orders for in-flight snacks. Even Michelin-star chefs started reaching out to collaborate.
Chris saw his humble snack brand evolve into something more—a movement. One that celebrated Asian identity with pride and modern flair.
🎯 Building a Brand That Talks Back
As much as Chris focused on flavor, he also knew that brands needed to have personality.
The Golden Duck’s packaging was quirky, cheeky, and sharp. The branding never felt generic. Every flavor came with a backstory. Every campaign leaned into curiosity. The language was playful, but never gimmicky. It spoke to millennials and Gen Z in a voice that felt like a friend rather than a corporation.
The logo, the duck mascot, even the color scheme—it was all carefully designed to stand out in a crowded market. And yet, the brand didn’t scream for attention. It invited people to discover it.
Chris often said: “Great brands don’t chase you—they charm you.” And that philosophy paid off.
🔄 The Crisis That Tested Everything
When the pandemic hit, Chris faced his darkest chapter. Airports—a major distribution point—shut down. Shipping costs tripled. Raw materials became difficult to procure. Worst of all, tourists—the brand’s early champions—disappeared overnight.
He had a choice: retreat or reinvent.
Chris chose the harder path. He trimmed expenses, moved fast on digital strategy, and diversified supply chains. He didn’t sleep much. There were days when he questioned everything. But the one thing he never did was compromise on quality.
And when the dust settled, The Golden Duck wasn’t just still standing—it was more agile, more innovative, and more connected to its audience than ever.
🧑🏫 Mentorship, Mistakes, and Moving Forward
As The Golden Duck matured, so did Chris. He began mentoring younger entrepreneurs. He opened up about his mistakes—early packaging errors, misjudged market launches, cultural missteps in overseas branding. He never tried to paint a perfect picture.
“Transparency builds trust,” he said. “Both with your customers and yourself.”
He started guest-lecturing at local universities. He joined panels on entrepreneurship, innovation, and food sustainability. He also quietly funded scholarships for students who wanted to pursue culinary arts but couldn’t afford tuition.
Chris had gone from being a dropout to becoming a voice of credibility—without ever chasing titles.
🧭 The Vision Beyond the Bag
Today, Chris sees The Golden Duck not just as a snack company, but as an experience brand. He envisions flagship stores where customers can taste-test new flavors, watch chip-making in action, and explore the history of Asian street food.
There are talks of expanding into sauces, instant noodles, even fusion dining pop-ups.
But perhaps most importantly, Chris wants to create a platform for flavor innovation across Southeast Asia. He dreams of investing in young culinary inventors, giving them a stage to share regional delicacies with a global audience—just as he once did with salted egg chips.
His ultimate goal? To build a “snackverse”—a digital and physical universe where food becomes both memory and adventure.
💬 Quotes That Define Chris Hwang
A few quotes that embody his journey:
- “You can’t build a world-class brand with shortcuts. You need obsession.”
- “Snacks are serious business. Every bag is a handshake with your customer.”
- “Failure is not falling—it’s stopping. Keep frying.”
- “Our generation doesn’t want bland. We want bold—with a story.”
🏁 A Golden Legacy, Still Unfolding
It’s tempting to tie Chris’s journey up with a neat bow. But the truth is—he’s just getting started.
The boy who dropped out of law school has built a company that’s more than profitable. It’s iconic. His story is told not in boardrooms or textbooks, but in every crinkle of foil, every crackle of flavor, every shared bag among friends.
Chris Hwang is proof that sometimes, the most powerful revolutions don’t start in courtrooms or tech labs. They start in tiny kitchens, with a craving, a dream, and a duck.
And they grow, one crunchy bite at a time.
