A veteran of the food and beverage industry, Bernard has helmed the branding and marketing efforts of some of the world’s leading F&B institutions, in a journey that has taken him to six countries so far.
Name: Bernard Cheng
Graduating Year: 1999
Years at CIS: 3
Current city of residence: Bangkok, Thailand
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I’m an ABC (Australian Born Chinese) or as my 婆婆 used to call me; a Banana.
As a kid we lived in a few countries and we moved to Hong Kong in 1992 where I attended CIS from year 7 – 9, and had some of the best years of my life.
I work in Marketing and have had the good fortune leading and building some super fun and iconic brands across the APAC region. From Kit Kat Chocolate, to Magnum Ice Cream, KFC, Jack Daniels and Burger King.
I now reside in Bangkok, Thailand with my wife and dog.
So if any CIS Alumni are ever in town please do let me know!
What attracted you to the consumer goods and F&B industry?
From the get go, I knew I never wanted to work on commoditized categories or brands that people had never heard of. I wanted to find brands that people always had an opinion about or a memory of. And the F&B industry fits this perfectly – I mean everyone always has an opinion about, experience or memory of great food. Food is ingrained and plays an important role in every culture.
You’ve worked with some of the most recognisable brands in the industry. Which company did you most enjoy working with?
KFC (part of YUM! Brands) was the most enjoyable and reflective of my tenure with them (11 years). It was so enjoyable for a number of reasons:
- Entrepreneurial Spirit – KFC was founded by an entrepreneur (Colonel Sanders!) and that mindset and attitude still exists in the company culture today. If you believe in something you can make it happen at KFC; from food ideas to new store concepts, to brand campaigns etc. You are empowered to experiment, to test and to fail.
- Purpose Driven – the company really cares about its people, the community and its customers. From a people perspective KFC puts its employees first. KFC believes that if their employees are happy, then the customer will ultimately have a good experience. Therefore the company prioritises all aspects of employee engagement including: diversity & inclusion, learning & development and career progression. Community wise, KFC puts a lot of effort behind the scenes from sustainable sourcing of ingredients, to helping local communities & grass roots programs and supporting sustainability initiatives. For customers, KFC focuses on providing the best customer satisfaction and ensuring the brand is relevant for today’s culture and consumers, easy to access and to afford by the masses.
- Fun Brand – at the end of day, working on Fried Chicken is fun! We don’t just sell a great tasting product, instead we are creating memories and feeding the belly and soul. The people at KFC; from store level team members to C-level management are all genuine, caring and passionate people that embody what the brand stands for.
No doubt the pandemic has impacted the F&B and consumer goods industry greatly. From a branding and marketing perspective, how have you had to adapt your strategy?
We’ve focused on 3 key areas:
- Channel Strategy – with store closures due to lockdown and limited dine-in traffic meant the need to find new sources of sales revenue. Fortunately for us, delivery was already a huge focus and we were well prepared by the time of the Covid hit. This meant maximising food aggregator partnerships and exposure on their platforms, accelerating our own delivery channel through faster & better app and web ordering experience, unlocking new digital transactions through FB messenger chatbot, digital TV ordering and digital pre-order pick up at store.
- Hygiene & Safety – a huge effort was placed in this area for the safety of our staff and customers. For staff we introduced new hygiene standards in our stores including additional cleaning, washing procedures and protective equipment. For our customers apart from the standard temperature checks and disinfectant/ alcohol sprays at all our stores we also launched ‘contactless delivery’ initiatives and payment services. We made sure the above was clearly communicated to consumers at all touchpoints to build the trust and confidence that we were taking the right steps to manage health and safety for all.
- Continued Brand Advertising – whilst many companies went ‘off air’ or pulled their marketing spends during Covid, we made sure to continue to invest in the brand. As consumers spent more time at home and spent more time watching TV or online, we made sure our brand was present in these channels. During a downturn is the best time for a brand to increase its brand presence to win ‘top of mind awareness’ which is proven to help sales in the long term as you become the first brand that consumers think of/ remember.
What is your guilty pleasure food/meal?
Having worked at KFC for so long you’d think I’d be immune to fried chicken. But the aroma of fresh KFC still makes me salivate at any time of the day… I’m a walking example of Pavlov’s Theory! I’m also a sucker for a juicy burger and thickshake.
If you could only eat from one cuisine for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
Funnily enough, this is a question I’ve debated with my mates over drinks many times. I would choose Vietnamese cuisine. I love the freshness of herbs, the textures of cooked & raw ingredients and the broad variety of rice, noodles, soups, stews and sandwiches.
Other than F&B, what other industry would you be interested in exploring?
Not so much the industry, but one brand I’ve always wanted to work for is Nike.
I love what the brand stands for, their groundbreaking advertising and how they define culture.
I still remember the first pair of Nikes I got as a kid and to this day I am still a loyal fan.
Favourite memory of CIS?
It was actually my last day at CIS. Not because I was happy to leave, in fact it was quite the opposite. But knowing it was my last day, I really took in the moment and realised how much I would miss my friends, miss playing football on the rooftop, miss hearing all the lockers open and slam shut before class, miss that weird smell in the art rooms and those plastic yellow plates of the cafeteria.
And now seeing my CIS friends at different stages of their lives with their own families and still being a close knit group is another favourite memory and something that makes me super proud to be a ‘CIS-er’.