“We still use the same ingredients, the same recipe after all these years,” says General Manager Jamie Lu.
And why change a winning formula? Back in 1989, though, it was all hands on deck. The founders, a small group of Asian migrants looking to bring the authentic taste of their birthplace to their new home, did everything the traditional way.
“We have stories of everyone working through the night, pulling these noodles and packaging them by hand,” Jamie says. “Everything was done by hand until 1997.”
Jamie even remembers his Mum buying Yunion noodles when he was a kid and being surprised they were made in Perth.
Automation opened the door to scale, which brought growth. By 2005, Yunion had outgrown its original premises and moved to bigger digs in the same suburb. The move also marked a product expansion, with customers increasingly asking if Yunion could make more traditional foods they couldn’t find locally. Wonton skins and wonton egg noodles were among those added to the roster of goodies.
Today, Yunion has a widespread distribution network across Western Australia, supplying a diverse mix of dining establishments and retail outlets. The company has also developed the capacity to manufacture massive volumes of its signature fresh hokkien noodles on a weekly basis.
Passing the fresh test
What sets Yunion noodles apart from others in the supermarket aisles, Jamie says, is their freshness. While most of its competitors offer frozen products, Yunion insists that fresh is best, producing a texture and quality that has kept customers coming back for more every week for decades.
But that freshness also presents a significant challenge as Yunion eyes expansion into the eastern states.
“The only challenge we have at the moment is the shelf life of our product,” Jamie says. Fresh hokkien noodles have a shelf life of about three weeks, so once they are sent across the Nullarbor and arrive on retail shelves, a week of that window has evaporated.
Yunion is exploring different processes that could extend the shelf life without compromising the product’s quality. While this is still in the early stages, it typifies Yunion’s measured approach to expansion.
“I think for the next 12 months we want to solidify our place in WA, because there are still areas down south that we want to supply to,” Jamie says. “Once we’ve driven the market there, hopefully we can tackle the east coast.”
Planting seeds for the future
The team also discovered an exciting alignment with another local WA brand at Meet the Buyer™, which they hope to bring to fruition.
“It’s a prospect for us to partner with them in the future because they have a lot of products that are complementary,” Jamie says.
It is conversations like these that Jamie believes make the annual trade show, which brings producers and buyers together, so valuable. It is less about signing a deal and more about making connections and planting seeds for what is to come.
Another exhibitor at Meet the Buyer™, SelectEquip, also caught their eye for their packaging solutions.
“They have a vertical form-fill machine, where the food drops into a chute and the machine seals the bag and ejects it from the bottom,” Jamie says. “They also have a multi-head weighing machine that can package thousands of small bags in a fraction of the time.”
For a business weighing up the pros and cons of its next move, being able to see what is available and to have face-to-face conversations with potential suppliers and buyers is what makes Meet the Buyer™ invaluable.
“It gives an insight into what we could do and achieve in the future,” Jamie says. “We could also see what other people are doing, the innovative products they are coming up with, that can help us be more competitive.”
When Yunion returns to Meet the Buyer™ in October, Jamie is keen to connect with businesses that have navigated the east coast expansion, people who can speak frankly about the challenges and opportunities. It is the kind of peer-to-peer intelligence that is hard to find elsewhere.
“It’s not really direct competition because we’re the only ones making fresh noodles, and the networking and connections made can be so important,” Jamie says.
As Yunion approaches an impressive milestone in 2029, there is plenty to celebrate, not the least of which is those original hokkien noodles are still the biggest seller. As the business has evolved and expanded, and found more fans around the State, it’s reassuring to know something that tastes great never goes out of fashion.
Meet the Buyer™ is at Crown Perth on Tuesday 20 October. The exhibition floor has sold out, but buyers can still book tickets to the trade show.
Note: Meet the Buyer™ is a trade and industry event only but you can support local by supporting the businesses mentioned and looking out for local produce wherever you shop.