Sweet Flavor-Dahesong Salico

Email of interview with Taipei County Magistrate Chou, Si-Wei

Magistrate Chou:
       We are students in Class 1, Grade 6 of Taipei City Shuang Yuan Primary School. In November last year we organized a research group named the Vigorous Team to do the theme research on Dahesong Salico for participating in the Schools Cyberfair in the hope of winning honor for Taiwan and helping Taiwanese local enterprises to walk onto the international stage. We interviewed a lot of people and customers, Dahesong Salico Board Chairman Zeng Cuei-Na and General Manager Ciou Yi-Rong, and staff of Taiwan Nougat Museum and sales stores. We want to get some ideas about the importance and influence of Dahesong Salico to Taipei County, and here we ask you some questions about “Dahesong Salico and the development of Taipei County”. We expect and appreciate your reply very much. Thanks!
               Li Kun-Han, Lin Cheng-Siao, Sun Ruo-Cing, Ying Yong-Sin, Lin Yi-Ting
               Vigorous Research Team, Shuang Yuan Primary School
               Date: January 10, 2007

Content of interview

Q：What aid or value has Dahesong Salico - Taiwan Nougat Museum to the development of Taipei County?
A：as to the aid or value of Dahesong Salico - Taiwan Nougat Museum to the development of Taipei County, we all know that the profit of an enterprise not only comes from the result of business operation, but also originates from the consumption of people and the environment, culture and society in which the enterprises exists. In order to realize sustainable operation, an enterprise must care for the people around; meanwhile, only an enterprise that burdens social responsibility and feeds back to the society can obtain support from all circles and create more profits. Taiwan Nougat Museum perfectly embodies the spirit of never

Taipei County Magistrate
Chou, Si-Wei

forgetting where the success comes from. General Manager Ciou is an excellent entrepreneur. Under his leadership, Dahesong Salico has developed from a small cold drink store, through production and wholesale of cakes and bread and sole operation of nougat, to a leading producer of wedding candy and wedding cake. Moreover, the enterprise invests much in commonweal activities to feed back to the society on the spirit of thanksgiving and the idea of “taking from the society and using for the society”. For example, the company provides bus chairs and holds Salico wedding for disabled peoples and sales for charity. It breaks the selfish image of traditional enterprises seeking for profit, cares for the society, and treats employees as family members and neighborhood as community. Therefore, Taiwan Nougat Museum provides a good place of recreation for the people in Tucheng. It is also established by General Manager Ciou for the young people to know more about the Hakka culture and traditional filial piety, and for promoting the local human culture of Taiwan and basing the life culture into the grass root. Besides, Mr. Ciou also sets a good example for other enterprises thanks to his care for public welfare and the good corporate image.

Q：Dahesong Salico-Taiwan Nougat Museum is a scenic spot with considerable educational meaning, but it is relatively far away from the metro station. Can Taipei County Government provide free shuttle bus to provide convenience for the people?
A：Considering the “user fee” principle and the insufficient financial power of the government, I think it is not proper to provide free shuttle bus from the metro station to Taiwan Nougat Museum. To visit the museum, people can take Shuttle Bus Blue No.43 from the metro station.

Q：Dahesong Salico represents Taiwanese characteristics perfectly. Does Taipei County Government have any suggestion or can it provide any help to sell the product through out the world?
A：The establishment of Taiwan Nougat Museum owes to the Local Industrial Innovation and Transformation Development Plan initiated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs with the assistance of Taipei County Government, and the plan is carried out to assist manufacturing enterprises to provide tourism services and make their factories scenic spots. The establishment of Taiwan Nougat Museum is a best example of the cooperation among the central government, local government and the industry for promoting the tourism industry. During the process of establishment, the Ministry of Economic Affairs has advantages of familiarity with legal provisions, integration of resources and public power, providing the factory with policy elasticity. The executive team, based on its experiences in cooperating with the government to promote a series of industrial assistance plans, is familiar with the utilization of governmental resources, able to provide complete assistance for the industry. In addition, the unique passion and enthusiasm of the operator is the main driving force for carrying out the plan. As to the efforts made by our local government, we have provided assistance in local traffic facilities and peripheral construction, promotion support and the latest information, set up indicating plates and held themed industrial education activities. All these actions will substantially benefit the image promotion of the tourism factory. When the tourism demand is created and the content of visit is enriched and deepened, the product image of the factory will also be improved. With the increase of visitors, the products will become more and more famous and be introduced to the whole world. For instance, the Pingsi Lantern and the Gungliao Rock Festival organized by the government every year were once local tourism activities in the beginning, but with the successful organization and the expansion of scale, they have attracted more and more visitors and thus become international large-scale tourism activities.