On the grass-green small round signboard, a piggy is craning its neck.

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At the stall, the white color pork haslets and red meat sausage are lined up right in front of you, looking colorful and lively.

 

When the fridge door was pulled open, the cold air would escape accompanied with the smell of sweetness unique to the warm meat.

 

 “Hey, what do you need?” The lady asked with a sweet and delightful voice, while the tip of the knife in her hand wandered dexterously on the texture of the pork. During the conversation and laughter, bags of flat-cut meat were handed over to the customers one by one.

 

In the back of the stall, the squeaky bone saw machine was running. The lady opened the fridge door with one hand, at the same time carefully counted the amount of steaks reserved by the customers.

 

Stay organized when being busy is the daily scene of Wu Lu Fa Pork Stall.

A pork stall taught by the customers

The owner Chiu Mao-Yuan’s family had run a pig farming business in Taoyuan, and most of his relatives had experience in the pork business. However, when he was in elementary school, he and his parents moved to Hualien to start a new business. His parents had tried selling clothes, running a buffet restaurant, they even joined the direct selling companies, and sold homemade rousong (meat floss). Eventually, they returned to pig farming, the business they were most familiar with. His parents were deeply aware of how tough it was to run a pig farming business, so they did not let their son get involved much in the early years. Until Chiu Mao-Yuan reached the age of joining the army and his father became too weak to manage the business on his own, he was finally allowed to help at the market. He learnt everything from scratch, and has been running the business for more than 20 years now.

 

“We are taught by our customers,” Chiu Mao-Yuan humbly said. He and his wife value customers’ feedback a lot, and they keep learning and improving from the suggestions they received. One time, their customers told them that the ground meat was easy to rotten if washed by raw water, so they used RO water instead. There was another time that they were told the pork of male pigs had an offensive odor, so they spent more money on purchasing female pigs. And since the customers’ cooking habits have become more diverse and exquisite, they keep practicing their knife skills to meet the customers’ needs. If their customers are too old to walk to the market, they will deliver the meat straight to their house.

 

Because they have an open mind, and are willing to improve according to the feedback, Wu Lu Fa Pork Stall has gradually gathered a group of fans. Their fans are their best advisory group.

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To help customers maintain freshness is to maintain the credibility

Freshness is the key to delicious meat. In order to make things convenient for customers, Chiu Mao-Yuan uses transparent refrigerators and provides ice pack rental service. In addition, if the customers live far away, he will suggest they buy just enough and not too much.

 

“I help customers maintain the freshness of meat, which is to maintain my credibility.”

 

Unlike most stall owners who simply put the equipment used into the fridge after closing, Mr. Chiu and his wife insist on cleaning all equipment and freezers every day. They will remove the blades, and make sure all the holes in the equipment are cleaned one by one, so that the residual meat scraps will not affect the quality of the next day's ground meat.

 

“Sometimes the customers will ask us to grind meat on holidays. Even so, I will still remove the blades and clean the equipment as soon as I finish using them.” Mrs. Chiu is mainly in charge of the work for closing since she can do it quickly and accurately. She always takes good care of every detail. On the contrary, Mr. Chiu always does things slowly. That’s probably why they make a perfect couple. “We usually go to work at 3:30 in the morning and get home at 3:30 in the afternoon. Fortunately, my wife can do things quickly. If I were the one in charge of the closing work, maybe we won't be able to go home until 10 in the evening!” Talking about this, they looked at each other and laughed.

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Be considerate, observant, and attentive at what you do

Mrs. Chiu has a good memory. She can remember the customer’s preferences even if they only shop at their stall once. In addition, she can even tell which customers are a family from what meat they usually buy. “She always knows what the customers want. Even the customers are surprised!” Speaking of his wife's amazing memory, Mr. Chiu cannot hide his admiration.

 

When Mrs. Chiu is serving the customers, Mr. Chiu will take the opportunity to observe the details of people’s shopping behaviors.

 

He found that the hand-cut ribs often consist bone fragments that might get stuck in the children’s throat when they eat them, so he started to use a bone saw machine. He also noticed that pigs processed by electrocution often get bruises. If the customers make boiled meat with such pork, their meat will have dark spots, so Mr. Chiu will remove the bruises beforehand. When he knew that young people are not used to asking prices, he made a clear list of prices and services. Furthermore, he realized that more and more people want to deliver meat to relatives in other cities and towns, so he bought the vacuum packaging machine and starts to offer home delivery services.

 

“When a fellow from Vietnam comes to our stall and buys meat, we will give him or her some discounts.” Because Mrs. Chiu is Vietnamese, the Vietnamese migrant workers often come to their stall to buy meat. “They are here to make money to support their families. Living in Hualien could cost a lot. We’d like to help others within our ability. It’s fine even if we make a little less.”

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“It depends on what we can do. I will try my best to do what we can,” Mr. Chiu said.

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The meat quality is the most important thing, the service is just a bonus

“No matter how beautiful the stall looks or how good our service is... none of that matters if the meat is not tasty. The quality of the meat is the most important thing.”

 

The pigs that Wu Lu Fa Pork Stall uses are either fed on vegetables, fruits, pastures, or vinasses. With vinasses in feed, the pork tastes more fresh, sweet and juicy, and has a natural red color. Unlike the pork using food waste in feed, which will smell bad and look bright red.

 

Speaking of how they met the pig farmer that uses vinasses in feed, Mr. Chiu's eyes lit up. He said he used to buy the pork from their farm, and the pig farmer would buy pork livers from their stall. The pig farmer told him that if there are additives used in the feed, the additives will remain in the liver. After getting acquainted, Mr. and Mrs. Chiu decided to work with the pig farmer for the long term because they are honest and reliable. “I sent their pork for testing, and none of the residues of clenbuterol, antibiotics, and other 48 kinds of animal drugs were found. This is really rare. Usually the pig farmer will use some additives.”