Wing Yip - Chronology

Chronology

• 1959 - Wing Yip arrives in England by boat from Hong Kong.

• 1960s - Wing Yip opens a restaurant with partners in a former tea shop in Clacton-on-Sea. This is quickly followed by a further three restaurants and two take-aways in the East Anglia region. In 1968, he is joined by his brother, Sammy Yap who worked in the hotel trade in Hong Kong.

• 1970 - Wing Yip and his brother Sammy open a specialist Chinese grocery in Digbeth, Birmingham, supplying more than 1,000 genuine Chinese products to restaurants and takeaways as well as to Chinese families in and around Birmingham.

This first Wing Yip store in Digbeth employs fewer than ten people and quickly gains a following in the Chinese community and with those interested in Chinese cooking.

• 1975 - After five years of trading, the business moves to larger premises in nearby Coventry Street where it is to be based for the next 17 years. The new site offers car parking for customers and attracts Chinese business tenants including a travel agent.

• 1977 - Lee Sing Yap joins his brothers Wing Yip and Sammy. Together they open a Manchester store on Faulkner Street in Manchester's Chinatown area which enjoys a thriving restaurant scene.

• 1978 - A second Manchester store opens on Addington Street. This larger site based outside the city centre provides free car parking and other facilities to meet the demands of restaurant and takeaway owners.

• 1986 - The brothers buy and develop a 2.24-acre (9,100 m2) site on Oldham Road - Manchester on the edge of the city centre. The Manchester operations are brought together at the new premises.

• 1988 - The first London store opens in Cricklewood on Edgware Road (A5 next to Junction 1 of the M1). Following the success of the Birmingham and Manchester stores, demand grows from customers based in and around the Greater London area for a store in the south of the country.

• 1992 - The Birmingham business moves from Coventry Street to large modern premises in Nechells in Birmingham. The site together with its associated Wing Yip Business Centre attracts tenants such as solicitors, a doctor and accountants who use it as a base to serve the Chinese community.

• 1995 - The Wing Yip Brand of sauces launches to enable caterers and food manufacturers to create authentic Chinese meals with the flavour profile of the finest Chinese restaurants and takeways. A retail range is also launched.

• 1995 - The second London store opens in Croydon on Purley Way (A23). The site incorporates its own Business Centre with Chinese and Malaysian restaurants as well as other Chinese businesses. The site becomes a local landmark with its Oriental design and wins a Croydon Design Award for its architecture and Chinese Arch.

• 1996 - The Birmingham site grows to 7 acres (28,000 m2) with the purchase and development of further land including a public road. The additional land is developed to include a large modern central distribution warehouse and an Oriental-style Business Centre with a range of Chinese businesses including two fine restaurants, a bank, lawyers and accountants.

The landmark Chinese Arch with handmade tiles from China is erected.

• 1998 - Wing Yip and his brothers donate a 40-foot (12 m) granite pagoda to the City of Birmingham in thanks to the city and its people for providing a home for them and their families and for the city’s support over the years. The pagoda which was hand-carved in China is erected at Holloway Circus close to Birmingham’s Chinese Quarter.

• 2003 - The Manchester site is redeveloped to provide a truly Oriental setting for customers, with an enlarged cash and carry store and a new Business Centre incorporating a successful Chinese restaurant, a branch of HSBC and other tenants.

• 2004 - Wing Yip's online shopping site launches primarily to serve UK consumers and orders are received from Europe and as far away as Australia. The site includes recipes, cooking and dining information as well as cultural sections.

The Wing Yip range of sauces finds favour with visitors to the BBC Good Food Show at the NEC.

• 2005 - The Wing Yip exhibit at the International Food Exhibition at Exel in London and tastings of the sauces prove extremely popular with visitors.

The redevelopment of the Cricklewood site begins. The project will see the building of a new enlarged cash and carry store open to the trade and the public with underground parking, a Business Centre including a Chinese restaurant together with an office building all in an Oriental style. July 2005 - begins major expansion at the Cricklewood location.

• Today - the Cricklewood redevelopment is completed.

The Wing Yip Group now operates from four freehold sites covering 16.3 acres (66,000 m2) and employs 300 staff. Other strategic sites in the UK have been proposed and new stores are to be built.