Taiwan family puts new spin on traditional dish

For her, the key to her parents' success was the quality of the fish balls they made, but she is taking a slightly different approach.

First, to reduce costs and enhance efficiency, she has focused on improvements to the production line, from the purchase of raw materials to production and packaging.

Second, she has opened the factory to visitors, building confidence among potential future customers.

Third, she has focused on the balls themselves.

"Fish balls are more than just an addition or a side dish," she said. "They can be made into different shapes. We want to make fish balls delicious, fun and sophisticated."

With the onset of the epidemic last year, Wu saw an opportunity to expand her customer base. "The young generation seldom cooks," she said. "We capitalized on the trend and began working on new products."

One of the first to emerge was the instant fish ball. Normally, fish balls are frozen and have to be cooked, but the instant balls are ready to eat. Wu enlisted the help of product designers to make them as appealing as possible and then reached out directly to customers. "We taught people how to make dishes with our fish balls through livestreaming."

Under her leadership, sales volumes climbed by 34.2 percent last year.

As a member of the catering industry, Wu naturally enjoys food. Her favorites include bubble tea, the popular tapioca ball milk tea combo that originated in Taiwan, fried sour pork and siguotang, a traditional Fujianese summer dessert of fruits, beans and crushed ice.

Though born in Taiwan, Wu has been living in Quanzhou for more than 20 years, and it has become her home. She enjoys the city's history and often visits the Kaiyuan temple in her free time.

"My husband comes from Quanzhou, my parents live here with us and my two children were born and raised here. For me, home is where my family is," she said. "In the future, we want to build an industrial food park to attract more businesses and entrepreneurs from Taiwan, and bring more delicious foods and products to the mainland market."