Meeting a 91 Year Old Employee at the Original Famous Chinese Sauce Store in Macau

Since our hotel was not right in Macau's downtown casino district, but an easy walk for about 15-20 minutes to the attractions, it gave us the opportunity to explore the real Macau where normal Macanese live and work rather than just seeing the glitz tourist side of this nice small city. 

The dual  Portuguese and Macau heritage makes Macau an interesting city to visit. There are lots of interesting food to try.  We ate at local restaurants serving real Macau and fusion Macau and Portuguese food to residents of the neighborhood. They were delicious! Because Macau is a much smaller city, the people are more friendly. One thing we enjoyed on this visit was getting to know some of the restaurant staff and shopkeepers and chatted with them about life in Macau.

We were delighted to have a good conversation with a shopkeeper working for one the  most famous Chinese owned companies, Lee Kam Kee - the company that has been making Chinese sauces for over 140 years  since 1800’s. 

Lee Kam Kee  sauces are used and recognized by almost every Chinese who cooks. The company makes a great varieties of sauces and some of the most famous sauces are their soya sauces, oyster sauces and Chinese BBQ sauces.  You can buy the Lee Kam Kee sauces in any of the Asian grocery stores all over the world and even in many of the mainstream supermarkets.

It was a delightful encounter with this shopkeeper who has been working for the sole owner of this company for the past 70 years! He is now in his 90’s and still goes to work in the company’s first store in Macau. He proudly showed off the picture and certificate he received from his company recognizing his contributions there. He told us about the wonderful dinner which the company put on to honour their long time employees!

As a kid, I saw my grandmother and mother cooking with the Lee Kim Kee sauces. I have been using them since I started cooking. This is a company whose products we use almost daily. Therefore, I was happy to learn that the company didn't set a mandatory retirement age for its employees. This shopkeeper informed us that if  employees wanted to work and were able, the company would let them continue to work at the job they loved. That was exactly what happened to this  91 year old shopkeeper! What a dedicated  employee and what a company that appreciates its employees!

R.T. at the Original Lee Kam Kee Store 

Macau 

062025