Not Chicken Feed: How Kee Song built a thriving poultry business
Have you ever heard of chickens listening to classical music? Some 125km northwest of Singapore, in the town of Yong Peng, Johor, more than 20,000 chickens roam freely in a well-ventilated barn. Their afternoon meal, automatically dispensed into their feeding pans, includes a blend of specially-cultured probiotics while Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 plays in the background. Welcome to Kee Song Food Corporation, a poultry producer in Singapore and Malaysia.
Its founder, the late Mr Ong Kee Song, had spent his younger years delivering live chickens to wet markets on his bicycle at Old Tampines Road. In 1987, he and his siblings – brothers Kian Huat and Kian San, and sister Yong Xian – decided to start a business with all that they had learnt about rearing chickens. Kee Song Brothers Poultry Industries (as it was formerly known), headquartered at 2 Defu Lane, was born.
Since then, the family has built the humble business into one of the country’s leading poultry suppliers, making breakthroughs in farming innovation and technology. Along the way, DBS has provided resources to help them grow from strength to strength.
Premium Pricing for Premium Chickens
Kee Song has always harnessed technology to improve its poultry farming processes. But its best-known breakthrough came in 2007 with the launch of Sakura Chicken, a line of chickens raised using an advanced Japanese farming technology that replaces antibiotics and growth hormones in the feed with the natural lactobacillus bacteria. Lactobacillus promotes gut health and can also be found in yoghurt. The choice of classical music helps the chickens relax, leading to healthier produce.
Describing the move, Kee Song’s Chief Marketing Officer James Sim said: “Our founder, my late uncle, was guided by four core principles: for Earth, for mankind, for society, and for the next generation. He wanted to create a better product – chickens with no growth hormones, no antibiotics.”
But the market’s initial reception to Sakura Chickens was lukewarm. First, they are pricier than regular chickens. Each probiotic-fed bird costs around 40 to 50 per cent more to produce than its antibiotic-fed counterparts. By doing away with antibiotics, Kee Song’s farms also have to maintain especially stringent cleanliness standards to minimise the risk of infection, and their chickens need three more days on average to reach a commercially viable weight of 1.8 to 2kg.
Second, education was lacking on this front, as consumers did not fully understand the concept of chickens reared without antibiotics. “It is a myth, but there are still people who believe that chickens are all pa zham,” said Mr Sim, using the Hokkien term for injection. “People also did not know much about probiotics – is it good? Is it safe?”
Kee Song set out to change minds, one meal at a time. It began hosting free tasting sessions in restaurants, and the news spread by word of mouth. “That was the start of the mindset shift. There is a significant taste difference between normal chickens and Sakura Chickens, and people could tell,” said Mr Sim.
A Steadfast Partner in DBS
Through all of Kee Song’s trials and triumphs, it found a committed partner in DBS. Mr Sim recalls tagging along with his uncles to the bank’s outlet at Serangoon Gardens to deposit the company’s cash. The relationship with the bank, which began in 1995, continues to today.
“With DBS, you know you are in good hands. And when we planned for our expansion, DBS was also there to help us,” added Mr Sim.
The humble facility at 2 Defu Lane was where the business grew, but space was always an issue. “Our production floor was tiny. Workers were working with their backs against one another. We had no space for a cold room, so we rented one from our neighbour over at 6 Defu Lane,” Mr Sim recounted.
In 2018, with the lease on 2 Defu Lane up, the company moved to an industrial building at 26 Senoko Way. It secured a loan from DBS to finance the move. At four times the size of the previous plant, the new headquarters allowed the company to ramp up its production capabilities. It invested in new cutting-edge machinery, and the expanded storage and warehouse space led to better economies of scale and higher efficiency.
“Now, we have an automated cutting machine to cut the chickens up into different parts, an automated vacuum pack machine, and our own tumblers to marinate sauces,” said Mr Lim.
DBS has also helped Kee Song automate its payment transactions by setting up a QR code cashless collections system using DBS MAX. The solution is aimed at helping merchants boost efficiency and grow the business.
With DBS MAX, Kee Song’s delivery staff can collect payments instantly from suppliers, without handling cash or cheques. The accounts are automatically reconciled, which saves time and reduces manual work for staff – a major upgrade from Mr Sim’s days of depositing cash at the bank’s branches.
The company has had to weather several calamities over the years, including a flood in Johor in 2007, which necessitated the delivery of chickens via sampan. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it experienced a manpower crunch so severe that even its Chief Financial Officer had to help pack chicken.
However, the company was able to maintain its cash flow thanks to a Temporary Bridging Loan from DBS. In turn, Kee Song could lend its loyal customers, including restaurants and eateries, a helping hand through the provision of credits. “It took about a year, but eventually everybody got back on their feet,” said Mr Sim.
Modern Farming Meets Sustainable Practices
Today, Kee Song owns 15 farms and counting for the breeding and supplying of live chicken. Around 20 to 30,000 chickens are sent to Singapore daily. At Tuas, all of them are first de-feathered, disembowelled, and placed in a chilling tank to remove bacteria and germs. They are then sent to Senoko, where up to 6,000 chickens are processed hourly. The chickens are cut into different parts before being vacuum-packed for delivery.
Kee Song’s premium products, from Lacto Chicken to Sakura Chicken, are now a ubiquitous sight at supermarkets and hypermarkets across Singapore, Malaysia, and beyond.
Next on the company’s to-do list: make its processes greener and more sustainable. It received the LowCarbonSG certification in 2024, after pledging to continuously monitor and reduce its carbon footprint. In addition, the droppings of its premium chickens are being collected, fermented, and processed into plant fertiliser that is shipped to as far as Papua New Guinea to help cultivate sweet potatoes. But Kee Song wants to do more.
It has already transitioned from Styrofoam packaging to thermoforming recyclable plastic and is now developing entirely plant-based packaging. “The best thing would be to get rid of plastic use entirely,” said Mr Sim. “It is more costly, but the moment more suppliers come on board and adopt plastic-free packaging, the costs will be reduced.”
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