Photo: Lost Dragon, 1996
Nihao friend.
My name is Lukas and I’m Ecommerce Lead here at Woodbird®. I want to tell you the true story of how Woodbird® came into being the company it is today.
It’s not at all a part of my job description and to be honest I don’t know a lot about it. But I’m hopeful I can figure something out.
Let’s get this bao.
Woodbird® or: How To Get Jeans At The Price of a Family Meal
Our story begins in Herning and Holstebro, home of original founders Lars Munkholm and Jacob Cadovius. It's a Sunday in 2010 and once again the two of them are watching "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny" on TV2.
But right as the masked thief sneaks into Sir Te's estate and steals the Green Destiny, they pause, and at the exact same time they say, "Wouldn't it be great if you could get a pair of jeans for the price of a family meal at the Lost Dragon?"
A dragon magically appears.
"Hello Lars and Jacob", the dragon says. Lars and Jacob both scream. But the dragon is polite and ignores it.
"Word on the street is", the dragon continues, "you need jeans?"
The dragon takes its jeans off. "Here", the dragon says, "use this for inspiration."
Lars and Jacob look at each other. Finally Lars asks, "What's your name, dragon?"
"I'm Woodbird® from Hong Kong", the dragon says. "See, it says so right there on the label."
The dragon disappeared into thin air.
Not much time passed before jeans from Woodbird® becomes household names in Danish multibrand stores. A local success. Hungry for more.
That's not the story you've heard?
Well, it's true that most people who know a bit about Woodbird® think our HK84DK10 concept was coined in 2021 by Head of Creative Rickey Lindberg, proposing to utilise CEO Chung Wai Cheung's heritage for commercial purposes:
HK84 refers to Hong Kong and 1984, which was the Year of the Wood Rat and the year Chung was born, and DK10 refers to Denmark and 2010, the year Woodbird® was born.
But as you can tell, this is utter hearsay. The true origin is a dragon named Woodbird®. I can't stress it enough. This is all true.
No more questions. Let's get back to the story.
Where were we?
Ah yes, supreme leader Chung Wai Cheung enters the stage.
Not to be confused with a North Korean dictator. This will all make sense, I promise (don't fire me just yet, Chung, or preferably at all).
From Wood To Fire:
The origin of supreme leader Chung Wai Cheung
Chung's parents were the owners of the legendary restaurant the Lost Dragon. Whatever you ordered there tasted like something out of this world.
Their trademark and claim to fame was Dragon Steam®. If you inhaled the steam from any of their dishes and exhaled through your nose, the steam would take the shape of a dragon for half a second before disappearing again.
It goes without saying, Lost Dragon was a big hit with the kids, and so they worked. When everyone else had time off, they worked. And then in 1996, Year of the Fire Rat, Chung was finally old enough to help out in the kitchen.
In modern terms, he was hired as a chef de plonge. In more practical terms, he was responsible for cleaning dishes and helping out wherever help was needed.
Some say this is where he got his work ethic. This is, of course, a complete lie. What actually happened was this:
