Horng Ruey Jen Sandwich

Horng Ruey Jen Sandwich (洪瑞珍三明治) is the sandwich brand that grew out of the Horng Ruey Jen bakery (洪瑞珍餅店), a traditional Taiwanese pastry shop founded in 1947 in Beidou Township, Changhua County. According to the brand's own account, the business was started by Hong Yi-Shan, the fifth of seven Hong brothers, who began learning pastry-making at seventeen and opened a confectionery shop named 'Horng Ruey Jen' at the junction of Douyuan Road and Guangfu Road in Beidou. The Hong brothers later invested together, and the name spread across Taiwan, with shops appearing in Beidou, Erlin, Taichung, Hsinchu, Taipei, Tainan and Kaohsiung. The brand's signature product is a simple sandwich in which mayonnaise replaces butter, giving it a sweet base that can be varied. The official site describes it as having a 'pure taste, not greasy, melting in the mouth' light-meal quality and calls it the number-one internet favorite. Sandwiches are made fresh daily and the brand states it adds no preservatives. Alongside sandwiches, the bakery sells traditional pastries and gifts: walnut cakes, honeycomb cakes, five-kernel cakes, pineapple cakes, taro braised-pork cakes, red-bean and taro mochi, coconut pastries, peanut brittle, and handmade wedding cakes (xi bing), as well as Mid-Autumn mooncakes. A distinctive feature of the brand is that it is not a single corporate chain. Chinese Wikipedia notes that the Horng Ruey Jen sandwich name is used by systems run by different relatives, so shops bearing the 'Horng Ruey Jen' sign — whether called bakery, pastry shop or sandwich shop — trace their origin to the Beidou 'Horng Ruey Jen' but are not all one company. The founding Beidou shop presents itself as the original main store and operates an online shop and member system through its website. The brand is closely tied to Beidou's local food identity. The official history notes that Beidou was known by the old saying 'one Fu, two Lu, three Mengjia, four Baodou,' and that crunchy sugar (酥糖), meatballs and dried meat were its three famous products; the most celebrated confectionery under that tradition was Horng Ruey Jen. The sandwiches have become popular with travelers as gifts, and the brand remains active, selling through its Beidou store and online channels.

The Horng Ruey Jen name originates in Beidou Township, Changhua County, an old town known by the saying 'one Fu, two Lu, three Mengjia, four Baodou.' According to the brand's official history, crunchy sugar, meatballs and dried meat were Beidou's three famous products, and the most celebrated confectionery in that tradition was the 'Horng Ruey Jen' shop. The business was founded in 1947 by Hong Yi-Shan, the fifth of seven Hong brothers. Hong began learning pastry-making at seventeen, starting as an apprentice in a bakery, and his careful ingredients and fine handwork earned him an invitation to a Japanese food exposition. In 1943 (Republic of China year 32), he first opened a confectionery shop at the junction of Douyuan Road and Guangfu Road in Beidou and named it 'Horng Ruey Jen.' The Hong brothers later invested together, and the name expanded across Taiwan, with branches in Beidou, Erlin, Taichung, Hsinchu, Taipei, Tainan and Kaohsiung. The official site states the shop was founded in 1947 and describes it as having stood for nearly sixty years, representing a page in the development of Beidou's food industry and becoming almost synonymous with the town. Its traditional products — Beidou specialties, crunchy sugar, mouth-crisp cakes, dried meat and pastries — and its engagement cakes (wedding cakes) earned a strong reputation. Over time the sandwich became the brand's breakout product. Chinese Wikipedia describes Horng Ruey Jen Sandwich as a sandwich brand that started from the Beidou 'Horng Ruey Jen bakery' in Changhua County, attracting many travelers who buy it as a gift. Its distinguishing feature is the use of mayonnaise instead of butter, building on a sweet base and then varying it. The official site markets the sandwich as a light-meal product with a 'pure taste, not greasy, melting in the mouth' quality, calls it the number-one internet favorite, and states that sandwiches are made fresh daily with no preservatives. A key structural fact is that the brand is not a single corporate chain. Chinese Wikipedia notes that the various shops are not one enterprise but belong to systems opened by different relatives. The founding Beidou shop accordingly brands itself as the 'original main store' (創始本店) and runs its own online shop, member registration and order-query system. The brand's product line today combines traditional pastries — walnut cakes, honeycomb cakes, five-kernel cakes, pineapple cakes, taro braised-pork cakes, red-bean and taro mochi, coconut pastries, peanut brittle, handmade wedding cakes and Mid-Autumn mooncakes — with the sandwich that made it a modern gift and group-buy favorite.

• 2018

  The official site publishes a 'solemn statement' (嚴正聲明) regarding Horng Ruey Jen sandwiches.

• 1947

  The official history dates the founding of Horng Ruey Jen bakery to 1947.

• 1943

  Hong Yi-Shan opens a confectionery shop at the junction of Douyuan Road and Guangfu Road in Beidou and names it 'Horng Ruey Jen.'

• The Hong brothers invest together and the Horng Ruey Jen name expands to branches in Beidou, Erlin, Taichung, Hsinchu, Taipei, Tainan and Kaohsiung.

• The mayonnaise-based sandwich becomes the brand's signature product and a popular gift and online group-buy item.

Traditional Taiwanese bakery turned popular sandwich gift brand; positioned as a light, non-greasy, freshly made everyday treat and a well-known local specialty of Beidou, Changhua.

• Horng Ruey Jen sandwich

  Mayonnaise-based sandwich made fresh daily with no preservatives; the brand's signature item.

• Walnut cake

  Traditional pastry sold in gift boxes.

• Honeycomb cake

  Traditional pastry available in 4-piece and 12-piece gift boxes.

• Five-kernel cake

  Traditional pastry.

• Pineapple cake

  Traditional Taiwanese pastry.

• Taro braised-pork cake

  Savory-sweet traditional pastry.

• Red-bean mochi

  Mochi with red-bean filling.

• Taro mochi

  Mochi with taro filling.

• Coconut pastry

  Layered flaky pastry with soft, lightly sweet filling.

• Peanut brittle

  Crisp, not-too-sweet peanut brittle with a distinctive seaweed aroma.

• Handmade wedding cakes (xi bing)

  Traditional engagement/wedding cakes sold in gift boxes.

• Mid-Autumn mooncakes

  Seasonal mooncakes.

1. 1洪瑞珍餅店 本店 | 彰化北斗名產 (official website homepage)hjc.tw
2. 2關於洪瑞珍 | 洪瑞珍餅店 本店 | 彰化北斗名產hjc.tw
3. 3Horng Ruey Jen Sandwich — Wikidatawikidata.org
4. 4洪瑞珍三文治 — 维基百科zh.wikipedia.org