Best mates Will Krutop and Tommy Hsu, who live seven houses from each other in Point Cook, have launched Two Fold, to bring modern Chinese dumplings to the west. Mr Krutop chats with Alesha Capone.
How did you meet?
Tommy and I first met during our stint at Bean Smuggler Café (in Point Cook). I was managing the front of house for about a year, when Tommy had been hired to run the kitchen. We had just lost the only other chef and the owner/operator was heading back to Korea for a few weeks. Tommy and I had been left to run the café. We had to work some ridiculous hours and immediately gained a professional respect for each other. From there our friendship has grown to the inseparable pair we are today. Tommy had been looking around Point Cook for his own place for a while before he settled on my street. I think our partners hated it initially, but it’s very convenient for when we were testing recipes or ingredients. I might make something that I love and just message him to say, ‘I’ve got something you need to try, I’ll be over in 10 minutes’.
How did you come up with the idea for Two Fold?
It’s actually an idea Tommy had when we first met. He wanted to make dumplings on the side whilst we were working at Bean. That idea got put on the back burner as the café grew then, like most people I tried to learn new skills during lockdown, and one afternoon put myself to the task of making dumplings. I decided to give them out to friends and family just as a nice gesture and the response was really positive. We laughed and joked about how he wanted to start a dumpling business two years ago and from there ideas just kept flowing until eventually we acted on them.
Where do you make the dumplings every Thursday, before delivering them to customers in the west on Fridays?
Much to my partner’s initial annoyance, we’ve registered my house with Wyndham council and produce the dumplings from here every Thursday.
What have you most enjoyed so far, about operating Two Fold?
Just getting to express that creativity and challenge ourselves constantly. All the branding, the website, the graphics, the recipes, the social media, that’s all us. It’s very fulfilling seeing everything we’ve envisioned come to fruition. The delivery day is also lots of fun, its great being able to work with your best friend.
Have you also faced any challenges since starting out?
The biggest challenge is production. Being just the two of us and producing fresh weekly then delivering is a lot of work. We could be like everyone else and just make enough dumplings, freeze them and deliver whenever. But we really are passionate about what we do and standing there folding dumplings on a Thursday for 16 hours straight is worth it to us.
Would you like to add anything else?
Just want to mention how appreciative we are for the initial success of the business. We really value being a part of this community and look forward to growing with it. 2022 is going to be a big year for us, we will be adding more products to our menu such as salads and chicken wings, hopefully a few collaborations and expanding our delivery options.
