KAOHSIUNG - This was not your average company staff dinner: There were fireworks, stage performances by the likes of pop singer Wakin Chau and a lavish 12-course meal served to 2,600 banquet tables.
Hosted by Singapore wellness product company Riway International, the mega outdoor banquet held in the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung on Tuesday became a social media sensation, with local Facebook users commenting that it was “the most extraordinary corporate dinner” they had ever seen.
Besides Chau, music acts including Taiwanese rockers Power Station and singer-songwriter Ricky Hsiao were also part of the performance line-up.
Riway did not immediately respond to The Straits Times’ request for comment, but a company spokeswoman told Taiwan’s Commercial Times that the event was estimated to have cost almost NT$100 million (S$4.35 million) to produce. The food and table setup alone cost NT$30 million, she added.
As it is difficult to find a venue that could accommodate so many people at once, the company decided to set up the banquet on an empty plot of land, she said, noting that preparations for the event began last September.
While most of the 26,000 attendees were the company’s employees and sales representatives, including those who flew in from branch offices including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan, other business partners and guests were also involved, local media reports said.
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The dinner, themed No Hold Back, was held to celebrate the company’s 15th anniversary. It was also the company’s weiya, an annual dinner banquet typically held by companies in Taiwan ahead of Chinese New Year to thank workers for their hard work.
Weiyas are often a company’s biggest staff event of the year, but even then, Riway’s banquet stood out for its massive scale.
“Riway leaders from all over the world gathered to celebrate this meaningful day… This spectacular scene is definitely the best motivation to start a new year,” the company wrote in a Facebook post.
According to its website, Riway’s flagship product is a type of capsule made using deer placenta, which is consumed as an anti-ageing supplement.
In 2021, the Ang Mo Kio-headquartered company was fined $3,000 by Singapore’s Health Sciences Authority (HSA) for making false and misleading claims that the product prevents, alleviates or cures diseases and medical conditions such as cancer and diabetes.
HSA advised members of the public to be wary of such claims, and said that the product is not meant for treating or managing medical conditions.
This comes after the authority in 2019 directed the company to educate its sellers to ensure they do not make false claims about the product.
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.