Item 1. Business
Company Overview
We were incorporated as “Vortec Electronics, Inc.”
in the State of Nevada on March 26, 2007. Our principal offices are located at No. 16D, Jalan 6/5 Taman Komersial Pandan Indah,
Malaysia.
We are engaged in the business of designing, developing, manufacturing,
and selling a fully automated frying wok, which will be used as an automatic fried rice cooker (the “Product”) specifically
for commercial applications. We are currently testing and refining the prototype Product, which we have built in our facility
in Shanghai, China. When we are satisfied that our Product provides the highest-quality of fried rice possible for the consumer,
we will begin the manufacture and distribution of the Product to restaurants, dining halls, and grocery stores throughout mainland
China.
Fried Rice
Fried rice
(
炒飯
)
is a popular component of Chinese cuisine. It originated as a homemade dish from China, made from cold leftover
rice
fried with other leftover ingredients. It is sometimes served as the penultimate dish in Chinese banquets (just before
dessert).
There are dozens of varieties of fried rice, each with their own
specific list of ingredients. In Asia, the more famous varieties include Yangchow (Yangzhou) and Fukien (Fujian) fried rice. In
the West, Chinese restaurants catering to non-Chinese clientele have invented their own varieties of fried rice including egg
fried rice, Singaporean (spicy) fried rice and the ubiquitous 'special fried rice'.
China is an industrialized nation with factories that supply products
not only domestically, but internationally as well. Most factories are staffed by workers who have left the farm, figuratively
and literally, within the last generation. They work and often live at the factory, traveling long distances to and from their
homes if they don’t sleep at the factory. As a result, Chinese factories have large dining halls created to feed the hundreds
or thousands of employees.
Because fried rice is such a staple of the Chinese diet, these
dining halls cooks hundreds of pounds of fried rice daily. Restaurants and grocery stores similarly make enormous amounts of fried
rice each day to feed those who work in the city in a factory or office that does not have a dining hall.
Fried rice made in these bulk quantities is generally cooked in
an extra-large (larger than one meter in diameter), iron wok, heated by charcoal or heating oil. Because these materials don’t
burn 100%, some of the byproducts of combustion float into the air and then drop on the food. Also, it is difficult to control
the temperature of the wok, and cooks generally use their hands to stir the food, so the food is often not cooked evenly and issues
of hygiene abound.
Typical fried rice found in Singapore
Ingredients used in fried rice are greatly varied. They include
vegetables such as carrots, bean sprouts, celery, peas, and others, as well as chicken, pork (usually Char siu), shrimp, or tofu.
Generally cooked in a wok, fried rice includes vegetable oil or animal fat to prevent sticking, as well as for flavor. Bits of
egg provide color in many dishes. Chile pepper or hot sauces often add a piquant touch to this dish or are offered in a small
dish on the side of the rice. Many cooks season the fried rice with black pepper. Soy sauce gives fried rice its brown color and
savory taste. Often, onions and garlic add complexity and extra flavor. It is popularly eaten either as an accompaniment to another
dish or, alternatively on its own as a course by itself. Popular garnishes include fried shallots, sprigs of parsley, carrots
carved into intricate shapes or sliced chili sprinkled on top of the heaped rice. Many foodstands found on the streets across
Southeast Asia will cook and serve fried rice on the spot.
Traditional Woks
The wok is a versatile round-bottomed cooking vessel originating
in China. It is used especially in East and Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The word "wok"
comes from the Cantonese Chinese word for the item,
鑊
.
Most Chinese families own at least one wok. It is most often used for stir frying, but can also be used many other ways,
such as in steaming, deep frying, braising, stewing, or making soup.
Characteristics
The wok's most distinguishing feature is its shape. Classic woks
have a rounded bottom, making them resemble a section of a sphere. Hand-hammered woks are sometimes flipped inside out after being
shaped, giving the wok a gentle flare to the edge that makes it easier to push food up onto the sides of the wok. Woks sold in
western countries are sometimes found with flat bottoms - this makes them more similar to a deep frying pan. The flat bottom allows
the wok to be used on an electric stove, where a rounded wok would not be able to fully contact the stove's heating element.
Most woks range from 30 cm to 2 meters or more in diameter. Woks
of 36 cm (14 inches) (suitable for a family of 3 or 4) are the most common, but home woks can be found as small as 20 cm (8")
and as large as 91 cm (36"). Smaller woks are typically used for quick cooking techniques at high heat such as stir frying.
Large woks over a meter wide are mainly used by restaurants or community kitchens for cooking rice or soup, or for boiling water.
Wok stoves
Woks by design are meant to be used over a pit-style stove, where
the heat arising from the fuel is fully directed at the bottom of the wok, with no heat escaping around the edges. These pit stoves
originally used wood or coal, but are now more typically a gas stove that has burners that are recessed below the stove's surface,
to encompass the wok's shape. Curved grates on the stove provide stability to the curved wok. This allows foods to be stir-fried
at a very high heat, sometimes hot enough to deform the woks themselves. Pit stoves are typically used by professional chefs in
most Chinese restaurants, since they have the heating power to give food an alluring wok hei (unique wok flavor).
Woks, be they round or flat bottomed, do not generally work well
for stir-frying or other quick cooking methods when used on an electric cooker. These stoves do not produce the large amounts
of quick even heat required for stir-frying. However, it is possible to find round-shaped electric stove elements that will fit
the curve of a wok, which allows the wok to be heated at its bottom along with part of its sides. A flat-bottomed wok may also
work better on an electric stove.
Advantages
The main advantage of a wok is traditionally considered its curved
concave shape. The shape produces a small, hot area at the bottom which allows some of the food to be seared by intense heat while
using relatively little fuel. The large sloped sides also make it easier for chefs to employ the tossing cooking technique on
solid and thick liquid food with less spillage and a greater margin of safety. Curved sides also allow a person to cook without
having to "chase the food around the pan" since bite-sized or finely chopped stir-fry ingredients usually tumble back
to the center of the wok when agitated.
The curve also provides a larger usable cooking surface versus
western-styled pots and pans, which typically have vertical edges. This allows large pieces of food seared at the bottom of the
wok to be pushed up the gently sloped sides to continue cooking at a slower rate. While this occurs another ingredient for the
same dish needing high heat is being cooked at the bottom. These advantages of having a rounded bottom do not apply, however,
to cooking fried rice as all the ingredients are cooked in the bottom of the pan.
Automatic Fried Rice Cooker
Because fried rice is such a staple of the Chinese diet, significant
amounts of manpower are used in the preparation of this dish for millions of factory workers, as well as other urban dwellers,
each day. Our Product will significantly reduce the amount of labor required to feed those in China and other countries that utilize
fried rice to a substantial degree.
The most immediate application is in the feeding of China’s
factory employees. For most, going home or eating out for lunch is impractical. Thus, most factories have cafeteria-style dining
halls where they feed hundreds or thousands of employees, cooking hundreds of pounds of fried rice each day.
Restaurants and grocery stores similarly make enormous amounts
of fried rice each day to feed those who work in the city in a factory or office that does not have a dining hall. Fried rice
made in these bulk quantities is generally cooked in an extra-large (larger than one meter in diameter), iron wok, heated by charcoal
or heating oil. Because these materials don’t burn 100%, some of the byproducts of combustion float into the air and then
drop on the food. Also, it is difficult to control the temperature of the wok, and cooks generally use their hands to stir the
food, so the food is often not cooked evenly and issues of hygiene abound. Our Product, the Automatic Wok or Automated Fried Rice
Cooker, addresses all of these concerns associated with cooking large quantities of fried rice in traditional woks.
Our Product (see Figure 1) consists of a large (2 meter diameter)
stainless steel pot (2) on a thermal transfer surface (1) sitting atop electric heating unit coils (8). A control panel (5) allows
the user to control the temperature of the surface, adjust the speed of the stirrer, and time the entire process. The motor (4)
atop the unit rotates the drive shaft (6) and ultimately the stirrer (7), which is uniquely shaped to ensure that the rice is
cooked evenly and completely, even with the large batch sizes for which our Product was designed. The framework of the Product
supports the top of the unit (3), along with the control panel and motor. This leaves all 360 degree access to the unit and the
rice, which is being cooked inside. The entire unit is set atop four wheels (9), which allows cooks to pull the Product out for
use and move it easily to a corner for storage when not in use.
To use our Product, a cook would heat the steel pot to cooking
temperature and add approximately 500 ml of peanut oil – enough to coat the bottom of the pot. He would add up to 100 lbs
of cooked rice and a commensurate amount of other ingredients (green onions, carrots, eggs, shrimp, beef, chicken, peas, bean
sprouts, celery, tofu, etc.), depending upon the cook’s recipe. Then he need only wait until the unit’s timer sounds,
notifying him that the dish is ready and that the heat has been automatically reduced from a frying temperature to a maintenance
temperature. Servers can then portion out servings for up to 250 diners before repeating the process.
Concerns of hygiene are addressed as the unit’s stirrer mixes
the dish, rather than the cook’s hand. The design of the stirrer ensures that ingredients are mixed properly and all come
into contact with the heated, oil-covered surface equally. The powerful electric coils keep the surface of the pot at a high,
constant temperature, eliminating the problem of hot and cold spots on the surface and in the rice. Finally, because the pot is
heated by electric coils, there are no byproducts of combustion floating above and into the final product, which could affect
the taste and safety of the final fried rice dish.
Figure 1.
|
1.
|
Thermal
Transfer Surface
|
|
8.
|
Electric
Heating Unit Coils
|
Competition
We face significant competition in the market for cooking apparatuses
designed for the preparation of fried rice in China. Traditional woks have been used for thousands of years in China and surrounding
countries. Such traditional devices, utilizing traditional methods, are widespread and universally accepted both culturally and
practically. While we feel that our Product offers significant advantages, there is significant inertia in Chinese culture regarding
a break from traditional methods of food preparation.
We compete with a number of established manufacturers, importers
and distributors who sell traditional woks to restaurants, factory dining halls, grocery stores, and individual consumers. These
companies enjoy brand recognition which exceeds that of our brand name. We compete with several manufacturers, importers and distributors
who have significantly greater financial, distribution, advertising and marketing resources than we do. We compete primarily on
the basis of innovation, practicality, quality, brand name recognition, and price.
We believe that our success will depend upon our ability to remain
competitive in our product area. The failure to compete successfully in the future could result in a material deterioration of
customer loyalty and our image and could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Intellectual Property
While we have performed no intellectual property protection to
date, we intend to aggressively assert our rights under trade secret, unfair competition, trademark and copyright laws, if applicable
in the countries we conduct business, to protect our intellectual property, including product designs, proprietary manufacturing
processes and technologies, product research and concepts and recognized trademarks. These rights are protected through the acquisition
of patents and trademark registrations, the maintenance of trade secrets, the development of trade dress, and, where appropriate,
litigation against those who are, in our opinion, infringing these rights.
We are currently consulting with law firms to protect our brand
name and product design. While there can be no assurance that registered trademarks will protect our proprietary information,
we intend to assert our intellectual property rights against any infringer. Although any assertion of our rights can result in
a substantial cost to, and diversion of effort by, our company, management believes that the protection of our intellectual property
rights is a key component of our operating strategy.
Regulatory Matters
We are subject to the laws and regulations of those jurisdictions
in which we plan to sell our product, which are generally applicable to business operations, such as business licensing requirements,
income taxes and payroll taxes. In general, the development, manufacture, and sale of our product in China is not subject to special
regulatory and/or supervisory requirements.
Employees
We have no other employees other than our officers and directors.
If finances permit, however, we intend on employing sales representatives in Shanghai when our product is ready for production
and shipping.
Subsidiaries
We do not currently have any subsidiaries.