Hain Seng Te fled Cambodia with his family via the notorious 'killing fields' in the late 1970's in order to escape the suppressive and murderous Pol Pot regime. Following a period in a Thailand refugee camp, Hamish (as he became know by his Kiwi friends) and family moved to New Zealand as a 'refugee' in 1979. Settling in Dunedin, Hamish quickly found work in a local factory before unleashing his entrepreneurial talents on the local food industry. It was whilst working in the factory that his workmates renamed Hain Seng to 'Hamish' as it was easier for them to pronounce and became the name that his is fondly know by to this day.

Initially establishing a food takeaway business selling sandwiches, cakes etc to lunchtime workers in the central business district, Hamish soon identified a niche in the market for authentic Cambodian food. Hamish then left his full time job and set up his first shop/restaurant which was also used as a manufacturing base.

Continuing to target the lunchtime trade, Hamish designed and built three small caravans containing gas powered hot plates, a fridge, and serving counter. These caravans were positioned at three key sites in Dunedin (The Octagon, University and Centre City Mall). A lucrative business soon developed leading Hamish to increase the number of shops in Dunedin and develop the packaging required to market the satay peanut sauce and satay meat marinade through other local retail outlets. The core products are based on secret traditional family recipes which Hamish managed to bring to New Zealand from Cambodia.

With the business going from strength to strength, Hamish sold the caravans to finance an expansion of the shops throughout the country. Khmer Satay Ltd was registered in 1990 prior to the major expansion of the business.

Today Khmer Satay Ltd has restaurants throughout New Zealand. The packaging of the two core products, Khmer Satay Peanut Sauce and Khmer Satay Meat Marinade, has been revamped as the company looks to expand retail distribution of these products throughout New Zealand. In preparation for the company's expansion, the 'Khmer' brand has been registered and a new factory has been purchased with increased production capacity. A programme is also being put in place to license existing takeaway business to sell Khmer� meals in areas that can not support a stand alone restaurant. The 'Khmer� SATAY AWAY' concept looks very promising. The company has also got plans to export to Australia.

Life in New Zealand for the Te family is certainly a world away from their previous 'life' in Cambodia. Whilst its is now safe for Hamish and family to travel back to Cambodia to visit friends and family following the demise of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge regime in the late 1990s, Hamish is committed to New Zealand and has plans to repay the opportunities his 'adopted' country has created for him and his family through his plans to export his products, and thus earning value foreign exchange revenue. In doing so, he is also benefiting his 'home' country through increasing the awareness of the culinary delights of the Cambodian cuisine and by sourcing raw materials for his products from Cambodia.