Business Sense

tokyo pastry: WHERE EAST-MEETS-WEST

By September 29, 2014April 12th, 2015No Comments

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Vintage sturdy furniture, wooden racks, antique knickknacks and the petite floral coffee cups round up the elegant European vibe. The style originated from the Meiji Restoration era where Japan was promoting the study, culture and habits of the Western society. When founder Brandon Hui went to the Land of the Rising Sun, he discovered that many European chefs started bakeries in Japan and did well. Having previously ventured into a concept chain restaurant that combined attractive ambience and reasonably priced food in Malaysia, he returned and sought out a Japanese chef to create a mix of Western pastries and Asian influenced ones. The ambience is based on his experience that majority look at the environment when it comes to seeking for a place of calmness, have conversations or celebrations. Thus, what better way to do so over coffee and some light bites?

From its first outlet at Sunway Giza that offered only baked goods and beverages, Tokyo Pastry expanded to offer a menu that fuses Asian, Japanese and European cuisine. “It was a trend, bakery-cum-café and to be honest, the business will find it hard to sustain just with breads and cakes”, Brandon said. Having opened another outlet last year at Avenue K, a shopping mall in the city centre, it has a wider reach especially to office workers around the area. As space is limited and because the intention is to allow for more seating space, its kitchen is mainly for cooking ala minute. All baked goods are pre-mixed twice a week in its centralised kitchen and frozen dough sent to its outlets to be shaped and baked according to schedule.

This type of operations would need to keep tabs on the internal temperature and a cold holding cabinet is used to maintain the dough’s integrity. As he started with not much experience about baking, he chose second-hand and budgetfriendly equipment but soon found that they were breaking down too often and the after-sales service was not the best. It was an important insight for him and Tokyo Pastry now uses baking equipment from Taiwan which has one of the largest stakes in the industry.
Brandon’s approach to expansion is one that is calculated, planning to open one outlet each year as he needs to ensure quality especially when each kitchen would have different staff in charge of shaping the frozen dough and baking the pastries. The human factor would make the difference; he shared that customers do sometimes notice and question why goods differ in looks at respective outlets. The business is also opened for licensing where he will leave it to the licensee to manage but the products will have to come from Tokyo Pastry’s kitchen; who will also provide training in handling of the items.

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By presenting the audience with a cozy space and a wide variety of breads, pastries and cakes that lean toward Asian flavours, coupled with a menu of familiar items, Tokyo Pastry comes in with the edge being an establishment of comfort with regards to food and setting.

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KOTA DAMANSARA
No2A-1, Jalan PJU 5/9, Dataran Sunway,
Kota Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya
Tel: 603 6151 2896
AVENUE K
M-20 & SAC-M-1, Mezzanine Level, Avenue K,
156, Jalan Ampang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 603 2181 7660
www.tokyopastry.com