SINGAPORE: Homegrown bakery chain BreadTalk is rolling out a new system that lets customers know when their favourite breads are fresh out of the oven.
At the launch of its first global concept store in VivoCity mall on Friday (Nov 20), it said it is building a new integrated system that will see its internal kitchen baking processes to external digital screens in-store. Once the freshly-baked breads are ready, the alert will flash across the screens. Nearby office workers can also register their devices with the store and get a notification when their buns are about to be popped onto the shelf.
“There are actually two pros to this. One is to help us better manage our cost and the other is to enhance our customer experience,”said Mr Tan Aik Peng, CEO of BreadTalk’s bakery division.
(Photo: S Shiva)
As part of the launch of its new concept store, the bakery tapped on renowned chefs such as Shin Horie from Japan, Alan Zhou from Taiwan and Janson Loo from Singapore to whip up 50 new products such as Snow White Yam, Sweet Potato Volcano, and Hokkaido Snow Roll. These will be featured in the VivoCity outlet before being made available to other stores nationwide.
Taiwan's Chef Alan Zou and Singapore's Chef Janson Loo (Photo: S Shiva)
BreadTalk said all of its outlets in Singapore will progressively be remodelled to the same theme and design with a chef's table as the centrepiece. Its outlets in China will implement the new concept in the first quarter of 2016, followed by Thailand and Indonesia.
Roasted Sweet Potato bread (Photo: S Shiva)
“We have been planning this for a year and in fact if you noticed every other three to four years we will have a new concept coming out to revamp ourselves,” said Mr Tan.
The revamp comes on the back of BreadTalk reporting a 60 per cent drop in third quarter net profit. BreadTalk had said earnings for the nine months fell mainly due to higher depreciation expenses associated with newly-opened outlets that are still under gestation.
- CNA/sv