THICK RING FANCY - Varsityvarsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk/varsity/0711/pdf/doughnuts.pdfdent who bought a...
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by Vivien Liu O n a hot afternoon, a truck parked in the high-traffic Lee Garden Road in Causeway Bay. Two people, with big smiles on their face, came out from the truck and started delivering boxes of fresh-made doughnuts for passes-by for free! This was how Krispy Kreme, a 60- year-old doughnut and coffee chain in the United States promoted itself when its first store opened in Hong Kong last year. It now has six branches in Hong Kong. Although doughnuts known for sweetness, Krispy Kreme is adapting their doughnuts to the local market for lighter taste. Krsipy Kreme also sells a street snack which is particu- larly popular among young people. These modifications of an established American dessert have proved a suc- cess here. Krispy Kreme expects the development of 20 locations over the next five years. Pauline Liu Po-ling, a university stu- dent who bought a doughnut at Krispy Kreme in Mongkok, said doughnuts are a new kind of street snack to her. “Street snacks in Mongkok like fish balls are usually salty. I want to have something sweet, so I bought a doughnut from Krispy Kreme,” she added. Krispy Kreme is famous for its long queues outside stores. Its doughnuts are a common pastry in the daily lives of many American people. Americans often bring the doughnuts home to share with their families. According to GiGi Li Wing-sze, mar- keting manager of Krispy Kreme Hong Kong , however, this is not only what the company is looking for. “We cannot bring childhood mem- ories to local customers like we do in the United States because we are not a local brand. But apart from being a kind of street snack, our doughnuts are also for sharing in meetings, con- ferences and seminars,” she added. “Every Hong Kong resident is our tar- get consumer.” This is not an easy task. Doughnuts are new to Hong Kong. American fast-food chains like McDon- ald’s and KFC are popular in China and Hong Kong, but doughnuts are gen- erally rare in China, Taiwan, even in Westernized Hong Kong. Hong Kong is the first Chinese speaking commu- nity to have doughnut chain of this kind. Dunkin Donvis used to be here, but left. “Some of my friends do not like sweet snacks so they are ‘scared’ when they hear of doughnuts,” said Miss Li. Like other stores in the world, the Hong Kong store offers Krispy Kreme Klassics – the doughnuts the Ameri- cans have been enjoying since 1937. In addition, it sells a range of 14 other assorted doughnuts with a variety of THICK RING FANCY popular flavours, which are known as the My “Ho Mei” (means yummy) Choice Varieties, to please the taste buds of Hong Kong people. These doughnuts are tailor-made for Hong Kong people as they have lower sugar content. One of its hot item, “glazed stripes”, for example, has the glazing mixture which uses only half of the sugar of those sold in America. “I used to ask for non-glazed and sprinkle some powdered (baking) sug- ar to make the doughnuts less sugary,” said Jackie Chiu, who claimed himself a die-hard fan of Krispy Kreme. “But lately I’ve found the gem that they offer: semi-glazed. Half as sweet, twice as good,” he said. Miss Li explained, however, that their company would not produce doughnuts which are of zero sugar content. “After all, our doughnuts are des- serts. We cannot alter the original American recipe,” she added. “We do not claim our products as healthy food.” “We do not expect our customers to regard our doughnuts as a kind of daily bread. We are only one of the choices among other snacks.” Miss Li said. To retain customers, the company keeps developing new flavours. “We can develop new flavours of doughnuts after sending the ingredi- ent lists to the head office in America and getting approval,” Li said. It usu- ally takes a month to develop a new recipe. All the basic ingredients like flour and yeast come from the United States, so the texture of doughnuts produced in Hong Kong do not vary too much from those made in Amer- ica, she added. Whenever there is a new flavour developed, the company uses promo- tions to target different customers. This is what they call “featured dough- nuts”. “The dark chocolate flavour promo- tion, for example, aims at customers who are above the age of 25,” Li said. “We believe customers above this age tend to appreciate dark chocolate more.” Apart from doughnuts with differ- ent localised flavours, Krispy Kreme also stresses beverages as its other selling point. It has secured an agree- ment with leading coffee manufactur- er Illy to ensure the doughnut treats are complemented by premium-grade coffee. A coffee expert from Australia, who refused to be interviewed, was hired to train the staff to make the best coffee. “Customers will come back if they think our doughnuts and coffee are good,” Miss Li said. V GiGi Li Wing-sze said Krispy Kreme Hong Kong targets at every local resident. Krispy Kreme Hong Kong provides large varieties of doughnuts. Customers can dine in. VIVIEN LIU VIVIEN LIU VIVIEN LIU VIVIEN LIU 1. 2. 3. Three flavours of doughnuts: 1. Strawberry Angel 2. Kremey Custard Graze 3. Rainbow 32 food and drink food and drink 33
Transcript of THICK RING FANCY - Varsityvarsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk/varsity/0711/pdf/doughnuts.pdfdent who bought a...
by Vivien Liu
On a hot afternoon, a truck parked in the high-traffic Lee Garden Road in Causeway
Bay. Two people, with big smiles on their face, came out from the truck and started delivering boxes of fresh-made doughnuts for passes-by for free!
This was how Krispy Kreme, a 60-year-old doughnut and coffee chain in the United States promoted itself when its first store opened in Hong Kong last year. It now has six branches in Hong Kong.
Although doughnuts known for sweetness, Krispy Kreme is adapting their doughnuts to the local market for lighter taste. Krsipy Kreme also sells a street snack which is particu-larly popular among young people. These modifications of an established American dessert have proved a suc-cess here. Krispy Kreme expects the development of 20 locations over the next five years.
Pauline Liu Po-ling, a university stu-dent who bought a doughnut at Krispy Kreme in Mongkok, said doughnuts are a new kind of street snack to her.
“Street snacks in Mongkok like fish balls are usually salty. I want to have something sweet, so I bought a doughnut from Krispy Kreme,” she added.
Krispy Kreme is famous for its long queues outside stores. Its doughnuts
are a common pastry in the daily lives of many American people. Americans often bring the doughnuts home to share with their families.
According to GiGi Li Wing-sze, mar-keting manager of Krispy Kreme Hong Kong , however, this is not only what the company is looking for.
“We cannot bring childhood mem-ories to local customers like we do in the United States because we are not a local brand. But apart from being a kind of street snack, our doughnuts are also for sharing in meetings, con-ferences and seminars,” she added. “Every Hong Kong resident is our tar-get consumer.”
This is not an easy task.Doughnuts are new to Hong Kong.
American fast-food chains like McDon-ald’s and KFC are popular in China and Hong Kong, but doughnuts are gen-erally rare in China, Taiwan, even in Westernized Hong Kong. Hong Kong is the first Chinese speaking commu-nity to have doughnut chain of this kind. Dunkin Donvis used to be here, but left.
“Some of my friends do not like sweet snacks so they are ‘scared’ when they hear of doughnuts,” said Miss Li.
Like other stores in the world, the Hong Kong store offers Krispy Kreme Klassics – the doughnuts the Ameri-cans have been enjoying since 1937. In addition, it sells a range of 14 other assorted doughnuts with a variety of
THICK RING FANCYpopular flavours, which are known as the My “Ho Mei” (means yummy) Choice Varieties, to please the taste buds of Hong Kong people.
These doughnuts are tailor-made for Hong Kong people as they have lower sugar content. One of its hot item, “glazed stripes”, for example, has the glazing mixture which uses only half of the sugar of those sold in America.
“I used to ask for non-glazed and sprinkle some powdered (baking) sug-ar to make the doughnuts less sugary,” said Jackie Chiu, who claimed himself a die-hard fan of Krispy Kreme.
“But lately I’ve found the gem that they offer: semi-glazed. Half as sweet, twice as good,” he said.
Miss Li explained, however, that their company would not produce doughnuts which are of zero sugar content.
“After all, our doughnuts are des-serts. We cannot alter the original American recipe,” she added. “We do not claim our products as healthy food.”
“We do not expect our customers to regard our doughnuts as a kind of daily bread. We are only one of the choices among other snacks.” Miss Li said.
To retain customers, the company keeps developing new flavours.
“We can develop new flavours of doughnuts after sending the ingredi-ent lists to the head office in America
and getting approval,” Li said. It usu-ally takes a month to develop a new recipe.
All the basic ingredients like flour and yeast come from the United States, so the texture of doughnuts produced in Hong Kong do not vary too much from those made in Amer-ica, she added.
Whenever there is a new flavour developed, the company uses promo-tions to target different customers. This is what they call “featured dough-nuts”.
“The dark chocolate flavour promo-tion, for example, aims at customers who are above the age of 25,” Li said. “We believe customers above this age tend to appreciate dark chocolate more.”
Apart from doughnuts with differ-ent localised flavours, Krispy Kreme also stresses beverages as its other selling point. It has secured an agree-ment with leading coffee manufactur-er Illy to ensure the doughnut treats are complemented by premium-grade coffee. A coffee expert from Australia, who refused to be interviewed, was hired to train the staff to make the best coffee.
“Customers will come back if they think our doughnuts and coffee are good,” Miss Li said. V
GiGi Li Wing-sze said Krispy Kreme Hong Kong targets at every local resident.
Krispy Kreme Hong Kong provides large varieties of doughnuts.
Customers can dine in.
VIVIEN LIU
VIVIEN LIU
VIVIEN LIU
VIVIEN LIU
1.
2.
3.
Three flavours of doughnuts:
1. Strawberry Angel 2. Kremey Custard Graze 3. Rainbow
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f o o d a n d d r i n k f o o d a n d d r i n k
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