Pop Mart, the Beijing-based Chinese toymaker best-known for its collectable Labubu “blind boxes”, is opening its first international bakery in Singapore.
The company is turning its beloved characters into 3D edible treats, from black sesame Labubu popsicles to double cheesecake Molly.
The two-storey bakery, opposite Universal Studios Singapore, sells 45 toy-inspired pastries and beverages priced from 5 to 32 Singaporean dollars (about HK$30 to HK$195).
Singapore is the first stop. “We’re also considering opening bakeries in Europe and the United States. It’s a matter of timing, and we need to address issues like local supply chains,” Zhang Xiaoyang, head of Pop Bakery at Pop Mart, said in an interview.
The company also plans to open dessert shops across Southeast Asia, including in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, he added.
The Singapore opening follows the debut of Pop Mart’s first bakery in the northern Chinese coastal city of Qinhuangdao in April, after the company tested the concept through more than 30 dessert truck pop-ups in China.
It also comes at a time when the company is navigating higher production costs, with analysts questioning the sustainability of its business model as annual sales and earnings growth missed expectations in recent quarters.
“Pop bakery is a great diversification tool because there’s only so much a toy company can do, and they’ve probably hit the ceiling with toy manufacturing,” said Laura Pan, lecturer at SDA Bocconi School of Management, the graduate business school of Bocconi University in Milan and Rome, Italy.
However, should Pop Mart eventually launch bakeries in the United States, it remains to be seen how well they will be received considering the Labubu craze is losing steam, she said.
Following a global wave of demand for its plush toys, bag charms and collectibles, Pop Mart has increasingly branched out beyond selling toys.
It has said it plans to follow in the footsteps of entertainment giant Disney as a way of converting short-term virality into long-term success.
This year, Pop Mart announced it is teaming up with Sony Pictures to develop a Labubu film and opened an expansion of its Beijing theme park, Pop Land.
“We hope to use our IP (intellectual property) to accompany all aspects of consumers’ lives, and desserts are one of them,” Zhang said.
The company takes pride in making its characters edible and 3D, while other entertainment companies like Disney usually use a flat design or put plastic ornaments on their pastries, he added.
