Brunei’s international pop star Wu Chun said he plans to expand his bakery chain to more overseas markets, after the recent opening of two branches in New York.
Bake Culture, the Taiwanese pastry franchise which the singer-actor brought to Brunei in 2015, has now expanded to five branches locally. The franchise also has an international presence with three branches in Taiwan, two in the US and another two in Chongqing, China.
“Our initial vision was to share the bread culture from around the world in one shop. We have chefs come from different parts of the world [to create our products],” Wu Chun told media at the opening of Bake Culture’s newest branch in Menglait.
The entertainer-cum-entrepreneur said while there has been customer demand to open Bake Culture shops in Kuala Belait and Seria, he doesn’t want to expand too fast locally because the quality of the products will be affected.
“Because of logistics, it’s quite difficult… We don’t want to open so many branches in Brunei because when we do that the quality will be affected.”
Asked about further international expansion, Wu Chun said finding good partners was key to expanding their global footprint.
“We’ve had a few enquiries from different countries, but we want to take it slow… focus on China and USA first. Find good partners, it’s not only about they money but it’s about the team that shares the same vision so we can work together in the long-term.”
The actor said he wants to spend more time on research and development of Bake Culture’s menu, creating items that are representative of different “bread cultures”.
He added that none of the bread they bake daily is wasted, with any unsold items donated to BANTU, a local NGO that provides relief to underprivileged families.