The Foodcourt King behind BreadTalk

.George Quek is the founder and chairman of BreadTalk Group, famous for the BreadTalk bakery chain. He is dubbed “The Foodcourt King” by the media, mainly because of the many successful food outlets and eateries in shopping malls. His foray into the food and beverage business as a chef started in Taiwan and then China, ending with Singapore, his motherland.

Founder and chairman of BreadTalk Group George Quek. Source BreadTalk

Moving on from a successful food chain to another, in July 2000, launched another booming bakery chain that he called BreadTalk. Ho got the idea for BreadTalk from the high-quality bakeries he saw while visiting / working in Japan and Taiwan.

Starting out with bread, the chain soon branched out to include other food and beverage brands such as Toast Box, Bread Society, The Icing Room and Din Tai Fung.

Top global ingredients

BreadTalk takes pride in sourcing its ingredients globally. They handpick and select premium natural ingredients such as Japanese-milled flour and pure butter from New Zealand. The ingredients are especially prepared from its raw state to create pastes or fillings within BreadTalk’s Central Kitchen, ensuring greater quality control of the finished items.

BreadTalk’s new concept stores feature contemporary design – sleek and fuss-free with a neutral colour palette that accentuates the appeal of golden-baked breads. Inspiration came from the “Chef’s Table” model at specialty restaurants, the new store identity brings to life the creations of its Chefs at the centre piece Island Bar.

BreadTalk Group has a network of owned bakery outlets in Singapore, China, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Thailand. They also have franchised bakery outlets across Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

The BreadTalk Group keeps rolling out new concept stores. Like their famous Butter Bean brand, a hip café concept that puts a modern spin on toast and traditional drinks. Another one is their latest Charlie Tea, which offers a variety of tea beverages, including bubble tea, and baked goods. Both are showing positive signs and the possibilities are endless.

BreadTalk in the Middle East

BreadTalk stores can be found in UAE, Muscat, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.

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