The Patissier's Chronicle

  Come June 2nd, The Patissier is celebrating our 23rd anniversary. This milestone not only represents a fresh start as Singapore fully emerges from the dark shadows of Covid-19 but also marks a significant turning point as we prepare to embark on an exciting new chapter in our journey. With great anticipation and a touch of nostalgia, we will be moving from our current location of 18 years to a new home at 166 Tyrwhitt Road, set to take place at the end of June. This also signifies that 2023 will be the final anniversary that we will be marking at 4 Mohd Sultan Road. Over the past 23 years, The Patissier has become a beloved establishment, known for its exquisite cakes and unwavering commitment to quality. Our customers have journeyed with us, and have allowed us to partake in their moments of joy and celebration through our creations. The journey has been nothing short of incredible, and we are immensely grateful for the support and encouragements accorded to us. Saying goodb...

Customers have often asked us about how do we decide and come up with new cake flavors. Our chefs typically create between 2 to 3 new cake recipes every year. And this is excluding the new Christmas and CNY cakes. Not all of these cakes will eventually turn out to be winners though. A couple of our new recipes, the Laksa cake for example, are deemed a tad too exotic for the common palate. But many have become personal favorites and even made it onto our staple list. So, what are the typical considerations that go into the development of our new cake recipes? Foremost, we always attempt to do a flavor not done before. Our Mother’s Day cake in 2019, which we had incorporated ingredients such as birds’ nest and Chrysanthemum, is a prime example. Next, we wish to be able to excite and delight our loyal customers that have been supporting us for all these years. And finally, we like to create a flavor that customers of all ages are able to relate to. For this Mother’s Day, our chefs hav...

  ChatGPT is all the rage these days. For the uninitiated, ChatGPT is a natural language processing tool driven by AI technology that allows you to have human-like conversations and much more with the chatbot. The language model can answer questions and assist you with tasks like composing emails, essays, and code. So how much does ChatGPT “know” about The Patissier? We were curious and decided to put it to the test. 1. First off, we fired ChatGPT a direct question about The Patissier:   The response was pretty much accurate except for the bit on the founders. So, not bad. 2. Then we asked ChatGPT about our operating hours: ChatGPT seemed to think that we operate at multiple locations. And the operational timing (10am - 8pm) was also inaccurate. Then again, there was a time when we did operate till 8pm. But this was some years ago. 3. We then asked ChatGPT about our products:   Now this was the one that it did poorly. Other than Strawberry Shortcake, the other ...

  Being in business for the past 22 years, we have been fortunate in that many of our business decisions turned out okay. But being human, we have also seen our fair share of wrong decisions. Our foray into Taiwan in 2019 was probably one of them. The decision to venture abroad seemed right at that point in time.  We had a desire to expand our business but given our small domestic market, the best way to do so is to go overseas. And Taiwan had made perfect sense given the circumstances. But things did not quite go as planned and we had to close our Taiwan flagship store after 2 years. We can always pin the fault squarely on Covid. But the pandemic is but half the spanner in the whole scheme of things. With every wrong decision, we make it a point to learn from our mistakes and then strive to do better. And here are some “takeaways” from our failed Taiwan venture, which may be helpful to small business owners (like ourselves) who are pondering to venture overseas.   1. Y...

  The Patissier embarked on our journey to become a “greener” company in 2019.  When we first decided that we should do our part for the environment, there were some pushbacks from within. Will our efforts make a difference, given that we are just one small shop? What will it cost us? Will customers appreciate what we are trying to do, especially if it affects their wallets? But management was convinced that this is the right thing to do and well, the rest is history. We started off by looking at changes that we can make relatively quickly. These include -  Our new candle policy, where we stipulate the number of complementary candles that we provide based on cake size. Previously, we give whatever number of candles that customers wanted. This resulted in more than 150,000 candles being given out every year. We now charge 10 cents for each additional candle that customers want. And this has resulted in a 50% drop in the demand for candles. Some may feel that paying 10 cent...

    After spending almost 2 decades at our current location, we are finally moving out of Mohd Sultan Road. This is not an easy decision, especially when we have become quite the establishment where we are at. But with our lease coming to an end this year, we have been liaising with our landlord on renewal matters since 3 rd quarter of last year. And after almost 18 years and 5 lease renewals later, we did not expect the “take it or leave it” ultimatum that was handed down to us. To be fair, the relationship with our landlord has always been amicable for the past years. So the latest renewal negotiation (or the lack thereof) really took us by surprise. We always pay our rental on time and have been quite the model tenant. But we reckon they must have their rationale and well, it is what it is. This, coupled with leaking aircons and corroding pipes (as these fixtures predate the time when we first took over the unit), as well as our desire for a larger space (not an absolute n...

Things are getting even busier at the shop what's with the festive season fast approaching. Given such, our blog post has taken a back seat. But we will continue to write about interesting stuff that we may have come across this month, time permitting. And speaking of interesting stuff, we chanced upon a Straits Times piece last week on an interview with the incoming President of SATS,  t he chief ground-handling and in-flight catering service provider at Singapore Changi Airport.   What caught our attention was a quote  made in the interview, when he spoke about his third priority (as President & CEO) in finding the right customers and partners. "I know the old adage that the customer is always right. But in this day and age, the right customer and the right partner are (also) critical. With the right customer, you can do a lot more and when you put global solutions together, it becomes a very powerful thing. It has to be the right kind of growth; growth for growth's...

Today marks the start of Christmas for us. Some may wonder if we have gone bonkers, as 25 December is still a full month away. But Christmas for us typically begins around the last week of November, as pre-orders for our Christmas selection start coming in.  Christmas is a big (probably biggest) event in our business calendar. And regular customers of The Patissier have come to expect new Christmas cake recipes from our chefs every year to compliment the evergreen favorites in our Christmas menu. The  A-Log  and  Le Mon  are our two new Christmas recipes this year. But the most sought after item at every Christmas is still our Meringue, which is dressed up in Christmas decor for December. Pre-order for our Christmas meringue started today and we were overwhelmed with calls/emails the moment we  opened for business this morning.  By the end of the day, our signature cake was already sold out on Christmas Eve. As we heads into our busiest period of the y...

Customers who purchase regularly enough from us will be aware of our admin fee policy. Even for those who are buying from us for the first time, they are made aware of this (a) via a notice on the Home page of our website prior to their online purchase, and (b) as detailed in the order confirmation that they will receive upon successful placement of their orders (both online & offline).  Our admin fee policy is not something new, just that we have become quite the stickler when imposing it these days. Having said that, we do not hide our admin fee policy under some small/obscure print. We make it known to our customers before they order and even remind them after they have placed their orders. But whether everyone choose to read/take notice is something that we have no control over. For customers who call us and wish to place an order way ahead, our staff also make it a point to check with the customer that he/she is certain of the required date and inform him/her of the admin ...

Chanced upon a ST feature on Friday about the customized cake scene in Singapore. The report featured 4 cake designers, each having diverse backgrounds and their own customized cake specialties. We are really glad to see that the custom-design cake scene is becoming more vibrant, as the demand for such have been growing steadily. Customers these days are not fazed by paying hundreds (even thousands) of $$ for their ideal celebration cake. And unlike the old days, their requirements are also getting increasingly sophisticated. We also do customized cakes. While demand for us has also been steadily increasing over the years (maybe tapered a tad with the Covid-19 pandemic), customized cakes are not really our staple. But we are blessed with a decor team that can churn out intricate designs that never fail to please (thus far, touch wood). So we do have a constant pool of customers for custom-designed cakes, many of whom are long-standing or repeated customers, despite the fact that our cu...

We were once touted as the most expensive cake shop in Singapore. But that was some years ago. These days, most of the mid to high-end cake shops are either similar or have surpassed us in price. Even  Fanntasy's chocolate tart sells for a whopping $58! (Reminder to self: next time join Mediacorp before setting up a cake shop. Ok, we are kidding so don't flame us please).  While we cannot speak for the rest of our peers within the industry, there is a compelling reason why our cakes are well, not cheap. We only use premium quality ingredients, be it our chocolate (V alrhona, Cacao Barry, Carma)  or fruit purees (Capfruit, Boiron), in all our cake recipes. And for our chocolate range in particular, we apply different chocolate to different recipe to achieve the best result. Our most popular chocolate cake, the Double Chocolate Praline, actually contains two different types of premium chocolate. And customers who have tried our cakes will probably agree that the quality and...

Not exactly a big occasion for us in terms of cake sales but we do get quite a few customized orders (mainly from expats or parents sending cakes/cupcakes to schools) during previous years. But with the ongoing social gathering restrictions due to Covid-19, we expect Halloween this year to be pretty much subdued (i.e. as per last year).  Halloween has always been one of those events in our annual calendar where the creativity of our chefs is put to the test. And over the years, they have risen to the occasion each time and came up with beautiful "spooky" cakes that made our customers go "wow". And they are looking forward to be challenged again this year, albeit in a reduced capacity.  So come talk to us if you are looking for a Halloween-themed cake. Not a whole lot of time left though, given Oct 31 is a mere 10 days away while we will need more time to fulfill customized orders (as opposed to standard cakes).

Riddle me this: Manufacturer A, as part of its settlement obligation after losing a Trademark legal dispute on its original branding, is supposed to adhere strictly to a stipulated branding design. The said Manufacturer sells through an appointed distributor who continued to advertise their products with the original (disputed) branding. When confronted, their lawyers said in their written reply that their clients cannot be responsible for the acts of third parties that takes place, especially where the same happens without their client’s knowledge or control. But that as may be, their client has a gesture of goodwill, taken steps to liaise with the said Distributor on the matter. We do not have a law degree but a couple of questions do surface even as a layperson 1. Should an appointed distributor be considered a third party rather than a related party? 2. Does the Manufacturer not have a duty of care and responsibility  (and not just out of goodwill) to ensure that all prod...

  Customers are usually tickled when they notice our Candle Money box at the shop. There was a time when we provided candles indiscriminately with our cakes free of charge. The problem with this is that customers started requesting for more candles that they actually need. Sometimes a lot more. Simply because they come free. You be surprised at how many “10Big and 10Small’ candle requests we used to get. And we really doubt there are that many centenarian in Singapore. But as part of our initiatives to become a “greener” company, we made the decision to limit the number of complimentary candles based on cake size. Any additional candle required will be charged at 10cents/candle, which will go into our Candle Money box as donation to AWRC (ACRES Wildlife Rescue Centre). The initiative was met with displeasure from a small section of customers when it was first implemented in 2019. We were accused of being petty, profiteering etc. etc. But being the principled (aka thick-skinned) ent...

  We provide delivery options for our cakes. But at $21.40, we readily admit that our delivery charge is not cheap.   So we have no objection if customers want to arrange for third-party couriers (Grab, Deliveroo etc.) to pick up their cakes on their behalf.   We typically get 2 to 3 of such pickups a day.   And we have encountered some rather interesting situations with third-party couriers:            Many a time we get couriers who come to the shop with  zero collection details and expect us to know exactly which cake to give to them. When pressed for their customer’s name/contact number (for verification purpose to avoid giving the wrong cake), the reply is always “You should know which cake”. No, we do not know which cake until we can ascertain the collection details. Because we do not have just one cake order waiting to be picked up every day.        Some couriers will just barge into the shop and ignorin...

  Yes, the Mid-Autumn Festival has cometh upon us again.  Also known as the “Mooncake Festival”, ‘tis the day (night rather) where people will gather to gaze at the full moon above and hoping to discover some semblance of a rabbit, a fairy-like maiden or an axe wielding dude (no, we aren’t talking about Jack Nicholson in The Shining). And one does not simply stare at the moon with an empty stomach. In places such as Taiwan, for example, barbecue parties are a standard fare during the Mid-Autumn Festival. But celebrations are probably much subdued these days with the Covid-19 pandemic. Back home in Singapore, the SOP is typically a combination of mooncakes – round-shaped pastries that symbolize the moon – and Chinese tea, which are consumed as dessert after dinner. The mooncakes have also evolved over the years. Apart from the traditional recipe (a rich thick filling usually made from red bean/lotus seed paste and surrounded by a thin crust)  that has been passed down f...

  For our upcoming marketing campaign for our Taipei store, we wish to provide consumers in Taiwan with a better insight on the history of The Patissier. So we had spent the past few days gathering photos that chronicle from how it all began to where we are now.  Shopfront - Present The Patissier has truly transformed over the past 21 years. From our humble beginning at Ann Siang Hill manned by 3 staff, we have since grown to a Company that employs 20 people. And with the need of a much bigger kitchen as our business grew, we have also relocated to Mohd Sultan Road and have been operating at the present location for the past 13 or so years. The look and feel of the shop had gone through a couple of transformations as well. So has the look of some of our cakes. But certain aspects of our business have remained very much the same: the passion and creativity of our team of chefs in coming up with new and exciting flavors to continue pleasing our customers; and the quality of th...

Today marks the official launch of our revamped The Patissier in Taiwan website. There are two reasons why we decided to embark on the change The original website was created when we first started our Taipei flagship store in 2019 and mirrored our old website for Singapore. And frankly, the overall look and feel of the website was a tad dated. The other impetus for the makeover was because the online purchase function for our Taipei store went kaput during the earlier part of this year. This was because the payment gateway provider that we were using previously decided to pull out of Taiwan, which left us stranded with no online payment option. Our first intention was to get a third party to design a new website for us. Although the author is not an IT idiot (he’s actually quite savvy compared to the average Singaporean), we reckoned that this will save us a lot of trouble and pain. But when we were quoted almost S$30K for the job, the boss said to him “why don’t you look at Shopify...

The “Hungry Ghost Festival” falls on the lunar seventh month of each year. Today marks the final day of this year’s festival. For the uninitiated, the Hungry Ghost Festival is the Chinese equivalent of Halloween. And the visitsingapore.com website provides a good account of the festival, which we paraphrase below: “Also known as Zhong Yuan Jie （中元节）in Chinese, it a festival held in honor of the dearly departed. According to traditional customs, the souls of the dead are permitted to roam the earth during the festival, and these ghosts can get up to mischief if ignored. To prevent this, all sorts of offerings are made during this period, which is the seventh month in the lunar calendar. Food offerings as well as stacks of hell money and paper offerings, such as cars, watches and jewelry, are burned by relatives to appease their deceased family members—taking care of their material needs even in the afterlife. And as if satisfying the ghosts’ appetites for money and food wasn’t e...

We were involved in a legal dispute that lasted almost 2 years. It was a last ditch attempt to protect our “The Patissier” trade mark, which we had registered since 2005, against infringement after all non-legal avenues were exhausted. This was very much a “David vs Goliath” contest, given that the counterparty is a large company backed by a Singapore-listed conglomerate.  Although we eventually won the case on all counts, the whole episode had left a somewhat sour taste in our mouths. And we wish to highlight our experience as a cautionary tale to small businesses (like ours) who are contemplating using trade mark as a form of intellectual property protection in Singapore. Successful registration of a trade mark with IPOS (i.e. the Stat Board that administers intellectual property laws in Singapore) does not automatically protect owners against infringement. IPOS will accept all applications for trade mark registration as a first basis. Although all new trade mark submissions are ...