Sweet Sweep
Beard Papa Sweets Cafe, the popular cream puff chain from Japan, adds U.S. stores to its global empire.
Susan H. Fishman

Beard Papa Sweets has more than 300 locations around the world, with 75 U.S. locations planned in the next 2 years.

Founded in 1999 in Japan, Beard Papa Sweets Café is quickly becoming a global phenomenon. The popular cream puff chain has more than 300 stores, with 230 locations in Japan and stores opening in more than 15 countries around the world. Plans call for an additional 75 U.S. locations in the next 2 years.

With 18 stores currently in the United States, Beard Papa plans to open six additional stores in the next few months.  The first United States store opened in New York City’s Upper West side in March 2004, with some customers waiting in line for up to 3 hours.

The U.S. cafés are all franchises except for the original company store in New York. Angela Yang just opened her first franchise at The Promenade Shops at Dos Lagos in Corona, California and is currently considering a few more locations. Originally from New York, Yang fell in love with the infamous cream puffs there and wanted to bring them to the West Coast.

“I think it’s the right product right now,” she says. “Corona is a high-growth area, so we’ve got the right mix of location and product. People have lined up around the block to experience the cream puff craze in other areas of the country where Beard Papa has opened, and we anticipate the same excitement at our grand opening from the residents of the Inland Empire, as well as from residents in San Diego and Orange County who normally would have driven to Los Angeles for these delicious baked goods.”

Yang’s Inland Empire store is located just 20 miles down the 241 Toll Road from Orange County.  Beard Papa Sweets Café plans to open an Orange County location within the next few months. The company is currently pursuing additional openings in Seattle, Texas, Portland, Chicago, Phoenix and Vancouver.

Beard Papa Sweets’ is a seller of fresh-from-the-oven cream puffs, which consist of a proprietary double layer of soft dough surrounded by a pie crust-like dough. Each puff is filled with a secret recipe, whipped cream custard after each order is placed.

Beard Papa’s fresh-from-the-oven cream puffs consist of a proprietary double layer of soft French “choux” surrounded by a delicious “pie crust.” Each puff is filled with a secret recipe, whipped cream custard after each order is placed to ensure optimum freshness and quality. Beard Papa does not use preservatives in its cream puffs and flavors are created with the highest quality ingredients available such as Madagascar vanilla beans, Bavarian dark chocolate and high-grade Japanese green tea extract.

“We bake our pastries in front of customers so we can let people enjoy seeing how we make a cream puff,” notes Akira Okura, area manager for the West Coast. “At the same time, we want people to be able to relax in the store.”

It takes 2 hours for Beard Papa to prepare its whipped cream custard. The store makes the whipped cream custard four to six times a day, with natural vanilla beans. In addition to the vanilla flavor, Beard Papa offers a different specialty flavor weekly including flavors such as chocolate, double chocolate, green tea, coffee, strawberry, pumpkin, caramel, milk tea, sesame and éclair.

Beard Papa Sweets Cafés are typically located in residential shopping malls, strip centers and lifestyle centers, as well as street locations. The average store is 700 square feet and is designed to be friendly and “homey” — a place to come with friends and family and have a cream puff. Competitors include landmarks such as Krispy Kreme, Baskin Robbins, Cold Stone Creamery and, of course, bakeries, but nobody is as specialized in cream puffs, says Okura, which gives the sweet maker an edge.

“Usually, we have the highest sales at shopping malls; in downtown San Francisco, among the stores which carry desserts, we are number one in sales,” he notes. “Beard Papa Sweets makes people happy, even when they just smell the cream puffs. But when they try our product, they always come back.”


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