Popular bakery from Taiwan expands to mainland
A popular bakery from Taiwan will officially open next week on one of Shanghai’s most prosperous commercial streets — the first branch of the business to appear on the Chinese mainland.
The store, Wu Pao Chun Bakery, located on Huaihai Road, is a joint investment by a star baker from Taiwan and the Singapore-based company Bread Talk.
It has done brisk business since it started trial operations on Friday, despite early winter drizzles that dampened the city for days and some wild online speculation about its founder’s political stance on Taiwan.
Wu Pao-chun, the founder, was born in southern Taiwan’s Pingtung county in 1970 and started his career as baking apprentice in Taipei at the age of 15. He founded his own bakery in Kaohsiung in 2010 after earning second prize in what is considered the bread-making Olympics — Coupe Louis Lesaffre — in 2008 and won the title of Master Baker two years later.
Despite the bakery’s popularity in Taiwan, Wu has been slow to expand.
When asked in 2016 about his plan for new branches, Wu was quoted by Taiwan People News as saying: “Although the Chinese mainland market has more than 1.3 billion customers, the world market has over 7 billion. I won’t set my eyes only on the mainland.”
His words have been labeled by some as reflecting support for Taiwan independence, and in extreme cases some media have twisted them into “I would rather starve than open a branch on the Chinese mainland”. That, in turn, aroused criticism and protest by mainland netizens over the bakery’s recent expansion in Shanghai.
Wu issued a statement on the bakery’s website on Monday, saying he’s proud of being Chinese, supports the 1992 Consensus and wants to contribute to cross-Straits economic exchanges.
He also held a news conference at the bakery’s flagship store in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on Tuesday where he said, “I’m just a professional baker, and the world of baking is pure and simple,” he said. “I’m happy that many young people choose this profession because of me and I feel responsible for creating a bigger market for them.”
Kaohsiung’s mayor-elect Han Kuo-yu attended the news conference in support of Wu.
“Master Wu is just a baker who wants to develop his business for a better life,” he said. “So I hope people on both sides can protect and cherish him.”
According to The Straits Times, the joint venture agreement signed by Wu and Bread Talk aimed to bring Wu’s bakeries to Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Singapore. Bread Talk took an 80 percent stake and Wu Pao Chun Food Ltd took the remainder, it reported.