Polar Café is a chain of eat-in and takeaway cafés that are most well-known for their traditional curry puffs. The business was founded in the 1920s by Chan Hinky, an immigrant from Hong Kong. The company's first outlet began operations on 51 High Street in 1926, and was very popular with the expatriate community, as well as the politicians and lawyers that worked in the Parliament House just down the road. Polar was one of the very few businesses that remained open even during the Japanese Occupation. Today, the company owns about 130 distribution outlets, including eat-in cafés, takeaway stores, and counters in ExxonMobil service stations all across the island.
Corporate Background
Chan Hinky, the founder of the Polar Puffs & Cakes, arrived in Singapore in the 1920s with only 90 cents to his name. For the first few years of his stay in Singapore, he struggled to save enough money to realize his dreams of opening a café. Finally, in 1926, he was able to put together the funds to take out a lease on 51 High Street. It was then that the first Polar Café began business.
In the years before the war, the café was popular only to the expatriate community, and to the rich merchants. Chan served only a small variety of food then, including his signature curry puffs, as well as a selection of ice-creams and chilled refreshments. The company carried Cold Storage's house brand ice-cream, that were especially popular with expatriates who liked to host bridge and tennis parties. This exclusive Cold Storage ice-cream was only sold through a few selected businesses, including Polar Café and the departmental store, John Little. Cold Storage took out regular advertisements in the newspaper for their ice-creams. These helped to promote Polar Café's business.
When the Japanese later occupied Singapore, Polar Café was one of the very few businesses that were allowed to stay in operation. After the war, High Street quickly became reputed as the most fashionable shopping street in Singapore, especially when the fashion empire, Metro, opened its first outlet in the vicinity. Business for Polar flourished, with both regular customers and shoppers visiting the store. This included lawyers and politicians who worked in the Supreme Court and Parliament House, in the area where the café was.
However, this run of good business proved to be short-lived, for in 1986, Polar Café was confronted with a decision that nearly ended the future of the company. The government acquired the café's premises on High Street in that year to work on an expansion of the Parliament House, and Chan's succeeding family briefly contemplated closing the shop for good. Thankfully, this option was soon dismissed, and the family actually began to make use of their forced eviction to begin expansion. The company took up a new lease in Leng Kee Road for the establishment of bigger kitchen facilities, and then opened its first takeaway store in the OUB Centre at Raffles Place. Business continued to flourish, and even improved, such that the company's turnover in 1987 was a record of $1.6 million.
Recent Corporate Activity
Today, Polar Café has a total of 130 distribution outlets, including takeaway stores, express counters in selected ExxonMobil service stations, and several sit-in cafés. The company moved its kitchen operation plant to Woodlands Link in 1998. It took a lease for an even bigger kitchen area to keep up with the rapid expansion of its business.
In 2003, Polar Café began revamping its own image in an attempt to relate to the younger shoppers. The company marketed their traditional products as part of a lifestyle campaign. This was different to the previous emphasis placed on products only. In order to cater to shoppers from all walks of life, Polar Café has also begun producing health foods for the heath conscious, as well as cartoon-themed cakes for the children. These moves to update the company's image has paid off handsomely, for the pace of business has picked up even more, allowing the company to open at least 10 new takeaway outlets in the 2 years between 2003 to 2005. These increased annual revenues by at least 80%. The company has also started its own line of ice creams, Wild Hibiscus, and now offers up to a variety of 100 different pastries and cakes, from their signature curry puffs to recent favorites such as the black pepper crab puff.
Accomplishments
Polar Café was awarded the Heritage Brand Award in 2005. This accolade that acknowledges the lasting branding power of local companies and local products. The company also picked up the Singapore Promising Brand Award in the same year. In 2006, Polar Café cemented its place in the heart of its local customers when shoppers voted for the company to win the Superbrand award.
Author
Esther Wang Ying Jie
References
Chan, F. (2005, September 20). Household brands keep up with the times. The Straits Times, Money. Retrieved March 10, 2011, from NewspaperSG.
Koh, T, et al. (2006). Singapore: The Encyclopedia. Singapore: Editions Didier Millet.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57003 SIN - [HIS])
Leong, W. K. (2006, July 30). Eighty years and its no puff. The Straits Times, Lifestyle. Retrieved March 10, 2011, from NewspaperSG.
Polar Puffs & Cakes. (2003). About Us. Retrieved February 25, 2009, from http://www.polarpuffs-cakes.com/About%20Us.html.
Cold Storage Ice-cream Advertisement [Mircofilm: NL552]. (1927, March 23). The Straits Times, p. 1.
Cold Storage Ice-cream Advertisement [Mircofilm: NL560]. (1927, November 23). The Straits Times, p. 1.
Singapore Heritage Society. (2009). Polar Puffs. Retrieved February 25, 2009, from http://www.singaporeheritage.com/pesh_entries_details.asp?id=25.
Toh, S.P.C. (2005, September 9). Branding your way down memory lane. The New Paper. Retrieved February 22, 2009, from Factiva database.
The information in this article is valid as at 2009 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.
