I’m sure most of us Westerners with a true sweet tooth would agree that the desserts in Taipei are just … meh. Especially the Western copycat desserts. Brownies are the leading culprit. I can’t even believe how many times I’ve seen chocolate cake labeled as a brownie.
I used to have a brownie business back home and I’m thinking about trying it out here. I’m concerned about local tastes/preferences, so I don’t want to jump into a huge commitment (ie. leasing a commercial space or applying to be a vendor at a market) right away.
Online is too difficult to build awareness of the business. It also requires baking to order, and a minimum order would be 1 tray, which is generally too much for one person (9 pieces). I’ve learned that people generally buy 1-4 pieces in my past business experience.
I’m welcome to any ideas from the community on how/where to go about “testing” this business concept to sell them in an inexpensive format to see if locals would even want to buy them in the first place.
FYI: the brownies would be authentic (moist, dense, fudgey, and rich - but more bitter than sweet). And, using top quality French butter and chocolate, they would cost 90twd each.
Talk to restaurant/cafe/shop owners with clientele that match your target audience about setting up a stand. You get to sell one or two trays at a time, although with lower personal profits probably, but it helps your brand get recognition and a following (hopefully).
I don’t see many truly sweet western-style brownies or brownie shops. Here is a sweet western shop that tastes great even though not as sweet as western brownies. And I always wonder how they even survive.
A good concept might to be have a small tiny shop with one or two tables and try to sell brownies to passers-by in a high pedestrian traffic area.
Establish a name and come up with some time of enticing delivery concept.
I like this idea. So you think there could be some places (that don’t sell brownies already) that will let me set up a stand in front of their storefront to sell my brownies and they would take some amount of profit from each piece or charge me a flat fee? And, most importantly, this would make it legal for me to sell on the street? Don’t wanna stick out like a sore thumb (white guy selling food on the street) for the police to prey on.
I want to avoid opening any kind of shop in the beginning (ie. paying rent, signing a lease, purchasing loads of store-related equipment) before I know whether or not this concept can sell here.
CoCo Brownies: I tried this place a few times when I was desperate for a brownie and before I purchased my own oven. This is the perfect example of a nice-looking place and product, but the product literally has no taste whatsoever. They use Hershey’s and Costco-brand chocolate … YUCK! This is also the perfect example of why I fear whether my product would be appreciated or not, due to the general lack of knowledge regarding chocolate here.
How about starting out as a ‘dark kitchen’?
Basically selling the brownies and other stuff you want to make over Food Panda and Uber Eats. Their apps will advertise your products, but take about 30% revenue. You can negotiate a better rate when you get more business.
You don’t have to set up a place to sell or deliver yourself. Just need a pickup place for the delivery drivers. You install their app and get the orders through that.
If you’re going to go this route, you need to test your brownies first with the locals. I’m not talking 5 or 6, I’m talking hundreds because you need a really good sample size. Right now you’re pumped about the novelty, but coming from the food business let me tell you selling pastries is a lot of work. Also, the Taiwanese might find your desserts too sweet and texture wise not compatible with local tastes. I’m an ABC and I can’t stand most western desserts because they’re too sugary and lack the delicate touch that Asians put into their desserts.
This is a good point. I think most locals are going to find authentic brownies too rich and too sweet. And the foreigner market may not be big enough to keep a specialty brownie business going.
Rqecently saw a shop doing just this. I’m not a huge brownie eater but the brownies I saw in the shop looked awesome. Very gourmet fancy kinda brownies. Maybe they’re common now in the US but I have never seen gourmet brownies before. Can’t remember where I saw the shop. Maybe Gongkuan area. The shop was a small window front but it was finished really nice as well. Gave the impression it was a fancy special treat. Anyway I didn’t try because I’m trying to avoid sweets but it looked very appetizing. I can’t remember the pricing either.
One more thing, you know what goes good with brownies? Milk. You know what Taiwanese don’t drink milk. So you have to think about not only how dense your brownies are, but also what will your customers wash it down with.
What? You haven’t seen the ‘milk’ bars pop up over the past year?
But, Taiwanese like fluffy, light anything, that’s why they can sell ‘Japanese’ milk toast slices for 80 NT$.
And as posted many times before, people in Taiwan don’t care about the chocolate used, they have no reference to what a good chocolate should taste like, as many other western foods should taste like. Food starts living its own life after it becomes ‘famous’.