Mammy Pancake tempts UK with sweet desserts

The London location is set to open in June, with 10 more sites in the pipeline.

Hong Kong-born bubble waffle chain Mammy Pancake is banking on London’s sweet tooth and penchant for impulse buying to drive sales at its first international expansion outside Asia.

Donald Lai, managing director at Mammy Pancake UK, expects “the right marketing” to get people through the door amidst closures across the UK’s accommodation and food service industry due to ballooning costs.

“It’s case by case who survives and thrives in the UK market,” he told QSR Media. “The focus is that we maintain our authenticity and our heritage, and let the product speak for itself.”

The number of hospitality businesses, including hotels, restaurants, and pubs, that closed shop in the first quarter rose 3% to 826 from a quarter earlier, according to the Buchler Phillips Hospitality Index.

Notable closures included Locanda Locatelli, La Goccia, and Lyle’s.

Nine of 10 British consumers order dessert when dining out, according to a report by consumer intelligence firm CGA by NIQ published in March. People order dessert on impulse just 20% of the time, whilst frequent dessert consumers are more likely to order based on “whether a dessert is Instagrammable.”

A husband-and-wife team who quit their jobs started Mammy Pancake, which now has more than 20 stores across Asia, in Hung Hom in Hong Kong in 2009.

Lai, who moved to the UK from Hong Kong with his family at a young age, felt something was missing in London’s street food scene, prompting him and business partner Brendan Ho to open Mammy Pancake’s first international franchise along Portobello Road in Notting Hill district.

The store is set to launch in June.

“There wasn’t a UK equivalent for it,” he said. “There is a real opportunity for us to bring an authentic and accessible Hong Kong street food brand to London. Given how successful the brand is in Asia, I knew it would be a winner in the UK.”

Lai said they plan to open 10 stores in the next three years.

Mammy Pancake, which has had six consecutive years of Michelin Street Food recognition in Hong Kong, has a menu split into three—the bubble waffle, checkered waffle, and drinks.

It offers more than 30 flavours of both the bubble and checkered waffles, including original, chocolate, matcha, coffee, matcha chocolate, chocolate hazelnut, and coffee chocolate. There are also savoury flavours such as triple cheese, pork floss seaweed, sweet corn seaweed, and more.

Lai said he would import 90% of the flavours from Hong Kong, leaving out items that couldn’t be obtained in the UK or wouldn’t be popular. Mammy Pancakes has started a social media poll to gather flavour ideas that would fill the remaining 10%.

The social media campaign also features quiz-style questions with small giveaways and fun facts about the company’s history and heritage to generate buzz.