BreadTalk: Continuous innovation to keep the brand fresh

• Main Authors: LEE, Marcus, LIM, Caroline, MATHUR, Sarita, ZERRILLO, Philip C.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2016
• Subjects: Singapore; continuous innovation; mature growth stage; market entry; expansion; bakery; food and beverage; marketing; service quality; brand development; global brand management; localisation; differentiation; customisation; Asian Studies; Marketing; Strategic Management Policy
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cases_coll_all/145; https://cmp.smu.edu.sg/case/1871
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The case is set in December 2012, and starts off with Joyce Koh, Senior Vice President of Brand Development at BreadTalk, contemplating the company’s future brand strategy. The BreadTalk Group was a leading Singapore-based bakery and restaurant chain, which consisted of eight different brands that were sold across 15 countries in Asia. The company had turned in a record performance for 2012, boasting an increase in revenues of 22.3percent. With 609 bakery outlets, 47 food atria and 30 restaurants, BreadTalk had, in a span of 12 years, become a premier lifestyle bakery brand in Southeast Asia, China and the Middle East, as well as a cherished household name in its native Singapore. BreadTalk prided itself on having a culture of “creative differentiation”. The company strived to stay “fresh” by continuously changing and adapting to consumer demand, and “relevant” by offering localised and customised products to its customers. Although BreadTalk could boast of many past successes, Koh was keenly aware of the challenges that lay ahead. With the number of new players growing rapidly, the marketplace was becoming increasingly competitive. New markets offered both opportunities and challenges. And customers had come to expect a constant stream of innovative products from the bakery chain. As BreadTalk enters its mature stage of growth and comes head on with the challenges of international expansion, is its business model equipped to identify and address the risks associated with global brand management? Is the brand positioned well to seize future opportunity? Should it focus on its core competency and brand, or should it be looking to develop and aggressively promote other brands? This case sets out brand-related challenges often faced by organisations entering their mature stage of growth. Following a successful market entry and expansion in the early years, BreadTalk now faces the uphill task of continuous innovation and maintaining the same product and service quality as it expands its global operations.