Immigrants bringing a taste of home here with them.
It was an irresistible aroma that drew Ed Lee to a crowded kiosk in Hong Kong’s Mongkok subway station in 2004. One bite of Beard Papa’s crunchy choux pastry shell and creamy vanilla filling, and the Southern California businessman was smitten.
The next year, Lee, 47, and his partner, Joe Lung, 41, both immigrants from Hong Kong, opened their own Beard Papa Sweets Cafe at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood. It was a hit from the start, with security guards having to be called in to control waiting crowds and sales reaching 5,000 cream puffs a day during peak holiday times.
Business has indeed been sweet for Lee, Lung and like-minded entrepreneurs, who are bringing foreign brands to the United States.
For decades, American icons such as McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken have spread around the globe. Their success has transformed diets and dining habits, sparking an occasional backlash in some countries over the loss of home-grown tastes and eateries.
That flow of flavors is starting to reverse. Recently, there has been an uptick in foreign companies exporting popular foods to the United States, tapping into a ‘nostalgia factor’ among this country’s exploding immigrant populations, said Marcel Portmann, director of international development for the International Franchise Association in Washington.
‘You are selling them a piece of their childhood,’ he said. More.
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