Polar Puffs & Cakes: A century of Singaporean baking

SINGAPORE – Every two months, Chan Kok Yew steps into the entry-restricted Curry Room at Polar Puffs & Cakes’ Woodlands factory. There, he makes the spice blend that powers the 3,500 chicken curry puffs the confectionery chain sells every day.

The executive chairman of Polar knows the recipe by heart, and will only say that it is a three-part process. Recipes for the company’s pastry, sugar rolls, cream puffs and other signatures are also kept under lock and key.

He is from the third generation of the Chan family, carrying on his grandfather’s legacy as Polar marks its 100th anniversary in 2026.

Today, it has 335 employees and a network of 37 stores and cafes islandwide. It also sells its wares in Esso and Shell petrol stations, Cheers and 7-Eleven convenience stores, FairPrice and Prime supermarkets, and eight schools across Singapore. In 2025, its revenue was $33.5 million.

The newest outlet, at The Star Vista, opened in May, and two more are scheduled to open in 2026, with four planned for 2027.

Since it started in 1926, many ritzy cake and pastry brands from overseas have planted their flags in Singapore. Home-grown artisanal bakeries and patisseries spring up all the time. But Polar has endured.

Chan, 58, a medical doctor by training, and who has been steering the company since 2023, says this is because the brand has stayed true to itself and built trust with customers.

He adds: “We have a group of loyal customers who, no matter what, will always go for Polar. They trust us and know that what we sell is reliable; it’s of a certain quality. We are part of their normal, everyday Singapore life.”

This is not to say the brand is sitting on its hands, watching as this group gets older.

He says: “We need to be more relevant. We have to innovate, come out with new products to capture new audiences. But we can’t chase every single trend. We have to maintain that quality for future generations.”

No one in the family, Chan says, knows why the business is called Polar. But it began with his grandfather, the late Chan Hinky. He came to Singapore from Hong Kong in the 1920s – with 90 cents in his pocket – to make his name.

Back home, he had worked at a company that made mosquito coils. That was where he met his second wife. His first wife, with whom he had four children, had died. With his second wife, he had nine children, one of whom is Chan’s mother.

Here, Chan Hinky worked for a company that owned property and businesses, managing a cafe at 51 High Street called Luna. In 1926, he bought it over and renamed it Polar Cafe.

It served milkshakes, housemade ice cream, chilled drinks, chicken pie, egg and coconut tarts, and cakes.

“High Street was the Orchard Road of Singapore at the time,” Chan says.

The cafe became a favourite spot for the ladies who lunch, expatriates and wealthy businessmen. Lawyers, law clerks and court reporters would also stop in, since the Supreme Court was nearby.

Sometime before World War II, Polar started serving curry puffs, made with French-style flaky pastry that was baked, not fried. Back then, each one was priced at 20 cents. Today, they cost $2.80 each.

The puffs were a runaway success, and fans include ministers, Members of Parliament and ordinary folk. As testament to the consistency of the product, it topped the list of The Straits Times’ top five curry puffs in 2015. Taste testers tried 41 puffs over two blind-tasting sessions to determine the winner.

This winning recipe for the pastry was procured, Chan says, after one of his uncles, a son from Chan Hinky’s first wife, won it from a chef in a card game.

The recipe, which calls for butter, is still used today. The dough is folded 81 times to achieve flaky layers. While the pastry is French, the chicken curry filling, made with those spices, chicken and onions, is very much Singaporean.

Chan Hinky died in 1942 at the age of 51, and one of his sons from his first marriage, the late Chan Chong Hin, ran the business, and later passed it on to his brother, the late Chan Yuek Oon, a son from Chan Hinky’s second marriage. The younger siblings took the reins in the 1980s.

Chan remembers going to the cafe in the 1970s, as a child.

He says: “I only went a handful of times, but each time was memorable. I remember the curry puffs served on a tiered tray. They were spicy but I could take it. I remember I was perspiring, but it was a good memory.”

The cafe’s banana split and chocolate milkshakes are also etched in his memory.

Polar Cafe was one of few businesses to stay open during World War II, but its future was uncertain in the late 1980s, when the Government acquired the row of shophouses where the cafe was located to build the new Parliament House complex.

Chan’s mother, Chan Sing Kit, who at 96 is still a practising paediatrician; and two of her siblings, sister Chan Sing Kin, now 88, and brother Chan Yoke Lok, now 86, decided to carry on the family’s 60-year legacy. He credits them with growing the company.

In 1986, they opened a takeaway kiosk at Raffles Place, selling curry puffs and sugar rolls, among other things. It took off, with long queues every day. Chan remembers helping out as a cashier before going to medical school. The puffs and cakes were made in a central kitchen in the Leng Kee area.

Asked why the family did not continue with the cafe concept, he says: “I think for them, it was a risk to open a cafe that was not at the same location. They probably thought about starting small, and chose a place that was quite central and where the office crowd was.

“And it worked. They probably thought the kiosk concept was a more economical and profitable model. Of course there were cafes that came along eventually, but they are mostly in hospitals.”

The 1990s was when Polar made its presence felt, opening outlets islandwide. By 1995, it had changed its name from Polar Cafe to Polar Puffs & Cakes. In 2001, it obtained halal certification.

The siblings saw the potential to sell their wares in petrol station shops and started doing that in 1996. At the time, the different oil companies were also ramping up their retail offerings in the stations. Today, Polar’s food is found in Esso and Shell petrol stations.

In 1997, it moved its manufacturing to a two-storey factory in Woodlands Link. This is where its cakes are made, then frosted and decorated by hand.

In 2004, Polar was the first company to open a factory in Changi Prison under the Yellow Ribbon Project, which gives second chances to former offenders. It is staffed by 62 inmates, who produce the puff pastry, and fill and shape the puffs before they are sent to be baked in the Woodlands factory and delivered to stores.

The company produces about 12 million puffs, pastries and cakes each year.

Polar has also come to be known for cakes depicting cartoon characters. Ironically, this evolved from an incident involving copyright infringement.

In the early 1990s, the company decided to use the image of Mickey Mouse on one of its cake designs, and the Walt Disney Company soon made its displeasure felt. The two parties settled the matter, with Polar apologising in newspapers.

It then decided to take up licences to use other characters on its cakes. Today, customers can order Hello Kitty, My Melody, Minions and DC Universe heroes cakes, among other characters. At the end of June 2026, it will launch new designs tied to the upcoming Minions & Monsters movie.

Companies now approach Polar to take up licences, but it baulked at the fees for designs from the 2025 Netflix hit, KPop Demon Hunters.

Chan takes The Straits Times on a tour of the Woodlands factory after the interview.

In one room, staff are decorating Dainty Choco Squares ($6.80), chocolate sponge layered with chocolate mousse, and topped with white chocolate bon bons shaped like strawberries.

Meant to serve one or two, it is part of the brand’s strategy to woo new customers looking for smaller servings. Later in 2026, it will launch a dainty Fluffy Cloud Cheesecake ($7.20).

Some of its whole cakes, including Brownie, Chocolate Mint and Cookies & Cream (priced from $30.80), are also available in petite sizes, weighing 400g and meant to serve four.

In 2018, to cater to customers wanting healthier treats, it introduced cakes made with 25 per cent to 35 per cent less sugar. These include Chocolate Mint Cake, Chocolate Mousse Cake and Strawberry Square Cake.

Its hospital outlets also serve sweet and savoury offerings made with whole grains or that have fewer calories than regular versions.

Five to six times a year, it runs limited-time offers on new products to see if customers take to them. In some cases, these offerings become permanent. Examples include the Dainty Choco Square and Otah Puff ($3.40).

It recently brought back Rainbow Gula Melaka Chiffon Cake ($19.90), featuring different coloured layers.

Chan says: “It did very well. It is a bit time-consuming to make but it’s beautiful and it would attract a certain crowd, so we decided to relaunch it.”

Beyond wooing new customers here, Polar has other plans to grow.

Chan wants to fully automate the making of the pastry sheets and fillings for the puffs by 2028. That is in anticipation of selling many more pastries. Polar is venturing abroad once again.

In 2007, it opened a store in Kuala Lumpur’s Pavilion shopping centre, and had plans to open more. That did not happen and the store closed a few years later.

“Actually, it would have worked, but I think they were quite risk-averse and pulled the plug a bit too early,” Chan says of the second-generation leaders’ decision.

In 2025, Polar opened a store at Gurney Plaza in Penang, and it has done so well that in August 2026, it will open another in Sunway Carnival Mall, also on the island.

Chan says: “Penang matches Singapore in its cultural tastes. Personally, I know partners who can be trusted. We want to test-bed in Penang, a stable and safe environment.

“Then we will be looking at KL. We are looking at whether we will open the stores ourselves or have a franchise model.”

Expansion into Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand are also under consideration. Further afield, there are Australia and Britain, with sizeable numbers of Singaporean migrants, students and working professionals.

He says: “A Singaporean brand with its unique recipes, whether it is for pastries or food, would be a big attraction.”

Chan, who is married to a dermatologist and has a 13-year-old son and an eight-year-old daughter, knows full well the future of Polar rests on his shoulders.

He says: “It’s a responsibility to carry on the family legacy. So I have to hold on to it as long as I can, as best I can. I need a good, strong team to be able to carry the business through.”