SINGAPORE \u2013 Every two months, Chan Kok Yew steps into the entry-restricted Curry Room at Polar Puffs & Cakes\u2019 Woodlands factory. There, he makes the spice blend that powers the 3,500 chicken curry puffs the confectionery chain sells every day.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s pastry, sugar rolls, cream puffs and other signatures are also kept under lock and key.<\/p>\n
He is from the third generation of the Chan family, carrying on his grandfather\u2019s legacy as Polar marks its 100th anniversary in 2026.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The newest outlet, at The Star Vista, opened in May, and two more are scheduled to open in 2026, with four planned for 2027.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
He adds: \u201cWe 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\u2019s of a certain quality. We are part of their normal, everyday Singapore life.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is not to say the brand is sitting on its hands, watching as this group gets older.<\/p>\n
He says: \u201cWe need to be more relevant. We have to innovate, come out with new products to capture new audiences. But we can\u2019t chase every single trend. We have to maintain that quality for future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n Polar founder Chan Hinky came to Singapore from Hong Kong in the 1920s and opened Polar Cafe in High Street in 1926.<\/p>\n PHOTO: POLAR PUFFS & CAKES<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n 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 \u2013 with 90 cents in his pocket \u2013 to make his name.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The original Polar Cafe in High Street.<\/p>\n PHOTO: POLAR PUFFS & CAKES<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n It served milkshakes, housemade ice cream, chilled drinks, chicken pie, egg and coconut tarts, and cakes.<\/p>\n \u201cHigh Street was the Orchard Road of Singapore at the time,\u201d Chan says.<\/p>\n The original Polar Cafe was in High Street, which used to be where the department stores were.<\/p>\n PHOTO: POLAR PUFFS & CAKES<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Polar Puffs & Cakes\u2019 signature Chicken Curry Puff is made with a French-style flaky pastry and filled with chicken and onions cooked in the brand’s secret curry spices.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: SARAH LEE<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n 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\u2019 top five curry puffs in 2015. Taste testers tried 41 puffs over two blind-tasting sessions to determine the winner.<\/p>\n This winning recipe for the pastry was procured, Chan says, after one of his uncles, a son from Chan Hinky\u2019s first wife, won it from a chef in a card game.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s second marriage. The younger siblings took the reins in the 1980s.<\/p>\n Chan remembers going to the cafe in the 1970s, as a child.<\/p>\n He says: \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n The cafe\u2019s banana split and chocolate milkshakes are also etched in his memory.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Chan\u2019s 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,<\/b> decided to carry on the family\u2019s 60-year legacy. He credits them with growing the company.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Asked why the family did not continue with the cafe concept, he says: \u201cI 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.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd 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.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s food is found in Esso and Shell petrol stations.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Polar Puffs & Cakes’ factory in Woodlands Link.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: SARAH LEE<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n 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.<\/p>\n The company produces about 12 million puffs, pastries and cakes each year.<\/p>\n Polar Puffs & Cakes makes its wares in a two-storey factory in Woodlands Link. It also has a factory in Changi Prison.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: SARAH LEE<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Polar has also come to be known for cakes depicting cartoon characters. Ironically, this evolved from an incident involving copyright infringement.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Companies now approach Polar to take up licences, but it baulked at the fees for designs from the 2025 Netflix hit, KPop Demon Hunters.<\/p>\n Chan takes The Straits Times on a tour of the Woodlands factory after the interview.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Cakes are still frosted and decorated by hand at Polar’s Woodlands factory.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: SARAH LEE<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Meant to serve one or two, it is part of the brand\u2019s strategy to woo new customers looking for smaller servings. Later in 2026, it will launch a dainty Fluffy Cloud Cheesecake ($7.20).<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Its hospital outlets also serve sweet and savoury offerings made with whole grains or that have fewer calories than regular versions.<\/p>\n 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).<\/p>\n It recently brought back Rainbow Gula Melaka Chiffon Cake ($19.90), featuring different coloured layers.<\/p>\n Chan says: \u201cIt did very well. It is a bit time-consuming to make but it\u2019s beautiful and it would attract a certain crowd, so we decided to relaunch it.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond wooing new customers here, Polar has other plans to grow.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n In 2007, it opened a store in Kuala Lumpur\u2019s Pavilion shopping centre, and had plans to open more. That did not happen and the store closed a few years later.<\/p>\n \u201cActually, it would have worked, but I think they were quite risk-averse and pulled the plug a bit too early,\u201d Chan says of the second-generation leaders\u2019 decision.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Chan says: \u201cPenang 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThen we will be looking at KL. We are looking at whether we will open the stores ourselves or have a franchise model.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n He says: \u201cA Singaporean brand with its unique recipes, whether it is for pastries or food, would be a big attraction.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n He says: \u201cIt\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n SINGAPORE \u2013 Every two months, Chan Kok Yew steps into the entry-restricted Curry Room at Polar Puffs & Cakes\u2019 Woodlands factory. There, he makes the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":64215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/64215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/picture><\/div>
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