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Foreign retailers prepare to market unique moon cakes

Several western style food and beverage stores have decide to join the growing competition over Taiwan's moon-cake market before next month's Mid-Autumn Festival.

The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the first full moon of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, or Oct. 1 this year on the solar calendar.

The holiday is also called "mooncake festival" after the traditional dessert.

Eyeing the holiday snack market, coffee shops such as Starbucks and IS coffee as well as fast food store Kentucky Fried Chicken Corp Taiwan are trying to attract consumers with home-made moon cakes this year.

"Taiwan is the only place in the world where customers can bite into a Starbuck's Coffee-flavored moon cake," said Chung Tsong-chin (仲崇經), marketing manager of Starbucks, speaking to Chinese-language media last week. He said this year's "hazelnut latte" and "white mocha chocolate" flavor moon cakes were created by Starbucks Taiwan and produced by its parent company, the President Group (統一企業).

Another local coffee chain, IS coffee, is taking advantage of its alliance with the Ding-Hao Bakery (頂好麵包) chain to bundle IS coffee gift certificates together with mooncake gift boxes.

Kentucky Fried Chicken has chosen moon-shaped egg tarts to show their holiday spirit.

"The full moon during Mid-Autumn Festival is a symbol of family reunions, and our circular egg tarts express the same meaning," said Chen Chia-hsiang (陳家祥), public relations manager at Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Other mooncake shapes will be seen at Pacific Sogo Department Store and Breeze Mall. Before its official opening on Oct. 12, Breeze Mall will offer "Betty Boop" moon cakes. Sogo will feature Japanese cartoon character Pom Pom Purin (布丁狗) on its moon cakes this year.
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