A long but fast-moving queue stretched outside the Leechi bakery (犁記) on Taipei\\'s Changan East Road one afternoon last week. Standing at the door was a young sales clerk holding a cardboard sign that read "Cakes with green bean paste and those with taro are sold out today."
Inside the shop, about 40 uniformed workers were busy packing palm-sized mooncakes into boxes, while three others stood behind the counter efficiently attending to customers -- some of whom had traveled hours to pick up the traditional confections of tomorrow\\'s Mid-Autumn Festival.
"I come every year to buy Leechi bakery\\'s mooncakes," said customer You Ta-chun (游大鈞). "Their pastries are fresh and can be preserved longer."
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
An old tradition
Mooncakes are an essential part of the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, which is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month when the full moon is shining at its maximum brightness all year.
People give mooncakes, fruit and liquor as an expression of gratitude to clients and friends -- and that means big business for bakeries.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The festival is estimated to generate NT$2 billion in the sales of gift boxes this year, with customers digging deeper into their pockets amid the current economic upturn.
Mooncake sales are expected to grow 20 percent this year, and Leechi says they expect a record jump of 50 percent. The century-old bakery attributed the rosy sales forecast to higher prices for fruit, which are an alternative gift during the festival.
But booming sales won\\'t necessarily translate into booming profits.
According to the Taipei Bakery Association, ingredients for the pastries -- such as flour, sugar, butter and raisins -- are costing some 30 percent more this year, squeezing manufacturers\\' profit margins.
In order to stay competitive in a crowded market, mooncake sellers generally refrain from raising retail prices, and instead try to stand out with novel flavors, Internet sales, home delivery and other gimmicks.
"There are too many confectioneries -- and non-confectioneries as well -- rolling out their own cakes to vie for a piece of the pie," said Liaw Pen-tsang (
Wide variety
The competition benefits customers, though. With a dazzling array of Taiwanese, Japanese and Cantonese round-shaped cakes, they have more choices than ever. In addition to bakeries, Starbucks has coffee-flavored cakes, Haagen-Dazs has ice cream versions, and five-star hotels sell unique pricey pastries with rare ingredients and gold leaf on top.
The introduction of diversified flavors aims to stimulate the market as consumers are attracted to novel foodstuffs, Liaw explained.
"But traditional mooncakes, with egg yolks or green bean paste inside, still secure a stable market share despite waves of new competition," he said.
A simple approach
That benefits traditional bakeries like Leechi, which originated in Taichung in 1894 and has expanded into several outlets independently operated by the third- and fourth-generations of the founder Chang Lin-li (
"We still follow traditional methods to manufacture handmade, fresh cakes, instead of stockpiling frozen pastries for this big buying period as others do," said Chang Wan-ling (
Old-fashioned techniques
Leechi is one of a dwindling number of traditional bakeries that insist on following decades-old recipes -- though it admits to making slight changes to cater to today\\'s increasingly health-conscious customers.
"We\\'ve cut down the portions of oil and sugar required for the stuffing so that customers don\\'t have to worry too much about the calories," Chang said.
According to dietician Lee Chun-sung (
To meet this year\\'s surging demand, Leechi has seen its nearly 300 employees working 7am to midnight to churn out 55,000 cakes per day.
Though some bakeries are selling cakes online or making home deliveries, Leechi sells theirs the old-fashioned way: customers have to visit their shop to buy them.
The no-frills approach lets Leechi focus on the cakes themselves.
"Our packaging is quite normal," Chang said while sorting out a stack of orders.
"We place more emphasis on the flavor, which helps spread our name through word of mouth."
High-end cakes
Five-star hotels are doing equally brisk business, with their offerings of high-end, "emperor-class" seasonal dainties.
Gold leaf bird\\'s nest moon cakes, presented by the Far Eastern Plaza Hotel, show how extravagant the delicacies can get. Costing NT$980 apiece, the cakes have a blend of bird\\'s nest and coconut paste, and have a gold leaf on top.
"The gold on top makes the cake look very precious and unique. Gift givers will feel proud," said Crystal Liu (
In addition to boosting customers\\' feelings of pride, the hotel now also produced low-calorie cakes, wjhich contain stuffing like seaweed paste or tea paste, for the waistline-conscious.
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