Meet Kerry - the operational director behind BAKE Cheese Tart Singapore

Everyone probably now knows that BAKE has opened its second outlet in Westgate today. If you don't already know, BAKE specialises in their extremely popular cheese tart. Hailing from Hokkaido. its cream cheese is made by blending three different types of a two-step process which leaves it with a distinct crumbly yet fluffy texture. Six months ago, I met BAKE President and CEO Shintaro Naganuma and wrote a post about him. Today, I had the privilege to speak to Kerry, the operational director of BAKE in the southeast asia region. (Read till the end to find out how you can redeem a limited edition BAKE tote bag)

Kerry - the operational director behind BAKE Cheese Tart

Kerry was born in Malaysia and studied abroad since she was 18 years old. The bubbly girl was able to speak in fluent Japanese - yet she differentiates herself from the Japanese by calling herself 'foreigner'. As an operational director, she has helped to kickstart the operations in Orchard ION, and is currently overlooking future operations in south korea, thailand, indonesia etc. Singapore is currently the flagship store in Southeast Asia. You'd never be able to guess that Kerry has worked in BAKE Cheese Tart for only over a year!

What's the difference between Japanese employees and local employees?

With Singapore's labour crunch, I'd expect that most of BAKE employees would be foreigners. It really surprised me when Kerry said that all of Westgate's current employees are young locals, mainly students, while the store manager is 35 years old. She not only sang great praises of her team, but also pointed out the innovative mindset that our youngsters have. I asked her if she noticed any stark differences between the employees here and in Japan.

"Japanese employees are systematic," says Kerry. "If you tell them to do one thing today, and the same thing tomorrow, they will do it and not complain". I wasn't surprised by her comment as the Japanese people generally values authority and respect.

In Singapore, Kerry found that she needs to explain the reasons behind certain standard operating procedures. For example, she has to explain why they would need to clean certain areas. According to her, the locals here are constantly innovating and challenging the status quo. This was something that she found interesting.

The part-timers are in a grey t-shirt while the full-timers are in navy. What interests me the most is the huge UNOX commercial oven — I've actually seen it in Shinjuku. Apparently, this special machine is from Europe and it is able to control the humidity and consistency of the tarts.

They've also been looking at delivery options - but that proved difficult because of several issues. 

Westgate Grand opening

Except for the final step, BAKE Cheese tarts are produced in Hokkaido. They are then flown to Singapore and freshly baked in the store to complete the entire process of creating perfect, delectable cheese tarts.

[Fun Fact] BAKE @ Westgate had a sales target of 5500 cheese tarts for the first day - but it has waaaay exceeded that target before 7pm.

If you ever see Kerry around, tell her I said HI! :)

From Oct 17-23, BAKE is giving away original tote bags to the first 50 customers per day who purchase two boxes (12 pcs total) of cheese tarts.

BAKE Cheese Tart Prices

S$3.50 per tart
S$19.50 for box of six tarts