Cream puffs make a comeback

updated 3:12 p.m. ET Aug. 13, 2005

MILWAUKEE - Sure, cream puffs are chock-full of fat and calories and thin is in. But the treats that fell flat among diet-conscious Americans decades ago are making a comeback via Japan.

Dueling cream puff shops — one a Japanese standby, another a U.S. upstart — have popped up on the East Coast, and one plans to expand soon to other parts of the country.

At least one mail-order food company is also reporting a boom in cream puff sales and the Wisconsin State Fair — where they have been sold since 1924 and in recent years gained record popularity — now sells the confection at a rate of one per second.

The majority of the population doesn’t watch their calorie intake, as can be seen with the country’s high obesity rate, said Ron Paul, president of Technomic Inc., a Chicago-based food consulting and research company.

“I think they are a treat,” Paul said. “There are enough consumers who are willing to treat themselves frequently or once in a while.”

The cream puff became popular during the French food mania of the 1960s, said Lynne Olver, a culinary librarian and editor of foodtimeline.org. The fad was reinforced by celebrity chef Julia Child, who broke down recipes for home cooks, and former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who served French food in the White House and made it fashionable, she said.

As the government issued warnings about fat and cholesterol in the 1980s, Olver said, Americans moved away from the confections — made with dough called pate a choux and most often filled with custard or whipped cream.

But health concerns seem to be the furthest things from the minds of the people standing in lines on the East Coast at Japan-based Beard Papa’s and Choux Factory, which is New York-based but has Japanese owners.

The owners of both chains figured the decades-long popularity of the treats in Japan would easily translate to the United States. Both chains opened their first U.S. stores in New York City last year, relying mostly on word of mouth, and have received nonstop inquiries from people wanting to buy a franchise.

Beard Papa’s has six stores in New York and New Jersey and plans to expand to California, Nevada and Hawaii, said Craig Takiguchi, executive vice president of Muginoho USA, Inc., the U.S. division of the chain’s parent company.

Beard Papa’s, which began in Japan in 1997, had about $300 million in revenue in the last fiscal year, more than double from 2003. The chain has 270 franchises in Asia and 70 company-owned shops.

The shops sell cream puffs filled with whipped cream custard in flavors including chocolate, green tea and mocha, at prices that range from $1.25 to $1.65 each. Ice cream-filled cream puffs have sold well in Japan and the company plans to introduce them next summer, Takiguchi said.

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