The founding of Polar Cafe

The Founder of Polar Cafe, Mr Chan Hinky, arrived in Singapore in the 1920s from Hong Kong with only 90 cents in his pocket. Like the many industrious migrants who came to seek a new life, he worked hard and saved money to fulfill his dream of opening a cafe. This dream was to become a reality – the famous Polar Cafe at 51 High Street, well known to today for its Polar Puffs.

Milestones of Our History
The war years
Before World War II, Polar Cafe was a favourite haunt for wealthy merchants and the expatriate community, especially on weekends. During the Japanese Occupation, it was one of the few places that continued business, It drew people from all walks of life who came for its curry puffs, ice-creams and refreshments.

The 1950s to 1970s
With the Parliament House and the Supreme Court only a stone’s throw away, Polar Cafe became a convenient lunch and tea-time rendezvous. It was not unusual to spot distinguished lawyers, judges and Members of Parliament within the premises. The post-war years saw the district flourish as the leading shopping and commercial hub in Singapore. Polar Cafe enjoyed brisk business.

The 1980s to the 90s
In 1986 the government acquired 51 High Street to make way for a new Parliament House. This paved the way for expansion with Polar’s first takeaway outlet at Raffles Place and larger production facilities at Leng Kee Road. We have since added more outlets in various localities in Singapore. In 1998 we move our production facilities to the current site in Woodlands.

The original Cafe was revived when we opened a sit-in cafe at Suntec City Mall. This cafe offers a wide selection of our famous pastries, puffs, cakes, sandwiches, beverages and an appetizing range of finger foods. For busy lunch and shopping crowds, we also provide affordably-priced set-lunches as well as tea-time specials.

Branding
Polar is not about selling products but is creating a love-joy experience for its customers. Polar product is an expression of its love to its customers. Having been a family-run business for 80 years, Polar understands what it means to be a family and the Love and Joy underlying that valuable relationship. Hence, Polar comes out with the Brand Vision of “Bringing Love and Joy to Every Occasion”. And to achieve this Brand Vision, Polar ensures that all its products create the opportunity to bond.

Our Vision is to bring Love and Joy for Every Occasion
 Polar Vision continues to direct its Mission towards creating an opportunity to bond, hence providing the ultimate Love-Joy Experience for Every Occasion.

We believe that many significant factors contribute to our continuing success:

Unrivalled Talent Team
We invest in the proper hiring, training and career development of our staff to ensure retention and continuity of service. Our staff is also committed, motivated, and feel recognised to give their optimum best at all times.

Unique Recipes
Our unique age-old family recipes have been handed down the generations from our founding father. Our puffs are specially blended to perfection, and baked by our master chefs to a delicious crusty, golden brown, sealing the delicate taste of the filling. The same unique appeal goes into our cakes and other confectionery, made in a special way that distinguishes us from the competition.

Uncompromising Quality Standards
All the ingredients are especially hand-picked to ensure that quality is never compromised. Our proven industry expertise and our reputation for quality ensure complete customer satisfaction.

Utmost Integrity in our Leadership
Polar Puffs and Cakes is managed by experienced leaders who share the same Brand Vision and uphold their integrity and accountability to our customers and stakeholders.

 Unending Innovation and Enhancement
We continually strive to provide excellent service to stay ahead of the industry. Thus, we put particular emphasis on re-engineering, research and development and apply industry best practices to improve service efficiencies and enhance the quality of our product line-up.

Health & Safety Program
Our modern manufacturing facilities incorporate stringent measures to ensure full compliance of food laws and regulations. We ensure high standards of hygiene and safety are being maintained by our staff at all times in the many processes of food preparation.

The Total Polar Experience
Our products are an expression of our love to our customers – we extend the very same standard of quality to our customers as we demand for ourselves. It’s in our slogan of “Love and Joy for Every Occasion”.

Sweet Treats and Savoury Favourites
Our Wide and Varied Creation to suit all Tastes

From golden crusty to buttery creamy, from spicy savoury to coated sweetie, from spongy soft to gelled glazed – our wide and varied range of creative, delectable treats are a sensational celebration of the senses.

Singapore’s very own Halal-certified puffs and cakes company, Polar offers over 100 tempting treats to suit the most exacting of taste buds – Curry Puffs, Chicken Pies, Sugar Rolls, Cakes, Custard Puffs, Sandwiches… and many more!

Polar also acquired the exclusive manufacturer license from Warner Brothers, Sanrio Ltd and Sesame Workshop to produce the immensely popular Looney Tunes, Hello Kitty, Little Twin Stars, My Melody, Cinnamoroll, Sesame Street and Sesame Beginnings Character Cakes.

Fresh Hot From the Oven to All Our Outlets
Frequent deliveries supported by efficient logistics systems and dedicated staff combined with stringent quality checks ensure that our products come to you in oven-freshness as when they leave our factory.

THE MARKET
Mention the name Polar Puffs & Cakes and you will get instant responses like “I love their curry puffs” or “I love their sugar rolls”. Being Singapore’s very own Halal-certified puffs and cakes company, Polar offers over 100 tempting treats to suit the most exacting of taste buds – Curry Puffs, Chicken Pies, Sugar Rolls, Cakes, Custard Puffs… and many more!

Polar products are an expression of its love to its customers. Its wide range of products is created with the utmost care and made to engage all the human senses - taste, touch, sight, smell and emotions – on every occasion. Blow out the candles on that birthday cake, share some festive cakes and cookies with your family or simply savour some curry puffs with colleagues during a tea break. For the little ones or those young at heart, Polar offers an extensive range of popular licensed character cakes such as Looney Tunes, Sanrio, Sesame Street and more. There’s always a Polar product to suit every occasion, every day.

Singapore ’s oldest Western-style café is a home-grown brand that started with a café at High Street. Today, it has a network of over 130 distribution points that include cafes, outlets and counters selling puffs and cakes island-wide, making it the leading local producer of pastries and cakes in terms of the number of distribution points.


ACHIEVEMENTS
Polar prides itself for its long and rich heritage as a family business which spans across three generations, faithfully serving consistent quality products to its customers throughout the period.

With a clear corporate vision and mission, Polar went through several major restructuring exercises to strengthen its business growth. To cater for its physical expansion, in 1998 Polar relocated its head office and factory from a modest set-up at Leng Kee Road to its modern facilities at Woodlands. And in 2004, Polar set up another factory in Changi to produce frozen pastries in anticipation of its plan to expand its distribution locally and overseas. This factory has also acquired HACCP and ISO certifications to allow Polar to distribute frozen pastries to countries like Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Polar was the first to introduce fusion curry puffs - a French pastry with Asian flavour in the 1920s. These curry puffs proved to be so popular that they not only survived the war years, they are still one of the best-sellers today.

Over the years, Polar has produced quality snacks to win the heart of many customers. Its curry puffs were chosen as the “Best 5” by Singapore Food & Entertainment Guide in 1992 and the verdict of “Still the best!” from the Editorial Team at Simply Her in 2005; its pineapple tarts were voted the “Top Pick” by readers of Singapore Women’s Weekly Magazine in 2003; its kueh lapis was voted as a panel of testers’ favourite in Eat! Magazine in 2004.

In 1996, Polar’s tie-up with ExxonMobil to set up take-away counters in Esso and Mobil petrol stations saw its distribution network mushroomed across the island. This strategic partnership also created high visibility and awareness for the brand. In no time, Polar could be seen along the Singapore’s streets and became a convenient snack for many drivers.

Polar believes the need to develop its brand to help it to market its products and services more successfully both locally and internationally. In 2004, Polar decided to re-brand with an objective to create an experience for its customers instead of simply selling them products. With all the efforts put into re-branding, Polar was awarded the Singapore Promising Brand Award 2005 for its outstanding brand communications and the inaugural SPBA Heritage Brand Award 2005 which honors local brands that are at least 40 years old and posses a time-honored quality respected over generations. In 2006, Polar was voted by consumers as a Superbrand - another testimony of its dedication to promote branding excellence and its perseverance to maintain high and detailed production values across all of its products.

As part of the ongoing initiative to improve the quality of its workforce, Polar launched an on-the-job-training (OJT) scheme in early 2006. This is a comprehensive scheme which was carefully planned and structured by Polar. As a result of this effort, the Institute of Technical Education has officially accredited Polar as a Certified OJT Centre, carrying the hallmark of good OJT practices.