Big in Japan

Beard Papa’s cream puff s bring lines to the Quarter

15147 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite H102, Scottsdale beardpapas.com

BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI

Yasmin Rahimi, who owns the pain management clinics BackFit Health + Spine, was looking for something to do in her “free time.” She is into nutrition and thought, maybe, a boutique yoga or fi tness studio would work.

Her franchise consultant swayed her elsewhere.

“The franchise consultant said I would need to put way too much energy in those,” Rahimi says. “They said I didn’t have that much time.”

Diff erent concepts and ideas were presented to Rahimi, but she decided on Beard Papa’s after she and business partner Jeet Mukherjee crunched the numbers. The fresh and natural cream puff s chain opened at Scottsdale Quarter on February 27.

Founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1999, Beard Papa’s started as a small bakery and quickly grew to more than 400 locations in 15 countries and territories, while gaining global recognition for its light and airy cream puff s.

“The cream puff s are far from your traditional frozen puff found in the freezer aisle. The recipe is simply addictive. I’ve never met anyone who has tried Beard Papa’s who doesn’t crave it again the days following,” says Tucker Kaufman, a marketing representative for the franchise. “The product is unique in that there is nothing else like it on the market. From the high-quality ingredients used in the custard fi lling to the puff shells that are freshly baked throughout the day, the Beard Papa’s experience is unmatched.”

The Japanese dessert chain specializes in creating customizable cream puff s in one of six shells — like regular, chocolate and green tea — and then one of eight cream fi llings, such as chocolate, mango, strawberry or ice cream.

“We have six shells,” he says. “You pick the shells you like and inject them with the diff erent fi llings. The common one is the original shell with no frosting and fi ll it with vanilla custard. Over here, in Arizona, the chocolate and strawberry are popular.”

Rahimi adds, “People can eat more than one cream puff . The dough is really light. It’s not a typical American dessert. Most people who are dessert connoisseurs, they know this is the best. They know the product isn’t going to be overly sweet.”

So far, Rahimi and Mukherjee have seen up to one-and-a-half-hour lines at their shop. Guests sit on chairs outside of Beard Papa’s waiting to try the desserts.

“Beard Papa’s has a cult following,” Mukherjee says. “We’re the fi rst Beard Papa’s in Arizona. We have California transplants who are here locally now. They’ve been waiting for this brand to come here.”

The cream puff s and custard are made in-house, says Mukherjee, who is a data analyst.

“The two ovens in the back are always going,” he says. “Whatever we bake today, we sell today. We bake fresh the next day. Nothing stays overnight.

“The custard is the base for all the fi llings. Every month, corporate introduces new fl avors. The base, at the core, is the shell and the custard. We minimized our number of off erings for now, until we train the staff . Right now, the lines are an hour and a half sometimes. We don’t want to overdo things. We want to wait a little bit until the staffi ng is properly trained.”

The Scottsdale Quarter store is one of fi ve the duo plans to open around the Valley.

“This location is interesting,” he says. “We wanted our fi rst store to be in Scottsdale at the Quarter. It’s really nice to have this as our fi rst store. We want to branch out and get closer to the community.”

The fresh and natural cream puff s chain Beard Papa’s has 400 locations in 15 countries and territories. (Photo courtesy of Beard Papa’s)

Yasmin Rahimi and business parner Jeet Mukherjee opened Beard Papa’s February 27. (Photo by Pablo Robles)