Unlocking Annabella Patisserie’s Growth: The Secret Ingredient

Description

Think of perfectly-crafted macarons made in Singapore and Annabella Patisserie would usually come to mind.

The former home baker has come a long way since her first encounter with the iconic treat from Laduree in Paris, in 2008. Finding locally made macarons overly powering and sweet, Ms Annabella Sonwelly Soen was determined to perfect the recipe herself, googling recipes and making trips to over 50 well-known brands in Japan and France. Six years on, she quit her high-paying job to launch Annabella Patisserie in a 350 square feet kitchen with her husband, Mr Andy Lau.

Today, Annabella Patisserie has become a household name in Singapore’s pastry scene—it has now expanded to an 8,000 square feet central kitchen, two retail outlets, and four pop-up stores, and has long-term partnerships with leading hotels and restaurants. Every day, the bakery churns out 15,000 macarons on top of other pastries.

 

Annabella Patisserie’s store in Compass One. (Photo courtesy of Annabella Patisserie)

Scaling up: Opportunities and challenges

This tale of sweet success had its own recipe for challenges. Just like perfecting a delicate pastry, scaling up from pop-ups to brick-and-mortar stores—and ensuring a steady rise in demand—proved to be a trickier mix than the couple had expected. As the business grows, it became clear that while the team possesses strong technical baking skills, they would need structured training in other aspects such as customer engagement, sales, and problem-solving.

“Ensuring consistent service quality across the different touchpoints from corporate clients to retail became a challenge. Customers expect a seamless, premium experience but from the feedback we received, there were clear inconsistences in handling inquiries, deliveries, and after-sales support,” explained Mr Lau.

“We are seeing more corporate clients requesting more customisation options, faster response times, and smoother ordering processes. We need to refine our workflows to make sure that the customer experience remains positive,” Mr Lau added. “At the same time, our staff also need career progression paths to stay motivated and grow with us.”

Working with IAL to craft a delightful customer experience

As Annabella Patisserie sets to further establish its footprint overseas, maintaining a consistent brand image and service experience across different markets is crucial.

The baking stalwart turned to the National Centre of Excellence for Workplace Learning at IAL (NACE@IAL), seeking consultancy services to help it embark on employee-driven workplace learning projects.

Given the increasingly competitive artisanal patisserie market, delivering a memorable customer experience was a key differentiator.

Recognising that service excellence varies based on customer expectations, IAL’s consultant began by helping Annabella Patisserie refine its vision, mission, and target audience. This led to the development of a strategic customer experience framework centred on the brand’s core vision: creating happiness, one bite at a time.

The framework became the foundation of a comprehensive customer experience handbook, outlining customer-facing roles, key performance indicators, and interaction protocols. To ensure seamless adoption, over 30 employees participated in four rounds of workshops, and the handbook was further refined based on trial runs.

Transforming the workplace culture

The seven-month journey with IAL reaped sweet rewards. More than 97% of the staff gave positive feedback on the handbook and sales increased by 8% after implementation of the new customer experience journey. Employees also started to take more ownership in solutioning as employee-driven innovation was encouraged and implemented.

  A Valentine's Day gift box. (Web image)


For example, frontline employees observed that customers often overlooked premium or seasonal gift sets, leading to slower sales during festive periods. They thus proposed a rotating thematic centrepiece display for festive gift boxes in the stores, with videos showcasing the craftsmanship behind the baked goods, and QR codes for customers to learn more about pricing and customisation options. In another employee-driven innovation, pre-curated pastry gift sets at different price points were introduced as ready options for customers.

To ensure that the workplace transformation was sustainable, IAL’s consultant ensured close engagement with Annabella Patisserie’s Human Resource team, making sure the developed tools were transferred by the end of the project.
  Ms Soen shared Annabella Patisserie's commitment to workplace learning, as part of their strategy to ensure quality in their products. (Photo courtesy of Annabella Patisserie)

For founder Ms Soen, this learning project provided a firm basis for future expansion and clarity for upcoming human capital investment. “Moving forward, we plan to expand leadership development, implement advanced sales techniques, and promote cross-departmental collaboration,” she shared. “We’ll also track performance, refine training methods, and integrate new technologies to ensure sustained growth and a high-performing sales culture across the company as we continue to create beautiful, fun macarons, pastries, and baked goods to bring joy and create happy memories for our customers.”