Mr Bean (company)

Mr Bean Group Limited

Type	Public
Industry	Food and Beverage retailer
Founded	Peoples' Park Hawker Centre, Singapore (1995 (1995))
Founder	Kang Puay Seng Loh Jwee Poh
Headquarters	Singapore
Number of locations	65 (2011)
Area served	South-east Asia
Products	Soya milk Beancurd Grass jelly Soya beans Biscuits Ice cream Pancakes
Services	Food and Beverage
Parent	Super Bean International
Website	www.mrbean.com.sg

Mr Bean Group Limited is a listed retailer based in Singapore. It sells soya bean-based food and drink products. It was founded in 1995. It currently operates a chain of retail outlets through its managing company, Super Bean International, selling a wide range of food and beverages (which all contain traces of soya bean). The group currently operates a total of 65 retail stores (63 island wide in Singapore, and 2 in Japan).^[1][2][3]

History

Mr Bean was founded in 1995 by Kang Puay Seng, who is now the managing director of Super Bean International, and Loh Jwee Poh, executive director of Super Bean and Kang's best friend.^[4][5][6] The first Mr Bean stall was located at People's Park Hawker Centre. Having found a machine that could make soya milk quickly and efficiently, ^[7][8] they established small kiosks in accessible areas at shopping malls, hospitals, schools and MRT stations.^[7] Subsequently, additional stalls were opened.^{[9][10] [11]} WhToday, Mr Bean has more than 50 local outlets and 5 overseas outlets in Japan, the Philippines, China. ^[12]

Branding

The company’s name, Mr Bean, originated when both founders wanted to differentiate their stall from their competitors. As the founders were selling soya bean drinks and both of them were men, they decided to call their company Mr Bean.^[13] When Mr Bean was launched in 1995, their original logo had an ‘oriental’ look.^[14]

Products

As of 2008, Mr Bean offered at least 28 products.^[15] Its soya drinks range from plain soya milk to variations of soya milk that include chendol soya milk, fruity soya milk and icy mocha soya milk.^[16] Mr Bean also produces a wide range of products that use soya beans, such as various flavours of soya milk, biscuits, pancakes and ice cream.^[16] The company also diversified to sell Mr Bean merchandise that appealed to the younger consumers. Some of their merchandise includes towels, plush toys, bookmarks and bags.^[14][17] Mr Bean sought to continually improve the quality of their products and invent new products. To do that, they invested in R&D to brainstorm and develop new product ideas, and also organised sample-testing sessions.^[14][18]

Awards

Mr Bean has achieved the following awards over the years:

Outlets

Singapore

As of March 2013, Mr Bean has total of 63 listed outlets in the island of Singapore, some outlets located on Singapore MRT stations.^[25][26]

Japan

In January, 2010, in a partnership with Tokyu Gourmet Front, Super Bean International opened a Mr Bean outlet in Shibuya, Japan, at the Shibuya Train Station.^{[27][28][29][30]}

Coming soon

In March, 2012, the Mr Bean group announced that it will open 12 stores across the region by the end of the year to add to its five outlets in Tokyo, Seoul, Malaysia and Shanghai.^[31][32]

With the regional expansion underway, Mr Bean hopes to double the number of overseas stores to 34 by 2013 and eventually expand to other markets such as the United States.^[33]

References

External links

• Official website