It’s not following the trend, it’s the market talking
Walk into any bakery these days and you’ll find a bright orange element everywhere – Thai milk-flavored products are taking over the baking world at an astonishing rate. From croissant fillings to iced bread, from soft European buns to toast fillings, “Thai milk flavor” seems to have become the common password of the baking industry overnight.
Some store owners sighed: “The sales of Thai milk croissants and Thai milk ice bread launched this month directly accounted for 35% of the store’s total revenue, which is 20% higher than the main products in the same period last year!” On Xiaohongshu, the number of views on the topic of “Thai salted French cheese” soared to 14.05 million, and the number of Douyin-related video views exceeded 750 million. Is this wave of Thai milk trend a flash in the pan, or is it a real market outlet?
Why has Thai milk become the new favorite in the baking industry?
The early stage of Southeast Asian flavors: The outbreak of Thai milk is not accidental. From coconut, pandan, colorful to durian, Southeast Asian flavors have experienced a concentrated explosion in China’s baking market after slow accumulation. Coconut milk and Thai milk tea have been precipitated in the beverage market for a long time, and consumers have already established awareness and goodwill towards them. When bakeries launch “Thai milk croissants”, consumers can imagine its taste without additional explanation, lowering the threshold for tasting new things.
The victory of visual productivity: As the bakery industry enters the “social content-based product” stage, it is crucial to attract customers to take photos and share. “Thai milk orange”, a high-saturation, low-frequency color, can be called a “conspicuous bag” in the bread and dessert industry – whether it is a flowing panna cotta or a bursting filling, as long as you add this touch of orange, the picture will immediately come alive. Labels such as bursting, refrigeration, and ice feel give the product a strong sense of seasonal adaptability.
The substantive expression of emotional value: The entry of Thai milk flavor into the baking track is not only the transformation of taste, but also the “materialization” of the emotion of the drink. The sweetness of milk tea becomes a bursting panna cotta wrapped in dough, the tropical feeling is transformed into icy toast, and consumers upgrade from the short relaxation of “drinking milk tea” to the real satisfaction of “eating bread”.
Innovative gameplay: from “adding some Thai milk sauce” to a complete flavor system
After the first stage of “seizing the heat and quickly launching new products”, leading brands have begun to build a more complete “Thai milk flavor system”: using Chinese tea to tell the story of Thai milk: many brands have begun to explore using Chinese local tea to make Thai milk tea, such as Dianhong, Keemun, Jinjunmei, etc., and then with “regional restrictions” to achieve “Chinese expression of Southeast Asian flavors”. This regional cultural translation makes foreign flavors a “part of their own culture” for consumers, preserving characteristics and improving palatability.
Structural restructuring creates rich experiences:
– Ice bread + chilled Thai milk filling = ice cream texture
– Croissant/toast + Thai milk bursting = visual impact
– Dessert cup + Thai granny jelly / mochi / pearl = multi-layer bite
Series attacks to create summer memory points: This year, innovative brands no longer make single breakthroughs, but build product matrix from the “tropical feel”:
– Thai milk series: based on tea base, combined with condensed milk, black tea, cheese and salted cheese, focusing on “rich system”
– Duck’s milk series: Add coconut milk, shredded coconut, and coconut fruit to bring ice and refreshing
– Tropical fruits: Mango, passion fruit, and pineapple are paired with light cheese to create a high sweet and sour contrast
This series development based on flavor climate zones avoids aesthetic fatigue caused by a single flavor and improves the customer’s secondary choice space.
Hidden worries and breakthroughs: How to make Thai milk change from a popular model to a long-term seller?
Despite the popularity of Thai milk, the industry has shown several major challenges:
Repurchase rate problem: Some consumers report that “they get tired of drinking it once”, and the lack of sustained appeal after the first consumption brought about by the sense of curiosity is lacking. An Internet celebrity store in Anshan relies on Thai milk and salted French cheese to sell hundreds of cups a day, but the repurchase rate is only about 15%.
Localization is not complete: The person in charge of R&D of Bingli Wang pointed out that it is necessary to “match heavy tea, thick milk, and spices”, and while retaining a small amount of flavor as a memory point, a new Thai flavor that is truly suitable for the taste of the Chinese people is mixed.
Supply chain bottlenecks: Buttermilk, the core raw material of salted cheese, many small brands rely on imports, resulting in high costs. Some store owners said frankly: “The cost of raw materials accounts for 45% of the product price, and the profit margin is seriously squeezed.” ”
The way to break the game:
1. Deepen the local supply chain: Suzhou Tamkoko selected Thai tea and signed a direct supply agreement with tea gardens to reduce the cost of Thai black tea to 70% of the market price
2. Healthy transformation: Eliminate consumers’ concerns about “heavy flavor” and “excessive pigment”, use natural butterfly pea flower coloring, zero non-dairy creamer formula, and even replace the salted cheese base with New Zealand cheese
3. Incorporate the main theme of baking health: Combined with the healthy trend of the baking industry (low sugar, low fat, functionality), develop a series of Thai milk products with clean labels
Practical Guide: How to seize the Thai milk outlet of cake shops?
Combined with multiple successful cases, we provide the following landing strategies for store owners:
Product positioning matrix (refer to the mature Thai dairy store model):
| Product Type | Quantity Requirements | Feature Targeting | Revenue Percentage Target |
| Featured Products | 3-5 models | Core competitiveness, high repurchase | 65%+ |
| Ancillary Products | 4-8 models | Assist in the main product and prevent faults | 20-30% |
| Seasonal Products | Quarterly Updates | Create seasonal topics to stimulate consumption | 35%+ for the quarter |
| Nurturing Products | Continuous R&D | Future Competitiveness Reserve | 5-10% |
Cost control three-board axe:
1. Raw material substitution: Replace some imported Thai tea with high-quality Yunnan red, Keemun red and other Chinese teas
2. Process innovation: develop stable Thai milk sauce to reduce losses (experiments show that it can reduce costs by 12%)
3. Equipment utilization: Use the existing ice cream machine to make Thai milk smoothies, and use the oven to make Thai soufflé pastry
Visual merchandising combo:
– “Layered Art”: Create visual layers by hanging sauce on the wall of the cup and sedimentation at the bottom
– “Burst Moment”: Design a cut-out display link to encourage customers to shoot a popping video
– “Tropical Color Palette”: Mango yellow, pandan green with Thai milk orange to build a complete visual system
Future prospects: the road of transformation from Internet celebrity to long-term celebrity
For Thai milk to become a continuous value-creating outlet, rather than a short-term trend, the key is to establish “flavor conversion capabilities”:
When a R&D director pointed out: “The real ability is not to chase a hit, but to establish a product innovation system – from the emotional flavor design path, to the systematic method of drinks to baking, and then to the serial visual expression.” With these capabilities, whether the next outlet is Vietnamese coffee or Japanese matcha, it can be seamlessly connected. ”
The general trend of health in the baking industry is irreversible – women born in the 80s and 90s and consumers in new first-tier and second-tier cities have become the main force, and more than 80% pay attention to food safety and health attributes. Combining the flavor of Thai milk with health needs (such as low-sugar Thai milk, high-fiber Thai milk bread) is the way to go.
The Thai milk trend in bakeries is ostensibly flavor innovation, but the essence is the resonance between consumer sentiment and product value. When a product has both visual impact, taste memory points and emotional resonance, it is no longer a simple follow-up, but a real market outlet. On the outlet, some people see short-term traffic, and some people build long-term capabilities – your choice determines whether Thai milk is a flash in the pan or a weapon for continuous income generation.
Seize this wave of Thai milk dividends, now is the best time!