October 26, 2014      英文中國郵報

LOS ANGELES--Taiwan-based Gourmet Master Co., which runs the 85 C Cafe chain, opened a new store in South Pasadena, California, Friday, attracting a long line of people waiting to buy the chain's coffee and pastries.

The South Pasadena store is the 13th outlet opened by Gourmet Master in the U.S. market. The cafe chain operator opened its first store in Irvine in 2008. All of the company's 12 other stores in the U.S. are located in California.

Before 2013, Gourmet Master only ran three outlets in California: in Irvine, Hacienda Heights and Covina. But the company has been gearing up to extend its reach in California in the past two years after the establishment of a central kitchen in the state to boost the number of the outlets.

Most of the 13 stores are located in southern California, while two are located in San Jose and Newark in northern California. These U.S. outlets, like other 85 C Cafe's stores in Taiwan and China, offer bread, cakes, and beverages.

In the opening ceremony of the new South Pasadena store, Gourmet Master Chief Executive Officer Lin Ming-che said that Taiwan has a population of only 23 million so the cafe chain has to look for new business opportunities outside the island through expansions overseas.

Lin said the cafe chain is scheduled to open another store in San Diego in southern California next month.

According to the company, the chain has more than 725 outlets in Taiwan, China, the U.S. and Australia.

Judy Chu of the U.S. House of Representatives and Steve C.C. Hsia, director general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles, attended the opening ceremony of the new store.

Hsia said he was glad that 85 C Cafe made its presence in South Pasadena, adding that the cafe chain already has a success in Taiwan and he has faith that U.S. consumers will like its products, in particular bread.

One of the customers lining up in front of the new South Pasadena store said that 85C Cafe has a wide variety of breads, which taste quite different from bread made in U.S.-based bakeries.

The customer added that it is convenient for many consumers in South Pasadena to buy the Taiwanese chain's products after the new store opened.