Rotiboy

[Kruang]

As everyone knows, the Thais are pretty serious about food. If you see a restaurant or food stall heavily patronized by the locals, you can assume it's good.

Having said that, my wife has been nagging me to stop by one of the Rotiboy outlets in Bangkok. She loves bread, and she's heard about how the Thais queue up for 30 minutes to buy these Rotiboy buns. So we figure they must be awfully good.

Well, we were in Silom this week and walked by the Rotiboy in Saladeang. The queue wasn't very long, so we bought some. What a disappointment ... just another bun, and a bit pricey at 25 baht. I noticed the next day that my wife didn't even eat the ones we brought home.

Are we missing something? Is there such a bad thing as a bad Rotiboy batch? Is there some secret way to serve them to make them as aroi as people say? Or this the Rotiboy mania just an example of Thai groupthink?

[Maestro]

Or this the Rotiboy mania just an example of Thai groupthink?

That’s it! Give it a high price, hype it up with a lot of promotion, and everybody will queue up for it. It works like that all over the world, not just in Thailand.

--------------

Maestro

[Nawtilus]

And now that the ex PM's son bought it, he can add a shitty bun company to his failed advertising career. Lucky he has a nice car.

[Joey Boy]

anyone know whey they shut up shop in singapore, which iis where their first outlet opened?

[Nawtilus]

It was in the Tamesak contract.

[Thaising]

Just because it's fresh from the oven, that why the queue is long. TIT

Edited April 22, 2006 by Thaising

[Ulysses G.]

It's just a typical fad AFAIK.

The quality is much less important than the status of being in the In Crowd.

I don't know. I remember simular fads in San Francisco.

Mrs. Fields cookies, Famous Amos cookies, Bud's ice cream, Ben and Jerry's ice cream are all still popular all over the world 30 years later.

Edited April 22, 2006 by Ulysses G.

[chuchok]

They are making similar buns at Lotus in Chiang Mai.Quite nice if you like a sweetish, coffee flavoured bun with heaps of oil/butter/marg.

[Donz]

there was a huge fad about crispy creames doughnuts in aus a few months ago, it was crazy, people would drive 50kms for these doughnuts.

All it was is doughnuts with alot of sugar.

personally doughnut king kills it.

And yes I drove 50 kms to taste these doughnuts too

[kkengvibul]

lol at Donz..hahah

yes..i also saw similar buns at Lotus On-nut BTS station branch..

they were giving samples out so i tried it and i think it tastes just like the Rotiboy buns...(priced only at 15 baht, 10 baht cheaper than the Rotiboy!~ what a ripoff)

Also..i heard that the Rotiboy in Thailand were actually paying people to queue up in the first place so that ppl would wonder.."hmm..that must be good"..(yeah right!!) I believe its definitely not worth the wait, and surely the price.

[sylvafern]

I guess it's the same chain that's in Carrefour on rama 4 - my b/f queued up for about 20 minutes to get some of these buns which were okay, but nothing special if you didn't eat them straight away (the ones we took home never got eaten). Next day, saw the same thing in Lotus (Chaeng Wattana) as well, so couldn't understand what all the fuss was about!!

[Plus]

There were reports/paid writeups about Rotiboy in the The Nation at least twice.

I think it's just a fad without any substance, only time will tell.

It looks to me that in Thailand many don't even bother about test of time - the name of the game is to have a new restaurant in the same place every six months. It's easier to attract people to a new name than attract repeat customers.

Every time I pass Tonglor (not very often) it's like a different street altogether.

[naka]

You guys are forgetting the two secret ingredients.

One is an addictive agent to keep you coming back.

The other is a memory inhibitor. This ensures you have forgotten

how much they cost next time you get the craving ... and how ropey

they actually were.

Naka.

[Thaiquila]

I think people believe that if a really unhealthy high fat (or should I say high FAD) food is irrationally popular (Rotiboy, Krispy Kreme) it somehow loses its calories (or at least you can think about it less). Saw a Rotiboy in Singapore and nobody was buying, much less lining up. Me either. Its a bun!

Edited April 23, 2006 by Thaiquila

[The Skipper]

I'm out of the loop I guess, never heard of them.

I did see a long line at a bun stand the other day and wanted to jump out of the taxi and try one.

Herd mentality, human nature.

Very clever idea though to hire a crowd to generate interest.