KFC debuts a dragon fruit burger with a pink bun in Vietnam, after the country struggled to sell excess fruit due to the coronavirus outbreak
Dragon fruit baked goods became a massive hit in Vietnam after ABC Bakery debuted pink dragon fruit baguettes in mid-February.
Vietnam had closed its borders with China due to the outbreak, making it difficult to export the fruit.
"The red dragon fruits were sold in the past 40.000 dong per kg from farmers, but now they had to sell at 6.000 dong per kg," the equivalent of the price per kilogram dropping from $1.72 to just 26 cents, ABC Bakery marketing executive Angela Kao told Business Insider. "Yet nobody [was] willing to buy, and the fruits [were] all ripe."
Kao Sieu Luc began developing recipes that used dragon fruit, creating new pink baked goods to sell at ABC Bakery.
The dragon fruit baguette was an instant hit, drawing massive crowds to locations following the bread's debut on February 9.
ABC Bakery has since rolled out new items using dragon fruit, including buns and cake.
By early March, ABC Bakery had gone through more than 30 metric tons of dragon fruit, the equivalent of more than 66,000 pounds. At that time, the bakery chain was using two tonnes — more than 4,400 pounds — of dragon fruit a day.
Kao Sieu Luc has encouraged other businesses to use dragon fruit, posting the recipe for dragon fruit baguettes on ABC Bakery's Facebook page.
By swapping some of the water for a dragon fruit smoothie in the recipe, ABC Bakery is able to produce a subtly flavored, brightly colored version of familiar favorites.
In recent weeks, the price of dragon fruit has risen closer to its normal rate, and Vietnam has eased up on trade restrictions with China.
However, customers' newfound love for pink, dragon fruit baked goods seems to live on.
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