Lin Hao Store by the team at Tainan’s Hiyashi department store, is their new local department store concept, for promoting quality cultural & craft food products from all over Taiwan, to share with the many visitors to Tainan and Taiwan.

Hiyashi department store is Taiwan’s oldest department store, in 1932 when it opened, it was the tallest building in Tainan, and the first one with an elevator. Following the war, the building was abandoned and used for other purposes. After the government renovated it to its original glory, the new Hayashi department store reopened in 2014, under the management of the current team, the Focus Group, who made it a cultural hotspot and an important landmark for Tainan, where most visitors to the city visit.

When we got to call from the team telling us they were planning to open a new concept store next door to Hiyashi, and looking for an ice cream brand to partner with for their Lin Hao sundae, as fellow Tainanese, naturally we were very excited about this possibility. The team told us even though they liked our ice cream, they were tasting a few others, but not long after they told us they had decided to pick Bebop as their ice cream partner.

At the time we were building our plant in Pingtung, and working on our new plant-based recipe, naturally, we asked them if they would be interested in trying and maybe going with a plant-based concept. At first, even though they liked how our plant-based tasted, they were still concerned maybe going with all plant-based would be limiting. However, after more tasting of new plant-based flavors, they were comfortable with the idea and proposed yes, indeed they could go with an all-plant-based line. Not only were we happy they picked this route, but in a way it also helped to cement our idea at the time that plant-based was the way.

Another interesting experience in creating Lin Hao Sundae with the team, as we tried many different types of dried and preserved food as topping for our ice cream, tasting what our ice cream tastes like with cured tofu, spicy sauces, and other dried fruits and vegetables, before deciding with the team what to offer to the customers as toppings.

At the Lin Hao Store, one can enjoy a selection of over 12 Bebop flavors at any time, some classics as well as some new exciting flavors, where the r&d team gets to explore their new flavor ideas and get feedback from customers, which helped us to better understand preferences and trends, which is also very helpful for us.

You can also find (once they are ready) a whole line-up of Bebop cupped products, the Standards flavors of course, as well as some new collaboration and experimentation Jam session flavors, offering people looking for Bebop a hub to visit in Tainan, as we also work on ways to partner with Lin Hao Store for events.