SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, center, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, fifth from right, pose with executives and officials from both companies during a dinner at a 99 Chicken restaurant in Santa Clara, Calif., Feb. 5 (local time). Yonhap
Korean bakery brand Paris Baguette got an unexpected marketing boost when the global brand's cake was served at Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s birthday party in the United States.
According to the brand’s operator, SPC, on Sunday, a Paris Baguette whipped cream cake with strawberry topping was delivered to the party at a restaurant near the U.S. company’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California on Feb. 14 (local time). The party was held three days before the artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor expert's birthday.
Huang invited 30 key engineers behind SK hynix’s DRAM and high-bandwidth memory 4 to the celebration. The venue, a fried chicken joint called 99 Chicken, is the same restaurant where SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won met with Huang on Feb. 5 to discuss business collaborations.
Customers line up inside a Paris Baguette store in Redondo Beach, Calif., March 2, 2019. Courtesy of SPC
SPC said the SK employees surprised Huang with the cake. Earlier, Huang energized the gathering by personally mixing and serving "somaek" — a blend of soju and beer — to Korean guests at each table.
“Huang led the party’s mood by showing friendly leadership to the Korean engineers, turning the party into something akin to the typical after-work dinner among workers in Korea,” an SPC official said. “It was all about the symbolic moment — our brand's cake being present at a birthday party for the current leader of the global AI industry. It was a total boon without costing us anything.”
SPC has 10 Paris Baguette stores across Silicon Valley and the rest of Santa Clara County, and operates 280 Paris Baguette stores across the U.S.
Last September, the group began building a new bakery manufacturing plant in Texas to strengthen its value chain in the country. The first phase of construction is planned for completion by the end of next year.
Source: Korea Times News
