By Definition

Mochi: a doughlike mass made from cooked and pounded glutinous rice, used in Japan as an unbaked pastry.

By the Numbers

• 50% of consumers are familiar with mochi, but only 31% have tried it. Among those who have tried it, 68% love or like it. 
• 7% growth over the past four years.
• 28% increase on frozen dessert menus over the past four years, demonstrating mochi has grown more strongly as part of frozen treats specifically.

Source: Datassential, June 2024

Buttery Twist

In terms of new mochi desserts, butter mochi (a chewy Hawaiian dessert bar made with mochi flour and coconut) is gaining traction, according to Datassential, with 41% growth on dessert menus over the past four years. Among consumers who are familiar with butter mochi (35%), only 16% have tried it.

Uptick

Commonly filled with ice cream or red bean paste, mochi is on the rise. According to Chicago-based Technomic’s “Ignite Menu” data for the second quarter of 2024, although only 3.6% of restaurant operators’ menus include mochi desserts, there has been an uptick of 2% for this menu item in the last five years. Top flavors paired with mochi on menus are green tea, mango, strawberry, vanilla and chocolate, in that order.

Concept Close-Up

The Boiis Co., New York City

Chef Kert Lasdoce’s menu at The Boiis Co. in New York City features a variety of mochi-centric options that extend beyond the ice cream varieties commonly familiar to U.S. consumers. “People associate mochi with ice cream because it’s the most accessible mainstream being pushed,” Lasdoce notes. “But this is not a frozen dessert, although it has been adapted to that platform.”

Butter mochi is gaining traction according to Datassential.Lasdoce founded the Boiis Co. with Rivy-Major Oponda in 2019. This business was homegrown in its roots. “We were making mochi at home for our friends, and it was so popular that we felt the need to expand,” Oponda says.

The menu was launched with mochi doughnuts, but because this wasn’t a unique product, Oponda and Lasdoce branched out. “We play with variations of mochi,” Oponda says. “It is a very sticky situation during R&D.”

In 2021, the partners moved their foodservice equipment to a commissary kitchen, which services The Boiis Co. pop-up shops, along with its wholesale, delivery and shipping
businesses. 

Mochi is a very versatile item that can be applied to almost anything, Lasdoce says, which includes encasing fruits or creating natural desserts. The Boiis Co.’s menu includes mochi-filled cookies, mochi parfaits, mochi cheesecake and chocolate chip mochi banana bread.

Another popular menu item is the butter mochi square, a Japanese/Hawaiian product similar to a brownie with Filipino flavors added. Cookie fillings are made using a nonstick pan in a steamer style. Dough is prepared in 60- and 80-quart mixers. Items are baked in convection ovens.

“We utilize hot-holding equipment or proofers with hot-holding functions,” Lasdoce says. “The commissary has walk-in coolers and freezers for holding, while items at our pop-up sites are kept hot with heat lamps.”

The partners plan to open their own production facility or a brick-and-mortar store in 2025.