Owner Followed His Passion and Opened Thriving Bakery/Café

Long before he decided to turn it into a career, Gary Chan always had a passion for baking, and taught himself the culinary art at home.

“It was the time before YouTube was super popular. So it was a lot of going to libraries and just reading a lot and experimenting,” he said. “There’s just something about making something and giving it to people. I think that’s my love language.”

Chan, who grew up in Little Neck, Queens, earned a communications degree at New York Institute of Technology to help his parents run their electronics sales and repair business in Manhattan.

“That was the main reason why I went to communications. I was thinking I was going to get into their business. I worked with them in the beginning for like a year or two. Then, I had a clothing company, selling graphic T-shirts,” he said.

While he and his now-wife, Si Huang, were visiting an alpaca farm in Taiwan, she encouraged him to pursue his passion, posing the question, ‘‘Why don’t you just open a café?’ And within six months, Bibble and Sip–which just celebrated its 10th anniversary–opened on West 51st Street in Midtown.

The business was launched in the 600-square-foot lobby of Chan’s parents’ shop. “Eventually, it just became so big that we took over the entire building,” he said.

To pay homage to the place the idea was born, the couple used alpacas for their logo and to decorate the café.

“We used to have a bunch of alpaca stuffed animals. Our regulars would travel and bring them back to us. And it became so much, to a point where we had like 80 dolls and we didn’t know what to do with them,” he said, laughing.

Chan, 38, who attended culinary school at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) to hone his skills, describes his sweets as being made with “French techniques with Asian and American influences.”

Their bestsellers are their cream puffs, made in three signature flavors–Black Sesame Walnut, Earl Grey and Matcha.

“People come from all over the world to get them. We used to have a cream puff line, and it would just stretch down the block,” he said.

To celebrate the Chinese New Year, which falls on Jan. 29, Bibble and Sip will be upholding its tradition of offering gift boxes filled with their creations.

“We try to get very unique boxes where people can collect them,” he said.

“This year, it’s a snake basket since it’s the Year of the Snake. It’s the shape of a persimmon but it’s an actual basket and inside there’s a bunch of modern-style Chinese cookies with a little bit of French influence.”

You went to NYIT and got a degree in communications.

It was just one of those things where my parents were like, ‘You need to get a degree’ and then I just fell into it. My parents owned an electronics shop, so they used to repair radios and televisions. And then they eventually moved on to sales, so they started to sell to TV studios and movie sets.

What made you decide to enroll in culinary school?

I believe it was like the second year into my clothing company, my girlfriend, my wife now, at that time, we were traveling and she was pretty much saying, ‘What are you doing with your life?’ Because the company wasn’t doing very well. And we just so happened to be on an alpaca farm in Taiwan. And then we were just pondering on what I should be doing, and she said, ‘Why don’t you just open a café?’ It was something I always wanted to do. I always had a self-taught style of baking.

What did you study at ICE?

I just took the basic Intro to Pastry. It was supposed to be for one year, but I realized most of the stuff that I was learning I already knew, so I left after the half year. It was very good just to get connections and an understanding of how things operate on a large scale.

When did you decide to open the shop?

Right after the Taiwan trip, everything from making the idea, to logo design, to the name, happened within six months and we opened the store. We originally opened in my father’s electronics shop. It was a small 600-square foot lobby. Our second location we opened up in Chinatown. There was a lot of buzz telling us to get down there. But then, unfortunately, during COVID, we closed.

Tell us how you came up with its name.

Pretty much everything is attributed to my wife. We were going through the thesaurus looking for something quirky, fun and catchy, that not a lot of people had. She was thinking that in the city, you’re constantly moving, you’re rushing. So she was looking for something with eating and rushing and then the word in the thesaurus “bibble” came out, which means “to eat messily,” and we decided to use that as our first word. And the second word, “sip,” pretty much when you’re sipping, you’re drinking something in a controlled or comfortable environment. So we wanted to make it “Bibble and Sip,” so you can either be hustling or you’re sitting down and enjoying your drink.

So your alpaca theme was born because you decided to open the shop while you were on an alpaca farm?

Yes, that was the main reason. We needed a mascot and I was thinking, ‘What can I draw that people can recognize?’ Before, we had it on our menus, it was on our walls. Now, it’s on our boxes and cups. We decided to go for a little bit more of a minimalist style. We still do have a giant alpaca light. And our signage has a huge alpaca.

I read that your wife helped design the menus.

She did for the first year and a half. She’s an architect and went to the Rhode Island School of Design. So she used to draw our menus and everything I make now has to get her approval. [Laughs]

What is the demographic of your customers? What percentage are tourists versus locals?

I believe it’s almost 60/40, so 60 percent are tourists and 40 percent would be locals and people who work around the business.

What are your bestsellers?

Definitely the cream puffs.

What flavors do you sell and which are the most popular?

We always have our three signature flavors, which are Black Sesame Walnut, Earl Grey and Matcha. And then sometimes we’ll have a fourth or fifth flavor, and that rotates with the season. So during Christmastime, we’ll have something with eggnog or chestnut. Summertime will be more fruit-forward, like citruses. Our top seller is definitely the matcha cream puff. People go crazy over that.

What are your future plans for the business?

Hopefully to get more online presence, to do more online sales, and to figure out how to ship our items safely. And also to try to get into some sort of large supermarket.

To learn more, visit www.bibbleandsip.com