TikTok saves struggling mooncake business
In January 2021, a TikTok trend turned a niche dessert into a supermarket sensation. Videos under the hashtag #LittleMoons reached 19.5 million views, pushing sales of the brand’s mochi-wrapped ice cream up by 700% in Tesco alone. The business, launched in 2010 by siblings Vivien and Howard Wong, had spent years supplying Japanese restaurants before entering grocery stores. The pandemic arrived, bringing an unexpected opportunity.
“We thought we were finished,” Vivien Wong said. “Then we went viral.”
The accidental viral moment
Little Moons spent a decade building a quiet operation. For its first five years, it sold only to restaurants across Europe, often without branding. YO! Sushi was an early customer, using the product name. The real change came in 2015, when a customer searched a YO! Sushi trash bin for packaging and emailed the company to ask where to buy it.
That message gave the Wongs the push they needed. They emailed Whole Foods and received a reply within 20 minutes: “You had me at mochi.” The brand entered Ocado, Waitrose, and Tesco, setting up freezers where shoppers could try flavors. The pandemic struck, and the siblings had just moved into a factory six times larger than their old one. Sales were stable—but no one expected TikTok.
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“We sold out in every supermarket,” Wong said. The increase wasn’t temporary. In the 18 months to December 2022, revenue rose from £25.5 million to £68.5 million. The business now employs 400 people, up from 100 before the pandemic, and opened a new production site in late 2023.
Expansion came with challenges. Wong called the period exhausting. “I can’t describe how hard it was to scale that fast in two years,” she said. The company took private equity funding in 2022 and is hiring a new CEO, though the siblings still hold most of the control.
The success wasn’t just luck. The Wongs had spent years perfecting their mochi ice cream, inspired by a Japanese dessert they first tried in Tokyo. Traditional mochi uses red bean paste, but they replaced it with ice cream, creating something new yet recognizable. “Soft, sweet dough with ice cream is a combination people already enjoy,” Wong said.
Scaling up
Wong’s best decision was hiring a non-executive director early. “He told us when to expand and build teams,” she said. The company started small, with the siblings handling everything.
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Her concerns haven’t vanished—they’ve just changed. “Everything. I have anxiety about so many things,” she said.
A brand, not a legacy
Wong doesn’t seek personal fame. “I just want the brand to last,” she said. Her aim is for Little Moons to match Häagen-Dazs, a name she knew in the 1990s. “I loved its ‘Dedicated to pleasure’ message,” she said. “I want that kind of lasting impact.”
For now, the focus is meeting demand. The new facility will help, but Wong knows the market changes quickly. What remains constant is the product—a small, sweet ice cream ball wrapped in chewy mochi, born from a family experiment and turned into a hit.
Business leaders predict growth despite uncertainty, but Little Moons shows how sudden shifts can reshape a company.
