A Salt Lake City dessert cafe known for its trendy Japanese treats is in danger of closing, after experiencing a monthslong slump in sales, the owner said.
Doki Doki — at 249 E. 400 South, on the ground floor of the Stoneground building — usually sees its best business in the summer, with the Utah Pride Festival and the Utah Arts Festival held across the street in Library Square and Washington Square. But last summer, Doki Doki made about 40% less than what it typically makes during the season, said owner and chef Irie Cao.
This winter has been slow compared to past winters, too, she said. Typically, winter is when Doki Doki sells the most of its whole crepe cakes, with customers often buying them for holiday parties, Cao said. But this past December, they received a tenth of the orders they usually get during that month.
And now, the business isn’t breaking even.
The decrease in sales and customers is “strange,” Cao said, because Doki Doki is always bringing in new treats and flavors. Foodies and influencers continue to make videos on social media about the cafe’s Japanese-inspired fluffy pancakes, often resulting in a burst of business — but those spikes are short-lived.
Cao cited rising supply costs — notably the price of eggs — as another reason Doki Doki is struggling.
The cafe goes through eggs constantly, she said, adding that she used to be able to buy 15 dozen eggs from a food supplier for $45. Last summer, that same number of eggs cost about $70. Now, the price is more than $100.
“I just get a lot of pressure on me as a business owner to just keep the door open, keep the light on,” Cao said. She has poured all of her savings into the business and taken out several loans to help support Doki Doki, but she worries it’s not enough.
Ying Nance, who owns the Asian-inspired doughnut shop Chubby Baker, said that “restaurants have taken a hit with rising costs of wages, cost of goods and economic hardship causing customers to eat out less the past year. Irie and Doki Doki have been good friends, and we would hate to see them have to close.”
Sometime this spring, Cao said she and her husband plan to decide whether they can keep Doki Doki open, or whether the mixers will have to be turned off for good.
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Irie Cao, seen here making Japanese fluffy pancakes at the now-closed Kumo Cafe in South Salt Lake, is owner of the cafe Doki Doki in Salt Lake City — which, she said, now is in danger of closing.
Enter fluffy pancakes
Doki Doki opened in 2018, in a space that used to be a dark tattoo studio, Cao said. They revamped the location to be light-filled and airy, with a low seating platform near the front windows, and greenery and anime art placed throughout.
Cao — who is from Vietnam and whose husband is half-Japanese — started out making Japanese crepes, then slowly added more treats to the menu. Later in 2018, she began offering the cloud-like fluffy pancakes, when they were just starting to become popular on social media in Japan.
During the pandemic, fluffy pancakes “really exploded” in America, especially in Los Angeles and New York City, Cao said. Riding that wave of popularity, in 2023 she opened Kumo Cafe in South Salt Lake, designing it to focus only on drinks and fluffy pancakes, and stopped making the dessert at Doki Doki. But after Kumo Cafe closed in 2024, fluffy pancakes returned to Doki Doki. For the time being, Utah County folks can satisfy their fluffy pancake cravings at Doki Doki’s Orem location, at 149 N. State St.
Fluffy pancakes aren’t the most new and trendy food item at this point, but Cao said the fact that Doki Doki is the only place in Utah to get them helps keep the cafe in business.
Even though Doki Doki’s days might be numbered, Cao hasn’t stopped baking new confections for the menu. The latest trend is a croissant dipped in hot chocolate, so she made her own cream-filled croissants and decadent hot chocolate, inspired by the rich, European version of the beverage her husband tasted on a trip to Paris. It comes with a large scoop of fresh whipped cream to float on top.
‘Small businesses are what build a community’
With Doki Doki “hanging on a thread,” Cao said she has taken several steps to support and promote the business, but said she doesn’t want to put the burden on her customers.
The last time Cao raised her prices was at the end of 2023, when she raised them by about 15 cents. “I want to work with everyone’s budget,” she said. “I don’t want people to walk in here and feel like they have to spend so much money.”
People have suggested she implement a tipping option on credit card purchases, but she doesn’t want to. I feel like the tipping culture of America [is] getting out of hand,” she said.
Cao said that it’s unfair to expect customers to tip at the counter ahead of time on the work being done behind the scenes — like making all the sauces in-house. She said she also believes it’s her responsibility to pay her workers fair wages. Plus, her team always has the option of receiving cash tips, which they often divide among themselves, she said.
Instead, Cao said she wishes the Utah government would help struggling small businesses by making loans and other financial options available. “I just hope ... they would see that small businesses are what build a community anywhere,” she said. “And they would reach out and help.”
But she’s not standing by and waiting for that to happen.
“As a business owner, I [have] experienced my burnout for so long now,” Cao said. “But every single time I was like, ‘I give up. I can’t do this anymore,’ my husband always told me, ‘Look at what have you have built. You sure you want to walk away from this?’ And that’s what kept me going, is my team, the customer. And, of course, I love baking.”
