SINGAPORE: Choice has never been more overrated. These days, the trendiest way to shop is by picking a box off the shelf, contents unknown, and leaving it to luck.
Blind boxes are most commonly associated with collectibles like Labubu and Crybaby, but certainly not limited to them.
Increasingly, other businesses have started vying for a piece of this lucrative pie – the global blind box economy was worth around US$13.53 billion in 2024 and is projected to hit US$25.14 billion by 2034, according to market intelligence firm Zion Market Research.
Little surprise, then, that 2026 has given rise to Taoist temple blind boxes and condom blind boxes. There are even blind boxes for food.
At Taco Liberation Co, a stall in Amoy Street Food Centre that opened in December 2025, you do not get to pick the flavour of your taco. “I cook what, you eat what,” proclaims a glowing yellow sign.
While there is no box, diners get three mystery choices: veggie tacos (from S$5.90 for two; US$4.60), mixed tacos (from S$7.90 for one meat and one veg) and meat tacos (from S$8.50 for two).
Fillings range from kimchi pork to chicken rice, combinations cooked up on the spur of the moment and rotated up to three times a week.
For something fancier, take a chance on a S$98 blind box from Japanese seafood purveyor Shiki Singapore, which includes 100g of sea urchin and three other ingredients.
Or head to Orchid Live Seafood, which has locations in Yishun and Jalan Kelulut, and let a random plushie decide your meal. There are seven toys, split between two tiers (priced at S$48++ and S$68++), available until April 17. Diners get to keep the plushie.
Each one comes with the dish it represents. For instance, if you draw a lobster plushie (S$48++), you get a Boston lobster served with cheese or a butter mushroom garlic sauce. A fish plushie (S$68++), on the other hand, yields a steamed or deep-fried soon hock.
“As dining habits evolve across generations, we’ve observed that younger families and children place strong sentimental value on keepsakes – small items that help them remember shared experiences,” says its operations manager Clarice Png, 37.
Thrill of unpredictability
Blind ordering is not a new thing in restaurants. Omakase – the Japanese concept of letting the chef decide your meal – is an entrenched culinary practice.
More accessibly, the couple behind Taco Liberation Co like to think of their “blind boxes” as affordable omakase.
“We wanted to call it omakase, but then we thought it sounded a bit too pretentious. The price point doesn’t match that of omakase,” says Veronica Liew, 31.
However, she insists the intention was never to ride the wave of hype surrounding blind boxes. She simply did not want to cook the same thing day in, day out.
“That’s so boring. When we get to come up with new ideas like this, we feel the joy in doing this business.”
It also keeps things fresh for Lim Zhi Han, a former university lecturer who now runs Italian restaurant 42 Pasta Is The Answer in Thomson Plaza.
Apart from a Waldorf salad, the only main course on his menu is a pasta of the day (S$15), usually decided before his 6.30am market run. He tries not to repeat recent pastas, and rotates ingredients so he does not get bored.
At times, tradition dictates the menu – orecchiette goes well with a chunky broccoli sauce, for instance. Other times, he lets his creativity lead the way, which is how diners sometimes end up with creations like gochujang pasta.
In the same way consumers cannot get enough of merchandise blind boxes, unpredictability keeps customers coming back for more food.
June Teh, a lecturer at Republic Polytechnic’s School of Hospitality, says: “When consumers know all possible outcomes are generally favourable, but are unsure which specific outcome they will receive, the uncertainty intensifies anticipation and generates stronger, more enduring positive emotions.”
Likewise, as long as diners know that the contents of a meal align with their preferred cuisine, the perceived value exceeds the price paid.
“This ‘positive uncertainty’ stimulates anticipation, curiosity and heightened impulse purchase intention, transforming the act of buying into an emotionally engaging experience,” Teh adds.
Melissa Ngiam, a 29-year-old freelancer who has dined at 42 Pasta Is The Answer twice, appreciates getting a different dish on each visit. Plus, the limited menu eliminates decision paralysis.
“I like the variety of fresh pasta and sauces. But I wish there was more meat and an option for a non-nut pasta, as the one I tried on my second visit came with a walnut sauce, which I usually wouldn’t opt for,” she says.
Zak Tan, a 36-year-old patron of Taco Liberation Co who works in IT, also finds this form of blind ordering fresh. “I’m very much open to it since it offers me the opportunity of trying a different filling every week,” he says.
There is one drawback, however. “The kimchi chicken taco I had once was so good, I wish they’d bring it back again. But, oh well, it is blind box,” he says.
Since diners are happy to be surprised, these blind boxes have turned into a way for retailers and restaurants to introduce customers to less popular items.
In the case of Tyrwhitt Road cake shop The Patissier, customers rarely venture beyond its best-selling passion fruit meringue.
To encourage more people to explore the store’s full repertoire, co-owner Chow Choon Kit, 59, rolled out a blind box containing four mini cakes – all surprises, save for the passion fruit meringue.
A monetary incentive is thrown in to coax customers into a more adventurous frame of mind: each box is priced at S$32.70, which works out to a 30 per cent discount as individual mini cakes cost S$11.45 or more.
So, too, in the case of Mamashop Inc, a local importer of small-batch craft spirits. “We realised the biggest barrier for customers wasn’t interest, it was commitment. Buying a full bottle of something unfamiliar can be a leap of faith. The Mamashop Blind Box was our way of lowering this barrier,” says co-founder Muralee V. Reddy, 38.
The S$24 box, introduced in December 2025, contains one 50ml craft spirit and one premium mixer from drink company Thomas Henry.
“The mixers are paired intentionally based on how the spirits are best enjoyed, to us. Every combination is curated by the team and delivers a balanced tasting experience, showcasing the beauty of each spirit.”
Reducing waste
There are practical benefits as well. With only one pasta on the menu, Lim is able to cut down on waste. “If I have five pasta options and everyone chooses pasta number one, then two, three, four and five are wasted,” he says.
For local butchery Meat Co, which supplies restaurants like Claudine in Dempsey and Wheeler’s Estate in Seletar, such offerings help iron out operational kinks.
In April, it will launch three tiers of blind boxes priced from S$10.90 to S$59.90. Each contains rare or seasonal cuts like wagyu tri-tip steak or a Hanwoo rump cap.
“When testing out a new farm or producer, we often receive the initial shipments at a lower price,” says its director Chua Sheng Yu, 37.
He adds that it is common for restaurants to change their menus and therefore the ingredients needed on short notice, and suppliers might not be able to adjust their imports in time. Excess produce can then be niftily sold off in blind boxes.
There are even apps dedicated to helping restaurants rebrand surplus food. Through Yindii, customers can purchase a mystery box from places like bakery chain Baker & Cook, where each box retails for S$10.90, around half the retail price of its contents. Pickups start 30 minutes before closing.
In 2025, the chain sold over 25,000 mystery boxes across 11 outlets. Baker & Cook’s Singapore head Marcus Foo, 45, describes it as a win-win for customers and staff: “Our bakes are handcrafted with time-honoured processes and honest ingredients, which means they have a shorter shelf life. We can’t bear to see our bakers’ hours of preparation, passion and hard work go to waste in bins at the end of the day.”
Yindii has amassed nearly 300,000 users since it was launched in August 2024 and usually sells 70 per cent of surprise bags across its 650 or so merchants.
Its partnerships head Terry Quek, 30, says these surprise bags have helped bakery chains recover around S$250,000 a year.
“A lot of merchants are enticed to join the platform because they can choose what to offer to customers, so they can clear whichever items they want,” he adds, citing the example of a bakery that was able to sell off its Christmas cookies in January.
Home-grown app treatsure, known for its buffet boxes, operates on a similar model. In January 2025, it took advantage of the blind box craze to roll out “thrill boxes”, which can contain anything from baked goods to salads, depending on the merchant. These boxes are typically priced from S$10 to S$20.
Founder Preston Wong, 36, says it has been easier to pitch this offering to merchants. For one thing, it is far more straightforward than the buffet-in-a-box experience, which gives guests the autonomy of packing their own takeaway box.
“Buffets are more complex – there are some food items that cannot be taken away because of food safety risks or because they are reserved for dine-in guests. But for pastries, almost everything can be packed into a thrill box,” he says.
Nine of its 42 merchants offer the thrill box, including The Shop at Grand Hyatt Singapore, where a Pastry Thrill Box retails at S$15 and an Artisanal Bread Thrill Bag at S$14.
Take-up in the first quarter has doubled compared with the same period in 2025 when it was launched, says Iljas Linnbark, 39, executive assistant manager of food and beverage organisation at Grand Hyatt Singapore.
“This suggests growing awareness among consumers who are looking for more value-conscious and sustainable ways to enjoy quality food.”
Although edible blind boxes can help restaurants reduce surplus inventory, Teh cautions that their contribution to waste reduction is not absolute.
“Environmental waste may still occur if diners discard items they do not enjoy. Unlike merchandise blind boxes, food products are perishable and difficult to resell or redistribute due to food safety concerns and diminished consumer appeal once items have changed hands.”
Managing expectations
So far, the bet seems to have paid off for customers and restaurants.
The Patissier sells around 30 blind boxes a month – a steady figure that Chow says nicely complements other product offerings. Meanwhile, bottle sales on the whole are rising at Mamashop Inc.
“What’s encouraging is we’ve seen customers return for a full-sized bottle after finding a spirit they enjoyed in the blind box,” says Reddy.
This tallies with a broader trend observed on Yindii: Half of those who purchase surprise bags return to the bakery or restaurant as regular customers.
And while it is impossible to please everyone, there are ways to ensure these surprise offerings remain palatable to as many people as possible.
For Taco Liberation Co, that means no seafood, nuts or too much spice. Liew and her partner Ong Ziqi, 37, also warn guests with allergies that there may be traces of cross-contamination in their food.
To cater to the taste buds of the public, they stick to milder flavours and avoid daring ingredients like century egg or pig’s ear, saving those for potential limited-time specials instead.
At 42 Pasta Is The Answer, Lim starts his day by surveying the dietary restrictions and requests of incoming customers. Most of his pastas are vegetable-forward, as he often gets vegetarian guests. However, he makes it a point to keep alternatives on hand.
For instance, a spare ragu for a guest aghast at the prospect of vegetarian pasta. Or, on a day when gochujang pasta is on the menu, he might whip up something less spicy for a child.
“I tell my staff to suggest alternatives or ask for preferences if the customer’s face changes when he or she hears about the pasta,” he says. He typically gets one or two such requests a day.
“I don’t suggest alternatives to every customer, but I feel bad if people pay for something and then don’t like or can’t finish the food. So, I train my staff to give them a detailed description of the pasta before taking orders.”
Do these blind boxes need to be regulated?
These edible blind boxes are still a gamble, but unlikely one you will get addicted to.
Teh points out that unlike collectibles like Labubu, a mystery taco or cake has very little resale value, which means they are less likely to be significantly affected by potential government regulations.
In February, Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said the authorities have studied the issue and will soon introduce regulations to better manage gambling risks.
“Given the perishability of food and recommended consumption timelines, consumers are unlikely to purchase excessive quantities for speculative purposes,” she adds.
“The absence of hoarding and resale potential reduces the risk of compulsive buying behaviours, positioning edible blind boxes as a more consumption-oriented, experience-driven variant of the model.”
In any case, she predicts that given their abilities to engage and optimise, blind boxes in general will likely remain relevant, possibly in different forms.
Edible blind boxes today; tomorrow, who knows? Maybe a mystery voucher with surprise discounts, maybe thematic dining events, decided by a lucky draw. - The Straits Times/ANN
