I had my first Little Moon on a trip to the theatre with my wife and some friends several years ago. I eagerly bit into it and got short shrift – it was rock solid. “No,” explained my friend patiently. “You have to wait a few minutes to let it soften before you enjoy it.”
My wait was nothing compared to Vivien Wong’s.
Vivien started Little Moons with her brother Howard after quitting an £80,000 job in the City. The idea was simple: there was a gap in the UK market for mochi balls, a Japanese confectionary made of rice dough wrapped around ice cream that the siblings had enjoyed on their travels around Japan and America.
Vivien and Howard grew up making mochi in the family bakery in North London. Years later, their father’s cancer diagnosis convinced Vivien to take the leap into entrepreneurship.
At first, the siblings worked on everything together, which Vivien admits was “a disaster.” They brought in Mark Escolme, formerly of Gu, to act as a non-executive director. Escolme split responsibilities, with Vivien on operations and Howard on marketing. The business stabilised.
Founded in 2010, Little Moons grew slowly; at first exclusively supplying Japanese restaurants in the UK and Europe. In 2015 they moved into retail, first with Whole Foods, then Ocado and Waitrose.
The brand exploded in 2021 off the back of a single TikTok video. A lone supermarket shopper, frantically scouring the freezer aisle of the local Tesco for her favourite treat. The trend caught on, and mochi hunters swept across social media.
The effect was dramatic. A case study by TikTok for business reported that Little Moons’ Tesco sales were up 1,300% in February compared with the previous December, while the brand recorded its biggest-ever UK grocery sales week across all retail partners.
Scaling up to meet demand wasn’t easy, especially when working with family. While Vivien was eager to move to a larger facility that would see annual rent jump from around £40,000 to £500,000, Howard was more cautious. The brand eventually decided to abandon the new facility and revert back to their original (which now has scope to expand), with Vivien describing the move as a classic sunk cost fallacy.
These days Little Moons has a CEO, Joanna Allen, and a wider leadership team. Most final calls are made by Allen, with the siblings less involved in day-to-day affairs and focused on spending time with family.
Vivien says most people don’t realise the company has been running for a decade already. “Everyone says we’re like an overnight success 12 years in the making,” she says.
That social media success clearly still informs decisions even now.
Little Moons recently partnered with Jamie Laing’ Sour Kittens to launch a co-branded collab in response to fans on, you guessed it, TikTok. When Little Moons fans clamoured for a sour watermelon flavour akin to Laing’s bestseller, Little Moons reached out to Sour Kittens.
“We knew our TikTok community would be delighted to see a sour watermelon-inspired sorbet, so we had no other choice. We had to approach Jamie Laing and make it happen,” said Vivien.
Laing adds: “It’s hard to ignore the noise online, but when your community keeps asking for something, it’s pretty difficult to say no. This is something that feels fresh, exciting and honestly delicious, and bringing something completely new to the market has been a lot of fun.”
