Hawai'i pastry lovers: Get ready for another craze over cream-laden delights.

Japan's oddly named but popular cream-puff chain, Beard Papa, is expanding to Hawai'i. The Sullivan Family of Cos. has agreed to open at least seven Beard Papa stores in the next three years at either free-standing locations or inside its Foodland, Food Pantry or Sack N Save stores on O'ahu and the Neighbor Islands.

Beard Papa has been welcomed by customer lines snaking down city blocks at new stores in New York and Singapore. And when Shirokiya hosted roughly two-week-long Beard Papa demonstrations at its Ala Moana Center store in November and March, lines formed out the door.

"People stood an hour, up to two hours just to buy a cream puff," said Walter Watanabe, Shirokiya's general manager. "It's very popular."

"Oh, the line — so long," recalled George Okayama, a sales representative for Hawai'i-grown coffees who waited about 30 minutes to try his first Beard Papa vanilla cream puff at Shirokiya. "It was very good."

Okayama said he prefers the Beard Papa cream puff over Krispy Kreme's famed fried and glazed donut. "No comparison," he said, though he isn't sure what makes the cream puff so tasty.

Muginoho Ltd., an Osaka-based chain, has more than 240 Beard Papa cafes in Japan and a small but growing number in other Asian countries and the U.S. Mainland.

Hawai'i's first outlet is scheduled to open next month inside the Food Pantry store on Kuhio Avenue in Waikiki.

Beard Papa's expansion will bring new competition for the handful of well-known local cream-puff makers such as Liliha Bakery on O'ahu and T. Komoda Store and Bakery on Maui.

"All I can say is good luck and aloha," said Calvin Shibuya, general manager of Komoda Store, which has made chocolate and vanilla cream puffs since the early 1950s.

Beard Papa joins other nationally-branded pastry shops that have expanded to Hawai'i in recent years and in some cases received overwhelming initial response from local consumers.

For instance, when Krispy Kreme opened its first Hawai'i store on Maui last year, a frenzy of local residents turned out. Dunkin' Donuts shattered opening-week sales records for that company's 5,000 franchises when it returned to Hawai'i in 2001 after a six-year absence.

Beard Papa said its baked cream puffs are made with a soft inner dough (what chefs call choux pastry) surrounded by a crispier pie-crust shell. A whipped-cream and vanilla-bean custard mixture that takes two hours to prepare is injected only after each "pipin' hot" cream puff is ordered.

Watanabe said the Beard Papa cream puffs are creamy and light, and aren't as sweet as most local varieties: "That's what makes that cream puff good," he said.

Prices for Beard Papa cream puffs at U.S. stores are about $1.25 for the standard vanilla flavor and $1.45 for daily specials such as chocolate and green tea.

Yoshinori Tanimoto, sales and marketing manager with Muginoho U.S.A. Inc. in New York, said the average Beard Papa store in America sells about 1,000 cream puffs per weekday and up to 2,500 per day during the weekend.

Muginoho, established in 1997, opened its first U.S. Beard Papa store in March 2004 in Manhattan. Today there are five in New York and New Jersey, with a sixth to open in Boston next week. Tanimoto said Muginoho's goal is to have 50 U.S. stores through 2007.

Setting up a franchise in Hawai'i, he said, was an easy call because of the state's large Japanese resident and visitor populations.

"In Japan," Tanimoto said, "everyone knows what is Beard Papa. We have a strong brand. In Hawai'i, there are so many Japanese. It is very easy to introduce the product there."

Jenai Sullivan Wall, Sullivan Cos. chairwoman and chief executive, said the kama'aina firm always keeps an eye out for new ways to enhance customer offerings and loyalty.

Company founder Maurice Sullivan was the original Hawai'i franchisee for McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts. The Sullivan business also has operated Hallmark Cards, Morrow's Nut House and other retail stores. Earlier this year, Sullivan Cos. announced plans to open The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf stores under a franchise with California-based International Coffee & Tea LLC.

Sullivan Wall said company representatives went to New York to explore acquiring a Beard Papa franchise after reading about Shirokiya's demonstration.

"Credit Shirokiya," Sullivan Wall said. "They find some interesting new things from Japan. It's a great product that the market, I think, will respond very well to."

Watanabe said Shirokiya, a locally owned department store focused on Japanese merchandise, figured it was too costly to become a Beard Papa franchisee.

Sullivan Cos. did not disclose financial terms of its deal. Beard Papa said it typically costs $185,000 to $326,000 for each store, not including construction and real-estate costs.