Seafood firm Yeam Seng steps up expansion of ready-to-cook portfolio targeting busy consumers and exports
After rearing, processing, and selling fresh and frozen seafood for more than two decades, it was in recent years that the firm has focused on bringing more “value-added products” to market.
These include its ready-to-cook 8-Minute Fish Steak, which was launched about four months ago and selected as a finalist for the Best New Product award at the recent Seafood Expo Asia trade show held in Singapore.
The product consists of a frozen barramundi fillet accompanied by a sauce with an “authentic Asian flavour”.
Developed in-house after rounds of R&D to identify the best pairings with the fish, the sauce options are namely Asam Laksa, Kampong Curry, Thai Lime, and Sambal Seafood.
“We catch the fishes from our farm and send them to our processing plant alive, then we do the filleting and freezing directly. This is the best way to retain freshness. It’s different from buying [the raw material] from a supplier and taking a few days before processing it.
“While there are similar products in the market, their flavours are too westernised. So, we wanted to create something that is more Malaysian and Singaporean style — basically something that caters to the Asian palate. Moreover, since we are using Asian seabass, we don’t want to be applying a western concept,” Khor Yi Wei, Business Development Executive at Yeam Seng, told FoodNavigator-Asia.
The product is targeted at people with a busy work life and even mothers, who are tight on time for meal preparation and often rely on food delivery or fast food.
“Our product is meant to help consumers prepare and enjoy a meal in the simplest way. You just need to put it in an air-fryer or microwave, go take a shower, and the food will be ready when you are done. It takes only eight minutes.”
Other cooking methods include pan-searing and steaming.
According to the company, each 100g of fish steak contains 15g to 18g of protein, and is suitable for fitness enthusiasts and people from all age groups.
For now, the product is only available in Malaysia as the firm aims to expand its ready-to-cook line-up before commencing export.
“We plan to diversify the channels to sell this product. For example, we can supply to restaurants to enable easier preparation of their dishes, and we can use e-commerce platforms to sell to end consumers.
“At the moment, we are still trying to develop more of these products before exporting overseas. In fact, we are setting up a new facility, where we will be using the sauces that we formulated to make more products.”
In addition, Khor revealed that some of the works in progress include ready-to-heat hotpot and fish with rice. The focus remains on fish, as the firm is able to get the raw materials directly from its aquaculture farms in Penang and Perak.
Another driver for the active expansion into ready-to-cook products is said to be the lower barrier to entry in overseas markets, compared to fresh foods, as there are lesser regulatory requirements.
The firm believes that Singapore is a major potential export market for this range of products, while also eyeing Australia and the US.
“We will try to enter the US with our 8-Minute Fish Steak, after obtaining FDA approval. We have surveyed a lot of US consumers and found that they really enjoy Asian cuisine. It’s such a big market, so even if only 5% of the local consumers like spicy food, that’s good enough,” Khor explained.
As for Yeam Seng’s other fresh and frozen seafood products, they are currently being exported to other Asia-Pacific countries, including Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, and Australia.
