Singapore offers opportunities for brands tapping into healthy cooking, plant-based trends, and beauty from within. Its position as a retail hub connecting Asia Pacific makes it a preferred launchpad for Japanese brands expanding into the region.
Many Singaporeans, particularly in dual-income households, are not known for cooking at home. However, seasonings for home cooking have market potential in this region as people do care about cooking nutritious food that taste good.
“Singaporeans don’t really cook at home, but that doesn’t mean they don’t care about cooking,” said Toshiyuki Nakamura, CEO of Sankyo Foods.
“The same applies to anyone, not just Singaporeans, who might not cook often, as they do still care about how food tastes.
“In Singapore, people spend two-thirds of their meal costs on ‘takeaway food’, or more commonly referred to as ‘takeout food’ in other parts of the world. This is twice that in Japan, where only 30% of meal costs are spent on eating non-homecooked food,” said Nakamura.
However, Nakamura observed that many Singaporeans in their 20s to 30s are attending Japanese cooking classes, which indicated a keen in interest in preparing homecooked foods, and that Japanese flavours are popular in this region.
The eight seasoning products that will be exported under the Food Base brand caters to this target audience. This is in addition to Taberu ra-yu, a crispy chili oil range targeting F&B outlets and consumers who often dine out or order takeaway.
Seasonal Japanese seasonings
The highlight of the seasoning range is the spring series, featuring limited-edition sakura-flavoured spice and furikake.
The pink Sakura Spice has a bold black pepper kick infused with cherry blossom aroma and goes well with seafood and vegetable dishes.
For rice and fish dishes, the Sakura Furikake is a mix of sweet and savoury. Unlike most furikake, which tends to be sweet, this version balances the umami from dried fish and chopped seaweed with cherry blossom extract.
Earlier this year in Japan, this Sakura range was bundled with shoku ra-yu and shoku ra-yu spice – chilli oil with fried garlic, and powdered spice for salads and soups respectively.
The shoku ra-yu and shoku ra-yu spice are from the Taberu-ra-yu range that was first created for supplying to F&B outlets.
To provide a full range of Japan’s seasonal flavours, Food Base will also be bringing in spices and furikake flavoured with yuzu, chestnut, and plum, which correspond to the summer, autumn, and winter seasons respectively.
Additionally, the firm is hoping to launch its plant-based soy meat condiment next year in Singapore. This product leverages the plant-based and health trends in the region.
“The soy-based condiment is vegan and vegetarian-friendly. It has protein, tastes like meat, and is versatile because it can be added to plain rice and noodles as a topping. It can even be used to season vegetables, fish and soups,” said Nakamura.
Amazake for beauty from within
Food Base also plans to export two flavours of amazake – fermented rice malt drink – when asked what other of its products cater to the health and wellness trends.
One is the original flavour and the other contains yuzu peel, which is rising in popularity for its refreshing taste. Both are naturally sweet and contain vitamin B1 and minerals.
The amazake range is a collaboration with Jungumi, a Japanese brand that specialises in fermenting rice malt drinks using traditional methods. They have no preservatives, colourings, or sugar.
Consumers not only can take it as a beverage for skin and gut health – they may also use the amazake for cooking, said Nakamura.
As for the price points of these products, the firm is still in talks with distributors and gathering feedback from customers. But they will most likely be competitively priced compared to similar products in retail stores carrying Japanese foods.
Launched in December 2023, Food Base targets the B2C retail sector, leveraging Sankyo Food’s nearly 50 years of experience supplying seasonings to Japanese food establishments.
