Harvested manually by hand after younger swiftlets go away their nests, chicken’s nest is a well-liked product that accommodates glycoproteins and amino acids that typically assist enhance one’s immune system and general well being.
Contemplating how chicken’s nest additionally facilitates cell restore resulting from it being wealthy within the epidermal progress issue, the buyer base for chicken’s nest is intensive, from anticipating and new moms, to clients seeking to enhance their complexion.
Justin Chiam, who was anticipating his first youngster in 2018, needed to pamper his spouse with some chicken’s nest as a staple consumption all through her being pregnant. That was when he found gaps within the trade.
“I found that many of the ready-to-drink chicken’s nest merchandise out there available in the market have been opaque as regards to their substances, dosage of key substances, and sources”, he recollects, emphasising that it was troublesome discovering chicken’s nest merchandise that have been clear.
With an goal to handle this drawback, he teamed up along with his ex-secondary schoolmate and shut buddy, Stuart Ho, to construct a pure superfoods startup known as The Purest Co in 2019.
A “cross-disciplined” strategy
Previous to their first enterprise enterprise collectively, Justin, who graduated from Enterprise Administration at Singapore Administration College (SMU), began off with a profession in fairness analysis, earlier than he went on to work in a number of banks and gained expertise in understanding the buyer sector.
In actual fact, Justin has examined waters with regards to working a enterprise throughout his college years the place he began an e-commerce firm that bought helpful merchandise to college students whereas working with Singapore retailers. “It was an awesome studying expertise”, he highlights.
Stuart, who additionally graduated from SMU with a Bachelors in Enterprise Administration, labored as a danger supervisor with an oil buying and selling firm the place he labored at one of many desks for 3 years.
After they began The Purest Co, they roped in Sherman Lim because the Chief Advertising Officer, and all three of them made an effort to implement a product improvement strategy that was “cross self-discipline[d]”, which implies leveraging on analysis and data from varied disciplines like conventional Chinese language medication, Ayurveda and Western medication.
“We work with many various kinds of substances from all around the world, and get inspiration from the on a regular basis wants of our family members as properly, which makes our work actually fascinating”, says Justin.
For instance, they make use of conventional herbs comparable to American Ginseng, and Wolfberries for his or her Hen’s Nest line which leads to all kinds when it comes to style and flavour. As for his or her boosters line, they selected to work with substances which might be patented, with medical analysis by biotech corporations backing its efficacy.
On high of getting a various vary of high quality superfood merchandise, The Purest Co affords subscription companies the place merchandise are priced way more affordably that cater to shopper’s particular wants.
We would like the method to be as seamless as potential for our clients to have their favorite merchandise out there once they want it. Having a subscription service the place they will merely subscribe and overlook about it, and having their provide of product arrive simply as they run out is vital to serving to them obtain their targets.
– Justin Chiam, CEO of The Purest Co
Upholding transparency and high quality
Stuart acknowledges that The Purest Co could not have the lengthy historical past and popularity different conventional chicken’s nest corporations in Singapore might need, however he believes that their dedication to transparency and high quality is finally what differentiates them and wins the hearts of their shoppers.
In contrast to most manufacturers available in the market, we’re upfront in regards to the precise grammage of our key substances comparable to chicken’s nest in our chicken’s nest line, and we avoid utilizing substances comparable to white fungus or seaweed that mimic the feel of chicken’s nest in our merchandise.
We would like the client to all the time know that they’re getting pure, high-quality chicken’s nest in each spoonful.
– Stuart Ho, COO of The Purest Co
When requested how they guarantee The Purest Co doesn’t make a loss by stating the precise grammage of chicken’s nest of their merchandise, Justin concedes that it has not been straightforward.
It is because the act of being clear about all substances used within the merchandise is taken into account a departure from the normal practices of the trade that buyers are used to.
In accordance with Justin, many manufacturers available in the market are inclined to “obfuscate their key ingredient dosage and select to cover behind their ‘secret formulation’”. He provides that with regards to chicken’s nest particularly, many additionally use substances comparable to white fungus and seaweed that mimic the feel of real chicken’s nest.
Justin and Stuart didn’t wish to contribute to unethical product labelling, in order that they be certain that their chicken’s nest product line affords one of many highest quantities of real chicken’s nest for the worth level available in the market, though this leads to decrease margins.
They’re able to create a sustainable mannequin that gives extra worth to their clients as a result of they function with a lean staff, and retail direct-to-consumer and not using a center man for probably the most a part of their enterprise.
With their constant effort in being clear with their clients, Stuart highlights that whereas it has been difficult to persuade clients to provide a younger firm like theirs a shot, he’s completely happy to say that those that have ended up having fun with their chicken’s nest merchandise tremendously turned their loyal supporters.
Challenges alongside the way in which
Initially, the principle problem they confronted in being clear was discovering a provider ok to provide the usual of chicken’s nest that they required.
“We wanted to discover a trusted provider with sufficient expertise, but in addition they needed to have sufficient flexibility to have interaction in analysis and improvement of latest flavours with us in a contemporary approach”, Stuart causes.
They solely began The Purest Co after working intently with quite a few suppliers, testing many bottles of chicken’s nest and finally discovering a provider who understood what they have been making an attempt to realize and who additionally shared their values.
The subsequent major drawback they needed to tackle was coping with lengthy product improvement instances as they expanded their product vary.
That is primarily as a result of the brand new formulations at instances required unique superfoods that aren’t that straightforward to acquire, or have difficult style profiles that take a very long time to work with with the intention to create a great-tasting formulation.
When the COVID-19 pandemic got here round, Stuart shares that The Purest Co skilled provide shocks to their enterprise when provide traces have been disrupted, which affected their stock administration and dealing capital.
They quickly realised that the pandemic was a double-edged sword, as extra individuals acquired more and more involved about their well being throughout this time period, which led to a rising curiosity in pure superfoods.
Profitable the hearts of shoppers
Having invested S$50,000 within the firm, The Purest Co managed to interrupt even inside six months, all because of their constant work and energy in offering the highest quality chicken’s nest for his or her shoppers.
“We now have bought over 100 thousand bottles of chicken’s nest. We’re centered on growing extra merchandise that assist individuals, impressed by the wants of our personal family members”, shares Stuart.
That is evident, with them working with meals scientists and spending numerous time in analysis and improvement for his or her new creations which have expanded to way more than simply chicken’s nest merchandise, comparable to their Supergreens Antioxidant Juice, Ashwa Lychee Drink, and Collagen Glow Berries.
The Purest Co has since expanded out of Singapore into a number of markets, and still have two fulfilment centres to serve their clients in a well timed method.
Justin shares that there are plans to additional their growth geographically, including that they want to work with retail distributors abroad as properly.
Staying true to their values and beliefs, Justin and Stuart goal to proceed innovating and creating merchandise that enhance lives by drawing inspiration from the wants of their very own households.
Now and again we hear individuals speaking about how a few of our merchandise have modified their lives, helped them sleep higher or helped of their well being in a technique or one other, and it actually reminds us why we’re doing what we’re doing.
– Justin Chiam, CEO of The Purest Co
Featured picture credit score: The Purest Co
