We have been working in spice making for generations and have always been very close to our clients, both private and corporate.
Understanding our clientele is important and helps my business to be grounded in my values and relevant as well as helped me to continue in believing in my values.

In comparison with the 2000’s, a lot of home cooks today are more health conscious and consequently more informed and educated on what they consume and specifically the quality of a product .
In my personal opinion, instant packs or products which contains preservatives, MSG or additives are slowly losing their interests. Informed and health-conscious consumers are always on a hunt for authentic, ethically, and artisanally-made products which, most of the time, are transparent about the purity of their ingredients, its origins and how is it being crafted and made into the end product. These are just a few to name what most consumers today look out for when they shop for spices to use in their cooking. For example, when it comes to our Bak Kut Teh (BKT) spice mix, some of the most commonly asked questions would be “Do you add MSG inside?”, “Where is your white pepper from to make this BKT?“ In essence, quality and unadulterated spice blends are always on top of their check list.

In the same way, in the context of the spice trade, consumers who have some basic knowledge of spices most commonly ask questions related to provenance, that is also one of the main challenges that I face as a spice maker.
For instance, some of them will only use pepper from Sarawak or Kampot because they might have either heard it from someone or read it somewhere these regions produce the best peppers in the world. However, with some education, and simple taste test, they immediately understand that, while it is useful to know a certain spice from a certain country might be touted the best, it is important to appreciate that the quality of the spice depend on many factors – such as the seeds of the spice, the soil and environment of the crop, how they were processed and how they are being stored and packaged.
Country of origin do affects consumers’ perception and trust in a product at present time.

In my own personal experience, I have also noticed how home cooks today like to take ownership when they cook for themselves or for their loved ones.
For example, they like the concept of how we suggest our customers to blend their own fresh onions at home together with our dry rempah (spice blends) to make into a fresh paste prior to cooking, say a curry chicken. They have the control of what kind of onions they’d like to use – i.e. shallots, red or white onions – and what kind of oil they will fry the spice paste with. With this, they know what goes into the food that they cook for their own consumption or for their loved ones.
After having clung on to my own beliefs for 30 odd years – not choosing convenience over products’ freshness and quality – it is nice to still see home cooks and professional chefs alike search for freshness and be able to continue to provide them with my traditional spice blends.

In fact, even for our B2B partners often profit margin is not the most important to them anymore, a lot of them place a high regard on product quality and authenticity and.
Unfortunately, over the years I have also met with many potential B2B partners knowing that they would rather settle for less -in terms of quality of ingredients used at their F&B establishments or for food purveyors- than compromise their profit margins.

Thankfully, we had the privileged to continue to work with the chefs, food establishment owners or food purveyors who appreciate that we share the same vision of our product as they do taking pride in our own crafts.

Share the same passion in continually elevating the taste and quality of food, independently from where it is served not just only in the restaurants, but also at home and even at the hawkers.