The Kettle Gourmet, a popcorn sg company and a popcorn supplier Singapore, was featured in HR in Asia earlier this year. HR in Asia interviewed the founder, Zac Chua, on his entrepreneurship journey to create his local brand. HR in Asia is a human resource online media publication that covers various topics relating to the latest developments and trends across Asia.
Initial Inspiration
Zac had his first vision for The Kettle Gourmet in 2017 when he caught a whiff of nasi lemak that someone smuggled into the cinema while he was nibbling on popcorn. This led to the sudden revelation of combining both snacks and creating a unique localised flavour of popcorn, where The Kettle Gourmet began.
To this day, Zac has successfully innovated and launched many creative flavours. Some of the flavours are the Chilli Crab Popcorn and Nasi Lemak Popcorn, part of the Crazy Asian Favourite Collection. Click here to find out more.
Snacking Culture
Providing staff with office snacks has shown to bring happiness and higher working motivation and has become a rising trend universally. It is now considered a norm as well. Zac has also implemented this strategy in his organisation as he strongly believes in the benefits providing office snacks offers. This can enhance the productivity of his employees and enable them to look forward to coming to work.
Having pantry snacks has several advantages:
- Allows employees to take a break and relax after working for long hours
- Munch on something to fill up their tummy
- Employees feel valued by their employers, and in turn, work harder
Let us share more if you are wondering what kind of snacks are suitable for your company to bring in. As society progressively becomes more health-conscious, consumers are now more physically active and have better eating habits. Therefore, companies should consider having healthier snacks, such as snacks with no trans fat or those with the healthier choice symbol.
For example, employers can consider having cassava chips instead of potato chips as cassava chips have fewer fat and calories and are healthier as some cassava chips are made from olive oil. The snacks that companies offer should also be easy to eat. They should avoid messy snacks such as cotton candy.
Healthy vs Unhealthy
At The Kettle Gourmet, one of the Singapore snack brands, you can rest assured of the quality of popcorn you are paying for. Zac and his in-house team of chefs are dedicated to the innovation of flavours and finding the perfect balance between taste and health.
Popcorn can never be a guilt-free snack unless you eat it plain after popping them from popcorn kernels. Therefore, The Kettle Gourmet has carefully considered and crafted the composition of ingredients into each popcorn to cater to consumers’ preference for healthier snacks.
Firstly, The Kettle Gourmet only uses non-GMO natural corn, which is also gluten-free when eaten in its natural form. There is no trans-fat in the baking process, and a minimal amount of sugar is used, which prevents weight gain and lowers the risk of heart disease.
Additionally, instead of microwave popcorn, we oven-bake them instead of at The Kettle Gourmet, which develops a depth of flavour that is not present in microwave popcorn.
Lastly is the monetary investment and team commitment that goes into the production of the perfect flavouring. There is constant back and forth between Zac, the employees, and the chefs when tasting new flavors. This consistent pursuit of perfection and accuracy in flavouring delivers the most impactful experience to consumers as they snack on our popcorn.
Zac’s Business Strategies
Zac made sure to maintain his team’s motivation by having a weekly feedback session from his team, where he gathered each member’s opinions for rooms of improvement. They will then bond together via activities like mahjong, where the team can interact with each other.
He also adapts fast to situations, and one of them would be the Covid-19 Pandemic, where the brand went through a rebranding back then. The Kettle Gourmet came up with bundles that will be suitable for those working from home or even for consumers who wish to send a little something for their loved ones to keep them encouraged and motivated during this pandemic.
There is also a subscription service that consumers can opt for, monthly, quarterly, biannually, and even yearly.
Zac is continuously looking out for ways to expand his business and wishes to expand his business globally. He also made sure to come up with new product flavours that could appeal to the audience. Two of the latest flavours are the Pulut Hitam Popcorn and the Fish Head Curry Popcorn. Check out here for more details.