Today I’m interviewing Andrew Yip, Head of Future Food at Monde Nissin Singapore, what the heck is Monde Nissin and why are they interesting? They are a Filipino based mega food corporation that bought Quorn about 7 years ago.
Andrew was one of the first people I contacted in Singapore mainly because he posts great food content on Linkedin. When I visited him, I was introduced to some amazing food applications using Quorn technology.
I have mixed feeling about Quorn. Some products in the United States are not my favorite. Their hot dogs taste like cat food and their nuggets taste like fish but I was super impressed with the spam sticks and bao I tried using Quorn technology.
You’ll learn about Andrew’s journey from being a chef to an R+D scientist, his philosophy in product development and also why Andrew believes Singapore is such a central place for brands like Quorn to set up an Asian HQ there. They are not the only ones.
Links
Train To Busan
Quorn
Monde Nissin
Nestle
Givaudan
Firmenich
DSM
Umeboshi
SIT University
Singapore 30 by 2030
Rojak Salad
Chicken in Malaysia
Durian
Andrew Yip Linkedin
What’s up with Adam
I took the train to Busan and guess what? No zombies. If you don’t get that reference, then, I get it, you’re not into Korean media.
I keep on loving Korea more and more. From its mouthwatering food to its national transportation. My friend and I took a 3 hour bus ride to Sokcho city last week and in general, these buses are expensive and they suck but oh man, in Korea? It was like $10 dollars and the comfiest
Tech-driven, Korea has a seamless credit card culture and more importantly, wifi everywhere! I don’t know if I’m just overjoyed because I was in a country with terrible wifi and a cash system a month ago, but wow, Korea is so impressive.
Where to next? Hopefully Japan. I got my visa set, my vax cards ready, and I’m hyped up!
So let’s talk about Quorn
We don’t really talk about Monde Nissin or Quorn that much in Andrew’s actual interview but I think it’s important to talk about before diving into the industry.
For those who don’t know, Quorn produces mycoprotein mass and is probably the oldest mycoprotein company. It’s about 35 years old. Not only that, but it actually generates revenue, and has actually been sold and acquired most of the time. So when you hear people talking about innovating in the fungi world, such as Enough which is building their own plant, this technology is nothing new. And though it’s exciting to see mycoprotein being revered as a new technology, I do believe Quorn is pretty underrepresented in the alternative meat ecosystem.
So here’s a brief history on Quorn. Mostly taken from Wikipedia, with added context and commentary from me.
Quorn was launched in 1985 by Marlow Foods, a joint venture between Rank Hovis McDougall (RHM) and Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) or a flour company and a chemical company. Why a flour company? Because the technology actually stems off of creating yeast biomass which is still used today.
Anyways, interesting to note, this was a big strikeforce joint venture between two well-established companies which I believe was a popular method of innovation at the time. In five years, ICI absorbed RHM’s shares and fully owned the Quorn brand. After that, ICI seemed to have pivoted into Zeneca, sold off the Quorn and other non-pharma brands, and turned into AstraZeneca, which you might have heard of today.
Quorn has been around the block, but it seems like its value keeps on increasing. In 2003, Asta Zeneca sold Marlow Foods to private equity for 72 million pounds, then to Premier foods for 172 million pounds, then to another Equity group, for 205 million pounds (not much of an increase), and in 2015, it was auctioned off for 550 million pounds to Monde Nissin. In USD at that time that’s 831 million dollars.
Ok, so who is Monde Nissin? Apparently, a mega-Pilipino conglomerate I’ve never heard of that got its start selling instant noodles, then expanded into biscuits, and now is eyeing alternative meats.
If you’ve kept track of the news, Quorn has risen with the alternative meat tide, creating new products, eliminating issues with old ones such as the use of egg whites, and is building assets like crazy. With new R and D facilities launching in both United States and Singapore in recent years, them dominating the quick service restaurant offerings in Europe, Quorn is a great example of a long term
But it’s not invincible. Most likely because of the disruption to the economy, and the expectation of a growth cut, Quorn is restructuring, which includes a 50-person layoff in their Arkansas manufacturing plant..
In any case, Quorn’s case study is a grounded example of what happens when a legitimate food tech startup grows, scales, gets acquired, and all that. What does that tell young entrepreneurs working in food? You have a long way to go.
End of Show
So keep in mind, we have around a dozen interviews in the Singapore alternative meat space and over time, you are going to hear a lot of themes and aspirations repeated. What I’ve found out while interviewing these amazing innovators in Singapore is the collective unity in the mission, while also understanding just how deep and wide the network truly goes. Within these interviews, you’ll hear the viewpoints of investors, non-profits, ingredient suppliers, and startups from both plant-based and cultivated meat startups. You’ll hear from locals in Singapore and people who packed their bags and decided to make Singapore their home. As you listen to this series in Singapore, each episode paints a piece of a greener picture.
This is great information. I enjoyed reading it.