Jason Chua knows Singapore’s seafood preferences like few others.
Chua is the chief executive of Sincere Food, one of the biggest food suppliers, including both wholesale and value-added seafood products, to Singapore’s hotel, retail, and catering (HORECA) sector. Established in 1998, Sincere Food now supplies around 85 percent of the HORECA market in Singapore.
In recent years, the company has acquired Premium Deep Sea Seafood to provide it with raw material, as well as Premium Halal Dim Sum to widen its range of products. Besides supplying the domestic market, it also exports to China, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and the U.S.
“While we offer many products, the main core of our business is seafood,” Chua said.
Famous worldwide as a foodie destination, with its chilli crab, sambals, laksas, curries, soups, noodle dishes, and sweet and sour fish all starring on social media posts, Singapore is a great place to be in the seafood business, Chua told SeafoodSource at the 2024 Seafood Expo Global, taking place 4 to 6 September in Singapore.
“What is unique about Singapore is just how much seafood we consume and the variety,” Chua said. “
Sincere sells a lot of barramundi, cod, octopus, and salmon. Chua also said Singapore is welcoming of species its residents might not be familiar with, such as bivalves produced by Rappahannock Oysters in the U.S. state of Virginia, which Sincere recently partnered with to bring oysters from the U.S. East Coast – not often found in Asia – to Singaporean diners. Sincere is also considering commencing imports of East Coast scallops.
“They are expensive, but I think they will still find willing buyers because Singaporeans always like to try new things, especially good-tasting things,” he said.
Quality comes first in Singapore, and due to the city’s prosperity, its residents aren’t shy about splashing out for a high-level dining experience, according to Chua.
He said more places in Asia, such as Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City, are becoming destinations for premium seafood experiences due to the growing economic power of Southeast Asia, but Singapore remains the epicenter of the Asian luxury experience.
“I will say that we are still at the peak with our high-rolling economy,” he said. “In Singapore, you will have good food but not cheap food.”
Sincere has around 90 employees in Singapore and around 200 company-wide, including satellite offices around Asia. It has its own research and development team working to develop new value-added products, including an ever-widening range of dumplings, bao, and other finger food, favored by Singapore’s catering sector. Chua said Sincere has to keep innovating because “Singapore is constantly recreating itself.”
“This is not the place where you come back 10 years later and it’s still the same,” he said. “Every three months when you visit Singapore, you will feel something different.”
Recently, a trend toward healthier food has overtaken Singapore’s dining scene, which has driven up demand for chemical-free and sustainable options – traits that correlated in many local diners’ minds, according to Chua.
“Singaporeans are more cautious about health compared to other Asian countries. We live differently – closer to European living standards,” Chua said. “We don't buy unsustainable products because in Singapore right now, many customers we have [are] request[ing] sustainable seafood. The rest of Asia is moving that way as well.”
Chua said Singaporeans have also have come to expect high food manufacturing standards, both in terms of safety and quality.
“We don't use artificial things to produce our products, and we are proud of our government for working hard and spending a lot of money to advance the standards for every Singapore food business,” he said. “We are all trying very hard to move this [initiative] forward, and we are honored to say that Singapore’s food manufacturing standard is now one of the best across the globe.”
