Popokee

We're Alvin, Cheryl and Eldrid, the team of Singaporeans behind Popokee. The 3 of us met at a fast-growing Asian snack brand, where we scaled its growth globally. It was then, that we experienced firsthand how underserved large markets outside of Asia were, for Asian packaged foods. Having lived abroad ourselves, we also experienced the pain of searching for Asian packaged foods that actually tasted as advertised. We shouldn't have to choose only between artificial flavors or preparing everything from scratch, to enjoy Asian food at home. So in 2021, the 3 of us left our jobs, with the shared vision to utilize the skills we had gained to bring the best of Asia's flavors to these large overseas markets in the form of high-quality, no-compromise packaged food. And thus Popokee was born. We started with a blank canvas (product wise), and a plan to launch in California as the first overseas market. From there, we conducted focus groups with Asians living in California to identify products they were most interested in. We eventually landed on broths, partly due to the lack of good quality options in the market today, but mostly because broths are the foundation to many Asian dishes (soups, stews, stir-fries, etc.). That sparked a 3 month long R&D process, where we spent 12-18 hours a day simmering broths in a kitchen, testing it with our familes and friends, then iterating with adjustments to improve the recipe. This culiminated in a month-long trip to California, where we invited users to our AirBnB to taste our broths and the dishes we made with them. Invigorated with the user feedback, we initiated our search for a manufacturing partner in April 2022. With our exacting requirements, it took us 18 months to source, train, and secure the right manufacturer. Today, we have a product we are truly proud of, and everything lined up ready for launch. We are now looking for the optimal sales channel to go to market, and change the way Asian food is experienced at home.