Indoguna

DECEMBER 2018

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Indoguna

Celebrating 25 Years INSPIRED BY YOUR SUCCESS

WWW.INDOGUNA.COM // 65 6755 0330

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INDOGUNA

CELEBRATING 25 YEARS Whilst we’re still recovering from our many Christmas dinners and weeks of delicious snacks, we turned our attention back to Indoguna – Singapore’s passionate importers and distributors of topquality foods and ingredients.

From fresh meats to lovingly prepared own product brands, they have supplied restaurants across the country for 25 years.

We returned to Indoguna on their Silver Anniversary to see how the company plans to celebrate.

WRITTEN BY ALICE INSTONE-BREWER

INDOGUNA

Singapore is a unique market for culinary ingredients, as

the island has no agriculture of its own. Ingredients for meals must all be imported into the country, and this makes companies such as Indoguna essential. When the distribution company launched its operations in 1993, Singapore’s marketplace for meat was dominated by frozen goods, with little to no chilled or fresh goods available. There was an unmet demand for smaller quantities of higher-quality meat, and Indoguna set out to answer this need.

From this starting point, the company eventually expanded from meats to also include sea food, and from here, they continued to grow until they supplied 80% of the ingredients required to make any meal, leaving canned goods to other companies whilst they focused on everything that gives a dish its distinction. Finally, they added to their own in-house brands to their offerings, taking the high-quality produce they imported and creating delicious ranges such as Carne Meats (their butcher range), Ocean Gems (their seafood range) and Masterpiece (their range of dim sum and ready-to-use products).

To read about the evolution of these operations in more detail, you can revisit our 2018 interview with Helene Raudaschl, Indoguna’s Managing Director. This year, we returned to catch up with the signature company in time for their 25th anniversary and to see if much had changed – and the changes we discovered were dramatic. Namely, since we last spoke with Helene, Indoguna has been acquired by Siam Makro, a subsidiary of CP Foods in Thailand.

This acquisition has launched Indoguna’s operations overseas, taking their focus beyond their starting place of Singapore to now run additional operations in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Hong

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Kong & Macau and Dubai & Abu Dhabi. This new phase of life for Indoguna is happening under the holding company Food Service APME. We reconnected with Helene, who told us this about the holding company: “Under Food Service APME, Indoguna aims to be the market leader in providing quality food and beverage ingredients to the

food service markets in Asia Pacific and the Middle East. The aim is

end of 2018. It will be a space for providing butchery services at all

to ensure that our clients and customers have satisfaction and ease

levels for our clients there. We are excited about this opportunity,

of sourcing ingredients with the presence of the growing network

as we believe this will be the future in the food service space well

of Indoguna in Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Today, Food

into the future.” The company is also opening a similar venture in

Service APME operates Indoguna in six countries and 13 cities, and

Thailand, which will go into full operation by Q1 2019.

employs 650 employees.”

To mark their 25th anniversary, and in view of these large-scale

This development has exploded Indoguna onto Asia’s stage,

changes taking place for the company, we asked Helene what some

and the company is rising to the occasion by continuing to

of the biggest lessons were that she has learnt during her time as

innovate and create new products with as much passion as ever.

CEO, and that the company as a whole has learnt since it began.

“We are constantly innovating new products and brining the best

She listed several. Firstly, “Innovation and creativity never stops;

ingredients from around the world to our clients,” Helene tells us,

we have to continuously be innovative to stay as the market leader.”

and the company isn’t short of examples. One of their many house

This lesson was one that Indoguna shared with us when we spoke

brands, Ocean Gems, has launched a number of new products in

with them last year; as Helene explained then, Singapore’s fine

2018, and sales of that line have increased by 26% year-over-year.

dining restaurants are a small but sophisticated market, and one

As the name suggests, this line focuses on sea food; some of the

that evolves at a fast pace. Trends and public tastes change often,

new products available in this range include Hokkaido scallop,

and one must stay alert in order to keep up and keep ahead. Of

Spanish octopus, Hokkaido octopus, slipper lobster, soft shell crab,

course, innovation is only one of many approaches needed to truly

sustainable clams - whole, squid tubes, cuttlefish and live processed

stay on top of the market – you must also take care of your people,

whole, raw and cooked vannemai.

both customers and staff. Helene continued to list Indoguna’s key

On top of this new product line, Indoguna is also branching out

lessons: “Quality brings back customers and not the price; always

to a whole new area of operations: “We are building a brand-new

be true and honest to your stakeholders; our people are the biggest

butchery production in Hong Kong that is slated to open at the

asset in the company that is not on our balance sheet,” and, finally,

INDOGUNA “Follow your passion to the fullest extent, and the rest will fall in

for her, the best celebration was to see so many members of staff

its place.”

joining this Gold List.

Lessons such as these are learnt from the challenges of day to

Of course, Indoguna are currently marking more than their

day business, but they are learnt most vividly when a company goes

anniversary – it is also the winter season. Just about situated in

through a particular hardship or achieves a great victory. Indoguna’s

the Northern Hemisphere, the always sunny city-state is still

faith in and dedication to its people has been put to the test in the

technically ushering in winter, and with that comes a winter menu,

past, but they and the company have always pulled through: “We

with seasonal imports such as oysters, mussels, winter black

have been through some major crises where we have almost had

truffles, white truffles, goose, and specialty cheeses such as soft,

to retrench people, but in the end, because of team spirit and team

rich Vacherin Mont D’or. Delicious!

cohesion, we pull through each and every crisis without having

Moving forwards, Indoguna aims to continue to bring its passion,

to retrench anyone in the company.” As well as challenges, they

innovation and lovingly sourced products to restaurants and hotels

have also experienced many achievements, including recognition

around Asia Pacific and the Middle East. “We continuously plan to

of their quality and hard work through multiple awards, including

innovate, create and source quality products for our clients from

five consecutive wins of the Enterprise 50 award in Singapore!

around the world. Our aim is constantly to become the market

“Myself, I was awarded with EY Entrepreneur of the Year for F&B

leader in our field of servicing our Food Service clients.” Under

Distribution. But, awards aside, I think seeing the number of

Food Service APME, these markets could well continue to grow,

employees that have hit that Gold List is really a sense of triumph.”

and ever-adapting Indoguna are sure to be ready for them when

The “Gold List” is a list of Indoguna employees who have been with

they do.

the company for ten years and over – a figure that this year went from 23 to 40. Helene described the company’s silver anniversary celebrations as a “lavish get together with our whole team”, but

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