Plant-based meat company Phuture Foods announces plans to expand its reach in Malaysia and beyond while ramping up production to offer a solution for the country’s chicken shortage.
“Our production capacity cannot cope … we’re beefing up to meet the demand.”
To improve its position in the industry, Phuture announced several new agreements earlier this year with well-known Asian food service companies. The company now disclosed plans to increase its foodservice footprint in Malaysia to 1,000 outlets, up from 300, by the end of the year.
Chicken Shortage
Malaysia is currently facing a drastic chicken shortage, fueled by growing challenges regarding labour scarcity, rising chicken feed prices, and sick chickens. As a result of the domestic shortage, the Malaysian government recently decided to stop the export of chicken to Singapore, which acted as a wake-up call for the local government to consider plant-based solutions.
The situation is heavily affecting the domestic food supply, with more and more farmers giving up on the chicken industry, as local chicken farmer Daing Mohd Haidir outlined in an interview with Channel News Asia: “I know three to four medium-scale farmers like myself, who are no longer interested in this industry because of the rising costs.”
Big Opportunity for Plant-Based Chicken
The Malaysian market accounts for 60-70% of Phuture’s sales revenue, with high growth chances considering the ongoing chicken shortage. CEO and founder of Phuture, Jack Yap, foresees that in six months the ratio might be 50:50, due to sales growth in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Hong Kong, commenting that “Sales from these markets (outside Malaysia) will be picking up because chicken is the staple protein source for their people.”
High-fibre chicken is Phuture’s flagship product, making up 70% of the company’s sales. In order to meet the growing demand for plant-based chicken across the region, the company is planning to raise new funds from venture capital and angel investors to increase production capacity, while retaining its B2B focus.
By February 2023, the company aims for a production volume of 200 tonnes a month and is looking to expand its plant-based beef range, as well as launch plant-based seafood products in the course of 2023. All these plans are aimed towards the company’s goal to double its revenue every six months.
“For restaurants, rather than providing them the products, we’re supplying them with total plant-based food solutions. That’s our forte. We work closely with food service partners, understanding their needs … from there we would design a solution that fit them. B2B (business-to-business) is our focus, it’s about finding the right partners,” Yap told SunBiz.
