Singapore Food Startup Commercializes Curry with Japanese Retort OEM

"Umami Kitchen," a food-tech company founded in Singapore in 2022, identified the growing premium Japanese food market in Southeast Asia and planned to commercialize an authentic Japanese curry for the region.

While local food factories were initially considered, the team decided to manufacture in Japan to leverage the "Made in Japan" brand appeal and Japan's superior retort technology (high-temperature, high-pressure sterilization for retort pouch manufacturing).

Through OEM JAPAN, they contacted 4 retort food OEM manufacturers. Selection criteria included:

• Halal certification or relevant experience
• Minimum order from 1,000 packs
• Export experience to Southeast Asia
• English or Chinese communication capability

Manufacturer B in Shizuoka Prefecture was selected. With JIT Halal certification and extensive export experience to Malaysia and Indonesia, Manufacturer B had an annual retort production capacity of 5 million packs and flexibly accommodated small-lot orders.

Umami Kitchen's vision was an original recipe blending the deep richness of Japanese-style curry with Southeast Asian spice profiles.

Phase	Duration	Details
Recipe Design	1 month	Target market research, flavor direction finalization
Prototype 1-3	2 months	Spice blend adjustments, ingredient sizing
Shelf-life Testing	1 month	Expiry date determination, accelerated aging tests
Packaging Design	1 month	4-language label design, nutritional analysis

During prototyping, three spice levels (Mild, Medium, Hot) were developed to match Southeast Asian consumer preferences. Manufacturer B's development team proposed recipes fusing local spices (lemongrass, galangal) with a Japanese curry base.

The first lot was 1,500 packs (500 of each spice level). The retort sterilization process achieved an F0 value of 4 or higher, enabling an 18-month shelf life at room temperature.

Export support highlights:

• Halal-certified production line used
• Documentation prepared to meet Singapore Food Agency (SFA) import standards
• Allergen information printed in 4 languages (English, Chinese, Malay, Japanese)
• FOB export arrangements supported by the OEM manufacturer

Launched under the "Japan Fusion Curry" brand, the product was well received at Japanese supermarkets and online stores in Singapore. Within 3 months, expansion to Malaysia and Thailand was confirmed.

Key success factors:

• High quality and long shelf life enabled by Japanese retort technology
• Halal certification providing access to Southeast Asian markets
• Minimized inventory risk with a small initial lot of 1,500 packs

A second lot of 5,000 packs has been ordered, and new flavors (beef stew, soup curry) are currently in development.