For the first time ever, reality television fans can experience what they see on their TV screens with the launch of La Takorea — the world’s first digital restaurant to be developed within 48 hours on-air, and available for delivery in Singapore exclusively via GrabFood.
Launched last week, La Takorea, a Korean-Mexican fusion digital restaurant brand, was conceptualised and executed by contestants in a tightly-contested challenge on Episode 4 of the popular reality show, in collaboration with global food technology company TiffinLabs, featuring food tech firm Next Gen’s first brand, TiNDLE — chicken, made from plants.
During the episode, the two competing teams were tasked to identify cuisine gaps in the global food delivery ecosystem to create a digital restaurant brand using TiffinLab’s proprietary data on food trends and consumer profiles – the main prerequisite being the dishes had to taste great for an optimal delivery experience, and use game-changing TiNDLE, chicken made from plants, as the main ingredient. Leveraging the Korean-fusion trend analysis provided, contestants developed a menu of eight TiNDLE dishes that includes dumplings, tacos and baos, now available to the public via delivery.
The winning team created ‘La Takorea,’ a digital restaurant focused on Korean-Mexican food, as judged by ONE Chairman & CEO Chatri Sityodtong and Niharika Singh, ONE’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Development & Strategy, together with special guest judge TiffinLabs Co-founder & Chairman, Kishin RK.
TiffinLabs’ Kishin RK said: “The winning team’s entry of La Takorea is an exciting example of how, using data analytics, creativity, culinary smarts and a kitchen that can be anywhere in the world, innovative and compelling meals can be created, scaled and reproduced without the need of a physical store. This is a ground-breaking concept that offers tremendous value to consumers and revolutionises the way food is developed and delivered. As we are first and foremost a digital food company, we are thrilled to be part of this world’s first launch on television.”
The multinational winning team comprised of Singaporean Joy Koh, Nazee Sajedi from the US, and Venezuelan Jessica Ramella in the kitchen, along with Niraj Puran Rao from India, Clinton Tudor from New Zealand, Kexin Ye from Germany, and Indonesian Paulina Purnomowati, separately focused on the brand identity, financials, marketing, and go-to-market strategy.
The winning team attributes their success in part to how they managed to extrapolate date to create a winning brand and menu to win the challenge, using it to understand and make full use of TiffinLab;s expertise in supply chain and operations. “Developing this digital restaurant was a real eye-opener for us as it made us completely rethink the way food can be conceptualised and brought to consumers in a way that transformed their dining experience. Access to TiffinLabs’ data analytics was critical to our success. Without it, we would not have been able to see and analyse the latest food trends or get a holistic understanding of what customers really wanted,” said Joy Koh from the winning team.
Says Nazee Sajedi from the winning team: “Thanks to getting back up from the data, it helped us get a clear picture of what the consumers want, from millennials to Gen Z, and for us to create a clear customer profile – people who were healthy, environmentally-conscious, and keen to learn about the latest trends.”
TiNDLE, a mouth-watering chicken experience made entirely from plants, was the featured key ingredient in the team’s creations. The winning team developed dishes like Swipe Right TiNDLE Taco and Superlike TiNDLE Bao, both featuring a flavourful filling that contained juicy chunks of grilled TiNDLE, crunchy cabbage slaw, spicy gochujang aioli, kimchi, and finished with delicious nacho cheese.
The teams worked closely with TiffinLabs chefs led by TiffinLabs co-founder and President of Operations Shaun Smithson, who has over 30 years of culinary and business experience leading major food and beverage organisations in the US, EU, and the Asia Pacific; and TiffinLabs R&D Chef Terence Chuah, who has worked in some of the world’s top restaurants including Mugaritz (Spain), Quince (San Francisco), and Narisawa (Japan).
“The value of data analytics cannot be underestimated. Imagine a time not so long ago when a passionate chef comes up with a brilliant concept, yet has absolutely no idea where and if it will ever work. Come today where that same imagination can be brought successfully to life through the structure, process, and rapid iterations that the innovation of data analytics can provide. It is nothing short of revolutionary,” said TiffinLabs’ Shaun Smithson.
“As disruptors in the food tech space, we are thrilled to find a like-minded partner in TiffinLabs. We were very excited to see its innovative and highly scalable platform in action, as it enables us to bring the mind-blowing TiNDLE experience from screen to consumers’ homes in a seamless, cutting-edge way,” adds Jean Madden, CMO, Next Gen, the company that created TiNDLE.
And in the future? They’re hoping to scale up the business, potentially expanding it beyond Singapore’s shores once the pandemic gets better, and perhaps, even reach the USA. Viewers can now decide for themselves which menu item is their favourite. La Takorea can be ordered exclusively through delivery partner GrabFood in most areas across Singapore.
For more information, visit www.latakorea.com . Follow them on Instagram @latakorea.sg and Facebook @latakorea
Whats The Plan 