The importance of superfoods has been growing exponentially in the last few years. Traditional Asian cultures have always incorporated these “super” foods as part of their diet. And it’s only now that a large part of the world is discovering the same.
These superfoods help boost your immunity, increase metabolism and help vitalise the health of all your organs. And these are great for expecting mums during pregnancy.
They help take the best care of the mother and the baby, so you have a smooth pregnancy and childbirth.
When Singaporean resident Justin Chiam and his wife Hannah found out that they were pregnant, it was only natural for him to look out for superfoods during pregnancy. The expecting dad wanted to pamper his wife with some bird’s nest, which is a common delicacy in Chinese culture.
However, the dad shockingly found out that there is little in the market that promises to be completely transparent.
Turning Adversity Into Opportunity
Image Source: Justin Chiam
Not the one to give in, Justin decided to take matters into his own hands. And that’s how the The Purest Co was born.
The idea to start a company in health foods hit Justin when his wife was pregnant in late 2018.
“I wanted to pamper her with some bird’s nest as a staple consumption throughout her pregnancy. However, I discovered that most of the ready-to-drink bird’s nest products available in the market were opaque with their contents, nutritional value, cleaning methods and sources.”
He struggled to find bird’s nest products that offered the desired transparency. However, it also made him realise that there is a huge market gap here.
“I decided to team up with my ex secondary schoolmate and close friend, Stuart, to address this gap. In 2019, we co-founded The Purest Co, a natural superfoods company based in Singapore,” he adds.
“I’m a firm believer in the strength of a team. Stuart was my ex-schoolmate from secondary school through to college, and we make a great team together. We have a level of trust that I find really important in a partner. And thus it was very natural that we embark on this entrepreneurial journey together as well.”
Maintaining High Quality Standards With Scalability
Image Source: Justin Chiam
“It is quite easy to cook a nice bowl of bird’s nest in your kitchen but when one tries to scale up, it is much harder to maintain our high standard of quality, consistency, and cleanliness. For that, we had to build systems and processes, and work with the right vendors,” says Justin.
By 2021 The Purest Co went into a rapid growth process. Justin says, “We grew from essentially a two-man team to over ten people in a span of two years.”
This did take a toll on the dad’s personal time. “I was always struggling with how much I had to work at this stage of the company’s life cycle and how much time I was spending with my family.”
He added, “The feelings of guilt when I was working late nights on some days were very real and more than that, being mentally present when spending time with my family was also a challenge. I still struggle with these things but I think it is an ongoing process of finding balance.”
Finding Inspiration In His Little Daughter
So what keeps Justin going? It’s his little daughter he says.
“My daughter inspires me to always do our best for our customers. When my wife was pregnant with my daughter, I didn’t feel like the brands on the market were upfront about the quality of their products.”
I was thus motivated to start The Purest Co to create great products that are nutritious, safe, delicious, and also ones which I would feel comfortable with my wife consuming. Now that thousands of women consume our products for those very reasons, my daughter continues to remind me why we did it in the first place,” he explains.
Core Ingredients In Products From The Purest Co
Image Source: The Purest Co
So how does The Purest Co. maintain its high quality standards? The company is transparent about the ingredients it chooses to use.
“In the bird’s nest industry, things can be quite opaque. As such, The Purest Co makes it a point to be upfront about the amount of core ingredients that goes in each product,” says Justin.
“We wanted to be transparent in exactly how much bird’s nest goes into each bottle. So we list that upfront on our website and never shy away from letting potential consumers know. The full list of ingredients, nutritional content, sources and processes of all our products are also all readily available on the website.”
“When we first started the brand, we decided early on that we would never want to use ingredients such as white fungus or seaweed. These mimic the texture of bird’s nest in our products. Some brands use these in their products but it’s not something that we want to do, as we don’t want to confuse our customers. These values extend to our entire product line and are not just limited to our bird’s nest products,” he shares.
Superfoods During Pregnancy: Raw Ingredients And Homemade Recipes
Justin insists on using quality raw ingredients, developing their own unique homemade recipes. And also introduce products that cater to the customers’ tastes.
In the production process, they put a strong emphasis on using quality raw ingredients, creating unique homemade recipes, and transparency.
“Many mums who are expecting are big fans of our products, as we not only provide great value, but also the trust that our products are made with high-quality ingredients and with strict cooking processes,” says Justin.
“In this way, we give mums and dads the peace of mind that when they buy something from The Purest Co, they are getting a superior product.”
The company’s bird’s nests tonics use premium, traditional hand-cleaned Asian Swiftlet bird’s nests. Only natural ingredients are used and no artificial flavourings are added as well.
More recently, the start-up launched ‘Cave Origin Bird’s Nest with Classic Rock Sugar’ line that promises a smoother and more pronounced bird’s nest taste. It’s based on its own unique homemade recipe.
The brand’s Snow Hashima tonics and berry collagen drinks are quite popular too.
Following Sustainable Harvesting
“We believe in providing only the best for our customers,” says Justin. The bird’s nests drinks follow a sustainable process of harvesting, processing, cooking, and delivery from the farms in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Justin says the products are made using premium natural ingredients combined with modern cooking processes.
“We have an unwavering commitment to transparency, obsession over customer experience and high-quality products, which have earned us the trust of thousands of customers worldwide.”
Running A Company While Also Learning About Fatherhood
Image Source: Justin Chiam
His daughter and The Purest Co arrived around the same time in Justin’s life. Apart from raising the little one, he has been building new recipes with superfoods during pregnancy with success.
It has also been a massive learning curve for the entrepreneur. He wants to do things differently, be it at work or at home.
“In my parents’ generation, I think the men tend to be a lot less involved in the caregiving of a child. This was the case for my family. I see fathers in our generation playing a more active role and I aspire to do so as well. This is a nice change and a sign that society has evolved. I hope this change extrapolates further in this direction,” he says.
Fatherhood has also brought more responsibility to Justin’s life. Being a father changed the dad’s thought process.
“I think about both life and business as I aspire to be a role model to my daughter.”
He advises all dads to treasure every minute of this experience, even on the toughest sleepless nights.
“One day she’s yours to carry, and the next she’s walking on her own.”
Justin believes in giving his daughter strong values and life skills as a parent so she can thrive in any field that chooses. Now there’s a super-dad we’d say!
ALSO READ:
An A – Z Guide To Superfoods That Have Great Health Benefits
9 Best Superfoods for Baby Brain Development!
