He plays gold with the botanical bird Birds of Paradise listed in the Michelin Guide – Wired PR Lifestyle Story
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A few years ago, botanical ice cream was relatively unheard of in Singapore.
Founder of Edwin Lim Birds of Paradise Room, he wanted to fill that gap and create his own artisanal gelato (Italian-style ice cream) that uses plant ingredients such as fruits, flowers, herbs and spices.
He also stated that about 90 per cent of the ice cream in Singapore was sold by Italian brand chains at the time.
“At the time, most of the stores were brewing with massive flavored gelato products imported from Italy, which meant that most of the ice cream shops were selling the same typical flavors. [like] muxu, stracciatella [and] menthe, ”Edwin explained.
“We’ve spent a lot of time researching and creating the concept of a botanical gelato store, which is Singapore and probably the first in the world.”
It was a novel concept, but many of his friends expressed their skepticism: they didn’t know about botanical gelato and were skeptical that it would sell well here.
Anyway, at least I didn’t go down without explaining myself first Bird Paradise’s first outlet in Katong in July 2016.
Special flavors with real ingredients
They made their own gelato from scratch, and developed their own collection of special flavors using real ingredients.
“Inspiration for our tastes from literature, architecture, music and even our travels. Taking literature as an example, it could be [as] It might be as simple as reading a cookbook, or it might be more abstract to read Somerset Maugham’s tropical stories and be inspired by the coconut plantation environment, ”said Edwin.
“We support trends and focus on our creative process, which is a cycle of daily observation, inspiration, distillation and execution.”
One of the first flavors he created was White Chrysanthemum.
Many of us grew up drinking chrysanthemum tea, whether it was homemade curd or automatic machine cans. We thought the chrysanthemum would be a great taste to represent the signature bouquet of our botanical gelato, with floral images and the space it takes up in many of our hearts.
We added cocoa snacks to balance the sweetness with a little bitterness and give it a more mature touch. While we were tasting our R&D chrysanthemum, we initially came across the disbelief of our tasters: “Who drinks chrysanthemum tea with milk?” – but when they tried, their reactions were priceless!
– Edwin Lim, founder of Birds of Paradise
The brand has recently collaborated with local singer Linying to create a limited edition touch inspired by the recently released single ‘Springtime’.
They created a gelato made with red berries and rhubarb, with a bittersweet sweetness, with a fragrant ginger flower (or ‘red flower’) to give a local twist.
Plus, the brand has always wanted to create a coconut flavor, but they firmly said it had to be the best in the region to ever make one.
“Over the course of three years, we experimented with about 20 iterations of coconut sorbet, but it was never good enough to bring to the table. Finally, in 2021, we found a great producer of cold-pressed fresh coconut milk at The Coconut Club, ”Edwin shared.
Along with their knowledge and experience in the classroom, they managed to create a coconut sorbet, which received a “tremendous love” from customers. The term of the partnership is over, but Birds of Paradise has decided to restore the flavor once and for all due to public demand.
Capturing that first-movement advantage comes with challenges
Although Birds of Paradise was the “beginning” of the gelato created locally, it was an uphill battle for them to convince customers that their product was equal to or better than the imported gelato brands.
Customers complained about their prices and complained that they were expensive. Edwin argued that it could have been “because they didn’t have a foreign name to give authenticity to a product that is considered an Italian specialty.”
In the first few weeks of opening, the team also stayed out of their store to give away free samples, but many didn’t stop to give the day’s time for testing.
“The proof of the pudding is in the food and over time, our customers recognized the value of the ingredients and the experience behind our gelato,” he said.
Today, Birds of Paradise is synonymous with long queues, eager to provide customers with unique botanical flavors such as lychee raspberry, pistachio, sea salt, spicy pear and vanilla fig, and home-made. thyme cone.
Since then, the brand has expanded to two outlets in Singapore – Jewel Changi opened its second outlet at one of its initial tenants in April 2019 – and plans to open a third soon in its “central location” in the first quarter. 2022.
Despite the growth of the business, Edwin said he faces a number of other challenges.
For example, they came across other “bandwagon concepts” that try to replicate what they are doing in terms of products, flavors, and visual communication.
We have come across “customers” who require us to know the brands of our components, industrial espionage and the like. Our customers are our eyes and ears: they would be the first to make such and such marks by removing too many leaves from our book.
– Edwin Lim, founder of Birds of Paradise
The Covid-19 pandemic has been particularly difficult for Birds of Paradise, as in many other businesses.
Fortunately, they were allowed to operate through many business closures. It was also seen as an opportunity to accelerate its digitization efforts and launch its e-commerce store website to meet the demand for online submissions.
He also redoubled his efforts to return the brand to other members of his surrounding communities, their employees, partners and charities by donating parts of the Employment Support Scheme funds they do not need.
Included in the Michelin Guide for three years in a row
It is also worth mentioning that Birds of Paradise has been listed in the Michelin Guide for three consecutive years in 2018, 2019 and 2021 (no publication was made in 2020 due to Covid-19), and is the only dessert concept to have received a Michelin Plate.
According to Edwin, the award “serves as a professional validation of excellence [its] botanical gelato ”.
While the brand is honored to receive this prestigious award, it has yet to show the award label in its stores, as customers want to protect it for their gelato instead of being an award-winning brand.
“Over time, our clients have been so supportive and grateful for our excellence that we are slowly becoming more comfortable sharing awards and recognitions,” Edwin said.
“This year we have been chosen to be the Made with Passion brand, an honor to celebrate our contribution to Singapore’s commercial and cultural landscape and the excellence of our local products.”
Reflecting on their milestones, Edwin believes that their slow growth and strong growth are built on strong values, especially “quality” and “trust”, which go hand in hand.
They pay special attention to quality and are proud to use good quality ingredients and not to get caught up in the process of creating a great product.
With continuous delivery of quality products, customers would be more confident with the brand.
“When we say we use real vanilla, we use it real vanilla beans. When vanilla prices rose fourfold a few years ago, we had to stop making our Vanilla Piku a popular flavor. We could move on to using a cheaper attraction, but we chose not to because it was important [stay] what we said about using real ingredients, even if not selling them, is a commercial cost, ”said Edwin, adding that the brand has decided to regain its flavor this Christmas season.
Our values may not be visible to our customers, but our values convey our brand honesty to our customers.
– Edwin Lim, founder of Birds of Paradise
While many may consider the F&B brand a success, Birds of Paradise does not rest on its laurels. Instead, it constantly strives to improve, and takes all customer feedback and business discussions seriously.
Their ultimate goal is to help make the world a better place by constantly creating good quality botanical gelatine that will make Singapore proud to share it with the world.
Featured Image Credit: Birds of Paradise
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