World's First Carbon-Neutral Salad by HK Start-up Found Untapped Market

Recognising the poor intake of fruit and vegetables by urban populations, AllKlear, a food-tech start-up, developed a “drinkable”, powder-form salad that has the nutritional content of 6 bowls of salad in a sachet, by making use of aerospace-grade technology called Krystallos Sublimation Drying Technology. The product significantly reduces carbon emission by 98% required for storage space, transportation, etc. than the normal salads, earning it the merit as the world’s first carbon-neutral salad. The company is hopeful to take lead in this brand-new generation of sustainable future health foods in the market.

Growing Different Customer Base in 5 years

Angus Au, Co-founder of AllKlear and CMO, shared his start-up experience. “Future Salad was conceived by a doctor, one of our partners. What stands apart from traditional salads is its 2 years of shelf life, while ordinary vegetables are perishable, or simply costly to eat out, so the debut of Future Salad in 2020 immediately drew the attention from the health-conscious, 30 to 40-year-old buyers, who wished to boost immunity with more balanced diet.”

“1 year later, we saw a need of change to position our brand younger, more futuristic, and it has quickly become the 25 to 35-year-old’s favourite for detox and losing weight.”

In some 4 years, Future Salad has expanded to Mainland China, Taiwan and Thailand with an annual production volume of 150 million units, partly because of its exceptional online marketing strategy.  Knowing the importance of world-of-mouth, reviews and comments online, Angus invited media, KOL, youtuber, etc. to try and share, effectively captivated many young consumers on social media.

Snooping Around for Opportunities

“Some parents find it hard for their kids to eat dietary fibre foodstuffs like vegetables, and asked if Future Salad fit for children. For that we are going to introduce children formula with probiotic and fruitier flavour to meet their needs.”

After securing a foothold in Hong Kong, Future Salad ventured into Taiwan as a health food alternative and was immediately met with welcome arms, mainly because Taiwanese are keen to spend on their health due to a strong wellness culture. The market grows fast even the products are 15% higher than in Hong Kong.

To keep up the momentum, the company decided to further invest and set up local manufacturing facilities. Extensive promotional campaigns were rolled out across Taipei city, headlined by Taiwanese celebrity Ella Chen as spokesperson, who is expected to influence the Mainland Chinese consumers as well.

The Stumbling Blocks

“We have been developing China market in tandem, tried livestream shopping platforms like Xiaohongshu and Tmall, also online seeding, but the market takes a lot of time and resources to grow, so at the moment we focus on Taiwan and the new international market.” 

Despite success in Taiwan, Future Salad faced a new problem: counterfeit products emerged made by the bogus manufacturers. The company thus enlisted the help of GS1 HK's Real QR to authenticate the products to ensure food safety. "Our CS staff once received a call that our product taste and texture had changed, that’s how we found the counterfeits have been using our packaging to sell online. We tested the items in lab and found the ingredients completely different, so we took immediate action to protect our users."

The company plans to launch products with REAL QR labels in Taiwan this August. Consumers can simply scan the patented micro-printing encrypted QR code on the packaging with their mobile phones, the "Real QR" app or website will pop up that allows authentication of the products.

“Food safety is always our no. 1 priority as a food company. The patented technology provided by GS1 HK helps us protect customers from counterfeits, bust the piracy, keep our reputation intact, and most importantly ensure consumers’ wellbeing and build trust, with just a mobile scan. It means a lot to us.“

World’s First Carbon-Neutral Salad

Compared to traditional salads, the manufacturing process of Future Salad produces less carbon emission certified by SGS, an international audit organisation. The company has gone extra miles to buy the carbon credit provided by Verified Carbon Standard, a globally-recognised greenhouse gas crediting programme, from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s Core Climate platform, making it the world’s first carbon-neutral salad. It is planning for greener operations like switching to electric-powered truck and using energy-efficient lighting control system, etc. in future, aimed to meet the net-zero goal. 

Future Salad is expanding to the US through Amazon, where consumers are generally more sophisticated and look for higher sustainability standards in brands. “We are committed not only to boosting personal health but the health of the earth. As a start-up, we need credible international organisations like GS1 and SGS to showcase our efforts and results.”

Angus believes there are many opportunities for local start-up, and urges fellow companies to join competition to raise profile, at the same time seize any funding opportunities to keep evolve and grow at full scale.