New year, new hustle? Seems to be the case for influencer Wendy Cheng, better known by her online moniker, Xiaxue. In addition to being a content creator, she’s now also the proud owner of her very own F&B business called Pink Coconut – touted as the first pink nasi lemak brand in the country, with heart-shaped fish cake to boot.
While the presentation is certainly on-brand for Xiaxue, who loves all things pink a la Asian Barbie, her choice of product might come as a surprise. After all, she has no experience in F&B business, and one would assume that the self-proclaimed makeup addict would be more interested in launching a beauty line, especially since she had previously already worked on her own brand of false lashes, Plastic Cosmetics. And in any case, why nasi lemak, of all types of food?
Well, it turns out that this is something Xiaxue has always wanted to do, as she’s already armed with a handful of family recipes. To get things started, she first contacted her old secondary school pal Randall Ang, the man behind fish ball brand BoBo, for some advice. As fate would have it, Randall already has a factory where all sorts of dishes can be made, so the pair then set out to start a cloud kitchen in collaboration with Global Cloud Business.
Pink Coconut’s recipe is an original one, adapted from what Xiaxue picked up from her family, and it took her a whopping six months to perfect it after rounds of R&D.
Just so you know, the bright pink hue that the coconut rice sports is not from any sort of artificial colouring, but rather, beetroot. While this doesn’t add to the flavour of the rice, it probably does increase its nutritional value by just a tad, as beets are rich in antioxidants and help soothe inflammation. In any case, the eye-catching colour certainly makes the whole meal more fun to eat.
Aside from the pink rice and cutesy fish cakes, each set comes with sambal, hae bee hiam, ikan bilis, and peanuts. Protein-wise, take your pick of original chicken wings, prawn paste chicken wings, boneless chicken cutlet, or the crowd-favourite beef rendang. Prices range from $9.08 to $12, depending on your chosen delivery platform and protein.
Each component of the meal can also be ordered individually, if you’re looking for add-ons or are keen to customise your own meal. A spicy Super Star Sambal Petai ($4.84 to $5.20 depending on delivery platform) – which Xiaxue is particularly proud of – is also on the menu as a side dish. She calls sambal petai her “fiery muse” in a world of flavours, and loves the powerful blend of chilli, shrimp paste, garlic, shallots, and petai beans.
In an interview with Global Cloud Business, Xiaxue says, “I'm not entirely sure how it's all going to turn out, but I wanted to share this journey with you, whether it ends in success (fingers crossed) or, well, a learning experience!”
Pink Coconut’s food is prepared in cloud kitchens and doesn’t have a physical location at the moment, but orders are already open on food delivery platforms like foodpanda and Grabfood. Current delivery locations include Bedok North, Lavender, Marine Parade, Bishan, Paya Lebar, Punggol, Holland, Little India, and Yishun.
Check out Pink Coconut’s Instagram page for latest updates.
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