A new generation of homegrown brands is rethinking what it means to eat well: by placing sustainability, provenance, and pure flavour at the heart of every bite.
Text: Tan Wei Ting
Jammy’s
Joy now, guilt never — that’s the heart of Jammy’s, a clean-label dessert brand that wants to change the way you think about sweet treats. Founders and sisters J and Jacelyn Tan found it challenging to find indulgent desserts that were aligned with their health goals. So they created a brand that makes no-sugar, no-dairy, no-gluten, and 100% plant-based treats that taste like the real thing — just cleaner.
“We realised that if we were struggling to find treats that felt good and did good, others probably were too,” they say. “We didn’t want a compromise. We wanted to create a new standard.”
The process hasn’t been simple. “The biggest challenge isn’t just technical — it’s psychological,” they explain. “We’ve been conditioned to think creaminess only comes from cream, or that richness requires refined sugar.” Their team spent months learning how to recreate those familiar experiences using functional ingredients like almond milk, monkfruit, and real fruits and nuts. The results speak for themselves: best-selling vegan gummy bears in flavours like lychee and pineapple, cookies that taste indulgent without the crash, and a new sour plum gummy inspired by local childhood snacks.
Their proudest creation to date? A vanilla gelato that took over a year to perfect. “We’d designed the packaging before we even had a working recipe. It just kept falling short. A year and a half later, I had a eureka moment,” the founder shares. “Now, we use only real vanilla beans, no coconut cream, no extracts. It tastes like the best vanilla ice cream — just made differently.”
This year, Jammy’s is teaming up with heritage condiment brand Shermay’s to launch a limited-edition nut crunch for Singapore’s 60th birthday. With flavours like Nonya Curry and Chilli & Vinegar, the collab brings together two brands rooted in nostalgia, care, and reimagining the everyday.
Everiday Foods
For Shruthi Bharadwaj, food isn’t just fuel, it’s a philosophy. As a nutritionist who’s lived across the US, India, and the Middle East before settling in Singapore, she founded Everiday in response to a gap she felt acutely: the lack of clean, flavourful pantry staples that didn’t feel like a compromise. “Everything either tasted bland or was overly processed in the name of shelf life,” she says. Everiday was born to change that — to make everyday food that tastes great, feels good, and is built on real, whole ingredients.
The brand’s mission is bold but simple: “whole foods the whole time.” That means zero additives, no refined sugars, no cheap oils — just things you can pronounce, trust, and crave. Think chilli oils that burst with the flavours of Southeast Asia, gluten-free loaves made with real seeds and grains, and spreads that riff on “third culture” flavours like miso nut butter or curry leaf pesto. “It’s not about deprivation,” says Bharadwaj. “It’s about elevation. When your pantry is full of nutrient-dense, delicious staples, you naturally make better choices without even trying. That’s the shift we’re trying to spark.”
Beyond products, Everiday’s impact runs deeper. Its partnership with Rosebrook, a developmental centre (at Sunset Way) for neurodivergent children, includes both food and tuition support, and reflects the brand’s belief that nourishment is a system of care, not just a label. They deliver breads, spreads, and snacks to the students and staff three to four times a week. Even sustainability is approached holistically: excess stock is donated, everything comes in reusable glass jars, and ingredients are selected with long-term health of body and planet in mind.
Now expanding into the US, Everiday is taking its flavour-forward pantry to a wider audience. But its soul remains the same: small-batch, big-hearted, and grounded in the belief that the best food choices should also be the easiest.
Butter Days
Founded in 2023, Butter Days is a brand built on joy. What began as a group of “serial grocery aisle lurkers” searching for better pantry staples turned into a line of luxurious compound butters that balance playful flavour with thoughtful design. From the start, the team set out to elevate butter from a background ingredient into something worth savouring — whether it’s melting onto toast or starring in a baked treat. And they’ve done just that, infusing cultured French butter with punchy ingredients like roasted nori, smoky maple, and kimchi.
Butter Days is about more than just flavour. The brand also believes good design can shift perception. Its pastel-hued boxes with food-forward illustrations offer a visual celebration of what’s inside: thoughtful, flavourful and joyful. “We learned to use Illustrator from scratch,” says June Nguyen, co-founder of Butter Days, who was determined to execute their creative vision independently.
Sustainability shows up in the flavour choices and collaborations. The team sources ingredients regionally, from Japanese kombu to Korean kimchi, to honour the provenance of each butter. The Kombu Butter, in particular, is infused with two types of seaweed: kombu kelp, which lends a rich umami punch, and roasted nori, which adds gentle sweetness and a toasted note for layered depth.
Butter Days also differentiates itself through collaborations with local makers and brands, including The Cheese Shop and Kopifellas. For National Day, they’ve partnered with the latter on a Gula Melaka Pandan Kaya Butter, inspired by the classic Nanyang breakfast. Butter Days isn’t just selling a product — it’s offering a new way to experience comfort food: small, satisfying moments of indulgence that are easy to love and hard to forget.
Note: Butter Days, Everiday and Jammy’s products are available at Little Farms stores in Singapore.