Kara Arissa Tan: Preserving a food legacy

AS A SECOND-GENERATION LEADER in a traditional food industry, Kara Arissa Tan has a lot weighing on her petite shoulders. In 2021, she conceived and co-founded Zhen, a modern bird’s nest company offering ethically-farmed 100 per cent pure bird’s nest in a range of forms and flavours. Since then, the CEO has embarked on an unstoppable mission to distinguish Zhen as a leader in manufacturing bird’s nest products entirely in Singapore. 

She says: “Unlike others claiming Singaporean origin, we own the entire process, from our birdhouses to the final product. We pride ourselves on not outsourcing any part of our production, ensuring a high level of transparency and control throughout the manufacturing process.”

Her father Eric had founded Masterdon Swiftlets Resources in 1986, which today owns 27 bird’s nest houses across South-east Asia and supplies traditional hand-cleaned unprocessed bird’s nest to many companies. But growing up, Tan dreamt of driving the family business forward by offering pure bird’s nest directly to the consumer. “I wanted us to become known not just as a supplier but also as a manufacturer of bird’s nest delicacies,” she says.

As her father goes into semi-retirement, Tan – the only child – is poised to take over the reins of Masterdon too. Though she’s only 30, she is more than ready to lead both companies, having worked for Masterdon in various part-time and full-time capacities since young. 

“At six years of age, I learnt how to clean the nest of swiftlets, picking out the dirt and feathers carefully and thoroughly,” she says. “Over the years, I interned in the company’s various departments so that I could learn to do everything, from marketing to manufacturing.”

Level-headed leadership

She says this without a hint of arrogance, having been instilled the values of hard work, modesty, pragmatism and kindness to others by what she describes as “traditional and strict Chinese parents”. To wit, she still goes to the office on weekdays before 9 am and doesn’t leave before 6.30 pm. On Saturdays, she works half-days without fail.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

In fact, Tan recounts how, as a teenager, she was so fearful of her parents that she chose not to tell them about the financial problems she faced while studying in the UK. Instead, she took up three different jobs – at a clothing store, bubble tea shop and Chinese restaurant – to make up for the shortfall.

She explains: “I trusted a friend with regard to our student housing arrangements and he failed to honour the agreement so I lost a lot of money. Because the fault was entirely mine, I didn’t want to burden my parents by asking for money. I took full ownership of the situation by juggling three jobs instead.”

Even today, her parents refuse to spoil her. “I drive a Mercedes-Benz S-Class hand-me-down from my father. He won’t buy me a new car. He says if I want one, I’d have to save for it myself.”

She credits her father’s discipline and restraint for making her self-reliant and resourceful. When she co-founded Zhen with him, she chose to create her own recipes instead of relying on a research and development team. She tested the recipes on friends and families, and finally launched Zhen – meaning “precious treasure” – during the height of the pandemic. At a time when people were cautious about travelling, Tan took it upon herself to personally deliver the orders to their homes. 

This allowed her to interact directly with her customers and get feedback on the products, available as drinks in natural floral botanical flavours such as chamomile, chrysanthemum and lemongrass, as well as collagen jelly in flavours such as mango, peach and strawberry. 

As word of mouth grew, Zhen was able to ramp up production and sell many more bottles in 2023 compared to 2022. Tan now sees 2024 “as the year we carry out more research and development into combining bird’s nests with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), so we can capture the TCM market as well”.

Steamboat and luck

As Chinese New Year approaches, Tan can’t wait for the feast that always accompanies the occasion. “I love having hot pot almost every day of the New Year celebrations. Throughout the year, we don’t often have hot pot unless we go to HaiDiLao... So to be able to eat hot pot throughout the day as our relatives and friends stream in is simply my favourite part of Chinese New Year.” 

Sheepishly, she adds: “I also have a habit of testing my new bird’s nest recipes on my relatives and getting honest feedback from them. In the past, I’d steam papaya and pear, and serve them with bird’s nest as a kind of dessert. One time, I even tried to pair bird’s nest with alcohol  – though that didn’t go down so well. So this Chinese New Year, I might try out some of my TCM recipes to see what they have to say.” 

Asked if the Year of the Dragon is auspicious for those born in the Year of the Rooster such as her, Tan smiles and says: “No matter how superstitious I am about these matters, I believe I still have to work for it. Even if the year promises to bring the best of luck for roosters, if I’m not working hard to make the best of it, it’s just not going to work. Good year or bad year, I’m still putting in the work and the hours.”

As a young custodian of a cherished food tradition, Tan’s words assure you that at least this segment of the bird’s nest industry is being thoroughly safeguarded.