Vow’s lab-grown quail is coming to Singapore after a brand change

Australian cultured meat startup Vow has become the fourth company globally to receive regulatory approval for selling cultivated meat. Vow is entering the Singaporean market with Forged Parfait — a product made from cultivated Japanese quail cells. This will replace initial plans to release a sub-brand named Morsel.

Following a $73.4 million Series A funding round in November 2022, Vow announced its intentions to introduce cultured quail ‘meat’ under the Morsel brand in early 2023, aiming to redefine fine dining experiences.

Since then Vow also made the woolly mammoth de-extinct by turning its DNA into a giant meatball.

However, the journey from concept to commercialisation prompted a strategic reassessment, leading to the evolution of Forged.

“Morsel as a brand was very focused on the experience of the food itself — the most extremely unique and delicious food that you’ve ever possibly eaten,” George Peppou, founder and CEO of Vow, said to SmartCompany on a call.

According to Peppou, it was during the prototyping phase with chefs that the company realised that the framing of Morsel was setting it up to fail as it was putting people in a critical mindset that was difficult to deliver on.

“But what they were really excited about — chefs and consumers across the board — was the idea of novelty, exclusivity and the ability to have a really distinctive experience.

“So rather than trying to work within what we had, we decided there’s still something here and to put Morsel on the shelf for now… and we’re going to come up with something we feel matches what we’re hearing from consumers.”

Source: Vow

A year on from when Morsel was supposed to be launched, Vow is now introducing ‘Forged at Mandela Club’ which will offer a seven-course Omakse menu featuring Forged Parfait.

According to Peppou, the brand pivot wasn’t the only hold-up on the launch, but also the regulatory considerations that accompany selling cultivated meat.

But he also feels Vow is doing well when it comes to one of the core challenges for lab-grown meat — scale.

“It’s why we think we’re different, because we’ve successfully solved that challenge. We’re producing over 100kg in a month at our Sydney facility, with production ramping up rapidly. As far as we know, no other cultured meat company has achieved that level of production,” Peppou said.

The pricing for the specialty Forged at Mandela Club experience is SG$258 with non-alcoholic drink pairings or SG$289 with alcoholic drink pairings.

The dishes will not be exclusively vegan-friendly. Instead, Forged Parfait will be used as an inclusion for each dish. These include:

• A savoury cannoli filled with Forged Parfait and served with Black Pearl caviar
• The ‘Hokkaido Wagyu Sando’ – a milk bun topped with A5 Hokkaido Wagyu and Forged Parfait
• Forged Brûlée’ – Forged Parfait layered with port jelly and cognac-poached morels, finished with hardened caramelised sugar

Source: Vow

“In order to have any impact on overall protein consumption, we have to be selling food to meat eaters,” Peppou said.

“We wanted to really come out and very clearly signal that this is not an alternative for people that are avoiding meat. This is an addition for people that really like meat.”

Forged at Mandela Club will launch on April 27, but there are plans to announce the next restaurant Forged Parfait will be rolling out in the coming weeks. Peppou confirmed plans to be in six Singaporean restaurants by the end of May before launching in another country in the near future.

“Forged Parfait introduces an unparalleled flavour experience — a deep, umami flavour with a unique lightness. It’s a flavour and texture combination we haven’t seen before, and the chefs are taking full advantage of this,” Peppou said.

“That’s why Vow is different because we’re not imitating what they already know; we’re creating something deliberately different that you can’t get anywhere else.”