INSPIRING SUCCESS STORY

Jil & Yellowtail: Automated sauce dispenser is recipe for success

Key Highlights:

Generates savings of up to $30,000 per store
Delivers consistency in every bowl of noodles served
Enables less skilled individuals to work at the company

Enterprise profile

Jil & Yellowtail Pte Ltd is a Singapore manufacturer that specialises in fish-related products. It is the company behind Li Xin Teochew Fishball Noodles, a chain best known for its fresh fishballs and fishcakes made from yellowtail fish without any fillers or preservatives.

Problem statement

With 14 Li Xin stalls across Singapore, Jil & Yellowtail needed to ensure consistency in every bowl of noodles served. “Currently, the cook manually scoops the condiments into each bowl, so the flavour profile can vary depending on their estimate,” said Mr Loo Cheng Koon, Director of Business Development & Digitalisation at Jil & Yellowtail.

In 2020, his company decided to collaborate with Singapore Polytechnic’s Food Innovation & Resource Centre (FIRC) to design a customised sauce dispensing machine. “With an automated sauce dispenser, every bowl will have the exact same amount of condiments, creating the perfect bowl of noodles every time,” Mr Loo explained.

There are five key condiments that go into each bowl of noodles: fish sauce, oil, tomato sauce, vinegar, and chilli paste. Of the five, chilli paste is the most challenging ingredient to dispense from a machine due to its viscosity. Tests done on the first version of the machine FIRC developed in 2021 found that the chilli paste would clog the tubes. The team then embarked on a project in mid-2023 to change the chilli paste consistency without altering its flavour.

“We tested the machine with the new chilli paste recipe in October 2023, where we gathered a few of our employees to try the noodles made with the sauce dispensing machine. The feedback was very good,” said Mr Loo.

The machine is in the proof-of-concept (POC) stage, with a second version currently being developed to finetune the hardware.

_{Mr Loo Cheng Koon, Director of Business Development & Digitalisation at Jil & Yellowtail}

_{One of the 14 Li Xin Teochew Fishball Noodles stalls in Singapore}

Impact achieved

By automating the sauce dispensing process, Li Xin will be able to hire even those without F&B training as they need only basic training on how to operate the machine. This will ease Li Xin’s manpower needs and save operational costs in the long run, as the machine will be able to do the work that is traditionally done by hand. The sauce dispenser is estimated to save the company up to $30,000 per outlet as it can hire more employees at entry-level positions and reduce its reliance on trained chefs.

All Li Xin outlets will also be able to consistently deliver noodles of the same quality, improving its brand reputation and facilitating expansion. “As a company, we want to make it easy for the younger generation to start a hawker business,” said Mr Loo. “Having an automated sauce dispenser to maintain a consistent flavour profile will simplify the process of opening a new stall.”

_{Employees at Jil & Yellowtail preparing the chilli sauce from scratch}

_{Stirring the chilli sauce mixture for even texture and consistency}

The support from FIRC has been instrumental to the success of this project. “As both a collaborator and enabler, FIRC has been very proactive and took the time to understand our challenges and requests so they can design a solution that meets our needs,” he says. “With each partnership, they guided us through a transformative process, enabling us to enhance our operations and grow our business.”

The second version of the sauce dispensing machine is slated to be completed by the second half of 2024, after which Jil & Yellowtail will mass produce it for deployment across all its Li Xin branches.

“As both a collaborator and enabler, FIRC has been very proactive and took the time to understand our challenges and requests so they can design a solution that meets our needs” - Mr Loo Cheng Koon

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