00:00 Hi, I'm Clara Wan.
00:01 Hi, I'm Shirley Chan.
00:02 We are from Grace Market.
00:04 We are the winner of the Star Golden Hearts Award 2023.
00:09 Thank you for helping us to fight food waste in Malaysia
00:12 and to make food affordable for everyone.
00:14 I started Grace Market when I saw the amount of food being thrown away,
00:26 mostly because of its imperfections and external issues,
00:31 which doesn't affect the quality or the taste of the product.
00:34 At the same time, I was working a lot with the low-income earners
00:37 and I saw how little they have to eat.
00:39 So I decided that I have to do something about this
00:41 and bridging the gap between these two.
00:44 And that's where I started Grace Market to solve this issue.
00:47 So at Grace Market, we hope that we can provide affordable food
00:51 that are good, premium and healthy for the public in general.
00:57 The items in our market include imperfect veggies.
01:00 In the farm, they actually segregate these vegetables.
01:04 So the grade A's will go into your premium supermarkets,
01:06 but your grade B and grade C's usually get rejected,
01:10 which are odd-shaped.
01:11 It could be a sizing problem, too small or too big,
01:14 banded cucumber.
01:16 It could be a colour issue, scarring issue or bruising,
01:19 which means they try and sell for lower
01:21 or if it's not sold, they get thrown away.
01:23 So having to throw them away, it's like losing 30% of your income every day.
01:27 So what we do then is we talk to the farmers
01:30 and then we will buy it from them at a discounted rate
01:33 and we will clean it up, make it look good again
01:35 and then we will sell it at a discount as well to the public.
01:38 Anything that doesn't look good anymore, we will compost them.
01:43 So we will just throw it and then it enters into the ground
01:46 and it goes back to the farmers.
01:50 Then we move on to carrying other people's products
01:53 that are nearing their best-before dates or expiry.
01:57 Or it could also be labelling or packaging issues,
02:00 but the food is still good and edible.
02:03 And then we also have frozen items, such as our frozen berries,
02:06 which is a huge hit.
02:07 And we also have ice creams, yoghurts.
02:10 And recently, we also worked with a croissant company.
02:13 So we are bringing those in as frozen pastries as well
02:17 that customers can buy.
02:19 We give food a second chance.
02:22 At the beginning of the business, we tried very hard to sell to customers.
02:25 We see that the awareness is still not there.
02:28 Customers are still complaining about the veggies,
02:31 why it looks so wilted and it's not fresh and things like that.
02:35 And it's scarring issues, bruises and all.
02:36 So we have an idea to maybe process or cook it
02:40 so people can try the surplus veggies.
02:43 It's still good to eat, it's still edible and it's so yummy.
02:46 That's why we have a chance to collaborate with the owner of this shop.
02:50 We just started this Grease Eatery earlier this year.
02:53 Everything is good, and then people sometimes
02:55 when you walk in and we tell them this is the so-called rejected food
02:58 and they can't even tell.
02:59 They say, "What's wrong with this? This croissant still looks no good."
03:03 And then when you tell them that it's the measurement problem,
03:06 it's a bit too small or out of shape,
03:08 and it's like, "Oh, it's yummy anyway."
03:10 We want to definitely grow our products
03:13 because this will definitely help with the food loss and food waste problem
03:16 by extending the shelf life and processing them.
03:18 So we make our own sambal hijau using green chilli padi,
03:22 excess of that.
03:23 And then we also have our steamboat chilli, which is super spicy.
03:26 And we also make jams using the frozen food.
03:30 But our bestseller is our pesto sauce.
03:34 This is our bestseller.
03:35 It's like the best in the world.
03:41 When we started off, we always had the poor in mind.
03:45 So during the pandemic, we worked with corporates, foundations
03:49 who will sponsor these veggie boxes.
03:51 And what we do is that we will pack them and distribute them
03:54 to basically anyone who needs food.
03:57 So from the food aid distribution,
04:00 we interacted with a lot of the people on ground.
04:02 And then they came to us and said that,
04:04 "You know, I need help to start my business."
04:07 And that's where we saw the need to support them,
04:10 even though it's not our main area of business.
04:12 But we felt like there's a need
04:14 because we don't want to just give up food aid all the time.
04:17 We want to give them a hand up to be able to sustain themselves.
04:20 So then we approached a foundation
04:23 who generously sponsored the program,
04:26 where we brought in women who are already running their F&B businesses.
04:31 We provide them with funds for a period of about six to eight months
04:35 to help them start off and grow their business.
04:38 Not only that, we provide business mentoring
04:41 and we also support them with food stipends
04:44 so that they do not have to worry about providing for their family
04:48 during this time, but they can just do their best in growing their business.
04:52 I met Clara Sherry when we were doing a nutrition program
04:58 for low-to-middle-aged children.
05:02 We took in pregnant mothers to three-year-olds.
05:06 We taught them about the various vegetables.
05:09 From there, their diet was organized.
05:12 They never ate vegetables,
05:14 they never ate chicken breasts,
05:16 they never ate chicken breasts.
05:17 When the third-year-old joined the nutrition program,
05:20 their weight and height increased,
05:24 and their body fat also increased.
05:26 The majority of them did not eat chicken breasts,
05:27 but when they joined the program,
05:29 they liked it.
05:31 It's healthier.
05:32 The feedback from the families who joined is very rewarding
05:36 and very proud.
05:38 I would like to thank Clara and Sherry
05:41 for helping a lot in the nutrition program.
05:44 The models there are very helpful.
05:46 From a small stall, we sold on the side of the road.
05:49 Now, we have two shops.
05:51 I really believe in this idea
06:00 because from my daily life,
06:02 you don't waste your food,
06:02 you just finish whatever is on your plate.
06:04 But this one is like,
06:05 you are doing something to educate people as well.
06:08 Nobody is actually closing the loop,
06:10 it's not a circular economy yet.
06:12 But I think whatever we are trying to do here,
06:15 we are trying to close the loop.
06:16 From surplus to processing,
06:19 extending the shelf life,
06:20 back to composting and back to the farmer.
06:22 We are trying our very best.
06:24 We are wasting food on one hand,
06:26 and so many people go to bed hungry.
06:28 And I felt that was a bit unfair.
06:30 It's not right and the system is just broken.
06:33 And this is just my mini solution to the bigger problem.
06:36 It takes a lot of people and stakeholders
06:39 to be part of solving this food loss issue.
06:41 I do what I can.
06:43 And my mum always says, "Don't waste food."
06:47 You know, everything is good, don't waste, keep and eat.
06:49 We don't waste in general.
06:51 That's what I'm trying to do.
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