ed doors to many opportunities in other restaurants in the UK.  “In February, we spent some time with Heston and his team. His distributor tried the product and thought it was great. We launch into some more restaurants over there in the coming months,” he said.  Blumenthal has been an early supporter of Fable, using it in his Michelin Star restaurants, the Perfectionist Cafe and The Fat Duck in London, and has backed the product with an endorsement on the packaging. “Heston is obviously very well-known in the UK, so being in his restaurants already is a big plus. We’ll be able to work with him and his team to tell the story of the product and get it into some more restaurants in the UK at the top end,” Fox said.  Thanks to some food industry connections in Asia, Fable has also secured local distributors in Singapore and Malaysia.  “We spent some time physically in Singapore late last year and early this year, pre-Covid, so we were able to make those personal connections. [Having a local distributor] has meant we can launch into Singapore without too much effort and investment on our part.” Similar to the approach Fable has taken in Australia, the co-founders are planning to introduce consumers to the product through high-end restaurants to establish a connection, before entering the retail market at a later date.  “We are just starting to do some distribution into Singapore and Malaysia. We’ve got a distributor in Malaysia looking at high-end restaurants, so we should start to get some traction there soon.”  Why now? The global plant-based meat market is growing at a rate of knots, with revenue likely to cross US$12 billion by 2025, according to a study by leading market research store, Research and Markets. With consumer demand for plant-based products at an all-time high driven by a need for healthier and more sustainable products, Fox and the team are eager to take advantage of this opportunity. “The UK is probably the most advanced market we are in, it’s maybe a year or two ahead of Australia. “There’s more consumers wanting the products, and there’s more players in the space, but we’ve got a very differentiated product, there isn’t anyone doing anything similar to us with shiitake mushrooms so I think it should go well in the UK. Singapore’s also a really good market for plant-based foods.” Local range expands  This year, in the midst of the pandemic, Fable has held online pop-ups, partnered with meal kit delivery service Marley Spoon and launched into Australia’s largest supermarket Woolworths.  “We launched into physical retail with [supermarket] Harris Farm and then Woolworths, and through online for both. We’ve continued the rollout in foodservice which has grown to probably 100 venues now,” said Fox. “We’ve just spoken to lots more QSR chains and will launch with some more early next year. We’ll continue to roll out in lots of independent retailers too.” After some minor tweaks to the product including lowering salt and sugar and making it accessible to the gluten-free consumer, Fable also added a range of ready meals at Woolworths late last month.  “It’s been really good. Our base product has gone well in Woolworths so we launched three ready meals SKUs about three weeks ago and they’re going well.” With much happening at home and abroad, Fox is hesitant to look much further beyond Asia and the UK for now.  “I think we want to try and stay reasonably focused. Even that many countries feels like a lot for a 10-month old, six-person (full-time) company!”