SINGAPORE - Who needs roses when you can have fried chicken, churros or waffles in a bouquet?
Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and already eateries have pulled out all the stops for those who prefer savoury over sweet bouquets.
Online florist PetalFoo sells customised edible bouquets such as one it posted on its Instagram page with nuggets, sausages and chicken wings from Old Chang Kee.
PetalFoo founder Kelly Chua told ST that she had received six enquiries since she launched her Old Chang Kee edible bouquet (from $70) on Jan 15.
She credited the concept to a customer from Australia who wanted to surprise her friend for her birthday.
"Old Chang Kee chicken wings are her favourite. I decided to add on edible lettuce to the bouquet to add colour to it, while making sure the food items remain edible, instead of using other flowers or foliage, which may contaminate the food," she said.
Churros Factory Singapore offers a bouquet of churros in four flavours - chocolate, strawberry, butterscotch and caramel - for $28.
The firm's creative director Png Suyi told ST that the company started selling its churro bouquets, dubbed ChurRose Bouquet, a few months after its business began in 2015.
"We got average sales of only five to 10 bouquets per month at first, and it gradually grew to 25 to 30 bouquets per month now," said Ms Png.
The bouquet was meant as a simple thank-you gesture for fans and social media influencers who supported the start-up.
"It was actually not meant for sale," said Ms Png. "It was handmade and was hand-piped. But after posting on social media, we had several requests for it. In fact, we received more orders from women as gifts for their boyfriends or husbands."
However, she said the churro bouquets were the company's poorest sellers among its range of churro products.
On the other hand, American restaurant and bar The Beast is selling Chicken and Waffles bouquets for $38 on its Facebook e-commerce page.
The bouquets, which come with its cornbread waffles and southern fried chicken, along with baby's breath and phoenix gold, are pick-up only and customers must visit its restaurant at 17 Jalan Klapa to collect the bouquets.
"Our inspiration came from just thinking of bouquets that we wanted to receive ourselves," a spokesman for The Beast told ST. "(Something) that could combine two of the things we love - making food look good and having good food all while having a great time!"
If fried items are not your thing, florist Golden Tulips Atelier offers candy and chocolate bouquets.
The bouquets, which start from $70, can be customised on their website.
Golden Tulips Atelier also sells Halal chicken nugget and chicken wing bouquets from $45 and $50 respectively.
Golden Tulips Atelier's creative director Amanda Chew told ST that its edible bouquets began gaining popularity last year, after the florist created a nugget bouquet for a friend's graduation.
"We have been creating unique bouquets since the start of our business," said Ms Chew. "In response to customers' enquiries, we'll advise them accordingly if the particular request is suitable to be incorporated with flowers."
The company has a history of 25 years and was previously known as Golden Tulips & Bronze Florist. It became Golden Tulips Atelier after a revamp last year.
The company has seen a 50 per cent increase in orders for its edible bouquets since the start of the year as Valentine's Day is approaching.
Ms Chew added that it was only recently that the florist started documenting its pieces as she began helping her father out with the business.
"Millennials have been into the trend of buying products that are aesthetically pleasing, interesting, practical and basically 'Insta-worthy'," she said.
If Valentine's Day is not a sweet one for you, at least it will be yummy.
