YOU could almost say that baking powder runs in his veins. After all, Mr Foo Ko Kin, the 55-year-old managing director and founder of food technology company CerealTech, has spent his entire career in the baking industry.

His first taste came with a temporary job at a Danish bakery at Shaw Centre.

That was just before he headed off to do his national service. After completing his postgraduate studies in Britain, he worked at Chocodeli, a local confectionery firm.

Since then, all of Mr Foo's jobs have been at food companies - in production, distribution, marketing and quality assurance.

Just one aspect was lacking - what Mr Foo, who is married with two young girls, terms the 'technical' aspect of the business.

This technical aspect involves what

he terms 'micro-ingredients' - the enzyme-based ingredients that are added to product mixes to enhance the finished products.

But that gap has since been filled.

In 1995, Mr Foo, who has a master's degree in business administration from the University of Strathclyde's Graduate Business School in Glasgow, left his job in Serrol Asia following a corporate restructuring and decided to set out on his own.

He formed CerealTech, which supplies micro-ingredients to food companies.

He decided to focus on this particular area because there was no one offering to work with companies to develop products that consumers were demanding.

As a result, 'firms were telling consumers what they should be eating instead of asking them what they wanted', Mr Foo noted.

Getting CerealTech up and going was no mean feat. He had to buy basic machinery and still have enough money for working capital.

Despite it being a 'financial stretch' for his family, they were supportive and chipped in with funds. Together with personal savings and funds from his business contacts, Mr Foo managed to cobble together the money required.

The company rented premises for two years before moving to its present 3,600 sq ft compound in Woodlands. It was a risky step, going by the small size of the company then.

Mr Foo said: 'There's always the dilemma - do you wait for business to finance the move or do you leverage on your improved facilities to get more business?'

He chose the latter, financing the move with a bank loan. The facility today employs more than 30 workers.

The micro-ingredients are produced and packed into mixes at the company's factory, to maximise convenience for clients. Mixes are customised according to clients' requirements and are used to complete their manufacturing process.

Clients include Sunshine Bakeries and Havi Food Services.

Two of the firm's top-selling products are enzymes CT-Fermentase and CT-Stabilase, which are added in McDonald's buns, for example, to enhance their softness and appearance.

CerealTech gets most of its clientele via referrals, according to Mr Foo. The profitable company grew an estimated 5 per cent last year, with revenue in the region of a few million dollars.

Not content with helping companies roll out the dough, it has extended its operations to moulding minds as well - through its specialised management courses for clients' staff. 'My vision for CerealTech is for it to become a one-stop solution to support the baking industry,' said Mr Foo.

Each two- to three-day course addresses challenges faced by the industry. The last course - in March - focused on strategies to reduce wastage in the production process, for example.

Constant innovation is vital to succeed, said Mr Foo.

The firm pumps 6 per cent to 7 per cent of total revenue into research and development annually. 'We must continue to invest in what we are good in even when times are bad... In our case, it is our ability to innovate,' he said.

CerealTech has also focused on growing its operations overseas. But instead of heading to China, as many other businesses have done, Mr Foo has put his eggs in the Middle Eastern basket.

'It is a more fragmented market and therefore we can tackle one country at a time...It also helps diversify our risk,' he said, noting the difficulties a small and medium-sized enterprise like his will face in establishing distribution channels in larger countries like China.

Going forward, CerealTech's priority will be to strengthen its position in the Middle Eastern markets it has entered.

'We do not want to go into too many markets and end up being in very weak positions for each one,' said Mr Foo.

Except Dubai and Saudi Arabia, it has ventured into most other Middle Eastern markets. It also has customers from Asean, Australia, China and New Zealand.

Mr Foo is also looking into applying the company's enzyme technology in other food sectors such as wine and spices.

katelim@sph.com.sg