From By-product to Indulgence: How Penghu Uncle Is Reframing Seafood Waste for ASEAN Snack Growth
- PYD
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
In 2025, not all sustainability-led food innovation is driven by wellness positioning or climate narratives. Taiwan’s Penghu Uncle offers a different playbook: turning traditionally discarded fish skin and bones into flavour-forward, indulgent snacks—while quietly unlocking upcycling value as it targets expansion across ASEAN.
Insights & Strategic Moves
Borrowing proven formats, localising execution.
Penghu Uncle’s strategy began with a clear market signal. Inspired by the success of Singapore-based IRVINS, famous for salted egg fish skin crisps, the firm saw an opportunity to apply a similar concept to Taiwanese fish skin and fish bone snacks. While fish bone crisps have long existed in Taiwan and Japan—traditionally made by deep-frying milkfish, tilapia, or mackerel bones—the brand modernised the category through updated flavour profiles and contemporary packaging suited to ASEAN tastes.
Upcycling as a by-product of taste-led innovation.
Unlike many circular-economy start-ups, Penghu Uncle did not originate from a sustainability-first mandate. Fish bone crisps were among its earliest products, developed simply because the team believed fish bones could be transformed into enjoyable snacks. Upcycling emerged as a secondary benefit: maximising parts of the fish that consumers typically reject—skin and bones—rather than a primary brand message. This pragmatic approach reframes waste reduction as an operational advantage, not a marketing claim.
Indulgence over nutrition claims.
Where many seafood snack brands emphasise collagen or calcium benefits, Penghu Uncle has deliberately avoided health-led positioning. Management cites variability in nutrient absorption—such as collagen uptake—as a reason to avoid over-promising. Instead, the brand focuses squarely on taste experience, reinforcing the belief that snacking is inherently indulgent. This clarity of positioning reduces consumer confusion and aligns expectations with usage occasions.
Flavour strategy tailored to ASEAN palates.
The product portfolio leans into bold, familiar flavour cues across the region, including wasabi, mala, and salted egg—profiles already proven to resonate with ASEAN snack consumers. While seasonings and flavouring additives are used, the brand emphasises restraint, such as avoiding additional salt in salted egg variants where the core ingredient already delivers sufficient salinity. The result is controlled indulgence rather than excess.
Ingredient quality as a differentiator.
Penghu Uncle uses higher-quality fish species such as basa and cod, improving texture while reducing fishiness—two attributes critical for consumer acceptance in markets less accustomed to seafood-based snacks. This choice supports regional differentiation as the brand enters ASEAN, where seafood snacks remain less mainstream outside select formats.
Leveraging existing assets to expand formats.
Operationally, Penghu Uncle’s move into shelf-stable seafood snacks is driven by preservation economics. Fresh seafood presents logistical and shelf-life challenges, whereas ready-to-eat products such as dried scallops and crisps align with convenience-led consumption. The firm is leveraging its existing canned seafood infrastructure to expand into adjacent formats, improving asset utilisation while broadening its product mix.
Future Outlook
As ASEAN snack markets continue to favour bold flavours and convenient indulgence, Penghu Uncle’s taste-first, asset-leveraged approach positions it well for regional expansion. By treating upcycling as a value unlock rather than a headline claim, the brand avoids sustainability fatigue while still benefiting from resource efficiency and waste reduction.
Penghu Uncle demonstrates that in indulgent snacking, commercial traction often comes not from redefining consumer behaviour, but from refining familiar formats—turning overlooked by-products into scalable, flavour-led growth engines.