When Martine Shin moved from South Korea to Singapore four years ago, she was struck by how underwhelming supermarket fruits often were—sometimes overripe, sometimes unripe, and always a gamble when it came to taste.
That was when she discovered that around 90% of the nation’s food is imported. Long and infrequent journeys, multiple middlemen, and little transparency around where produce came from all compromised freshness and quality.
Determined to bring higher quality fruits to Singapore, Martine launched Timo & Farmers in Jul 2022, a business that sources directly from small-scale farms all over South Korea.
She now brings fresh organic blueberries from Cheolwon, tangerines from Jeju, peaches, shine muscat grapes, and more straight to Singapore tables within 48 to 72 hours.
We spoke with Martine to find out how she turned a personal frustration into a venture rooted in delivering fresh Korean produce to Singaporeans every week.
From boardrooms to blueberries
Martine’s professional life started in the corporate world, where she spent close to two decades in management consulting and marketing. But after years of climbing the corporate ladder, she felt a sense of stagnation. The work became repetitive, and she began to wonder if it was time to pursue a long-buried ambition: running her own business.
“I realised I wasn’t growing anymore. Maybe it was time to focus on that idea at the back of my mind all along.”
That idea crystallised during her regular visits to her father-in-law’s organic blueberry farm in Cheolwon, a South Korean province renowned for its pristine environment free from industrial pollution, due to its proximity to the Demilitarised Zone between South and North Korea. Martine was struck by the farmers’ painstaking care and the exceptional taste of their fruit—sweet, plump, and unlike anything she had ever bought in a supermarket.
She remembered thinking, “Why can’t people in Singapore taste this?”
Yet, despite their skill, these farmers rarely reached markets beyond their hometowns. Many lacked the tools or knowledge to promote themselves beyond Korea’s borders. Martine began to see that Singaporeans’ growing interest in Korean culture and fruits overseas could be paired with the pride and expertise of these farmers—a perfect intersection.
At the same time, Korean fruits were appearing more often in Singapore’s supermarkets, buoyed by the broader Korean Wave. Nonetheless, what she tasted locally never quite matched what she savoured back in Korea. The gap was obvious: there was demand, but the quality didn’t translate.
On her frequent trips back to South Korea, most of the farmers she visited were also certified under Korea’s Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) scheme, which ensures that farmers use safe amounts of approved chemicals in their crops, only if necessary. Drawing from this network, Martine began sourcing from farms that not only have various safety certifications, but also have reputations for excellence —like Jeju for its famed tangerines and Sanju for its Kyoho grapes. Over time, she added seasonal peaches, muskmelons and other fruits prized in Korea but often unavailable or poorly represented in Singapore.
“I wanted to bring something authentic, not just another fruit box. I want people to experience the care and love these farmers put into their work”
A transparent supply chain
From the start, Martine wanted Timo & Farmers to operate differently from mass-market supply chains. Supermarket fruits are typically harvested, in Martine’s words, “long before ripening” to withstand long shipping journeys, then left in transit—sometimes in less-than-ideal conditions. By the time they reach shelves, they are often small, bland, or worse, overripe. To Martine, this was at the heart of Singapore’s fruit problem.
Her solution was a 48-72-hour “golden window.”
For example, strawberries are picked at 85-90% ripeness, so they arrive at peak condition and sweetness by the time they reach customers. Orders are open on her website every Wednesday through Sunday. After consolidating them, Martine alerts her farmers across Korea, who pack the fruits on Wednesday morning. Two to three chilled trucks then make rounds across the country to collect produce before delivering them to Incheon Airport.
From there, the fruit flies overnight to Singapore.
By Thursday, Martine is back on the ground, checking each piece of fruit one by one. She hand-packs them, often with help from two part-time staff from Safe Place, a Singapore charity supporting families through unsupported pregnancies.
This partnership grew out of Martine’s early struggles: in her first months, she sometimes received fruit that wasn’t pretty enough to sell but was still perfectly edible. Searching for a meaningful way to donate them, she found Safe Place, which eventually became also a source of part-time help and fellowship.
“The fruits arrive in Singapore within 48-72 hours of farm pick-up. That’s our golden window.”
On Friday, deliveries go out, each chilled during storage and last-mile transport to preserve optimal freshness. To manage expectations, Martine lists the BRIX score—a measure of sugar content and ripeness—next to every fruit on her site. This level of transparency, rarely seen in supermarkets, allows customers to know not only what they’re buying, but how sweet it is likely to be.
She also makes a point of educating customers on the origins of the fruits. Each listing includes the farm, the region, and details about farming practices so that buyers can connect the taste with its source.
“Transparency isn’t just about freshness—it’s about trust. I want people to know exactly where their fruit comes from.”
Building trust with customers
Even with meticulous planning, farming is at the mercy of the weather. Climate shifts can affect texture or sweetness, even if fruits are harvested at the right stage. Martine is upfront about this.
Sometimes, farmers warn her that a week’s batch may be less sweet or slightly firmer than usual. In that case, she personally reaches out to customers via WhatsApp to let them know in advance, sometimes offering discounts or alternative options.
Quality issues are rare, but when they arise, Martine responds quickly. She always orders extra fruit to replace any that doesn’t meet her standards before packing. In other cases, if customers send feedback with photos showing genuine quality lapses, she offers refunds or credits toward future purchases.
“Communication is key. I’d rather be transparent, even if the fruit isn’t perfect that week.”
She acknowledges that her products aren’t cheap, but argues that they are priced fairly—comparable to, and sometimes even cheaper than, high-end Japanese supermarkets in Singapore. At Timo & Farmers, a bunch of 700g large Kohyo grapes retails for S$29.50, while a 1.25kg pack of five Hessare yellow peaches costs $49.50. For the speedy delivery and quality that Martine guarantees, the fruits speak for themselves.
To keep costs from ballooning, she runs her store online-only, avoiding warehouses by delivering fruit immediately after checks, and passes savings back to customers wherever possible.
To broaden her offerings, Martine has also added carefully selected processed products, like Tomato Atelier’s tomato gochujang and Bok Cho’s fruit balsamic vinegar, both chosen for their quality and alignment with her ethos of transparency and authenticity.
“People are becoming more health-conscious and curious about where their food comes from. They appreciate knowing the story behind it.”
Growing carefully, not massively
Three years in, Timo & Farmers remains a bootstrapped, family-run operation. Martine juggles logistics, customer service, and sourcing while raising her children. She chose not to take on investors, preferring to grow at her own pace rather than chase scale at the expense of quality.
The growth has been significant nonetheless. From struggling to hit the minimum 100kg freight requirement at the start, she now moves 200–300kg in off-peak weeks and up to a tonne during peak seasons. Her fruits are also featured in the menus of cafés and restaurants here, such as House of Chungdam and Café Usagi.
Her customer base has shifted, too. In the early days, 70% were Koreans in Singapore. Today, that figure has flipped: 70% are Southeast Asian—Singaporeans, Malaysians, and Indonesians—reflecting broader regional interest in premium Korean fruit. This shift has encouraged her to expand her roster to varieties that appeal to different cultural preferences, beyond the Korean expatriate community.
“I don’t want to grow so big that farmers are forced into mass production. Quality always comes first.”
Working with small-scale farmers means respecting their limits; pushing them into mass production could erode the very quality that sets her produce apart. Her close ties with these farmers also give her access to rarer fruit varieties, like the red tangerine, which is usually sold only within Korea due to limited supply.
She also constantly experiments with seasonal rotations, bringing in fruits only when at peak harvest in Korea. This ensures variety and quality but requires constant planning.
Looking ahead
Looking forward, Martine sees opportunities to grow without losing the intimacy of her model. She plans to expand onto XiaoHongShu, a platform popular among Chinese-speaking communities, after seeing potential through conversations with Chinese friends. She is also exploring the corporate gifting space, where premium fruit boxes could offer an alternative to wine or hampers.
But for now, Martine is focused on her core mission: telling the story of small-scale Korean farmers and bringing their hard work directly to Singaporean tables.
Martine highlighted: “Being transparent and telling the story of where these fruits come from is what sets us apart.”
From Oct 1 2025, you can catch her at Takashimaya’s Food Hall for a two-week showcase, where she’ll be sharing more about Korea’s local produce and how she’s meeting Singapore’s growing appetite for airflown fruits.
Running Timo & Farmers isn’t always easy. The money isn’t always consistent, and the hours can be long. But Martine reminds herself of why she started: a desire to bridge the gap between farmers and consumers, and to prove that fruit doesn’t have to be bland or disappointing, while sharing the culture and hard work behind generations of traditional farming. Week by week, harvest by harvest, she continues to build a business rooted in trust, transparency, and taste.
- Find out more about Timo & Farmers here.
- Read more stories we’ve written on Singaporean businesses here.
Featured Image Credit: Timo & Farmers