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Food Stack Concepts is a passionate multi-brand F&B conglomerate based in Singapore, dedicated to delivering exceptional culinary experiences across every touchpoint. Founded in 2020 and helmed by CEO Adnan Bamboat, the company has grown into a vibrant portfolio of brands, including the beloved North Indian restaurant Copper Chimney, the subscription-based home-style tiffin service Dabba Junction, and several other offerings spanning catering, cloud kitchens, and food products. With a team of 35 staff and a diverse customer base ranging from corporates and event planners to families and members of the public, Food Stack Concepts has always put great food and hospitality at the heart of everything it does.
As Singapore's food services industry continues to evolve, with consumers increasingly embracing delivery, takeaway, and the convenience of ready-to-heat meals, Food Stack Concepts recognised that digital marketing would be key to sustaining and scaling its growth. The company had already taken early steps, setting up websites and social media profiles for most of its brands and experimenting with online advertising. But the team identified a gap: while campaigns were being run, there was no structured approach to planning, executing, and measuring performance.
Starting with Honesty
Great food had never been the problem. Food Stack Concepts's restaurants were filling tables, its tiffin meals were winning over homesick diners, and its catering arm was showing up for Singapore's biggest occasions. But in the background, the marketing team was quietly wrestling with a challenge that many growing businesses know well. They were spending on digital ads without fully understanding what was driving results, and without a clear way to improve.
Key gaps included limited understanding of keyword research, campaign structuring, and performance measurement. As a result, ad spend was not consistently linked to measurable outcomes.
CEO Adnan Bamboat knew exactly what needed to change.
"To develop staff competency and close skills gaps, and ensure that the skills and learning were relevant to the work they will be doing in the future."
The intent was to build in-house capability, enabling the team to manage and improve digital marketing efforts independently over time. That conviction brought Food Stack Concepts to the NACE@IAL Consultancy Programme in 2023.
Getting Into the Weeds
Before any development or delivery began, the team immersed themselves in understanding Food Stack Concepts from within. Through a series of face-to-face sessions with Adnan, Brand Marketing Manager Prajakta Karnik, and General Manager Manoj Bavadekar, the consultant got into the details: reviewing existing campaign data, observing day-to-day marketing work, and listening carefully to the team's frustrations and ambitions.
This grounded approach set the tone for everything that followed. The findings were used to ensure that all subsequent interventions were tailored to the company’s actual campaigns and business objectives. Every recommendation, every framework, every campaign decision would be shaped by what Food Stack Concepts actually needed.
The work unfolded across three fronts. First, a Marketing Optimisation Playbook was developed to guide channel selection, campaign planning, and audience targeting across the company’s different brands.
For a company juggling multiple brands with very different audiences, having that strategic foundation in place gave the team a clearer framework for planning and evaluating campaigns.
Then came the moment everything had been building toward: getting hands-on with Google Ads. Staff were guided through the end-to-end process of building live Search campaigns for Copper Chimney and Dabba Junction—from identifying high-intent keywords to structuring ad groups, crafting compelling copy, and launching campaigns. These were real campaigns on live accounts, backed by actual budgets and reaching real customers.
A Performance Measurement Framework was also introduced, giving the team a structured way to track key indicators such as click-through rate, cost per click, and conversion rate against benchmarks.. Conversion tracking was partially implemented too, so that bookings and tiffin signups could start to be traced back to the campaigns generating them.
Prajakta, who played a central role in the learning journey, captured what set this experience apart from typical training:
"The training and guidance provided ensured that everything that I was learning was both relevant and critical to my actual job. The hands-on exposure to Google Ads, from implementation to optimisation to measurement, was both deep and insightful."
When the Numbers Came In
Once live, the results followed. Dabba Junction achieved 33 sign-ups for its tiffin meal plan, with 11 converting into purchases, while Copper Chimney generated 27 reservations. Performance aligned with industry benchmarks—a clear signal that the strategy was working.
The team was now approaching marketing differently. They were checking KPIs regularly, making decisions based on data, and building on each campaign with more confidence than before.
Manoj put it plainly:
"It helped bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application."
Looking Ahead
For Food Stack Concepts, this project was just the beginning. The team plans to keep a close eye on campaign performance using the measurement framework they now own, with a follow-up review at the three-month mark to take stock of longer-term outcomes. Further ahead, conversations are already happening about a more ambitious project covering SEO, website experience improvements, and AI-led digital marketing.
Four staff members walked away from this project with skills they will use every single day. Two brands now have campaigns that are working. The project marked a shift from ad hoc digital marketing efforts to a more structured, data-informed approach supported by in-house capability. For a business built on the joy of bringing people together over food, that kind of nourishment, of a different sort, makes all the difference.
Food Stack Concepts’ experience shows how workplace learning can help teams move from trial-and-error to structured, measurable digital marketing capability.
What would it take for your team to plan, execute, and measure digital marketing with confidence, without relying on guesswork or external agencies?
The NACE@IAL Consultancy Programme supports enterprises in building in-house capability through practical, work-based learning.
Connect with IAL to explore how your organisation can begin its own workplace learning journey: https://www.ial.edu.sg/for-corporates/consultancy-services/