The Future Ready Food Safety Hub (FRESH) was a Singapore-based food safety research organization with a global reputation as an authority on assessing the safety and suitability of novel food products meant for sale in the Singapore market. As Singapore had become the first country in the world to approve the sale of laboratory-grown chicken, more and more companies were approaching FRESH for guidance in their safety dossier submissions to the Singapore Food Agency. With a small team of 10 members to keep up with the growing demand for its services, FRESH considered two options: engaging companies one-on-one to address the specific challenges they faced to meet novel food safety requirements, or adopting a consortium approach engaging multiple companies to collaboratively identify and prioritize common problems and develop optimal solutions for the industry. FRESH had to decide which option would best achieve its goals in advancing food safety research and building the novel food ecosystem.