DeepSummary
In this podcast episode, Caleb Wang discusses how he and his wife Jen started a restaurant as a passion project, and during COVID, they saw strong demand for shipping frozen soup dumplings online. This led them to start a new company, MìLà, focused on direct-to-consumer shipping of frozen Chinese food products like soup dumplings, noodles, and sauces.
Wang explains how they were able to bootstrap the business early on due to low marketing costs during COVID and strong repeat customer rates. They eventually raised outside capital after seeing continued strong metrics as the economy reopened. Wang also discusses their rebranding from XCJ to MìLà, their approach to product innovation, and their partnerships with people like Simu Liu.
Wang talks about their plans for expansion into retail, navigating the competitive frozen food aisle, and their focus on premium product quality to make authentic Chinese food more accessible. He also touches on their content and community-building strategy to educate customers about Chinese cuisine.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- MìLà started as a restaurant before pivoting to direct-to-consumer frozen Chinese food during COVID due to strong online demand.
- Low initial marketing costs and high repeat rates allowed them to bootstrap before raising outside capital.
- They rebranded from XCJ to MìLà to better align with their vision of showcasing diverse, authentic Chinese cuisine.
- Partnerships like with Simu Liu help reshape narratives around Chinese food in America.
- Their focus is on premium, restaurant-quality products to make authentic Chinese food more accessible.
- Expansion into retail frozen aisles is a key priority while maintaining an educational, community-driven marketing approach.
- Vertical integration and rigorous R&D are crucial for innovation with complex foods like soup dumplings.
- Their brand positioning emphasizes being the best, most authentic Chinese food experience at home.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “Part of our North Star is to try to mature the chinese food ecosystem, try to tell the story that chinese food isn't necessarily just General Tso's chicken or what people know as is american chinese food.“ by Caleb Wang
- “And Simu is probably one of the greatest partners who could find because he kind of has the same lived experience, also kind of third culture, and can really be a good partner.“ by Caleb Wang
- “So our conclusion is just enough people have tried it and there's enough love for soup dumpling. So it's pretty broad appeal, which was a positive surprise to us.“ by Caleb Wang
- “Our mission is how do we make the best chinese food possible? And so our brand positioning, what we want people to get across, is like, this is the best chinese food I could possibly get in my house.“ by Caleb Wang
- “We have a great team on the retail side to manage those conversations and tell the story. So without them, it would be very hard to execute like this.“ by Caleb Wang
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Episode Information
The Consumer VC: Venture Capital I B2C Startups I Commerce | Early-Stage Investing I Brands
Mike Gelb
12/21/23
Our guest today is Caleb Wang, CEO and Co-Founder MiLa. Authentic soup dumplings, chinese noodles and chef crafted sauces. Made fresh and shipped! We talked about how he and his wife, Jen first stated a restaurant, how that expanded to an ecommerce business, how they raised capital and why they raised capital, and much much more.