February 16, 2022
![20 AAPI-owned brands to know at Natural Products Expo West 20 AAPI-owned brands to know at Natural Products Expo West](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt09e5e63517a16184/blt9f5339c5bb80b289/64ff18e637c93a2699531508/AAPI-brands-gallery.png?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
Booth N1342 and Virtual Booth The latest venture from acclaimed Filipino American chef Barb Baptiste, B Sweet Beverage Co. offers four dairy-free, keto-friendly, shelf-stable nitro beverages in sleek cans. Along with Baptiste’s famous Nitro Cold Brew Coffee, check out Matcha Tea, Hibiscus Tea and vegan Thai Tea Latte.
Booth 5276 and Virtual Booth In founding Biena Snacks back in 2012, Poorvi Patodia was way ahead of the plant-based protein trend. Fondly remembering munching on chickpeas as a child in India, she made it her mission to turn the nutrient-dense legumes into snacking staples stateside, first launching Biena Chickpea Snacks and, more recently, Baked Puffs.
Booth 137 and Virtual Booth Beloved Bay Area restauranteur Desmond Tan has been wowing diners with recipes and ingredients from his native Burma—most famously, Tea Leaf Salad—since 1992. He launched CPG brand Burma Love Foods in 2016 to let consumers nationwide savor vegan salads, wraps, sauces and more at home. The Fermented Tea Leaf Dressing took home the Expo West 2020 NEXTY Award for Best New Condiment.
Booth N2012 and Virtual Booth Debbie Wei Mullen started Copper Cow Coffee to make the traditional Vietnamese coffee experience accessible to all, offering naturally flavored pour-over coffees, easy-to-use latte kits and natural creamers. The brand also champions sustainability, working closely with organic and sustainable coffee growers in Vietnam and paying them twice the market rate.
Booth 5658 and Virtual Booth Jaidesh Sethi and Ajeet Burns co-founded Dah! to let America fall in love with the extra-creamy, slow-cultured, probiotic-packed yogurts they enjoyed while growing up in India. Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi is a fan, and she partnered on the brand’s Tomato Lassi with Mixed Berries. Dah!’s dairy-free Alphonso Mango Almond Yogurt won the NEXTY Award for Best New Organic Food at New Hope’s Spark Change 2020 event.
Booth 5710 and Virtual Booth Vincent Kitirattragarn debuted Dang Foods in 2011 with seriously crave-able Coconut Chips based on his Thai mother’s recipe. A few years in, brother Andrew joined Dang—the first Asian American snack company—which has expanded its roster to include Thai Rice Chips and keto-friendly Dang Bars.
Booth 5462 and Virtual Booth Founded by an Indian American family on a mission to share homestyle Indian recipes in convenient format, Deep Indian Kitchen offers flavor-packed frozen meals such as Paneer Tikka Masala and Coconut Chicken Korma, plus several snacks, appetizers and breads. Plus, through its Deepkiran Foundation, this mission-driven company provides lunches and essentials for schoolchildren in remote Indian villages.
Booth N2214 and Virtual Booth After helping to grow Forever Beaumore, the successful skin care brand founded by her Vietnamese mother, Jenn Chung launched her own company, Embody, in early 2020. Her innovative beauty-from-within brand offers natural gummy supplements made with simple, effective ingredients to support healthy skin.
Booth N2019 and Virtual Booth Food industry veteran Jake Deleon, a first-generation immigrant from the Philippines, put his $1,200 pandemic stimulus check toward starting his own brand of simmer sauces based on family recipes. Fila Manila Filipino American Kitchen wowed at Natural Products Expo East 2021, with Deleon winning the Pitch Slam competition and his Filipino Adobo Sauce & Marinade earning the NEXTY Award for Best New Condiment.
Booth N538 and Virtual Booth After going by “Jenny” for several years, Jing Gao proudly reclaimed her Chinese name as she opened a restaurant in her hometown of Chengdu. Wanting to share those flavors with America, she launched Fly By Jing in 2018, featuring all-natural hot sauces, spice mixes and hot pot starters made in Sichuan Province.
Booth 169 and Virtual Booth Middle Eastern–born food scientist and global traveler Snehee Chaplot founded The Food Shop to launch innovative, sustainably produced ethnic brands. First came MaahVaah milk solids (mawa) for making Indian desserts, followed by Gallivant Mawa Ice Creams. These luscious Indian-style desserts feature global flavors such as pistachio from Persia, black sesame from China and cardamom from Guatemala.
Booth 5008 and Virtual Booth After building the wildly successful Asian gourmet brand Annie Chun’s, Korea-born Annie Chun and partner David Broad turned their focus to nutritious, delicious, super-sustainable seaweed. Launched in 2012, gimMe Snacks offers the world’s first certified-organic, Non-GMO Project Verified dried seaweed snacks, sourced from the clean coastal waters of South Korea.
Booth 5648 and Virtual Booth A first-generation American, Ayeshah Abuelhiga grew up loving the high-quality comfort foods her Korean mom and Palestinian Israeli dad served at their carryout restaurant. Wanting to share that same love with everyone, she launched Mason Dixie Foods, a scrumptious line of clean, made-from-scratch frozen biscuits, scones, rolls and breakfast sandwiches.
Booth N428 and Virtual Booth Inspired by the Korean tradition of new brides learning their in-laws’ kimchi recipes, Lauryn Chun founded Mother-in-Law's to share this nourishing fermented food with a wider audience. Starting with her own Korean mother’s kimchi recipe, the brand has grown to offer gochujang fermented chili sauces and pastes.
Booth N644 and Virtual Booth Both becoming lactose intolerant in their 20s, Korean American besties Mollie Cha and Hannah Hong co-founded Hakuna Banana, now named Must Love, in 2016. Offering delicious dairy-free desserts with simple plant-based ingredients like bananas, oats and vanilla, the two won the 2019 Expo West Pitch Slam and appeared on Shark Tank.
Booth N1136 and Virtual Booth Co-founded by mother-son duo Young Kwon and Chris Young, Pocket Latte lets consumers bite into clean, plant-sourced caffeine. The brand’s convenient, delectable bars are made with 100% arabica coffee and simple ingredients, and its #WakeUp initiative teams with organizations supporting single parents.
Booth N2311 and Virtual Booth Queens, New York-born Filipino American Sandro Roco founded beverage brand Sanzo to showcase classic Asian flavors without all the preservatives and cloying sweetness. Featuring flavors like lychee, yuzu and calamansi, these canned sparkling waters are made with real fruit and no added sugar.
Booth N640 and Virtual Booth Raised in Guam by a close-knit indigenous family of chefs, Elaine Babauta started SweetStacks to share their recipes for gourmet pancakes, waffles and traditional islander desserts. The easy-to-use mixes even come in gluten-free versions.
Booth N1717 and Virtual Booth Longtime pals Pauline Ang, who was born in Hong Kong and raised in Hawaii, and Olivia Chen, whose parents hail from Taiwan, co-founded Twrl Milk Tea in 2021 to offer a healthier, more sustainable plant-based version of the Asian milk teas they loved as kids. The nitro-infused, shelf-stable canned beverages combine nutrient-dense pea milk with antioxidant-rich single-origin teas from organic and regenerative family farms.
Booth 5652 and Virtual Booth As a child in China, Rosa Li sipped on wellness tonics her grandma’s brewed with medicinal herbs and spices, which inspired the investor-turned–beverage entrepreneur to found Wildwonder. The line of certified-organic, vegan, canned sparkling drinks blend traditional herbal wisdom with gut-supporting superfoods and palate-pleasing flavors. Plus, 5% of profits from each can help empower women and marginalized communities.
Booth 5652 and Virtual Booth As a child in China, Rosa Li sipped on wellness tonics her grandma’s brewed with medicinal herbs and spices, which inspired the investor-turned–beverage entrepreneur to found Wildwonder. The line of certified-organic, vegan, canned sparkling drinks blend traditional herbal wisdom with gut-supporting superfoods and palate-pleasing flavors. Plus, 5% of profits from each can help empower women and marginalized communities.
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are the fastest growing racial group in the nation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Represented by more than 40 ethnic subgroups and countries including China, Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Fiji and Samoa, this population is predicted to jump to more than 51 million by 2060 from 20 million.
A significant number of AAPI people own and operate companies. According to the latest U.S. Census data, there are more than 577,000 Asian-owned businesses, which translates to one in 10 of all businesses nationwide. Currently, nearly 7,000 businesses are owned by Pacific Islanders. As these populations continue to grow rapidly, the number of AAPI-owned companies will surely increase too.
We’re already seeing this in the natural products industry. There is a plethora of AAPI-owned natural and organic brands moving the needle with innovative products, authentic flavors, sustainable practices and strong missions—definitely deserving the support of retailers and other stakeholders.
Plus, if there were ever a time to back AAPI-owned businesses, it’s right now. Along with navigating the persistent COVID-19 crisis and supply chain constraints, this population has borne the brunt of unprecedented racial discrimination and outright hate since the pandemic began.
From March 2020 through September 2021, 10,370 hate incidents were reported to the nonprofit advocacy organization Stop AAPI Hate, the majority of which occurred in 2021. This means that one in five AAPI people has experienced such an incident, whether it be verbal or online harassment, a physical assault or a civil rights violation such as workplace discrimination or refusal of service.
Fortunately, given the growing number of AAPI-owned natural products brands—including several exhibiting at Natural Products Expo West in March—it has never been easier to support these businesses. Here are 20 of the exciting AAPI-owned companies you’ll want to meet on the show floor.
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