Episode summary
A Taste of Pan-Asian Street Sauces | Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
· · 12 min · Hosts: Carol Massar, Tim Stenovec · Guests: Brian Goldberg
Summary
Mr. Bing is using chili crisp and Asian-inspired barbecue sauces to turn a once-niche condiment into a broader platform for retail and food service. Brian Goldberg said the company began with street food in Beijing, then expanded through Hong Kong and New York before chefs in corporate cafeterias pushed them to package chili crisp in larger formats for kitchens.
Goldberg argued that the growth story is no longer just about jars on grocery shelves. He said food service is about half of revenue, chili crisp is about 85% of the product mix, and the brand has grown with restaurant, hotel, college, stadium and airline customers. He also said the company’s new squeezable sauces are the main growth driver because they make chili crisp easier to use on pizza, wings, eggs and other foods.
The company now sells in over 10,000 retail doors for chili crisp and over 200 for the barbecue sauces, and Goldberg said there is room to expand because there are roughly 30,000 supermarkets in the U.S. He also said Mr. Bing is profitable, with about a $12 million run rate, and emphasized that the sauces are made in the United States, which has helped with supply chain flexibility and tariff exposure.
Key takeaways
- Brian Goldberg said Mr. Bing’s chili crisp business is about 85% of sales and food service is nearly half of revenue.
- Goldberg said the company’s squeezable Asian barbecue sauces are the main growth engine because they are easier to use than traditional chili crisp.
- Mr. Bing is in over 10,000 retail doors on chili crisp and over 200 on its barbecue sauces, according to Goldberg.
- Goldberg said the company is profitable and running at about a $12 million annualized rate.
- He said making the products in the United States has helped the company avoid tariff issues and manage supply chain changes more easily.
Notable quotes
“the growth right now is in our squeezables”
“Chili Crisp itself is about 85% but within our overall business almost 50% of our of our revenues is food service”
“We're just over 10,000, right? So, we have definitely a ways to go and in food service as well”
“we're at about a 12 million run rate right now. We're profitable”
“Asian inspired but made in the USA”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios podcasts, radio, news. — You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenc on Bloomberg Radio. — Sometimes we get the stuff ahead of time to try it and just like see or just like check out the product.
Scarlet food. — Yeah, she gave me She gave me some of the the chili crisp. — I didn't get anything. It was on his desk. — It was on my desk and it it said you don't need to refrigerate it. You can just open it and and then so every day I just take a little bit and put it on my eggs.
Poof.
Yeah. And then suddenly I ate both of them. But fortunately, Brian Goldberg brought more.
He's founder and chief chief growth officer over at Mr. Bing Foods. He joins us here in the Bloomberg Interactive Broker Studio.
I'm glad you brought I'm very relieved you brought more because I was really worried that I had um you know really messed this up. Uh you have a really interesting story. You had this food truck.
You you spent some time living abroad where you had this love of street food. You wanted to bring this back to the to the US. How did you end up with a product line that looked like this?
So, it all Yeah, it started back in the late 90s in China, study abroad with my co-founder in Beijing, ate these amazing street foods, in particular yenbing. It's like a savory Chinese crepe that we would have for like breakfast every day before school. And then one day we decided to bring that, you know, to Hong Kong and then to the US. And the sauces in there is what our platform is now.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- pan-asian street sauces
- bbq sauce trends
- asian-inspired flavor
- food brand growth
- restaurant menu trends
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Mr. Bing Foods
Watch the episode
Watch “A Taste of Pan-Asian Street Sauces | Bloomberg Businessweek” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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