![]() ![]() And clearly the US is much more diverse and people have much more demands for more interesting flavors than what was being presented. Speaker3: So I realized that there was a huge opportunity there because it was twenty eighteen. And I realized after walking the halls that there were so little Asian flavors present, pretty much I could count on one hand the number of friends that did Asian food. And so there's usually thousands of stalls and several days of this kind of big fare. And that's where all of these stores, like Whole Foods and all the buyers from these stores are looking for the next big food innovation. But I was traveling I came to the US and I went to Expo, which is the largest natural foods expo in the world. So kind of marrying tradition with modernity in a way. And so in twenty eighteen, actually, I at the time I was running this underground supper club or like a dining concept in Shanghai, which I called Beijing, and there was modern Sichuan flavors that were inspired by my experience having lived all over, but really rooted in the techniques and the ingredients of the region. And so everything from the value of Chinese food to how it should taste, what ingredients should be in there, whether it's healthy or not, and the price point. And in fact, there was all kinds of false narratives that existed about it. Speaker3: Like people didn't know about it. And then as I was learning more about Chinese food, I was realizing just how little of that five thousand year heritage really made its way to the West. And so in my twenties when I went to China with my job at the time, I was just pretty obsessed with trying to dig deeper and try to uncover some of the aspects of my cultural identity. And so I feel like as amazing as that upbringing was, I became very disconnected from my heritage and who I was because I felt like I often had to have put up a facade for what other people expected me to be. But at the same time, it was kind of a feeling that I needed to adapt myself for every place I was in. And it was a really amazing experience living in so many different countries and being exposed to so many cultures. So I lived in lots of different countries across Europe and in Canada, moved around with my parents job. ![]() So I was born in Chengdu, but I grew up moving around a lot. Speaker3: So I think to tell that story, I need to back up a little bit and kind of go into my life story a little. So the flavors are incredible and the energy is so vibrant and I just wanted to capture all of that in my products. And the fly in Beijing is actually a reference or an ode to this type of restaurant in Chengdu called PLI Restaurant, which are whole in the walls that are so delicious that they are said to attract people like flies. I'm originally from Chengdu, so the flavors of Beijing are inspired by my hometown. So I did that through writing and media projects and eventually I quit my day job in tech and I started a restaurant in Shanghai which then led to Beijing, which is a line of packaged food products. And I was working in tech at the time, but I was just passionate about, I mean, the flavors, but also just shining a light on the culture. ![]() where I founded the business, but before that I lived about 10 years in Asia, in China, Singapore, and that's where I really got deep into Chinese food and the culture. We're about two and a half years old and mainly direct to consumer, although this year we are entering into new channels, including retail, and we're on Amazon as well. I'm the founder of Fly By Jing, and we make premium on natural Chinese food and condiments. ![]()
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