In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, host Caitlin Bricker sits down with Christine Liu and Clarissa Wei, co-founders of HEYDOH — a single origin soy sauce brand built to fill a massive gap in the American grocery market. The global soy sauce market is worth $40–59 billion, yet there is not a single origin option on the shelves of America's largest grocery stores. HEYDOH is here to change that.
Clarissa is a food journalist who has spent 15 years covering Taiwanese and Chinese cuisine and has been based in East Asia for eight years. Christine is a data scientist from big tech who originally said no to the idea — until a factory visit in Taiwan and her first sip changed everything. Together they run what they call a 24-hour company: Clarissa in Taiwan, Christine in Brooklyn, an introvert running marketing and an extrovert running numbers.
Caitlin and the co-founders dig into the origin of HEYDOH, how consumer surveys shaped the product lineup, and the packaging disaster that led to a complete rebrand — and ultimately three Dieline Awards including Best in Food. They also get into the operational realities of shipping glass bottles, how a 25% breakage rate got fixed, and the creative shipping rate hack that helped them stay in the green on D2C.
Listen in as they discuss:
- Why the $40–59B global soy sauce market has no single origin options in major US retailers — and how HEYDOH is filling that gap
- How Christine went from "absolutely not" to co-founder after one factory visit in Taiwan
- The consumer survey process that shaped the classic vs. silky SKU split — and why low sodium was a no-brainer
- The Robinhood-app branding disaster, the pivot to a studio, and three Dieline Awards including Best in Food
- Running a 24-hour company across time zones — and why the introvert/extrovert flip actually works
- How Startup CPG buyer meetings led to Happier Grocer, Good Stuff Distributor, and more
- The 3PL breakage crisis: 25% of glass bottles shattering and the wine shipper insert that saved them
- How Christine forced their 3PL to shop against her own shipping rates — and cut costs by $3–4 per package
- Why chemistry with partners matters more than a resume
Episode Links:
Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com.
Show Links:
- Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to “Transcript” at the top)
- Join the Startup CPG Slack community (35K+ members and growing!)
- Follow @startupcpg
- Visit host Caitlin's Linkedin
- Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at podcast@startupcpg.com
- Episode music by Super Fantastics
