episode 0048- from healthcare to tech to delivering dumplings to your doorstep with mìlà co-founder jen liao

When Jen and her husband Caleb were approached by a friend looking for help with his food startup, their natural response was, "You should totally make this food that we love but can't find anywhere in the states." But it wasn't long before they found themselves on their own food start-up journey.

From launching a restaurant to building a nationwide brand, Jen shares how they brought MìLà to life while juggling full-time jobs. With no prior experience in food, restaurants, or entrepreneurship, they navigated the challenges of starting a business. Plus, hear how the pandemic reshaped their approach, propelling MìLà into nationwide success.

Tune in for a story of passion, resilience, and the power of bringing authentic flavors to the table, without even having to leave the house (or the country).

Show Highlights:
1- What is your background, and how did you get the idea for MìLà?
2- How did you go from the initial product and restaurant to mass producing soup dumplings? (15:15)
3- We talk about the turning point, and how their soup dumplings started to take off. (18:05)
4- We discuss when this started to become a full time gig, and how venture capital took their business to the next level. (20:55)
5- How did you discern how much of the business you were willing to give up as part of the venture capital deal? (24:55)
6- We discuss success by luck vs. success by hard work. (26:55)
7- We discuss the process of scaling from 100 dumplings per day to half a million dumplings per day. (30:40)
8- Jen talks about setting prices, and charging somewhat of a premium. (31:30)
9- How do you handle manufacturing with making such a large quantity of dumplings every day? (37:15)
10- What does your day-to-day look like today? (40:20)
11- When did you decide to take this from side hustle to full time? (41:55)
12- We discuss Jen’s desire to break ethnic food stereotypes. (46:30)
13- Where to find MìLà and learn more about Jen.
14- Listener question: How do you land conversations to get food products into retail stores? (51:15)

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