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The Startup CPG Podcast

Founder Feature: Single Origin Soy Sauce and the Gap Nobody Filled with Christine Liu and Clarissa Wei of HEYDOH

The Startup CPG Podcast

Startup CPG

Startup, Food, Business, Beverage, Cpg, Entrepreneurship

4.9 • 642 Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2026

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary


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

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Did you hear that? That's opportunity knocking. We've been building something big.

0:08.0

Introducing Opportunity Knocks, a new campaign giving startup CPG brands exclusive, direct access

0:14.3

to submit to leading retailers, distributors, investors, media, and more. Here's how it works.

0:20.6

On Fridays, a new submission window opens

0:23.1

exclusively for active startup CPG email subscribers. Each campaign features a custom form tailored to

0:29.7

that partner. Share your brand story, products, distribution, and traction. Startup CPG delivers your

0:36.2

applications directly to the partner's team.

0:38.9

Some campaigns include a live fireside chat so you can meet the partner and ask questions directly.

0:44.7

To get every drop, subscribe at startupcg.com slash okay. That's just the letters O and K.

0:51.8

Today's drop is live and it's with Rayleigh's. Ready, go. Go subscribe, go submit. Good luck. A lot of the chefs and vendors here in Taiwan are using really high-quality pantry staples.

1:23.6

They're using soy sauces made with special soybeans, like the blast soybeans that we use.

1:29.0

And then I realized if I was feeling this way, then most of America does not have access to these high-quality staples.

1:36.3

And I thought, what would happen if Americans do have access to single origin soy sauce?

1:42.3

And Hedo was sort of born from this idea. And ever since we started

1:46.6

the company, I cannot go back. I'm like constantly only using Hado, not because it's my brand,

1:52.8

but because when I cook with commodity soy sauce, I can really taste the difference now.

1:59.1

Hey everybody. This is Caitlin Bricker, managing editor at Startup CPG.

2:03.2

We are back with another founder feature.

2:05.9

Today I'm talking with Christine Liu and Clarissa Way, co-founders of Haydow, a single-origin

2:11.1

soy sauce brand that's filling a massive gap in America's grocery stores.

2:15.6

Cloris is a food journalist who spent 15 years covering Taiwanese and Chinese cuisine, and

2:20.6

Christine's a data scientist from Big Tech, who originally said no to this idea until she

...

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