Umamicart - Celebrating Asian American Culture & Cuisine
The Story of a Brand Show
Ramon Vela
4.9 • 147 Ratings
🗓️ 25 June 2023
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This episode is brought to you by Sendlane.
Andrea says, "I always grew up with that sense of otherness and this sense that people looked down on Chinese cuisine and they thought of it as unhealthy or oily or this and that. And it was like, well, I eat this food at home. It's amazing. Like, it's so diverse. So I think that was something always that bothered me…"
Today, we interview Andrea Xu, Co-Founder & CEO of Umamicart. Umamicart is an online grocery store delivering hundreds of your favorite Asian products and ingredients.
Their carefully curated selection includes both traditional staples and up-and-coming Asian-American owned brands. Umamicart delivers an online grocery shopping experience that highlights and celebrates the endlessly diverse, unique, and ever-evolving Asian American culture and cuisine.
Highlights:
* What she's grateful for (her family, her sister, and growing up in Spain)
* Why investors initially did not like her idea
* How she felt a sense of otherness as a child
* Why she created Umamicart and what she hopes to change
* Learnings from being a new mom and entrepreneur
* Why Asian foods have a right to evolve as other foods do
* A review of Umamicart Collab products
* Criteria for brands who want to be on Umamicart
* What she is most proud of about the brand
* And so much more…
Join Ramon Vela and Andrea Xu as we break down the inside story of Umamicart on The Story of a Brand.
For more on Umamicart, visit: https://umamicart.com/
Subscribe and listen to the podcast on all major apps. Simply search for "The Story of a Brand" on your favorite podcast player.
*
This episode is brought to you by Sendlane.
Here's the deal: I have a gift for you from our primary sponsor — Sendlane. They're giving away their online course eCommerce Academy - Email & SMS Marketing!
This course gives you the step-by-step playbook to drive more revenue and retention with email & SMS. This is typically a $500 package, but for our listeners, it's entirely FREE when you get started with your FREE 14-day trial of Sendlane.
When you do, chat with their support team and let them know you're one of our listeners to get full access to hours of course content that will help you make email marketing your #1 growth engine.
Visit https://storybrandgift.com to get the details, sign up for a free trial and get your gift!
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I grew up in Spain. My parents are Chinese immigrated there. And I was the only Chinese kid in my school other than my siblings for my entire life. |
| 0:08.0 | Food was really always what kind of tied it back to my identity. And it was really like the way to share my culture with my friends. And it was just so foreign to them. |
| 0:19.0 | So I think I always grew up with that sense of like otherness and this sense that people look down on Chinese cuisine and they thought of it as like unhealthy or oily or this and that. And and it was like I eat this food at home. It's amazing. It's so diverse. What you taste in like the few places that |
| 0:39.1 | you've been is nowhere near. You're not even scratching the surface. So I think that was something |
| 0:43.1 | always that bothered me. When I came to NYU, I met so many diverse friends, right? And it was like |
| 0:50.7 | it really opened my world. But I felt like there was still a bit of this barrier of |
| 0:55.6 | like people expect to go to Chinatown and pay $1 for 10 dumplings. But then you pay $5 for a croissant. |
| 1:02.7 | And croissons are great. But like dumplings are extremely labor intensive and so much work goes into |
| 1:07.5 | them. And it's just something that always bother me. So with starting |
| 1:11.0 | a Wami car, it wasn't really just about getting the products. And in fact, in my first pitch deck, |
| 1:16.1 | I explained, like, if you really try to dig online, you can probably find these products. You can |
| 1:20.6 | probably find some of these products. It's not going to be in the same place. It's not going to be |
| 1:25.0 | in an enjoyable experience. And that's exactly why I want to change this. |
| 1:41.3 | This is the story of a brand, a podcast that helps people learn the story behind their favorite |
| 1:43.8 | consumer companies. I'm Ramon Vela, a podcast that helps people learn the story behind their favorite consumer |
| 1:44.3 | companies. I'm Ramon Vela, and I believe that people want to know more about the brands |
| 1:49.3 | and the products they purchase. So each week, I interview the founder of a consumer brand, |
| 1:54.2 | unpack their story, their products, and their mission so you can decide which products are worth buying |
| 1:58.7 | and which brands are worth supporting. |
| 2:04.5 | Today we interview Andrea Shue, co-founder and CEO of Umami Kart. Umami Kart is an online grocery |
| 2:13.7 | store delivering hundreds of your favorite Asian products and ingredients. |
| 2:19.7 | Their carefully curated selection includes both traditional staples as well as upcoming |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ramon Vela, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Ramon Vela and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.