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At the heart of MìLà is narrator.
The modern Chinese food brand uses design, video, influencer marketing and more to tell a story that honors heritage while taking it into the future.
“In the soup bag is (a photo of) my mom, as well as her friend who helped us fold the dumplings at the restaurant from the beginning,” shares MìLà co-founder Jennifer Liao. Restaurant influencers host Shawn Walchef. “It's this really personal touch.”
Liao and her husband, Caleb Wang, co-founded MìLà, which offers restaurant-quality dishes for people to enjoy at home. The brand started as one brick and mortar store in Washington state, but expanded into frozen sales, directly to the consumer products in 2020. It now offers a selection of soups, sauces, noodles, stickers and ice cream.
Part of MìLà's North Star story led to powerful partnerships with uncle rogerSimu Liu and others, which helped them share their journey with even more people.
Renaming as MìLà
Liao and Wang's restaurant concept was called Xiao Chi Jie, abbreviated to XCJ. Because of the difficulty with marketing, specifically SEO and customers' difficulty getting the name right, the couple decided to rebrand to include more of a personal touch, with an easier name for loyal customers.
“We actually didn't do the renaming until (March 2023),” Liao says. “We wanted to choose a name that was more representative of us.
They liked the name Mila for a girl – but instead, it became the name of a different kind of baby: their growing food business was reborn as MìLà.
“Basically, it means sweet (mì 蜜) and spicy (là 辣), which is perfect for a food concept,” says Liao. “We loved how personal it was to us; it means something in Chinese and English. He embraced that duality, that”the third culture' part for us, which is important to capture a name.”
After rebranding and finding investors, they hired actor and author Simu Liu as their chief content officer. “A lot of Asian kids like me grew up being made fun of for the taste, look or smell of food that was unfamiliar to other kids,” Liu said of partnering with the brand. “MìLà is demystifying Chinese cuisine and creating an inclusive conversation about third culture in a way that I'm excited to be a part of.”
Plus, he added, “MìLà's soup bowls got my parents' strong stamp of approval.”
For Liao, MìLà must have an organic connection and similar goals if it partners with a person or brand.
“We've talked to a lot of celebrities or different public figures and sometimes you can tell it's not the right thing,” she says. “For partnerships, I think it's really realistic. . . . And if you think there's a thread, keep pulling it hard.”
When it comes to connecting with their online audience, Liao and Wang took to Instagram polls to find out what their core audience wants to see. They learned that some followers like their tempting food photos, but a good percentage enjoy the behind-the-scenes, unscripted videos of the co-founders in action running their business.
“It allows us a different way of telling the stories of who we are and behind-the-scenes pieces that aren't polished and not necessarily about the content of the food or the recipe,” Liao says.
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