MìLà Brings Chinese Street Food to Supermarkets

Jennifer Liao and Caleb Wang ditched the dining room and scaled their Chinese soup dumplings into a $53.5 million national freezer brand.

Jennifer Liao and Caleb Wang are the married co-founders of the frozen dumpling brand MìLà.   The second-generation Chinese Americans are expanding Chinese specialty foods into the American grocery space. 

The couple entered the food business in 2018 by opening the Bellevue, Washington Chinese restaurant Xiao Chi Jie, which remains in operation.  

Neither co-founder had a background in hospitality but both wanted to introduce authentic Chinese street foods not easily found in American restaurants. 

When the pandemic hit many Seattle-area eateries were forced to close.  Liao and Wang pivoted by freezing and delivering their handmade soup dumplings locally.   This experience revealed the lack of quality dumplings in grocery chains.

Deciding to shift their focus to the freezer section, they worked at perfecting their xiao long bao and potsticker recipes.  They also raised $53.5 million in a venture funding round led by Stripes and Imaginary.

To reflect the company’s growth into a national brand, in February 2023 Xiao Chi Jie was rebranded to MìLà, rooted in the Chinese words for “honey” (mì) and “spice” (là). 

The same year they also formed a key strategic partnership with actor Simu Liu who joined the executive team as Chief Content Officer.

MìLà’s products have since expanded from direct-to-consumer sales to a vast distribution network spanning over 5,000 locations, including Costco, Target, and Whole Foods.  This has turned traditional delicacies like xiao long bao into a widely available freezer-aisle staple.

Liao graduated pre-med from the University of Pennsylvania while Wang earned a finance degree from Carnegie Mellon and worked at various VC firms before entering the food business.