Yun Hai () is an American general store and wholesale

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...

business based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Changhua County Changhua County (Mandarin Pinyin: ''Zhānghuà Xiàn''; Wade-Giles: ''Chang¹-hua⁴ Hsien⁴''; Hokkien POJ: ''Chiang-hòa-koān'' or ''Chiong-hòa-koān'') is the smallest county on the main island of Taiwan by area, and the fourth smallest ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. Founded by Lisa Cheng Smith in 2019, the company sources cooking ingredients and dried fruit from Taiwan. Yun Hai received media attention after launching a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign to import Taiwanese dried fruit as a response to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

's ban on Taiwanese pineapples in March 2021.

History

Yun Hai was founded by Lisa Cheng Smith, a Taiwanese American who grew up in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, in 2019. As an online boutique, Yun Hai offered handpicked selection of gourmet foods made in Taiwan. The physical pantry shop in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

opened in June 2022. The first product that Yun Hai sold was Su Chili Crisp, a

hot sauce Hot sauce is a type of condiment, seasoning, or salsa made from chili peppers and other ingredients. Many commercial varieties of mass-produced hot sauce exist. History Humans have used chili peppers and other hot spices for thousands of years ...

that Cheng Smith had enjoyed in Taiwan but was not available in the United States. Soon after that, Yun Hai started selling

soy sauce Soy sauce (also called simply soy in American English and soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermented paste of soybeans, roasted grain, brine, and '' Aspergillus oryzae'' or ''Asp ...

s and hot sauces, usually from second- or third-generation

family-owned A family business is a commercial organization in which decision-making is influenced by multiple generations of a family, related by blood or marriage or adoption, who has both the ability to influence the vision of the business and the willingn ...

makers in Taiwan. In 2021,

banned

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuri ...

imports from Taiwan (90% of which were exported to China at the time of the ban), an action that was characterized by Taiwan as a campaign to ramp up political pressure. As a reaction to the ban, Taiwanese politicians and allies promoted Taiwanese pineapples as

freedom pineapples Freedom pineapples ( zh, t=自由鳳梨, p=Zìyóu fènglí) was a political and social response in 2021 to a China, Chinese ban on the import of pineapples from Taiwan. The response encouraged domestic and international consumption to replace t ...

. Following the ban, Cheng Smith and co-owner Lillian Lin launched a

campaign to import dried fruit from independent farmers in Taiwan. Expecting to raise around $12,000, the pair raised $113,050. Cheng Smith and Lin worked with Taiwanese farmers and farmer-owned cooperatives to dry and package pineapples. They subsequently added

green mango The green mango (''Anthracothorax viridis'') is a large species of hummingbird in the subfamily Polytminae. It is endemic to the main island of Puerto Rico.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLi ...

, Irwin mango, pearl

guava Guava () is a common tropical fruit cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions. The common guava ''Psidium guajava'' (lemon guava, apple guava) is a small tree in the myrtle family ( Myrtaceae), native to Mexico, Central America, the ...

, and

wax apple ''Syzygium samarangense'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae, native to an area that includes the Greater Sunda Islands, Malay Peninsula, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, but introduced in prehistoric times to a wider ...

to their dry fruit offerings shortly after. In 2022, Yun Hai became an exclusive distribution agent in the U.S. for Tatung Company's classic rice cooker. In order to promote the product to second-generation Taiwanese Americans, the company also published the ''Yun Hai Tatung Family Cookbook'', featuring traditional

Taiwanese Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa) * Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan * Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan * Taiwanese people, ...

recipes in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. On 30 March 2023,

Taiwanese President The president of the Republic of China, now often referred to as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Republic of China (ROC), as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. The position once had aut ...

Tsai Ing-wen visited Yun Hai during her stopover in New York.

Operations

Yun Hai has two warehouses in the U.S., one in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and one in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, and delivers products to consumers across the

contiguous United States The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...

. While it has a physical storefront located in

, Yun Hai generates most of its sales online. As of 2023, Yun Hai sells over 70 products through its website and over 100 in the shop.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
American companies established in 2018 Companies based in New York City Kickstarter-funded products Online retailers of the United States Privately held companies of the United States Retail companies of the United States Shops in New York City Taiwanese-American culture Taiwanese cuisine

History

Operations

See also

References

External links