Founder Feature: Single Origin Soy Sauce and Award Winning Branding with Christine Liu and Clarissa Wei of HEYDOH

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 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: 

• Christine Liu – Co-Founder, HEYDOH LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinecliu/
• Clarissa Wei – Co-Founder, HEYDOH LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clarissa-wei-b7a645117/
• HEYDOH Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/heydoh/ 
• Website: https://heydoh.co/ 
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heydohco/

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)
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• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at podcast@startupcpg.com
• Episode music by Super Fantastics