Farmers Market to Food Revolution: How Culinary Culture Is Changing the Way America Eats Tofu with Minh Tsai, Hodo Foods
On this episode of The Wild Party Podcast, host Stefanie LaHart sits down with Minh Tsai, founder of Hodo Foods, for a conversation that begins with tofu but quickly becomes a much bigger story about entrepreneurship, culture, patience and the power of good food to change people's minds.
Today, Hodo can be found in Whole Foods, Sweetgreen, Chipotle and restaurants across the country. But more than 20 years ago, there was no national business plan or grand strategy behind the company. There was simply a man who loved tofu and couldn't find the kind he wanted to eat.
When the Tofu You Want Doesn't Exist, Make It
Minh was working in finance in the San Francisco Bay Area when he found himself frustrated by the tofu available in American stores. Growing up in Vietnam, tofu had been part of his food culture, but what he found in the United States felt entirely different.
“Everything was commoditized, bland,” he recalls.
So Minh did something that, even now, sounds slightly improbable: he started learning to make tofu while continuing to work in finance. He convinced a small tofu shop to teach him the process, experimented with recipes and eventually began selling his creations at a farmers market in Palo Alto.
That market became his first focus group.
Minh would hand shoppers samples without initially telling them what they were eating. People would taste the food, tell him how delicious it was and then react with disbelief when he revealed the ingredient.
“They're like, ‘No, that's not possible. I've eaten tofu. Tofu doesn't taste like this.’”
Those reactions helped Minh understand that tofu itself wasn't necessarily the problem. People's experience with tofu was.
Building a Brand One Taste at a Time
Customers began returning every week, and chefs shopping the farmers markets started discovering Hodo too. Minh found himself not simply selling tofu but teaching people how to use it.
That educational mindset eventually became fundamental to Hodo's growth.
For roughly five years, the company remained a local Bay Area brand before demand began coming from other parts of the country. Hodo invested in greater production capacity and eventually expanded nationally.
Then came a particularly important partnership: Chipotle.
The restaurant chain was looking for a minimally processed plant protein that met its ingredient standards, and tofu was a natural fit. Minh worked with the company for months developing what ultimately became its Sofritas. Hodo later began supplying tofu to Sweetgreen as well.
But Hodo wasn't simply putting traditional tofu into American kitchens. Minh was paying attention to what intimidated consumers.
If people didn't want to press their tofu, Hodo could make it firm enough that they didn't have to. If they didn't know how to season it, Hodo could offer products featuring flavors such as miso, turmeric, gochujang and chili crisp.
“We want to make it delicious and easy,” Minh explains. “Because otherwise, how are we going to get you to try it?”
Deliciousness Comes Before the Sales Pitch
One of the most interesting ideas Minh shares during the conversation is that Hodo doesn't lead with a lecture about why consumers should eat tofu.
For him, taste comes first.
The protein, organic soybeans and other nutritional benefits matter, but Minh describes those as bonuses. The first job is getting someone to genuinely enjoy the food.
That philosophy becomes especially important when reaching people who have already decided they don't like tofu.
Minh compares tofu's evolution in America to sushi. Early American consumers were often reluctant to eat raw fish, so approachable creations such as California rolls became an entry point. Decades later, sashimi is commonplace.
He believes tofu may be following a similar path.
Growing Slowly in a Culture Obsessed With Speed
Hodo's growth story also challenges one of entrepreneurship's most persistent narratives: that faster is always better.
Minh deliberately avoided growing at a pace that could overwhelm his employees or compromise the company. Even Hodo's early investors reflected that philosophy. Many were customers who had discovered the company at farmers markets and eventually asked if they could help support its growth.
Minh calls that kind of investment patient capital.
“We grew very methodically, sustainably,” he says. “We never went out and took a lot of money really quickly.”
After more than two decades, that patience has led Hodo into its next chapter. The company was recently acquired by Calbee, while Japanese tofu maker Sagamiya also became an investor. Minh has stepped away from the CEO role, giving Hodo access to additional capital and technical expertise while freeing him to concentrate on something that has been central to his mission from the beginning: education.
Teaching the People Who Will Teach Everyone Else
Minh knows Hodo can't personally teach every American how to cook tofu. His solution is to reach the people who can influence millions of meals: chefs and nutritionists.
One of his goals for the next several years is to see tofu incorporated more meaningfully into culinary education. Through initiatives such as Hodo's Tofu Disrupt events, chefs learn about the ingredient and then use their own creativity to develop dishes around it.
“If I can teach all the young chefs a day give me a day to teach them about tofu, so that they can go out there and they can see this ingredient as a viable ingredient.”
Nutrition professionals are another important audience, particularly because misinformation and misconceptions about soy remain common.
Minh believes the opportunity is enormous. Tofu has thousands of years of history in Asia, yet its mainstream story in America is comparatively young.
The Next 20 Years of the “Good Bean”
Even Hodo's name reflects the philosophy behind the company. Minh explains that it essentially translates to “good bean”, an idea that became an ethos for the brand.
Twenty years after standing at a farmers market handing out samples, Minh still talks about tofu with the enthusiasm of someone who believes he's at the beginning of the story rather than the end.
His advice for other entrepreneurs reflects that experience: build something you genuinely care about, start small, earn the support of your community and don't underestimate the value of patience.
As he puts it, “Food takes a lot of time.”
For Hodo, that long game appears to be paying off. Consumers are increasingly interested in plant-based foods that are familiar, minimally processed and easy to understand. Tofu checks all of those boxes and Hodo is working to make sure it tastes great while doing it.
Ready to become a “good bean”? Explore Hodo's tofu, yuba and ready-to-eat products at Hodo Foods, look for the brand at Whole Foods and other natural food retailers, or you may already be eating Hodo without realizing it the next time you order Sofritas at Chipotle.
