Norma Chu, founder and CEO of DayDayCook, explains the evolution of her brand and what it takes to lead a publicly-traded company.
This episode took us to the New York Stock Exchange floor to talk with Norma Chu, founder and CEO of DayDayCook. The direct-to-consumer food and content brand has a reach of over 60 million users and completed its initial public offering in November of 2023. Norma told me that the company's mission is to promote the joy of Asian cooking to the world through a growing portfolio of authentic Asian food brands focused on convenient ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat products.
This episode took us to the New York Stock Exchange floor to talk with Norma Chu, founder and CEO of DayDayCook. The direct-to-consumer food and content brand has a reach of over 60 million users and completed its initial public offering in November of 2023. Norma told me that the company's mission is to promote the joy of Asian cooking to the world through a growing portfolio of authentic Asian food brands focused on convenient ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat products.
Category
ð
NewsTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:03 - We are in New York City
00:04 on the New York Stock Exchange floor,
00:06 and we are about to talk to a newly public company
00:09 called Day Day Cook.
00:10 Their founder and CEO, Norma Chu,
00:12 they are a direct-to-consumer food and content brand
00:16 with a reach of over 60 million users.
00:19 And we're gonna talk to her all things
00:20 about Asian cuisine and culinary experience.
00:23 Let's go talk to Norma.
00:28 All right, we are with the CEO and founder
00:31 of Day Day Cook, Norma Chu.
00:33 Norma, thank you for being here.
00:35 - Thank you for having me.
00:36 - Yeah, so first and foremost,
00:38 can you please tell us what Day Day Cook is?
00:41 - Sure, well at Day Day Cook,
00:42 our mission is to promote the joy
00:44 of Asian cooking to the world.
00:45 And we do that through a growing portfolio
00:48 of really cool, authentic Asian food brand
00:50 that focuses on innovation around convenient,
00:53 ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat food products.
00:56 - Awesome, and what was the inception?
00:57 Because I know you have an interesting history
00:59 with your company.
01:01 It started out more so in the media space.
01:03 So tell us the inception
01:04 and also the evolution of Day Day Cook.
01:06 - That's right, I mean, the company started
01:08 about 13 years ago and really with a simple idea.
01:11 I wanted to create something
01:13 that can inspire the future generation
01:15 to continue to enjoy cooking.
01:17 And I started doing that through creating
01:19 a lot of short-form videos
01:20 and really sharing the content on social media platforms
01:23 like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
01:25 So that's the inception of the company.
01:27 And for the first three years,
01:29 we really focused on the Hong Kong market.
01:31 And then later on, we expanded into mainland China market.
01:34 That's when we really started kind of exploring
01:36 different things with the foundation being media,
01:39 going into content commerce,
01:41 incorporating some product recommendations into our video.
01:44 And then later on, a few years back,
01:46 I decided to launch our own branded product portfolio.
01:50 (upbeat music)
01:53 - You ready?
01:54 - I'm ready, lead the way.
01:55 - Great, so today we're gonna make a red curry noodle.
01:59 - Okay.
02:00 - And depending, are you a meat or seafood person?
02:02 - I like both.
02:03 Let's try--
02:05 - Let's make both.
02:06 - Let's make both, let's make both.
02:08 - So we have some beef here
02:09 and I'm already cooking up the salmon.
02:11 So we'll make two versions of the same noodle.
02:14 - Awesome.
02:14 - So why don't you help me with slicing this beef?
02:17 - Okay.
02:17 How large of slices?
02:19 - Oh no, that's thinner.
02:22 - Thinner?
02:23 - Yeah, there you go.
02:24 - Oh yeah.
02:25 - Okay.
02:25 - This is how you do it, is that too thin?
02:26 - Oh man, you're really good.
02:28 - Chef Boyardee.
02:29 - Nope.
02:30 And then once you're done, you put this all here.
02:34 - What trends are you noticing in the food industry?
02:37 Because I assume there's difficulty getting Western culture
02:40 to experiment with some of these recipes.
02:42 - Right.
02:43 - So what trends are you noticing
02:44 and how are you planning on attacking that?
02:46 - Well, there are a few really interesting trends
02:49 in recent years.
02:50 Number one thing is three out of five consumers
02:53 actually view the kitchen as the new epicenter
02:56 for trying new recipes.
02:58 And as they do that experimentation,
03:01 the second trend is during this consumer's
03:03 discovery journey, East Asian cuisine is really popular.
03:08 And finally, the third trend is more people
03:11 are just cooking at home.
03:12 43% of the consumer find themselves cooking more at home
03:16 versus 12 months ago.
03:18 - What got you interested in food
03:21 because you were at a bank previously.
03:23 You're a research analyst, correct?
03:25 - That's right.
03:26 - So that's a shift.
03:27 - That is.
03:28 - That's not a typical--
03:29 - It's a big shift.
03:29 - Yeah, it's a big shift.
03:30 So you're in the banking industry
03:31 and then all of a sudden you start a food media brand
03:34 that goes into direct to consumer products.
03:36 So talk about that shift and what you were doing
03:38 prior to this and the interest in food.
03:41 - Yeah, I mean, I always tell people
03:42 I have two true passion in life early on.
03:45 The first one is the stock market.
03:48 And then the second one--
03:49 - Classic.
03:50 - Classic.
03:50 (laughing)
03:51 Like all of us growing up as teenagers
03:53 we were just like, watch the stock market.
03:55 And second huge passion is really cooking.
03:58 I think it really started, the passion for cooking
04:01 really started at a very young age.
04:03 And I really spent a lot of time with my parents
04:05 and grandparents at home cooking.
04:08 And I think that had a very early influence on me
04:11 in terms of thinking cooking not just as a chore
04:14 but it's really as an act of care.
04:16 So when you care about what you cook and what you eat
04:18 and you share that with other people,
04:20 I think joy and happiness comes naturally.
04:22 So I think that's something very important
04:24 when we want to kind of continue to share that joy.
04:27 And also through cooking you can also preserve heritage.
04:30 So I think that's how Daily Cook started
04:32 and that's when I decided to make that shift.
04:35 - The best way to connect with someone is food.
04:38 - Absolutely.
04:39 I think that's what's fun about BBC.
04:42 It's like, I think we can always disagree
04:45 on a number of things but we can always find time
04:47 to sit together and enjoy some really good Chinese food
04:50 or Indonesian food or Thai food.
04:52 - Absolutely.
04:53 - So that's good.
04:55 - Look at that. - That's the first salmon.
04:57 Beautiful, right?
04:58 - Beautiful.
04:59 I love salmon.
04:59 - Okay, now we have the first protein done.
05:07 How's your noodle coming along?
05:08 - I think they're ready.
05:09 - Yeah?
05:10 - Speaking of entrepreneurship,
05:11 you mentioned that your father was a business owner.
05:13 Did you always want to be a business owner yourself?
05:16 - No, I think early on I really didn't think about
05:20 starting my own business but definitely now that I look back
05:25 I think I have that person--
05:26 - That influenced you.
05:27 - Yeah, influenced me and also I have that personality
05:29 I think to be an entrepreneur because at a young age
05:33 I've always liked new things, trying new things
05:36 in middle school and high school and started as hostess,
05:39 working for a private bank as an intern,
05:42 accounting firms, teaching Chinese and English in Japan.
05:46 So I did a lot of things.
05:48 I think that having that kind of mentality of curiosity
05:52 and always not afraid of the unknown,
05:55 I think those are some of the key components
05:58 of an entrepreneur.
06:00 - So what are we doing now?
06:01 - Just gonna quickly season the beef a little bit.
06:04 And before--
06:06 - Perfectly sliced beef.
06:08 - Perfectly, they are really perfectly sliced beef.
06:11 So you were not lying when you say
06:13 you've been cooking at home.
06:15 All right, why don't you help me cook this beef?
06:18 - Okay.
06:19 - All right.
06:20 Okay, so we want the beef kind of like our salmon.
06:24 We also want it medium rare, not overcooked
06:26 'cause it's also gonna go back to the noodles.
06:29 - Okay.
06:29 - So just kind of do your thing.
06:30 You like doing--
06:31 - Do you mind if I do that?
06:32 - There you go, that's perfect.
06:33 Oh yeah.
06:34 - Oh yeah.
06:34 - Beautiful.
06:35 - Welcome to the chef show.
06:36 (laughing)
06:37 - This is gonna be a cooking show.
06:39 - It will be.
06:44 Now it's showing off.
06:45 - So again, shifting to your company
06:50 and the unknown and being an entrepreneur,
06:53 your company has evolved in a number of ways
06:55 like we had previously talked about.
06:57 Talk about some of those shifts
06:59 and how it's made your company perform better
07:01 and just have attracted more customers, users,
07:05 whatever, how it's enhanced the company.
07:07 - Yeah, I mean, I think that's being open-minded
07:11 and having that awareness of what's really happening
07:14 around you I think is really important.
07:16 Secondly, I think it's always thinking on the positive side.
07:19 So being aware that, oh, maybe more people
07:22 are coming into this space
07:23 or there's more innovation in this space,
07:25 but thinking positively with a positive light
07:28 and think about how can I be a part of that opportunity?
07:31 And I think the third step is really going for it,
07:33 not just having an idea and not just having the awareness,
07:37 but when you see the opportunity,
07:38 you actually seize it and you go for it.
07:40 So looking back in the past 13 years, right,
07:43 I would say a few really important decision points.
07:46 The first one, starting out in Hong Kong,
07:49 where I was born and where I grew up,
07:51 and venturing into a mainland China market,
07:53 that was the very first big decision.
07:55 A lot of time when I look back,
07:57 some early investors really thought
08:00 that was a really big, risky move.
08:02 - How come?
08:03 - Because it's more competitive
08:04 and I'm not locally from mainland China market,
08:07 so I might not be a right fit,
08:09 let alone being a female entrepreneur.
08:11 So thinking back, my decision was,
08:13 do I think I'm the right person to do it?
08:15 Do I believe in that?
08:17 And if I do, I should just go for it,
08:19 knowing that it's a much bigger market
08:21 and it's a much bigger opportunity
08:22 and I can have a stronger influence with a bigger audience.
08:27 (gentle music)
08:30 So the next step, we're gonna keep using this pan
08:35 and now we're just gonna add some veggies to it.
08:40 - Okay. - The lifeblood.
08:42 - Yeah.
08:42 - Little garlic. - This is some chopped
08:45 garlic and ginger.
08:46 - Okay.
08:47 - Are you a garlic and ginger fan?
08:50 - Yeah.
08:51 - So what-- - How often do you cook a week?
08:53 Do you, like, 'cause you're, again,
08:55 you're a public company CEO,
08:57 has it fallen since you started the company?
08:59 How often do you cook, 'cause you're busy?
09:01 - Yeah, I mean, that is one thing that has changed.
09:03 So I do cook a little bit less,
09:06 but every time when I have the opportunity,
09:09 even when I'm on the road, right,
09:11 when I'm on the road, like, coming to the States
09:13 or going to a place for an extended period of time,
09:16 I would prefer to stay in Airbnb
09:18 where I can actually have a kitchen and cook.
09:20 You know, you're so good at it, I'll let you do this.
09:22 - Okay, I'm in, yep. - You're gonna toss it.
09:24 Yeah, perfect.
09:27 - Not that perfect.
09:29 (laughing)
09:30 - So eating out is great, but sometimes I need a break.
09:33 I just want my own food and I would prefer
09:36 to just, like, you know, cook at home.
09:38 - How has the role shifted for you
09:41 from the start of the company
09:42 to raising roughly $80 million to then going public?
09:47 Tell me how your role has changed day to day.
09:51 - You know, in the beginning, I started the company
09:53 with myself and another co-founder and a very small team
09:58 and really just kind of executing
10:01 on the early concept of this vision.
10:04 But then over time, before we started raising capital,
10:08 it was just really figuring things out.
10:10 And then a few years later,
10:12 we decided to take on institutional investor money.
10:15 So I had to learn different things.
10:16 I have to learn how to fundraise.
10:18 What does a series A mean?
10:21 How do you prepare to pitch to investors?
10:23 What is a cap table?
10:24 A lot of things to learn.
10:26 And even with just capital and fundraising,
10:29 it evolved as the company became bigger.
10:33 So I think it's just a continuous journey
10:36 of learning over and over again.
10:38 So I think that has not changed.
10:40 And that's one of the constants of being an entrepreneur
10:43 and being a CEO and founder of the company.
10:46 Okay, so now we are at the final stage.
10:48 So I'm gonna take the heat up a little bit.
10:50 - Let's do it.
10:51 - You hear that?
10:51 - Turn the heat up.
10:52 - Yep.
10:53 All right, we're gonna go in.
10:55 - It smells very good already
10:56 'cause the ginger and the garlic.
10:58 - And the garlic.
10:59 - Yeah.
10:59 - Let's add more.
11:00 Okay, let's make sure, give you a good few spots.
11:03 - Do the thing, do the thing.
11:04 - Do the thing, do the thing.
11:05 - That's why I'm wearing an apron.
11:07 - Oh, amazing, yes.
11:10 - Don't burn yourself.
11:11 - You gotta taste the food, right?
11:14 - You gotta taste the food, yeah.
11:16 Good?
11:20 - Mm-hmm, oh my God, it's not good.
11:22 - It's good?
11:23 - Mm-hmm.
11:24 - Well, you know, I tried my best.
11:26 - Without calling anything out,
11:28 is there an example of an obstacle that shows itself
11:31 when you're looking to take your company public
11:33 that you have to deal with directly as CEO?
11:35 - The listing journey itself
11:37 was an exceptional experience.
11:40 It really challenged my own mental toughness
11:43 in terms of navigating all these different obstacles
11:46 and staying level-headed
11:48 and being able to map out the right strategy going forward
11:52 and to continue to guide the team
11:55 during this really challenging,
11:56 I would say, rollercoaster of going public.
11:59 But once you accomplish something like that,
12:02 and when I look back, right,
12:04 I think the biggest takeaway is I became a stronger
12:07 and more prepared CEO as a listed company.
12:10 And also, I think the entire team just became stronger
12:13 and we came together during this time period
12:16 that I would almost say, having accomplished that, right,
12:19 pulling off a successful IPO
12:21 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange
12:23 has really prepared the team to take on more challenges
12:26 and opportunities going forward.
12:28 You did it. - Yes, I did.
12:29 - I did this one.
12:30 That's beautiful.
12:31 - Look at this.
12:32 (upbeat music)
12:35 - Mm.
12:38 I love it.
12:40 - It does have a nice spice to it.
12:41 - Yeah.
12:43 - I'm just joking.
12:44 - Right, it does have that spice to it.
12:46 I love it.
12:47 You did a really good job.
12:48 - It's very good.
12:49 Well, this is awesome.
12:50 I'm really excited 'cause I am gonna try this at home
12:53 now that I've tested it here.
12:55 - Awesome, awesome.
12:56 - But I appreciate your time.
12:58 - Oh. - And I really--
12:59 - I had so much fun.
13:00 - I know, I really admire your company,
13:02 so I'm cheering for you and Day Day Cook.
13:04 - Thank you. - So thank you so much
13:05 for joining us.
13:06 - No, thank you so much, Will.
13:07 - Yeah, thanks, Marla. - Awesome, thank you.
13:09 (upbeat music)
13:13 - Oh, hot. - And action.
13:15 I'm so nervous.
13:19 (laughing)
13:20 - It's a Celsius, just a Celsius.
13:21 - Celsius.
13:22 - Let's get you another can of Celsius.
13:24 - And for that reason, you've been chopped.
13:26 - I've been chopped?
13:27 - Yeah, you said you watched Food Network.
13:29 - Are my hands clammy?
13:30 - Uh, it's cold.
13:31 It's nice, they're cold.
13:32 - They're cold, yeah, they feel like almost clammy.
13:35 Buy, sell, buy, sell.
13:38 I'll take a million shares.
13:42 Make that two million.
13:43 My man.
13:47 This is exciting for me.
13:49 Ready, Mike?
13:52 (laughing)