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Ray Ma and Chris Lerohl run Honest Dumplings in Edmonton, Alberta. With eight different core flavours (both meat and vegan) and an always changing selection of seasonal and limited edition dumplings, they're breaking into the Edmonton food scene in a way that takes Chinese food to a new level.
Honest Dumplings are available year-round at Old Strathcona Farmers' Market, seasonally at select farmers' markets, through The Organic Box, SPUD Edmonton and Calgary, Amaranth and Ben's Meat and Deli. To keep up to date on their product line and where you can find them follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
How Honest Dumplings began:
Honest Dumplings officially began in 2014 when Ray and Chris began making dumplings out of their kitchen and sold them at the City Market Downtown on 104th Street. Formally trained in law, Ray's real passion is food and so she decided to make the switch.
Originally from Shanghai, Ray draws on the vibrant food communities she and Chris have enjoyed in their travels both in China and around the world. Seeing that there wasn't a lot of Chinese food in Edmonton that was pushing the envelope in terms of creativity or locally sourced ingredients, they were inspired to begin their own line of dumplings and did just that.
How Honest Dumplings does it differently:
Honest Dumplings' tag line, “ingredients matter”, reflects their approach to their products. Ray selects the ingredients they use with the same exacting standards she uses in her own kitchen for her own family. Whether it's choosing to use natural colours from purple cabbage, beets and turmeric in their dough or meat from local farms in their dumplings, quality, flavour and transparency are their top priorities.
While not all of the ingredients they use can be locally sourced, Chris and Ray do their best to use all of the local fresh ingredients they can source through their connections in the food world and other local farmers' market vendors.
Their relationship with their customers and role in the community:
Honest Dumplings is part of a small community of processors that is elevating ethnic foods into the mainstream Edmonton food scene. They aspire to take a relatively well known food and create a premium product that is colourful, unique and tasty.
A large part of Honest Dumplings' success can be chalked up to having a simply amazing product, but they also bring professional knowledge to their business. Using his MBA expertise, Chris has consulted on many start-up companies and has a good idea of what works and what doesn't in the entrepreneurial world. Being able to work out a solid plan to not only build but also scale and grow their business helps set them apart. They've brought this knowledge and skill to their community by helping other food start-ups move their businesses forward.
The future of Honest Dumplings:
Chris and Ray are now both involved in the business full time. They've begun talking with select grocery stores to find more venues to sell their products and increase consumer's access to Honest Dumplings. Looking for new, larger markets means that they'll also have to adapt their processes. They're working on finding the best way to increase their production without sacrificing any of the delicious quality of their products.
And while they hope to expand their market reach, they believe that nothing can replace the relationship with their customers over the farmers' market table. Whatever the future brings, they always want to retain their farmers' market booth for that direct-to-consumer connection.
“When you're selling something directly to the consumer and you see why they love it, it keeps you honest. It creates a responsibility to your customer.” - Chris Lerohl
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