The Fresh2 business-to-business specialty food delivery platform is a marriage of the best parts of China’s food distribution strategies and North America’s growing specialty Asian food market. But, applying an oversees e-commerce market in bringing supply channels and food distribution to the U.S. isn’t the only marriage in Fresh2’s story. Founder and CEO, Maodong Xu began his entrepreneurial journey in an unconventional way, foreshadowing the great out-of-the-box ideas and savvy investments to come.
Billionaire entrepreneur, Maodong Xu has built and grown any number of businesses, from grocery store chains to tech companies, and his business journey began with a non-traditional investment. At the time of his own marriage, he took the wedding money received from family and friends and invested it into a supermarket, circumventing the customs attached to that money and making a bigger bet on a bright future with his new bride. That supermarket would grow into the largest chain in Mr. Xu’s home region of Shandong Province, charting a course toward bigger investments and incredible returns in the decades to come.
Much like Maodong Xu’s entrepreneurial origins story, the Fresh2 narrative is inspiring, non-traditional, and packed with promise for a big return on investment. The Fresh2 e-commerce platform, providing business-to-business food supply options, is a noble concept created to address the underserved specialty Asian food market in the U.S. The idea for the platform was built on the desire to contribute meaningfully to the Asian community and adds additional impact with its social benefits.
The innovative e-commerce model used to bring Fresh2 to the United States comes from a Chinese mature technology platform, a strategic shareholder which, in 2018, provided the food supplies for the China International Import Expo. Fresh2 meets the needs of a niche food sector that is grossly underserved in the conventional food distribution channels. With Maodong Xu’s vision to combine the exceptional food distribution systems of China with the Web 3.0 and blockchain capability offered in the United States (coming in the near future to Fresh2), it was important to gather the best players to make it happen.
An entrepreneurial genius like Maodong Xu is a magnet for success, and that magnetic pull is, in part, attributed to the exceptional talent he gathers around him. When Fresh2 became more than a concept, Mr. Xu gathered the best developers, food distribution industry insiders, and other experts to execute the best path forward.
“It’s easy to bring big ideas to successful implementation when you’re surrounded by the right people and have a shared vision,” says Maodong Xu. “Every business has a story, and the Fresh2 narrative is one that would not be told if all of the pieces did not fit together to form the perfect platform.”
Mr. Xu and his team identified the Asian food segment and its very different culture than mainstream wholesalers, pinpointing the struggles and finding the best possible solutions to address them. With new ingredients, unfamiliar to much of conventional food wholesale market, Asian specialty ingredients often go overlooked or intentionally avoided by food suppliers. As new Asian restaurants emerge and the segment experiences exponential growth, new restaurants seek to bring the latest trends from overseas. It’s nearly impossible for these restaurants to find the authentic Asian ingredients required to best represent their cuisine.
With this in mind, Mr. Xu and his team focused on this specialized segment and on ingredients that are less easy to find. By bringing the latest and best ingredients, Fresh2 lends support to Asian restaurant owners, allowing them access to the best possible ingredients for their menus. Thus, the Fresh2 platform took its place in the food distribution space, establishing itself as a player against the larger, generalized food distribution chains and challenging their antiquated technology and less efficient delivery methods.
Five of the leading cuisines in the U.S. are Asian cuisine specialties, and the demand for well-sourced, timely, cost-conscious ingredients continues to increase. Fresh2 brings its all-in-one model to rival those traditional call center ordering models and utilizes an interactive app, connecting suppliers and restaurants efficiently. The platform is a direct connection between food sources and restaurants, and it answers the need for obscure ingredients.
Fresh2 has gone to market to consolidate the wholesalers in the industry, allowing restaurant owners to select ingredients on their terms and timelines. In a sector where business and distribution models have changed very little in the past 20-30 years, Fresh2 is revolutionizing workflows. Its future plans include introducing blockchain to track food sourcing and put more control in the hands of the consumers.
