In an industry dominated by assembly lines and mass production, Dora Cheng wants customers to know exactly who wrapped their dumplings.
As the Cincinnati food entrepreneur prepares to bring her Hong Kong-inspired brand to a wider audience with hopes of landing in grocery chains like Whole Foods and Fresh Market, she insists one thing won’t change: the wontons will remain handmade.
For now, you can find her hand-crafted, frozen dumplings at Yee Mama’s stall in Findlay Market.
Yee Mama, a play on the Cantonese word for aunt, is a reference to Cheng’s aunt, who took care of her growing up while Cheng’s mother worked as a full-time teacher.
Memories of her aunt’s homemade food have made their way into Yee Mama’s dumplings. Recalling the afternoons spent with her aunt and cousins, Cheng said that she wants her wontons to be “nourishing,” as though “it’s something made for me.”
Attached to each package of frozen dumpling is a sticker with the name of the person who wrapped them − Spencer, Juana, Chiuyee (Cheng’s Cantonese name).
A pandemic hobby grows up
The fact that the wontons are handmade with fresh, locally sourced ingredients is what sets Yee Mama apart from other frozen dumpling products, said Cheng. It’s also what keeps Cheng energized about running the business.
“A lot of times, there are more lows than highs in running a business. And it’s the high that sustains your lows,” said Cheng. “So I have to be excited about it. I’m not excited about making another frozen dumpling product.”
The business started as a pandemic hobby for Cheng. A native of Hong Kong, Cheng often craved for the taste of the Cantonese wontons from her childhood. With the extra time on her hands, she decided to make her own.
Cheng began selling frozen wontons for pick-up at Findlay Kitchen, a kitchen-incubator space for food entrepreneurs. As specialty stores and farmers markets started stocking her products, demand steadily grew.
In 2022, Cheng became a mother, which “completely disrupts your life,” she said. And by extension, it forced her to think differently about the future of Yee Mama.
The business had good margins, but it was difficult to scale. So when an opportunity arose to open a permanent stall at Findlay Market, Cheng knew it was time to invest in growth and decided to “pull the trigger.”
The brand has grown in the last few years − adding small batch sauces, broths, noodles and season-specific dishes alongside its signature dumplings. Cheng’s team has expanded to eight employees, and the business recently participated in SKU, a 12-week long consumer products accelerator program based in Austin, Texas.
As Cincinnati braces itself for the summer heat, so does Yee Mama.
It will bring back its Mango Coconut Sago – a Cantonese dessert layered with coconut jelly and mangoes – and diversify its grab-and-go options, adding options like Wobble Wobble Noodles.
The semantics of belonging
When she isn’t running the counter at Findlay Market or spending time with her 3-year-old daughter, Cheng teaches at the University of Cincinnati, where she has been an associate professor and educator since 2019.
Her academic work in language, culture and belonging shapes her approach at Yee Mama. A linguist by training, Cheng is particularly interested in the distinction between “authentic” and “traditional” food.
“It annoys me when a person who is not from that culture has such strong opinions of whether the food is authentic or not authentic,” said Cheng. “I’m like, ‘why does it even matter?’ ”
Rather than chasing authenticity, Cheng focuses on traditional flavors and techniques. Yee Mama’s best-selling chicken-and-basil wonton, for example, is uncommon in Cantonese cuisine but draws inspiration from Cantonese stir-fries that combine chicken, basil and water chestnuts.
Tradition has become a guide as Yee Mama experiments with new menu items, allowing Cheng to put her own spin on Cantonese staples without losing sight of their roots.
That approach echoes a broader trend among food startups at Findlay Kitchen, including Sabor Alaniz and Anchu, which reinterpret classics such as tamales and dosas.“A lot of the new start-ups … they’re bringing in flavors that are true to the tradition and also something that they’re excited about, Cheng said. “They’re doing it out of a passion. We’re doing it on our own terms.”In UC’s rhetoric and professional writing program, Cheng helps multilingual students navigate different languages and cultures without feeling they have to leave part of themselves behind.
She understands that challenge firsthand. Growing up as an Asian woman in Alabama, Cheng said she often felt pressure “to be more American.” Starting Yee Mama has helped her embrace parts of her identity she once muted.
Over the past six years, Yee Mama has fed a diverse customer base – from curious foodies to busy parents to elderly customers who appreciate its smaller portions. But Cheng is especially moved when Asian customers tell her the wontons remind them of home.“Every time I have Asian customers who come up and say, ‘Oh, this is really good. This reminds me of what my mom used to make, or this is better than the wonton I make at home,’ ” said Cheng. “It just hits differently.”
Part-time business-owner, educator, full-time mother
Oddly enough, for Cheng, the key to juggling her responsibilities as a business owner, an educator and a mother is to let go of the expectation to do everything, all the time.
“Now that I am a mom, you always have to think about your priorities,” said Cheng.
On some days, she’s across the country, meeting with other food entrepreneurs and working with brokers to bring Yee Mama products to larger markets. On others, she’s at the poolside with daughter. The triage of emails, classes and school pick-ups has forced Cheng to sharpen her business acumen.
“I’m more strategic when it comes to making business decisions. Is it worth my energy, my time, the stress? No? OK, I’m not gonna do it. I’m not gonna do this event. And that’s fine.”
As Cheng explores larger retail opportunities, she said growth only matters if Yee Mama can preserve the qualities that inspired it in the first place: handmade food, traditional Cantonese flavors and the feeling of being cared for.
Even if Yee Mama products land in large-chain grocery freezers and are invariably strewn in with other products, Cheng does not seem worried about her products blending in. She knows that her wontons will offer something entirely different.
“Making dumplings is such a beautiful craft,” said Cheng. “I just want to show that you can get flavor that is really delicate, balanced, made with really good quality ingredients, made with integrity. This is what I’m passionate about, to show people a different type of Chinese food and, in particular, Cantonese foods.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: At a Findlay Market food stall, anything but handmade is not an option
Reporting by Jane Park, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jane Park, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
