However, it gives a glimpse into their background. It's hard to make a case that Caie is not legitimate. They have a long history and their souls are in this. This story begins well over 10 years ago, which is too long to be about a scheme to fleece investors.
Some excerpts:
1) They want "Dim Sum" to be the "next Sushi."
2) They spent over $2 million of their own money at its inception.
3) They want to develop "heat-and-serve snack packs of fresh dim sum for grocery and convenience stores."
4) Their belief in the growth potential is sincere. I'm not saying sound; but since this was spoken back in 2010, I would say it is their genuine feelings: "'Dim sum hasn't even begun. It has tremendous growth potential,' CaiE George said."
5) They started out in 2006 (again, lots of history here), have a foot in China, and they had plans to take this concept national through grocery stores years before this effort to go public. I like that.
And FINALLY, drum roll: MYSTERY SOLVED!!!!
As suspected, Caie and Alan are indeed related. I suspected Alan was her father, but it turns out that he is her husband. Well, maybe not blood related, but I call that closely related -- relationship! We could end up getting all three in this merger -- The commissary, grocery line, and the café. *Possibly*.
------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Cut & Paste Below:
2E WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2011 RENO GAZETTE JOI RNALRGJ COM FoodS Drinic Local company hopes to make dim sum the new sushi CAIE FOODS WHERE: 1802-A Brierley Way, Sparks PHONE: 775-356-8838 ON THE WEB: www.caiefoods. com CAIE'S ORIENTAL CAFE WHERE: 770 S. Meadows Parkway PHONE: 775-853-9668 ON THE WEB: www.caiesorientalcafe.com HIGHLIGHT. Expanded dim sum menu served 1 1 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday . fit I wig !9i I mwhhibkmhA- h afcin Milan r" -
CaiE George and her husband, Alan George, own CaiE Foods spent about $2 million establishing their business. PHOTOS BY LIZ MARGERUMRGJ in Sparks. The couple said they 1 J v By Johnathan L Wright Could dim sum be the next sushi ? CaiE and Alan George of Reno certainly hope so. They've already spent about $2 million pursuing the possibility. The couple own CaiE (kye-EE) Foods, a $2 million, 27,000-square-foot Sparks factory that produces dim sum, the Chinese dumplings, buns and other snacks that are traditionally eaten with tea.
In southern China, gathering for dim sum and tea, a practice called yum cha, is especially popular. After a voluntary recall of food last March that hadn't been inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture the USDA received no reports of illness, however the couple said CaiE Foods had recently received federal clearance to resume production of dim sum. Before the recall, the company supplied frozen dim sum to casinos (mainly for Asian customers) and to Chinese food distributors. But now, with clearance received, new equipment on the way and new hiring planned, the owners said they wanted to mimic some of sushi's mainstream success by expanding beyond traditional markets and by developing heat-and-serve snack packs of fresh dim sum for grocery and convenience stores. "Dim sum hasn't even begun.
It has tremendous growth potential," CaiE George said. "We think it's the new sushi," Alan George added. "We think it's the next rage." Life after steaming The couple founded CaiE Foods in 2006 after dividing their time for about a decade between Northern Nevada and business interests in China. They owned CaiE's dim sum and find new ones, its owners also are enthusiastically exploring how to introduce fresh dim to the grocery market. "We believe we can be the first nationally," CaiE George said. "We want to be in the deli next to the sushi," she continued, referring to ready-to-eat sushi slices whose packaging includes soy sauce, a bit of fresh ginger and, often, a swatch of faux decorative grass. CaiE Foods' owners acknowledged that much work lay ahead. What dim sum items are suited to shipping fresh and reheating? How can flavor and freshness be maintained without overreliance on preservatives? What packaging offers both cost-sense and consumer eye appeal?
Sushi enjoys a perceived quality people are willing to pay for, even packaged is the same true of dim sum? And, of course, with uncooked food items, especially those containing pork or seafood, there are stringent food safety regulations. (On the other hand, unlike some sushi, making dim sum doesn't require overfished seafood like tuna.) The Georges, for their part, are optimistic about the next frontier in dim sum. "Imagine," Alan George said, "instead of a burger, a taco, you go to the store, you go over to the refrigerated case, and you nuke a six-pack snack. You're ready to eat dim sum!" of course, but at full capacity (about 20 employees), CaiE Foods would be able to make at least 50,000 pieces per day, the owners said. Quality control One corner of CaiE Foods was given over to several walk-in freezers where Alan George tested dim sum mettle. "We subject products to yearlong freezing to see how they hold up," he said. Buns that couldn't stand the chill were stacked on trays in one freezer. They were joined by other buns rejected through quality control, outliers that weren't big enough, that lacked sufficient pleats or that had unevenly distributed filling. (Aesthetics, as you've no doubt gathered, are an important part of dim sum.)
The dim sum are reheated by steaming or micro waving. Snacking frontier But even as CaiE Foods attempts to recapture old customers for their frozen Vegetable dumplings come off the line at CaiE Foods in Sparks. Owners CaiE and Alan George sell more than 1 5 styles of frozen dim sum, the Chinese snacks, and are working on a fresh version for grocery and convenience stores. dumplings were inspected, pre-cooked, then packaged by the dozen in trays for freezing. "We're not selling dim sum in bags," Alan George said, referring to the sacks of jumbled, crumbled dumplings found in many supermarket cases. "We've gone to trays to protect the product, so people can see what they're going to buy." Some dim sum take longer to make than others, Oriental Cafe in Carson City, which they closed in 2008, and currently own CaiE's Oriental Cafe in south Reno.
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
