CHICAGO — From the frozen food and fresh departments at the grocery store, to restaurants, dark kitchens, and catering, Wow Bao aims to meet its consumers where they are. 

“Our plan is to be wherever our guest is, and that’s why we do the dark kitchens, the airports, college campuses, vending machines; our go-to market strategy is to meet our consumers where they want to be dining with us,” said Geoff Alexander, president and chief executive officer at Wow Bao. 

The Asian street food inspired brand is known for its steamed bao, potstickers, dumplings, rice, and noodle bowls. The company began as a restaurant brand and has three storefronts in Chicago. 

Consumers may find the company’s bao and potstickers in the frozen food aisle and to-go products at the deli, hot bar or sushi counter at select grocers. 

“The more eyes that see the product the more opportunities there are for us to have people trying our product,” Mr. Alexander said. “With the beauty of the frozen environment, people can enjoy it at a later date and the fresh section they can take it off the shelf and eat it right away.” 

Mr. Alexander said Wow Bao’s culinary team works hand-in-hand with co-packers to ensure quality and consistency before reaching grocery stores. 

The 20-year-old fast casual dining brand even partners with other restaurants to offer their products through “dark kitchens.” With more than 600 dark kitchens in the United States and Canada, consumers have more ways to enjoy the brand’s Asian inspired cuisine. 

“The (dark) restaurants buy our products, finishes cooking them and sells them on third-party delivery platforms,” Mr. Alexander said. “There are areas of restaurants that we believe are dark and are not being utilized; we help bring light back to the area of the restaurant by allowing them to make our food and sell it to guests.” 

Wow Bao offers its products through e-commerce platforms such as Walmart, Amazon and Tastes of Chicago, creating even more convenience for consumers.

“It’s a way to reach guests who might not be able to find us at a store near them,” Mr. Alexander said. 

Photo: Wow Bao

While grocery stores were not the first outlet for the company, it has seen success in the category. 

“We’ve been partnering with grocery stores since 2014,” Mr. Alexander said. “We did not make it a focus of our business, but now that it is a focus of our business, we’re going full blown with them.” 

Having multiple flavors and products enables the company to bring back flavors from the past, giving them room to test the market. 

“We can always bring one of the different flavors back and make it available to our guests,” he said. “By having it (products) in our brick-and-mortar stores as well as our virtual partners and in our airports, we have ways for us to test the market before we go into consumer package goods companies full blown.” 

Mr. Alexander said the future is bright for Wow Bao as it looks to expand its reach.

“We’re talking with a number of different opportunities, from cruise ships, hotels — we want to be wherever the opportunity is,” he said. “We have a lot of runway to continue to grow. There are a lot more grocery stores that we’re not in than we are in, so we are continuing to chase as many different areas as we grow.”

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