News | Kitschy Kosher Sauces |
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| Written by Anna Dolinsky | |||||
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Soy Vay Chinese marinades cha-cha into kitchens nationwide It's common knowledge that Jews love Chinese food. And it's no secret that Jews like kitsch. So it's not surprising that a line of kosher Chinese sauces called Soy Vay would go over well with Jewish consumers. "You can't be a Jew and walk by the product in the supermarket. If you are Jewish, you will buy our marinade because of the name," says Eddie Scher, owner of Felton, California-based Soy Vay Enterprises. "What Jew can resist a pun on 'oy vay'?" Scher, a practicing Jew raised in a Conservative family in Palo Alto, California, started Soy Vay in 1982 with his Chinese-American business partner Heidi Chien. The labels on bottles of Soy Vay Chinese Marinade note, "Soy Vay began when a Jewish boy and a Chinese girl met and began talking about a common interest: cooking." In the beginning, Scher and Chien pasted hand-written labels onto bottles of traditional Chinese marinade. Their gimmicky name and home-made sauces got only a few amused glances and some up-turned noses at local county fairs. "It was a problem getting people to try it at first--especially the Asian customers," Scher says. "They wouldn't even sample it; they just turned away in contempt." But Scher's business savvy and Chien's recipe soon started changing minds. Says Scher, "Once we got real labels and started printing the name in Hebrew and Chinese script, people started noticing us." Soy Vay first became a regional phenomenon, sold at gourmet supermarkets in the San Franciso Bay Area and Oregon. Then in 1998, Trader Joe's, a specialty grocery chain, started stocking the sauce. "It's now their third best-selling product," Scher says proudly. In addition to Chinese Marinade, Soy Vay also sells "Veri Veri Teriyaki," "Island Terriyaki," and "Cha-Cha Chinese Chicken Salad Dressing and Marinade." Now the sauce that used to sell 2 cases a year is offered by 80 distributors. National brands have even offered to purchase Soy Vay, but the 43-year-old Scher can't imagine giving up his company. "It's been a part of my family for 20 years now. My kids grew up with it," he says. "There's almost an expectation that they're going to take over for me." (Scher says Chien sold her portion of the company to him 14 years ago when neither was sure where the business would end up.) Scher says Soy Vay has a loyal customer base that constantly sends in new recipes and creative uses for his sauces. "It can be used with most anything--that's the beauty of the product," he says. "We have people telling us they love it with meat, fish, pasta, even hot dogs and popcorn." Scher admits, however, that he doesn't think his sauces would go well with his favorite Jewish dishes, such as matzoh ball soup, "Although I'd be willing to try it."
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