Rhee Bros, Inc. () is an Asian foods

wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...

r and distributor. It sells Asian food products from a variety of origins, including

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

, Thai, and Filipino; and offers dry, refrigerated, frozen, and household goods. Along with its distribution partners, Rhee Bros sells retail and foodservice accounts in the US and internationally. The company has its headquarters in

Columbia, Maryland Columbia is a planned community in Howard County, Maryland, United States, consisting of 10 self-contained villages. With a population of 104,681 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the second-most-populous community in Maryland ...

. Company revenue was approximately $300 million USD in 2004. Rhee Bros was founded in 1976 by Syng Man Rhee, along with his three brothers, who started in a small warehouse in

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially Unincorporated area, unincorporated, it is an edge city with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ...

. In 1989, the company began a retail affiliate relationship to sell Rhee Bros' products at Lotte Plaza, an

Asian supermarket In non-Asian countries, an Asian supermarket largely describes a category of grocery stores that focuses and stocks items and products imported from countries located in the Far East (e.g. East Asia, East, Southeast Asia, Southeast and South Asia ...

chain in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. A retail relationship with Assi Plaza, which has stores across the country, followed. In 2004, the company reported having over 40 Assi-branded stores in Maryland, New York, California, and Georgia. As of September 2023, Assi Plaza has closed all but two locations. In 2001, the company issued a recall of about 2,400 boxes of "Lotte Margaret" cookies imported from Korea because they contained unlabelled peanuts and eggs. In 2020, Rhee Bros was sued by the state of California for violating Prop 65 with their seafoods which contained high levels of the toxic heavy metals

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

and

cadmium Cadmium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12 element, group 12, zinc and mercury (element), mercury. Like z ...

. The suite also claims that Rhee Bros violated California's unfair competition laws and its prohibition on fraudulent practices.

References

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External links

Rhee Brothers Inc. official site
Food and drink companies of the United States Companies based in Columbia, Maryland American companies established in 1976 Food and drink companies established in 1976