Wei Chuan Foods () is a Taiwan-based manufacturer of Chinese condiments, canned goods, drinks, and frozen goods. Its more popular, widely recognized products include canned pickles,

soy sauce Soy sauce (sometimes called soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of China, Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermentation (food), fermented paste of soybeans, roasted cereal, grain, brine, and ''Aspergillus oryzae'' or ''A ...

and

oyster sauce Oyster sauce describes a number of sauces made by cooking oysters. The most common in modern use is a viscous dark brown condiment made from oyster extracts,The Times, 22 January 1981; ''Cook Accidentally on purpose'' sugar, salt and water, thi ...

s, and frozen

dumpling Dumplings are a broad class of dishes that consist of pieces of cooked dough (made from a variety of starchy sources), often wrapped around a filling. The dough can be based on bread, wheat or other flours, or potatoes, and it may be filled wi ...

s and

wonton A wonton ( zh, t=, s=馄饨, p=húntun, j=wan4 tan4, first=t) is a type of Chinese dumpling commonly found across regional styles of Chinese cuisine. It is also spelled wantan or wuntun, a transliteration from Cantonese zh, j=wan4 tan1, ...

History

The predecessor of Wei-Chuan Food Corporation was founded in 1953 by Huang Lieh-ho as part of

Hotai Motor Hotai Motor Co., Ltd. () is a Taiwan-based automotive-centric conglomerate. It is the largest automobile company and the second largest household appliance company, as well as one of the largest financial holding companies in Taiwan. Traditionall ...

Group as Hotai Chemical Engineering Corporation, to produce MSG and soy sauce to enrich the everyday lives of people. In believing that the dairy industry could improve the living standard and nutrition standard of citizens and thereby promote rural economic development and compensate food inadequacy, Wei-Chuan established the dairy product department in the beginning of the 1960s out of the company's insistence on establishing a “public company”. This started the diversification of Wei-Chuan into an integrated food manufacturing company. Today, the founder Huang Lieh-ho was also called the “Father of the dairy industry” in Taiwan for this reason. With the food business diversification planning of Huang, Wei-Chuan became the largest food processing and manufacturing company in Taiwan in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1998,

Ting Hsin International Group Ting Hsin International Group () is a Taiwanese-owned corporate group established in 1958. It owns various food brands such as the instant noodle maker Master Kong, Wei-Chuan Food Corporation and Dicos. History Taipei 101 and noodles The com ...

became the largest (40%) shareholder following an ownership and management fight within the founding Huang family. Huang family and Hotai Motor divest its 33% shares after losing the biggest shareholder status. One of the joint ventures, Formosa Flexible Packaging, was moved back to Hotai Motor Group. Huang family maintained majority ownership of

Wei-Chuan USA Wei-Chuan USA was founded by the original parent company Wei Chuan Food Corporation of Taiwan in 1972. Wei-Chuan USA's corporate logo consists of five red circles, and they represent the five basic flavors: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami. ...

, which owns the right to Wei-Chuan brand in the US, Europe, and Australia. As part of the agreement, Wei-Chuan divest its investment from Wei-Chuan USA in 2000. Thus Wei-Chuan and Wei-Chuan USA became separate entities with different ownership groups. In Taiwan, the company was often seen as the chief rival of

Uni-President Enterprises Corporation Uni-President Enterprises Corporation () is an international food conglomerate based in Tainan, Taiwan. It is the largest food production company in Taiwan and the 12th largest in the world, and has a significant market share in dairy products, ...

Wei-Chuan USA

The

division was founded in 1972 and operates manufacturing and distribution centers in

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, and

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. Its products are similar to its parent company's. Wei-Chuan USA's corporate logo includes five red

ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but sometimes ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used for s ...

s which represent the five basic

flavor Flavour or flavor is either the sensory perception of taste or smell, or a flavoring in food that produces such perception. Flavour or flavor may also refer to: Science * Flavors (programming language), an early object-oriented extension to L ...

Sports

Wei-Chuan formerly sponsored the

Wei Chuan Dragons The Wei Chuan Dragons () are a Taiwanese professional baseball team. They are a member of Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). The team originally existed between 1990 and 1999. In 2019, negotiations were held to revive the fran ...

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...

team. The team was formally the leader in championships before its dismiss in 1999 by the company's new parent company Ting Hsin International. In 2019, it is announced that Wei-Chuan will re-joined the Taiwanese Baseball League by reestablished Wei-Chuan Dragons in 2020.

References

Brand name condiments Food and drink companies established in 1972 Chinese cuisine Taiwanese brands Manufacturing companies based in Taipei Food and drink companies of Taiwan {{food-product-stub

History

Wei-Chuan USA

Sports

See also

References