The story
Founded by Lo Kwee-seong in 1940.1
Founder
Vitasoy was founded by Lo Kwee-seong (1910–1995) on 9 March 1940 in Hong Kong with door-to-door delivery of soy milk, selected as a product because many Chinese people are lactose intolerant. The company ceased operations from 1941 to 1945 during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. It re-emerged after the war ended.
The soy milk was first delivered to people's homes on bicycle, but then began selling through retail outlets. By 1950, with sales increasing, Vitasoy established a new factory. In 1953, it adopted a sterilisation technology enabling the drinks to be stored without refrigeration. In 1975, Vitasoy became the first Hong Kong company to introduce Tetra Pak packaging technology for drinks production. This involves UHT (ultra-heat treatment) sterilisation of the product and packaging in aseptic cartons so the drink could be kept for months without refrigeration.
Vitasoy started to expand into overseas markets in the 80s and 90s. Yvonne Lo, the daughter of Dr. Kwee Seong Lo, introduced their soy milks to the U.S. and Canada (Yvonne graduated from the University of Toronto and worked as city planner there for six years) in 1979–1980. Vitasoy's North American first head office opened in San Francisco in 1979 as a joint venture with Yvonne's Soy Bean Products Company NA Inc. before becoming subsidiary Vitasoy USA in 1982. With acquisition of Nasoya head office moved to Ayer, Massachusetts, in 1998. With the divesting of Nasoya in 2016, Vitasoy moved to a small office in Woburn, Massachusetts, with no production facilities in North America. In 2018 Vitasoy USA became Vitasoy North America LLC and relocated to Toronto with Woburn responsible for US market only.
Vitasoy have seen their revenue double in the past decade and reaching to almost a billion US dollars, where China (including Hong Kong) accounts for more than 80% of total sales, with the rest of the revenue coming from markets in Australia, Singapore, Philippines and additional exports going to more than 40 nations.
Development of other brands
In 1976, Vitasoy launched a series of juice drinks, and subsequently launched lemon tea, chrysanthemum tea and other drinks in 1978 and 1979.
In 1994, the firm established a new factory in Shenzhen City as the first Hong Kong foreign plant. Four years later, it established new factories in Shanghai and Ayer, Massachusetts in the United States. In 2001, it opened a manufacturing plant in Australia. In 2008, it acquired Unicurd Food Co. (Private) Ltd., a tofu manufacturing company in Singapore. Vitasoy's plants in Foshan and Wuhan, mainland China, were opened in 2011 and 2016 respectively. In 2016, Vitasoy divested certain assets of its North American operation (Nasoya, Azumaya and San Sui lines). Vitasoy USA continues its sales and distribution of Asian import beverage business in North America. Vitasoy drinks can also be purchased in the European Union and United Kingdom through local supermarket chains.
Controversy
In July 2021, Vitasoy became a target of a boycott in mainland China. Several days prior, a Vitasoy employee had randomly stabbed a Hong Kong police officer from behind, causing a 10 cm deep wound that reached the victim's lungs. The perpetrator also stabbed himself and died afterwards. The following day, certain Vitasoy employees had shared a memo calling the death of their employee unfortunate and offered condolences to his family. The memo however caused significant backlash in mainland China. The share price of Vitasoy at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange plummeted 12% on Monday 5 July 2021, the first trading day after the memo went viral on social media.
From Wikipedia’s article on Vitasoy, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5