Phoenix Bean Tofu Rises Farther
Photo by Bob Benenson
[Note: This article features Naturally Chicago Board member Jenny Yang, owner and president of Chicago’s Phoenix Bean Tofu company. The article was originally published in the Local Food Forum newsletter.]
There are ribbon cuttings, and then there are ribbon cuttings that signify that a longtime friend has taken a big step forward in a local business that promotes better for people, better for the planet principals.
The latter occurred October 20 as Jenny Yang, president of Chicago’s Phoenix Bean Tofu, held the official opening for her new production facility just down the block from the company’s headquarters in the Edgewater neighborhood.
The plant is filled with customized equipment imported from her native Taiwan. It will allow Yang to greatly increase her capacity and purchase more soybeans from regional farmers, fulfilling a commitment that enabled her to obtain a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to build the facility.
The event drew none other than Illinois U.S. Sen. Richard J. Durbin, whose office greatly assisted Yang and her team in navigating some challenges in the USDA’s grant-making process and enabled them to bring this business-building project to fruition. (Durbin and Yang are holding the big ceremonial scissors at the ribbon cutting in the above photo.)
I can’t pretend to be objective about Jenny Yang. I first met her during my early rounds at Green City Market after Barb and I moved to Chicago and at the first FamilyFarmed Good Food Expo events that I attended and where she was an exhibitor. In 2014-15, Jenny was in the first entrepreneur cohort of FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Accelerator, started by Jim Slama, the organization’s founder [and now Managing Director of Naturally Chicago].
But even if we weren’t longtime acquaintances, I’d still be enthusiastic about her products, which include tofu in plain, flavored and fried varieties; delicious and popular tofu salads; fresh tofu noodles; newly introduced tofu-based dips; and soy milk. Since the first time I tasted her products, I’ve said that it is the only tofu I’ve eaten that has a flavor profile of its own, with a distinctly vegetal taste.
Her products are marketed under the Phoenix Bean brand and also the Jenny’s Tofu label at Whole Foods Market stores. A full list of where you can find their products can be found by clicking here.
Here are some more photos from the event, including a primer on how tofu gets made. Congratulations and wishes for much success to Jenny Yang and Phoenix Bean.
Phoenix Bean President Jenny Yang provided background on the tofu company to Illinois U.S. Sen. Richard J. Durbin prior to the October 20 ribbon cutting for the new production facility. Photo by Bob Benenson.
Phoenix Bean’s new tofu processing facility has a full suite of state-of-the-art equipment obtained from Taiwan, from which company president Jenny Yang emigrated first to attend college. Photo by Bob Benenson.