The JOCO Foods Company is a Toronto-based food manufacturing company specializing in creating and distributing premium unique sauces and spreads.
What they specialize in are Jaew Chili Spreads. Jaew (แจ่ว) originates from Southeast Asia and is a staple condiment using Thai red chili as its base. Every Southeast Asian family has their own unique way of making Jaew.
Chloe and Jhoan, Joco Foods' co-founders, slowly realized Jaew is not a staple in the western market. After great thought, they decided to create a unique yet versatile product that would appeal to Toronto's multicultural food scene, resulting in their Jaew Chili Spread. Since their launch in late October, they released four flavours: Jaew Chili Spread (Original), Jaew Truffle Spread, Jaew XHOT Spread and Jaew Vegan Spread.
Chloe and Jhoan are both young women from diverse backgrounds who recently moved to Toronto. Jhoan Molin (JO) is from Australia and managed to get back to Canada within six hours of the border closing last year and Chloe Man (CO) is from Calgary. Their friendship formed over the simple love of good food and they quickly found a deep love for foods from the Southeast Asian region. Both new to Toronto, they began fusing shared recipes that made them feel close to home and managed to grow their brand and a community of local supporters during the pandemic despite the risks and uncertainty.
Their Jaew Vegan Spread was just launched this week. This addition was decided after winning an Ontario Science Centre's RBC Innovator's eAuction; they had the pleasure to speak with Arlene Dickinson from Dragons' Den for an hour. They asked questions related to Joco Foods and wanted to gain better knowledge of the growing trends in the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry. Arlene has always been an advocate for sustainable and healthy products and strongly emphasized the rising trend of vegan/vegetarian and more nutritious options hitting the mainstream.
One of their long-term goals is to eventually get their spreads on Australian shelves whereby 5% of their population is vegetarian or vegan, making them second in the world for the largest population of vegans after the U.K., according to The Vegan Society.
Jhoan, the co-founder, is passionate about Women in Business and Women Supporting Women, which is why they choose to donate a portion of sales to the Riverdale Immigrant Women's Centre (RIWC). A non-profit community-based organization committed to the empowerment of women actively facilitating policy and social change. To find more information about their Jaew Chili Spreads, follow their Instagram.
