Customer Interview: How Did Ah Ma Recipe Turn Legacy Into eCommerce?

Ah Ma Recipe is an eCommerce startup founded by best friends Nathan and Matt, who created unique cookie flavors inspired by their grandmothers’ home-cooked meals. Using locally sourced ingredients and collaborating with a five-star executive chef, they developed both savory and sweet cookies that evoke childhood memories. Despite early challenges in handling product development, promotion, customer service, and especially logistics, the founders partnered with ePlus. This allowed them to outsource storage, packaging, and shipping, freeing them to focus on product innovation and O2O marketing. In just over a year, the brand successfully sold nearly ten thousand boxes during the Lunar New Year period.

Table of Content

What Inspired Ah Ma Recipe’s eCommerce Entrepreneurship?

How Did Ah Ma Recipe Create Its Unique Cookie Flavors?

What Challenges Did Ah Ma Recipe Face in Running an Online Store?

FAQ about eCommerce Logistics Challenges & ePlus Solutions

In this ePlus customer interview, we are pleasure of chatting with the founders, Nathan and Matt, of an eCommerce startup – Ah Ma Recipe. As they explained, family is everything. They wanted to capture the flavors of their grandmothers’ home-cooked meals in their products. Therefore, two young men started their ecommerce entrepreneurship to continue their grandma’s legacy.

Ah Ma Recipe’s eCommerce entrepreneurship was inspired by the desire to preserve and share the flavors of their grandmothers’ home cooking. Nathan and Matt have been best friends for over twenty years. They enjoyed the delicious dishes that Matt’s grandmother would make. As they got older, they found themselves longing for those flavors and decided to start their own business. Ah Ma Recipe target to bring those memories to life. They use locally sourced ingredients to create unique cookie flavors like “Old Friend Uncle Chan” (Chenpi Earl Grey Tea), “Onion Inside” (Bacon and Onion), “Soy Sauce Rice” (Soy Sauce and Black Truffle), and “Afternoon Tea” (Apple Cinnamon Tea). 

Their cookies are not just tasty, but also a way to remind people of their cherished childhood memories. As Matt said while enjoying a cookie, “Eating these cookies is like going back in time.” Ah Ma Recipe’s goal is to encourage people to cherish the time spent with family and to appreciate the simple happiness in life.

Ah Ma Recipe created its unique cookie flavors through careful ingredient selection and collaboration with a professional chef, even without prior food industry experience. Even a small cookie can convey the sincerity and commitment of two young entrepreneurs, Nathan and Matt. They are meticulous in their selection of ingredients and have a certain standard for taste. Although they have not worked in the food industry, they were fortunate enough to collaborate with a five-star executive chef in developing their products to build a premium eCommerce startup. They have created a series of savory cookies that are full of surprises. They include the crispy Bacon and Onion cookie, which uses Spanish pork skin, French onions, and Taiwanese shredded pork. The Soy Sauce and Black Truffle cookie contain premium soy sauce and Italian black truffle sauce, resulting in a smooth and rich flavor.

For their sweet cookies, they have the Apple Cinnamon Tea cookie, which is sweet and chewy. If you want a stronger tea taste, the Earl Grey Tea cookie, which has been paired with aged tangerine peel for 20 years, is a must-try. “Our entrepreneurship goal is to bring new taste experiences to customers. Not just stick to ordinary butter cookies,” said Nathan.

In just over a year since its eCommerce entrepreneurship, Ah Ma Recipe has received positive feedback. During the lunar new year period last year, they successfully sold nearly ten thousand boxes of cookies and bird’s nest pastries. Nathan shared that the brand’s quick recognition is due to its O2O (online-to-offline) promotion strategy. “Setting up a pop-up store offline allows customers to try and purchase our products, which increases their confidence in buying. Through comprehensive online and offline cooperation, they have laid a good foundation for their eCommerce startup.

Ah Ma Recipe faced significant challenges in managing every aspect of the business themselves, especially the time-consuming logistics of their online store. Managing the eCommerce startup is not as easy as imagined. Nathan admitted that at the beginning, they had to handle everything from product development, promotion, customer service, and logistics. “Especially with the logistics of the online store, it is very time-consuming and troublesome to handle orders, package and ship, manage inventory, and track shipments.”

“Fortunately, we found e+Solutions, which not only provides a suitable storage environment but also handles the packaging and shipping of orders from our online store, quickly and reliably delivering our products to customers. By streamlining our logistics, we can focus on promotion, development, and research of new products.” Through a comprehensive online inventory management system, Nathan and Matt have saved a lot of time and effort in handling orders and logistics, greatly improving the online shopping experience for customers.

Comparison: Handling Logistics In-House vs. Partnering with ePlus

If you also want to easily solve all your logistics problems and focus on expanding your online business, contact ePlus representatives now to find the right logistics solution for you.

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