The Hodo Difference

Hodo team at the farmers market, celebrating our fifteenth year.

You want to eat better.

We make it easy & delicious.

We only make plant-based foods you’ll love, whether you’re a meat-eater, a vegetarian, or anything in between.

The Hodo team works hard every day to create the most delicious foods imaginable using real foods. And while our flavors are rich and complex, making lunch or dinner with Hodo is simple. Just pop open a package, and you'll have an amazing meal in just minutes (if not seconds!).

Always Plant-Based. Always Delicious.

We started with one stall at the farmers’ market in California about twenty years ago. Today, we continue to cook with the freshest, organic ingredients. We have won numerous awards for being delicious, and for our sustainable practices. With Hodo, you don’t have to choose between the two. We are a team of food makers and artisans obsessed with handcrafting delicious foods made from plants. We put our whole hearts into Hodo because we don’t want to just be a healthy alternative to your favorite food. We want to be your favorite food. Period.

Hodo Team members Vanessa and Chanthi going over plans for the day

Hodo Team Member Vanessa, working in the Hodo factory

Hodo Team Member Trinh holding a box of Hodo Extra Firm Tofu

Hodo Team Member Oanh posing inside the Hodo factory

Process of crafting yuba sheets inside Hodo factory

Our Process

It starts with the ingredients we use. Everything we make uses fresh, certified organic beans and plants grown on American farms we know and trust. In the Hodo kitchen, our team handcrafts our foods using traditional methods and a ton of love and care. That means good things for you, like the fact that our tofu has 50% more protein than others you’ve tried. It’s also why our products are so much better than anything else out there: ridiculously fresh, amazing texture, and rich, complex flavors that will forever change the way you experience plant-based foods.

Process of crafting tofu inside the Hodo factory

The guy who STARTED IT

Minh Tsai
Founder & CEO

Today, Hodo is one of the most original and sought after plant-based brands in the US. But Vietnamese refugee Minh Tsai never expected he’d be running such a company. Minh simply decided to make the delicious, organic artisan foods he grew up eating in Vietnam, but found elusive in the US. He started with one farmer’s market stand in the San Francisco Bay Area almost 20 years ago.

Through innovating his own take on wholesome, traditional methods, Hodo products quickly became must-have ingredients for renowned chefs. Now, Hodo is found in ingredient-driven restaurants from Chipotle to Benu and Daniel, and in thousands of retail stores nationwide including Whole Foods Markets, Sprouts and Target.

Before entering the food business, Minh worked in investment banking, software and management consulting. He has a BA & MA from Columbia University.

The guy who helped make it happen

John Notz
Founding Partner & CFO

In 2005, John Notz was working on an organic farm and consulting for food businesses while on the lookout for an up-and-coming artisan food company to partner with for the long-term. He’d spent years working in China where he ate a lot of tofu (and even earned a championship title in a dumpling-eating contest!), so when he met Minh, he knew instantly he had found his perfect match. John loved Hodo’s bold, innovative approach to turning plants into delicious, protein-rich foods and joined forces with Minh to help build and expand Hodo’s business beyond our humble farmer’s market beginnings.

Before entering the food business, John worked in the mobile and software industries, primarily in China and Silicon Valley. He is active in real estate development and volunteers as an advisor to a variety of social ventures. He has a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.