Flavor savers: now that 'wasabi has gone mainstream,' Fusion Gourmet Inc. has started stocking shelves of upscale markets with Asian treats.

ABC sweet soy is the Indonesian equivalent of Heinz ketchup--so much so that a family can easily finish off a 21-ounce bottle of the molasses-like sauce in a week.

But when the owners of Fusion Gourmet Inc. started marketing the product for U.S. supermarkets, they found that Americans were a bit confused about the concept of sweet soy sauce.

"Why is it sweet?" Steve Liaw, the company's chief financial officer, figured American consumers might wonder. "The name doesn't make sense."

After several iterations, including "Sweet Seduction" and "Fatal Attraction," they settled on "Asian Barbeque"--somehow combining Asian and American tastes.

Such melding is the aim of Gardena-based Fusion Gourmet, which imports Indonesian food products that are supplied by Indonesia's sauce giant PT ABC Central for distribution in U.S. stores. Fusion Gourmet repackages and markets the products to appeal to Americans.

Altering products to fit the food vocabularies and palates of consumers was part of Annie Chu's pedigree long before she started the business in 1996. Chu's grandfather began PT ABC Central 40 years ago by selling the traditional salty soy sauce, but switched to sweet soy as there was more room to capture the market.

"We realized that the population had a sweeter palate in Indonesia, so that was the beginning of tailoring products to consumers," said Chu.

Reaching L.A. market

After graduating from Cornell University in 1995, Chu returned to her native Indonesia, where she worked in her grandfather's export division--still just 3 percent of sales--and pushed to expand the company's international reach. Chu took aim at the American market. "We have about 250 million people here, as well with deeper pockets, bigger buying power," she said.

Los Angeles proved to be an ideal location--starting with Asian grocery stores. The challenge wasn't so much familiarizing customers with ABC products--the name was established in many countries--but in setting up distribution channels.

"Most of the Asian market is very fragmented, so you need to have multiple layers of distribution in order to get the product to each of the morn-and-pop stores," said Liaw, who is married to Chu and had been in software and investment banking before joining the family business. (Chu is due to deliver the couple's second child this month.)

The quickest way to gain entrance was to give distributors exclusive rights to handle the company's products. "If there was too much competition, none of these distributors would care too much to push your products," he said.

In Asian grocery markets, Fusion Gourmet's sweet soy products look like they do in Asia, with the ABC sweet soy name and packaged in red and yellow labeling that's typical in Asian stores.

By 2003, the company had penetrated nearly all of the Asian market, but Chu recognized that substantial growth required entrance into general supermarkets and groceries. A line of sauces was packaged as being all natural, fat free, and with no MSG or preservatives--important calling cards for American sensibilities--but they were still items that would, at best, be purchased once every few weeks.

"Having the consumer come back every month is not good enough. We want them to come back every week or multiple times a week so we expanded into snack foods," said Chu.

The first offering was a line of candies made up of fruits such as mango and honeydew. Then came coffee candies that have been the hottest sellers to date, making up one-third of the company's revenues. A latte flavor is in the works.

Carl Smith, a specialty food and candy buyer for Bristol Farms, said it was tenacity that got Fusion Gourmet into the high-end grocery sector. "They seem to be a very upbeat, very young company, and (they) really want to get it out there and teach the consumers about the uniqueness of their products," he said.

Fusion Gourmet's coffee candy and Asian sauce lines have been in Bristol Farms stores for about two months. With most products, Smith said, a six-month trial run is given to see if the product moves off the shelves. "We are taking a chance and seeing what happens," he said.

The betting is that Asian foods have assimilated into mainstream diets to the point where they have a shot. One idea is expanding Fusion Gourmet's line of instant rice meals, which offer convenience and a little something different from the dried noodle products that saturate the markets.

"More and more what we found is that consumers are looking for bolder, more flavorful foods," said Sandra Liaw, Fusion Gourmet's marketing director and Steve's sister. "Suddenly, citrus ginger soy doesn't sound that intimidating anymore, and wasabi is becoming mainstream."

PROFILE

Fusion Gourmet Inc.

Year Founded: 1996

Core Business: Indonesian food products

Revenues in 2003: $2.4 million

Revenues in 2004: $3.2 million

Employees in 2003: 4

Employees in 2004: 4

Goal: To grow sales at a 30 percent annual clip Driving Force: Developing high quality, tasty products to expand the company's reach in mainstream American markets