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Buena Park-based Walong Marketing Inc. hopes to become the biggest Asian food distributor in the country by working its way up to mainstream American supermarkets.
But, for now, the company is focusing on its mainstay customer-the venerable Asian comer store.
"Most of our customers are mom-and-pop type stores that range in size from 7,000 to 40,000 square feet," said Walong project manager Jonson Chen. "We don't serve many of the larger grocery chains as yet."
One chain it does do business with is the 99 Ranch Market, owned by Tawa Supermarkets Inc., the sister company of the year-old Walong.
Roger Chen, Jonson's father, helms both Walong and Tawa. The Chens came to the U.S. during the 1980s from Taipei, Taiwan.
Tawa in 1999 counted $189 million in revenue, putting it at No. 3 on the Business Journal's list of minority-owned businesses. Walong expects to generate about $2 million in revenue this year.
Walong, already one of the biggest Asian food distributors in California, handles a colorful mix of more than...