Company History

Rita’s Recollections

When I joined Superior in 1982, it was like coming full circle. I grew up with stories of my grandparents’ tofu store, which they started in Vancouver in the 1940’s. My grandfather made tofu in an old building situated in the outskirts of Chinatown. The small, ground-level rented room served its purpose well. My grandparents lived upstairs in the same building in small living quarters. As an entrepreneur, Grandpa sold and delivered his hand-crafted tofu blocks in big white pails filled with water. He towed his old red wagon daily through the Chinatown streets delivering his tofu orders. Even back then, Vancouver’s streets had a lot of curbs, so the trek was a precarious one, with lots of water splashing everywhere.

Percy’s Recollections

When I started Superior Tofu in 1982 with my parents, Tung Lam Chan and Sui Fong Chan, we didn’t have any business plans whatsoever. All we knew was that if we worked hard and made the best tofu in town, we’d succeed. Our first location was a small 1,200 sq ft store at Commercial Street & 2nd Avenue in Vancouver, BC. We would make tofu at the rear end of the store and retail our products at the front. Our day started at 3 o’clock in the morning, 365 days a year. We worked tirelessly crafting perfect blocks of tofu to sell in the neighbourhood. On our first day of business, we made a whopping $2.00 in sales! Fortunately, word got around the neighbourhood about the quality of our tofu, and Superior Tofu soon became a thriving business. Today, 25 years and four locations later, we lead the industry in setting the highest standard of tofu manufacturing, and our annual sales are in the millions.

Click on the photo above to view a series of rare photos showing how we made tofu back in the 1960’s!

Video: 25 years of Superior Tofu

Take a trip through time as we revisit the history of Superior Tofu, from their humble beginnings in 1982 to the opening of their state-of-the-art tofu plant. Click the arrow to view.