Love Sum has secured a Sainsbury’s listing for six of its chilled dumpling products.
Hoisin Duck Dumplings; Chicken & Kimchi Mandu; Prawn Hargow; Pork, Prawn & Shiitake Siumai; Korean BBQ Beef Mandu; and Shiitake & Veg Jiaozi have hit the supermarket today (1 January), each with an rsp of £4.95 for eight.
The rollout anticipates Lunar New Year (17 February), “one of the most important seasonal occasions for dumpling consumption worldwide”, according to Love Sum, which has an ambition to make “fresh, authentic dumplings as accessible as chilled pasta”.
Love Sum was co-founded by MasterChef finalist Sandy Tang and David Solomon in 2020.
Tang appeared on Dragons’ Den last January, securing a £50k investment from Peter Jones in return for 20% of the business, with the equity stake dropping to 10% once he gets his money back.
By the time Tang appeared on Dragons’ Den, Love Sum had already secured listings in Booths and Selfridges, as well as selling its dumplings through q-commerce players such as GoPuff and Zapp. Despite this, some of the dragons questioned its plans to move to a larger manufacturing facility without securing a major grocery listing.
However, securing an Ocado listing in February, followed by the Sainsbury’s listing for 2026, had “validated the founders’ strategy”, said the brand.
Scaling up
Love Sum now manufacturers its dumplings in an 18,000 sq ft facility in Reading, including a 9,000 sq ft production area and a dedicated development kitchen for recipe innovation. The move was funded by a £2m family and friends round.
“With our new facility, we’re not just scaling production tenfold, we’re cementing our position as the UK’s only chilled dumpling manufacturer, bringing premium, restaurant-quality dumplings to shoppers across the country,” said Solomon.
“The Sainsbury’s launch proves investing in UK-made production was the right decision,” said Tang.
“Between our new facility, booming on-trend range and nationwide rollout, it’s clear the category is ready for growth and we’re only just getting started.”
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