Two college buddies started a frozen dim sum side hustle and they keep selling out in Ontario

Two friends who met in college with a family legacy of producing great dim sum products decided to translate those items to the frozen aisle, and now they keep selling out.

Dimmies was created by Justin Heo and Bryan Jok, self-described third culture kids whose families have decades of experience producing wholesale dim sum products like pork soup dumplings.

“The mission of Dimmies was simple – to help more Canadians experience the joy of Asian cuisine,” Heo tells YourCityWithIN.com.

“We wanted to represent Asian cuisine in a way that was convenient and accessible, modern and approachable, all while maintaining cultural authenticity.”

The pair had noticed that Asian cuisine and restaurants that reflect a true nostalgia for traditional flavours and regional cuisines have been blowing up lately, especially in Toronto with restaurants like Mott 32, Mimi, aKin and pop-ups like Yan’s Dining Room.

“All these restaurants represent Asian cuisine in a way that screams ‘we’re living in 2025,’ without straying from the nostalgic flavours,” says Heo.

“This phenomenon hasn’t yet translated into the grocery aisle. The Asian offerings that are widely available for Canadians on shelf and online today are mainly inauthentic, use low quality ingredients, and frankly wouldn’t pass a taste test in any Asian household. That’s where Dimmies comes in. We believe that a modern Asian food brand that promises delicious, authentic, restaurant-quality products that are convenient to make at home can change the landscape of Asian cuisine in retail.”

They’re revolutionizing the way people think about dim sum items with hopes of making people think of them as more of a household staple. Part of the way they want to bend tradition to play with that notion includes offering vegan and vegetarian versions of their xiao long bao, compared to their more traditional pork soup dumpling option. They’re hoping to have products like that available within the next year.

Jok and Heo currently still work day jobs while operating Dimmies on evenings and weekends, and laid the groundwork for the launch for about a year before officially firing up their ecommerce site in December 2024.

“It really felt like a big middle school science project with boxes and packing material scattered all over Bryan’s living room as we ran different stress tests on various packaging setups as we prepared to launch,” says Heo.

“Figuring out how to get our product, which we ship frozen, to stay frozen while in transit, has been incredibly challenging. It took months of testing. From choosing the right 3PL delivery partner who could deliver our products fast, to testing what ratio of dry ice to product we needed to keep Dimmies frozen in transit, to optimizing our packaging to provide sufficient insulation without using an excessive amount of materials that customers would have to dispose of.”

Those were far from the only challenges Dimmies faced: they also once had to think fast when a new landlord took over their headquarters and they had to find a new space with only three days notice. Despite it all, they’ve persevered to become wildly successful.

Dimmies has grown a lot, seeing demand nearly double month after month and selling out three times since they launched. Before this year even ends, they’re planning on launching two new products and expanding into retail stores across southwestern Ontario, and in 2026 they’re hoping to expand their direct-to-consumer operations and retail presence across Canada overall.

For now, Dimmies products can be purchased online through their own website and at Phancy’s Bodega.