Sunrise Soya Foods

General information

Sunrise Soya Foods began after Leslie and Susan Joe immigrated to Canada where they recognized a demand for tofu in Vancouver’s Chinese community. In 1956, Leslie & Susan began making small batches of fresh tofu in the back of their grocery store, Sunrise Market, located on the border of Vancouver’s characteristic Chinatown neighbourhood (also known as Japantown). It did not take long for Leslie and Susan to develop a strong and loyal community following. As demand for tofu products grew throughout the 60’s and 70’s, so did the size of their operation.

In 1983, factory space was purchased nearby to relocate and transition Leslie and Susan’s small tofu setup into a large scale manufacturing plant. Two years later, the production of packaged and pasteurized tofu enabled distribution to supermarkets across Western Canada.

As Sunrise’s product lines expanded, the factory added more production equipment in the 1990’s, using 30,000 square feet of space to become Canada’s largest manufacturer of tofu. In 2002, a new facility opened in Toronto to meet the growing demand for the full range of Sunrise products across North America.

From its humble beginnings of a “mom & pop” shop, Sunrise Soya Foods is proud to be an employer of over 200 Canadians. We are also proud to be one of the first companies committed to exclusively using non-GMO soybeans in our products. Today, Leslie & Susan’s son and CEO, Peter Joe, continues the commitment to quality, health and community that his parents pioneered.