Peter Sung was born in South Korea during the 1980s and grew up in Hong Kong where his parents opened one of the first authentic Korean restaurants. While Peter eventually moved to the U.S. where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and pursued a career in finance, he always imagined being an entrepreneur like his father. However, even after a decade of working in venture capital and knowledge of product design, he never had the right product to launch a company.
At the height of the pandemic, Peter and his wife moved to the suburbs with their newborn son. It wasn’t until Peter was working from home during the pandemic in his new suburban home that he realized how stressful preparing daily meals had become. Before the pandemic, he often cooked up a storm on weekends for dinner parties, but now he was balancing his work, family life, and the routine of cooking every single meal at home. He was also too far from the bustling metropolis of New York City to easily access food he really enjoyed eating. Peter initially leaned on takeout and frozen meals, but with a one-year old, he felt too guilty to make this a long-term solution. Peter explored meal kits, but became more frustrated with the available options. He didn’t see the point in paying for a service that sent him raw ingredients to dice, peel, and prepare himself.
Peter thought meal kit services had to be better than what he was seeing. Many of them provided dishes from different cuisines, but he wasn’t impressed. They couldn’t replicate the authentic Asian food he experienced in New York City, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai and the other areas he had lived in. Peter realized this must be an opportunity for not only an authentic Asian meal kit, but a fully prepared one too. He was determined to use his knowledge to produce something that was centered on accessible Asian food rather than the convenience meal kits were pushing to customers.
To break the stigma of meal kits, Chef Sung was born. Peter ditched the broken model of meal kits that had surfaced before grocery delivery was available. He saw the cracks in its principles and didn’t see it as something difficult to sidestep. He designed recipes to combine ingredients so they could easily be added to dishes simultaneously while reducing the amount of packaging. He also wanted to differentiate Chef Sung by including fresh sauces for every recipe. This would help his customers avoid a shelf full of sauces they rarely used.
After operating for a short time, Peter noticed two strong types of customers enjoying his meal service. People that cooked authentic food at home, but now have limited time and energy –usually due to young children– and people living in the suburbs. He had even read a 2019 study about spatial and cultural friction barring foodies from cooking Asian food. Mostly it was because Asian grocery stores were out of their reach, but also because non-Asians didn’t feel knowledgeable about preparing the cuisine. This insight allowed Peter to understand customers outside of his community that would enjoy his products. For this reason, he decided that expanding his company past New York City was crucial to reach potential customers and beat his competitors. Introducing nationwide shipping would bring authentic dishes into every home that craved them.
Peter hopes to eliminate the hours Americans spend prepping meals and bring them a solution that can compete with their favorite restaurants. He believes food brings people together and plans to continue doing so with Chef Sung.
Chef Sung founder Peter Sung says, “When I was traveling often for work, I spent long periods struggling to find authentic meals or simple ingredients to make comfort foods. It was quite frustrating, but I assumed it was because there was no demand. However, here in the US, it seems that people really enjoy Asian cuisines, but they don’t have a reliable source to cook it at home. So, Chef Sung has become an avenue to utilize my engineering skills and develop a new product that increases accessibility to something truly authentic.”
About Chef Sung
Chef Sung is a meal kit company co-founded in 2023 by Peter Sung. They specialize in authentic Asian meal delivery services and offer prepped dishes that are simple to cook and enjoy. Chef Sung is headquartered in New York City and ships nationwide in the United States.
Media Contact:
Name: Peter Sung
Email: [email protected]
