DayDayCook, a Hong Kong-founded food business, has acquired US-based Thai cuisine specialist Yai’s Thai.

Both companies produce Asian flavoured ready-to-cook meals and have built up their businesses through e-commerce linked to an active online presence.

Colorado-headquartered Yai’s Thai, founded by Leland Copenhagen and his wife Sarah Hughes Copenhagen, also sells its products – including Thai curries and stir-fry sauces – through around 4,500 grocery outlets, including branches of Whole Foods Market, Sprouts, and Kroger.

DayDayCook, also known as DDC Enterprise, was founded by Noma Chu in 2012. She said the deal, for an undisclosed amount, significantly expands its presence in the US.

Chu said: "Yai’s Thai is an important addition to the DayDayCook family, as it expands our presence into key food retailers and helps increase awareness among US consumers of what DDC has to offer to the market. This marks our second acquisition in the US as we grow our Asian convenient meal solutions presence in the market.

“Founders Leland and Sarah have built an incredible foundation with so much potential to bringing new product innovations to more consumers in the US.”

Leland Copenhagen said: "We feel incredibly fortunate to find a partner whose mission and values so closely echo our own; authenticity, bold flavours and clean labels have been our guiding pillars all along. This transaction is a meaningful step in our aspirations for Yai’s Thai and will allow us to achieve the goals we have set out for the future of the brand.”

Yai’s Thai has anticipated revenues of $8m-$10m for 2023.

DayDayCook describes itself as a “leading content-driven consumer brand”, offering ready-to-heat, ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat products.

It builds brand recognition through “culinary and lifestyle content across major social media and e-commerce platforms”. It is said to have 60m active viewers in China and 3.5m paying customers there.