Daniel Bae’s journey from professional musician to master meat processor
Words Lauren Kramer
Photography Martin Knowles
It was May 2022 and Vancouverite Daniel Bae was on his way to Germany to compete in an event considered the Olympics of sausage-makers worldwide. There were over 2,000 products entered in the Deutscher Fleischer-Verband competition, and the more than 50 presiding judges were master butchers with incredibly discriminating palates.
Daniel entered 28 products from his six-year-old company Bae Food Group, which was unique in that it had intentionally had no sales to date.
“We wanted to make sure we were making really good meat products before we started selling,” he explained.
When he walked off with 28 medals—26 gold and two silver—Daniel knew he was onto something. Though his quest to make great meats was far from over, this was the confirmation he needed that he was off to a good start.
Bae Food Group is a food processor operating out of Edmonton, in a facility with distribution capabilities across Canada and into the US. But its founder’s immersion into the culinary world would have seemed unlikely even 10 years ago.
A classical violinist who has performed as a soloist with international orchestras, 42-year-old Daniel was born in Germany and moved to Burnaby with his family as a child. He graduated high school in Burnaby and enrolled at UBC, initially intending to study medicine. But music drew him to Mainz, Germany, where he studied violin at Johannes Gutenberg University, graduating in 2007.
“After my studies, my family wanted me to come back to Canada, work in construction and operate hotels, our family business,” he said. “I did this for a while until I realized that my real passions are creating food and music. And, I found out, I’m good at both!”
In 2016 Daniel began his culinary work, focusing on Asian and European meat products that are traditional in other countries but not sold in North America. Bae Food Group’s products include Korean-style sausages, Japanese-style cocktail sausages, frozen products such as Korean barbecue, and cevapcici, an eastern European skinless meat that’s a national street food in many of the Balkan countries. Next year the company will release its jerky products.
“I’m a firm believer in the farm-to-table concept, so we work with local farmers in Alberta and across Canada. And that’s really why we are based in Alberta, where the good meat is,” Daniel said.
Being German was an asset when it came to understanding meat, as the country is famous for its sausages and meat products.
“I grew up in the heart of Munich, known as the sausage capital of Germany, which means I tasted the best German meat products,” Daniel said.
When Daniel returned from the competition in Germany, discussions with grocery stores began in earnest, and Bae Food Group’s brands—among them Tasty Meat Snacks, Chef’s Grill, Premium Korean BBQ, Bacon2Go, Peppe Skinless Pepperoni and Oppa’s Korean BBQ—are now available at H-Mart and most Asian supermarkets. Talks are in progress with mainstream distribution channels and by the year’s end those brands will be readily available across BC and Alberta—and soon, across Canada.
Daniel has big dreams for his company.
“Once we’re across Canada we want to make our products available in the US, too,” he said. “We’re not a small butcher—we purchased machines that can produce up to 4,000 kg per hour, and I believe we’ll become one of the largest ethnic meat and jerky producers in the coming years.”
Far from just appealing to Asian and European buyers, Daniel believes his products will have widespread appeal to all consumers, and market studies back this up.
“Those studies have shown our product will sell better at a non-ethnic retailer because there’s such a limited availability of ethnic meat products available. Go to any grocery store and you won’t see many Asian meat products,” he said. “With our barbecue meats you can enjoy a warm meal of thinly sliced beef bulgogi or Korean barbecue ready in five minutes at home. There’s nothing else like that.
“In North America, cocktail sausages usually contain the cheapest byproduct,” he noted. “From this most neglected category, we’re trying to make the very best products.”
Daniel counts chef Michel Jacob from Le Crocodile as a mentor and friend who has taught him the value of perfection and consistency. He was also influenced by Jim Pattison when he met the Vancouver icon recently.
“Jim taught me the definition of being humble, as well as how to treat my staff,” he said.
When he’s not refining his meat products, Daniel is playing Mozart or Vivaldi on the violin, much of the time playing by heart.
“I’m really good at improvising with music, and that carries over into my work in the kitchen,” he explained. “I try to create foods that are very artistic by taking something that’s popular in one culture and combining it with something popular in another. I love to be really creative with the food I make, and to think outside of the box.”
One thing Daniel is sure of is that there is always, always room for improvement—even when you’ve just won 28 medals at an international competition.
“After we were awarded the prizes, I went to the judges and implored them to talk with me about how we could improve,” he recalled. “You always have to try to make things better.”
2022 年 5 月，溫哥華人Daniel Bae 前往德國，參加一項被公認為全球香腸製造商奧運會的賽事—Deutscher Fleischer-Verbandes。與超過 2000 種產品同臺競技，50 多名主審評委都是具有令人難以置信辨味能力的屠宰大師。
Bae 帶著自己公司 Bae Food Group 的 28 種產品參賽。這家公司已成立 6 年，它的獨特之處在於：迄今為止著意未作零售。 Bae 解釋說：「我們想在開始銷售之前確保生產出非常好的肉食產品。」
當 Bae 帶著 28 枚獎牌—26 枚金牌和 2 枚銀牌離開賽會時，他知道自己找對了方向。儘管對製作優質肉類產品的追求還遠未結束，但這次得獎確認了他的路走對了，這正是他需要的確認，換句話說他有個良好的開始。
Bae Food Group 是一家設在埃德蒙頓郊區的的食品加工商，其工廠擁有遍布加拿大和美國的分銷能力。回想10年前的一切，有誰能想像如今 42 歲的 Bae 竟會搖身一變，沉浸在烹飪世界中。
Bae 原是位古典小提琴家，曾在國際管弦樂隊中擔任獨奏。他出生於德國，小時候隨家人移居本拿比，高中畢業後就讀 UBC。最初他打算學習醫學，但音樂把他吸引到德國 Mainz，在 Gutenberg University 學習小提琴，並於 2007 年畢業。
「完成學業後，家人希望我回到加拿大，從事建築工作並經營酒店，這是我們家族的企業，」Bae說：「我做了一段時間，直至我意識到我真正的熱情是製造食物和音樂。我發現這兩方面我都很擅長！」
2016 年，Bae 開始了他的烹飪工作，專注於在北美沒有銷售的亞洲和歐洲傳統肉類產品。包括：韓式香腸、日式雞尾酒香腸、韓國燒烤等冷凍產品和東歐去皮肉cevapcici，這是巴爾幹國家的街頭食品。明年，該公司將推出肉乾產品。
「我堅信從農場到餐桌的概念，因此我們與阿省和加拿大各地的農民合作。這就是我們將總部設在阿省的真正原因，那裡出生產的肉食質量最好。」他說。
就讀於德國的Bae深知肉類方面德國人的強項，德國香腸和肉類產品世界聞名。他說：「我在被稱為德國香腸之都的慕尼黑市中心長大，這意味著我品嘗過最好的德國肉製品。」
從德國比賽回來後，Bae開始了與分銷商的洽談，Bae的品牌—包括 Tasty Meat Snacks、Chef’s Grill、Premium Korean BBQ、Bacon2Go、Peppe Skinless Pepperoni 和 Oppa’s Korean BBQ等，現在可以在H-Mart和大多數亞洲超市買得到。與主流分銷商的蹉商亦在進行中，到了今年底，這些產品將會在卑詩省和阿省，以及很快在加拿大各地上市。
Bae對他公司有著遠大的理想。「一旦我們的產品遍布加拿大，希望在美國也能買得到我們的產品，」他說：「我們不是一個小機構—我們購買了每小時可生產 4000 公斤產品的機器，我相信在未來幾年，我們將成為最大的肉食和肉乾生產商之一。」
Bae相信他的產品不僅會吸引亞洲和歐洲買家，而且對所有消費者都有吸引力，市場研究也證實了這一點。「這些研究表示，我們的產品在非族裔零售商處賣得更好，因為族裔肉類產品非常有限。去任何一家雜貨店，你都不會看到很多亞洲肉類產品，」他堅持說：「有了我們的燒烤肉，你可以在家中五分鐘內享用已經準備好切成了薄片的烤牛肉或韓式燒烤熱餐。市面上，沒有其他相類似的產品可相提並論。」
「在北美，雞尾酒香腸通常含有最便宜的食材，」他指出：「從這個最被忽視的類別中，我們正努力製造出最好的產品。」
Bae將Le Crocodile的主廚Michel Jacob視為導師和朋友，從他那裏，Bae知曉了完美和水準一致的重要性。最近，當 Bae遇到他的溫哥華偶像Jim Pattison時，也受到啟發：「Jim 教會了我謙虛的定義，以及如何善待我的員工。」
工作之餘， Bae會用小提琴演奏莫扎特或Vivaldi，大部分時間都是在心中演奏。 「我非常擅長即興創作音樂，這也延續到了我在廚房中的工作，」他解釋道：「我嘗試將一種文化中的流行元素與另一種文化中的流行元素相結合，從而創造出極具藝術性的食物。我喜歡以真正的創意來製作食物，並跳出框架來思考。」
Bae確信的一件事是，總是有進步的空間，即使你剛剛在國際比賽中獲得28枚獎牌。 「在我們獲獎後，我去找評委，懇請他們與我討論如何改進，」他回憶道：「你仍需努力, 讓事情變得更加完美。」
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