Where Can I Buy SoyBoy Products?

It’s a question we hear every single day. Over our 40-year history in the natural and organic foods industry, SoyBoy’s simple, healthy products, the way we do business, and our commitment to quality have inspired innumerable tofu lovers (and converts) to seek us out. Our many long-time customers have shared and spread SoyBoy organic tofu and tempeh products to friends all over the USA (in some cases, outside the USA as well). Unfortunately, the evolution of the industry has not supported the growth of our geographic availability despite growing interest in our products.

Rochester & Throughout New York

Along with lilacs, jazz, and hops, great tofu is a good reason to come to Rochester. SoyBoy products are widely available throughout Western New York. Our retail products are relatively easy to locate throughout New York State and New York City, as well.

SoyBoy is Small Tofu.

Though we want to connect as many people with our products as possible, we are driven, as a company and as people, by a “Small is Beautiful” philosophy. We are a very small company with limited regional distribution, and for many reasons both simple and complex, we do not currently and are unlikely in the future to distribute beyond the Northeastern United States. If you are a natural food shopper and haven’t found our products in your local stores, then they’re probably not available to you. It is by staying small that we maintain the quality and consistency of our product and the people-first focus of our company.

Now, for those interested in the whole story…

When Westerners began making tofu and tempeh in the late 1970s, many of us identified as so-called hippies. As awareness of the relationship between a meatless diet and good health became better understood, the demand for plant protein products grew. Today the industry is dominated by huge moneyed corporations who control what is on the retail shelf.

In contrast, Andy and Norman began SoyBoy with small loans from many friends totaling about $7000. We enjoyed having a small business dedicated to making the best quality products.

As the soyfoods industry grew (with large mainstream retailers entering the picture), we found it more difficult to have our products placed because we lacked the money for sales and marketing fees. Rather than bring in financial partners to fund these costs, we decided to stay small. We did not want to have financial partners which would dramatically change the nature of our work environment and the high quality of our products.

Many years later, things are pretty much the same, as Andy and Norman still come to work daily.

Your requests for our products make us proud of the quality production facility we have invested in and the people who have worked here for many years. We have been able to pay people more, make their jobs easier, and maintain a high level of food safety and quality. Before it became a political issue, we instituted a minimum wage of $15 per hour for entry-level workers, and we have been told that the benefits we offer are virtually unsurpassed.

But everything in business is a tradeoff, and our emphasis on wages and benefits for our workers means there is less money available for sales, marketing, and product placement fees. That is why it is still difficult to find SoyBoy items outside of the Northeast, even though SoyBoy does have some limited distribution in other areas.

These days, with so much competition between food retailers, the customer has more power than before to influence retailers to bring in new products. If you can’t seem to find the SoyBoy item you want, ask your retailer, and they may be able to source it for you.

We appreciate your interest in SoyBoy products and offer our sincere regrets to those of you who cannot locate them.

With gratitude,

Norman and Andy