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Baozza Review — Mark Cuban Investment
Founders of Baozza
Baozza was founded in 2016 by long-time friends Alex Cree and Loren Heinold, two Americans living and working in Beijing, China, who were both huge fans of street stalls selling “baozi” (包子) which are a type of steamed bun with filling inside. While on the road one day, Alex began thinking about the different types of fillings that could go inside a bao, which led to the idea for pizza baozi, or what it is known today as Baozza. Loren had been working in Beijing’s food scene as a successful western restaurant founder and saw firsthand China’s growing appetite for western foods including pizza. As a fluent Mandarin speaker, she was eager to make their mark in one of the world’s most storied culinary scenes, and the two joined forces to bring Baozza to life in China.
From here, Alex and Loren became business partners. After some heavy research, development, trial and error, and aided by local bao makers, the two built popular stores and delivery kitchens in Beijing and Shanghai. Later, Mark Cuban invested in Baozza (his first and only investment in a Chinese operation) and realized their pizza bao creation would be a hit in the U.S. Today, Baozza is a multi-national company with Loren running the business in Beijing and Alex running the U.S. operation in Los Angeles.
