BC Business
Chen's Vancouver company helps Chinese clients connect with the English-speaking community
Founder, Ripple Marketing, and partner, The Global Xchange (TGX)
Life Story: Jeanne Chen moved to Canada from China when she was six years old, but she has always remained deeply connected to her homeland—and like many immigrants and children of immigrants, that connection is felt strongest around the dining table. “Food brings people together. It fosters a sort of interpersonal harmony and this desire to understand each other,” says Chen. The Vancouverite started her career as a food blogger with a focus on Chinese cuisine, and soon local restaurants were reaching out to her to ask for help with their marketing… especially when the COVID pandemic began. “There was a lot of negative press about the Chinese restaurant community, and I wanted to fight back,” Chen says.
Her work at digital marketing agency Ripple and at executive service and cultural consulting company TGX aims to bridge a gap between clients and customers. Through translation services, market research, optimizing social media accounts, partnering with local influencers and giving advice for HR training, she helps Chinese-speaking restaurateurs connect with the English-speaking community.
Bottom Line: Chen’s restaurant success stories include Richmond’s Grill Party (the late-night BBQ joint’s social media saw a 55-percent increase in followers after Ripple took over) and Burnaby’s Top Wok Dim Sum Express (sales revenue for the all-day dim sum spot octupled). She takes on non-restaurant clients, too—a renewed email marketing approach resulted in a 5x increase in newsletter clicks for Crazy8s Film Society, and Red Chamber’s Emergence Music Mentorship event hosted 200 in-person and 15,000 online attendees thanks to a fresh digital strategy.