Weee! taps Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu in push for grocery

Online grocery start-up Weee! specializes in hard-to-find foods from Asian and Hispanic cuisines. It nabbed another kind of rarity earlier this year: A big Hollywood name in its executive suite.

The company hired Jon M. Chu, director of “Crazy Rich Asians” and the film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights,” as its chief creative officer. Chu is bringing his storytelling expertise from the movies, in which food and culture play a central role, to an in-house team of about 10 people that spotlights unique dishes and the ingredients needed to make them — sold on the ever-expanding Weee! online platform.

Chu said he imagines bringing unconventional features to the online grocer, like playlists of songs customers could listen to while cooking or a follow-up email they might receive about the history of items they’ve purchased.

“To me, this was more important than just doing a job for a start-up,” he said. “This was about my storytelling taking new form.”

Weee! sells more than 10,000 products, from cuisine-specific items such as kimchi and frozen shrimp dumplings to staples like milk, bananas and chicken breasts. Shoppers can browse the company’s website and app in different languages, including English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Korean or Spanish. On the app, shoppers can also order takeout from more than 1,000 restaurants.

The San Francisco Bay Area-based start-up now delivers fresh groceries to 18 states and shelf-stable products to all lower 48 states. It has eight fulfillment centers across the country, in states including Washington to New Jersey, where orders are packed and shipped.

The company is trying to stand out in a fragmented space — and previewing how grocery shopping online could look in the future. The grocer’s app and website shake up the typical experience of online food shopping to make it more social and immersive.

Weee! encourages customers to upload videos of recipes and favorite foods to its app through a TikTok-like feature. Shoppers can buy snacks and ingredients featured in those videos with a click of a button. They get discounts if they refer a friend or family member and can share custom coupons for the items they recently purchased.

“We just believe that food shopping shouldn’t be like what we see today,” founder and CEO Larry Liu said. “It should be much, much better, much, much more inspiring and fun.”

Over the past two years, consumers have embraced new ways to fill up fridges and developed expanded palates while cooking more at home. That inspired some to try meal kits, get groceries delivered to their doors or use curbside pickup.

The pandemic sparked growth for Weee! The privately held, venture-backed start-up declined to share its total customers and revenue,…