ORANGE — A Utah-based organization has acquired Chef Myron’s Fine Foods, the Orange company that was started 35 years ago by one man with a pushcart.
The company — now brand — is known for its Asian fusion cooking sauces, and will continue business as usual after being purchased by JMH Premium, a Salt Lake City company that manufacturers and distributes a variety of rubs, sauces, gravies, marinades, drinks and desserts.
According to statements from both Chef Myron’s and JMH Premium, the acquisition will be seamless and customers will still be able to order sauces the same way they always have.
“I am so thankful to find a company to carry on our legacy of creating and producing high-quality Asian fusion sauces,” said Wendell resident Myron Becker, founder of Chef Myron’s. “It gives me great comfort to know that our customers will be receiving the same premium service and premium flavor that we have dedicated our lives to for the past 35 years.”
Woodley Wardell, formerly the director of operations with Chef Myron’s Fine Foods who has a six-month contract with JMH Premium to help manage the transition, said Becker will teach JMH Premium how to make the sauces. To his knowledge, the sauces will continue to be labeled as Chef Myron’s sauces, and the Orange location at 131 West Main St. will remain open.
Chef Myron’s products fall in line with JMH Premium’s in that both are sold to a variety of food service operations, from educational institutions to caterers, country clubs and white tablecloth restaurants.
“It is a rare opportunity to find a company that shares our passion and commitment to premium quality, and we are grateful that Chef Myron and his team have created such a fine line of ready-to-use products that will meet the ever-expanding needs of our customers,” said JMH Premium CEO Kevin Dulin.
According to a statement from JMH Premium, Chef Myron’s line of products will be distributed far and wide to casinos and other institutions throughout North America. The change will also provide Chef Myron’s customers with a new array of products from JMH Premium.
Becker established Chef Myron’s in 1984, drawing inspiration from his time serving in the U.S. Navy in Yokohama, Japan, in the early 1960s. He studied the sauces of chefs working at Japanese yakitori houses, even hiding behind barrels in the back of the restaurant to learn the chefs’ secrets.
When he came back to the U.S., Becker started “Myron’s #1 Yakitori,” a food concession that started as a pushcart on the streets of Amherst in 1984. The company grew from the pushcart to a large trailer selling goods at music festivals, to a food product manufacturing and retail company in the 1990s.
“We are confident that JMH Premium will carry on our mission of designing and supplying products of the highest culinary integrity, which empower professional cooks to prepare meals of superior quality with greater ease and speed,” Becker said.
Reach David McLellan at dmclellan@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 268.