When people migrate, food follows, and new flavors emerge. Documentaries often portray this as one of the core engines of culinary exchange.
Historically, one of the most transformative food migrations occurred during the Age of Discovery: the Columbian Exchange. Through new sea routes, American crops such as potatoes, tobacco, cocoa, tomatoes, and chili peppers reached the Old World. In return, sugarcane, wheat, and cattle were brought to the Americas, reshaping indigenous diets and livelihoods.
Today, a new kind of culinary migration is underway. Chinese restaurant chains are expanding internationally, offering everything from bubble tea and dim sum to hotpot and malatang. Rather than serving only as occasional dining options, some brands are working to integrate Chinese flavors into everyday meals for local consumers.
Whether aspiring to become “the McDonald’s of Chinese food” or simply seeking to serve overseas Chinese communities, these companies are shaping the evolving landscape of global food exchange.
A new wave of restaurant globalization
For many in China’s restaurant industry, 2023 represents both a turning point and a moment of concentrated growth. That year, a diverse set of chain brands began accelerating overseas expansion in ways not seen before.
According to industry media outlet Hongcan, this is the fourth wave of Chinese restaurant globalization. The first dates back to the mid-19th century, when migrants from Guangdong and Fujian opened family-run eateries abroad. The second emerged in the 1990s, as China liberalized and some state-owned restaurant brands tested foreign markets—often without success due to loose management and limited local insight.
The third wave began around 2010, led by chains like Haidilao, Meizhou Dongpo, and Huang Ji Huang. These brands targeted areas with significant Chinese populations and brought improved operating strategies, localized menus, and tighter supply chain control. According to financial filings from Super Hi International, which runs Haidilao’s overseas operations, the company had 123 locations across 14 countries as of March 31. The majority were in Southeast Asia, with 73 stores.
By 2023, the landscape had shifted again.
Wang Minghua, founder of restaurant software provider RestoSuite, observed a sharp increase in participants: from publicly listed companies to brands from smaller Chinese cities, many began going abroad. RestoSuite itself launched in 2023 and now supports more than 80% of China’s major overseas-expanding chains, including Micun Bibimbap, Nong Geng Ji, Fish With You, Bao’s Pastry, Bingz, Yihetang, and Molly Tea.
In Wang’s view, this wave differs fundamentally from previous ones: “This time, it’s business models and organizations going global. Chinese chains have big advantages overseas. They excel at controlling supply chains and finance, and they are very flexible in equity and franchising structures. Compared with big Western chains like McDonald’s and KFC, these companies don’t rely as heavily on rigid training protocols or standardized procedures, so they operate with lower overhead.”
From a scale standpoint, Chinese restaurant chains now rank among the largest globally. In 2024, Canyan Data published a list of the world’s top 100 restaurant chains by store count. Alongside long-established players such as McDonald’s, KFC, and Subway, several Chinese companies appeared near the top. Half of the top 20 were Chinese firms, each with more than 8,000 outlets.
“When a restaurant brand reaches a certain size, international expansion becomes a logical next step,” said Wang Minghua. “Just as KFC and Subway once exported a ‘Western restaurant model,’ Chinese brands are now introducing a ‘Chinese food model.’”
As a comparison, Southeast Asia is one of the most active regions in this latest wave. Local chains such as the Philippines’ Jollibee, with more than 1,700 stores worldwide, and others like Vietnam’s Highlands Coffee, Thailand’s MK Restaurant, and Indonesia’s Janji Jiwa are expanding. However, most remain smaller in scale compared to China’s leading restaurant groups.
Scale aside, Chinese restaurant operators benefit from a diverse set of store formats, standardized operational playbooks, and developed supply chains that support flexible expansion strategies.
“In China, we operate over 6,000 stores across various city tiers, each with its own approach to operational efficiency and marketing,” said Jing Zipeng, head of overseas operations for Zhang Liang malatang. “We can adapt those approaches to different international markets, allowing us to launch more efficiently.”
Zhang Liang now operates nearly 150 stores overseas, including in Southeast Asia, East Asia (Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan), North America, Australia, and Europe. The company has tested and refined formats suited to malls, university areas, and business districts. Thailand, in particular, performed better than anticipated.
“We originally thought Thailand’s hot, humid climate would favor lighter, drier foods, but local customers took to malatang very quickly. Our localization in Thailand has worked well. We’re now a widely recognized brand there, and 85% of our customers are locals. Near schools, you’ll see students in uniforms come by after class at around 4:30 p.m. for malatang, grab a cold drink, chat, and then go home,” Jing said.
He attributed the outcome to strategic pacing. The brand entered Thailand through high-traffic malls, positioning itself as a quality, fast, and casual option. After initial success, Zhang Liang built a local team and rolled out both mall and campus locations. To reach Thai consumers, the company invested in locally produced content on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok—platforms popular among younger audiences. According to Jing, these efforts significantly boosted brand visibility and customer retention.
Beyond adaptable store formats, overseas restaurant operators are upgrading supply chains systemically: from cost performance, regulatory compliance, and turnover rate to gross margin and product preparation capabilities, they are optimizing the entire chain. Riding this wave of Chinese restaurants going global, ingredient suppliers, spice makers, and logistics providers are also expanding overseas.
Breaking into the mainstream
Getting into mainstream markets is the ultimate goal for most brands going overseas.
Whatever local entry model they choose, most brands don’t want to only serve tourists and recent immigrants. Only by winning mainstream local diners can they become truly global brands in the long term.
In discussions about Chinese food’s globalization, Panda Express is often cited. The chain is one of the most successful Chinese-style restaurant brands in North America and globally.
Panda Express’s two most praised advantages are its direct-operated model and its strong adaptability, along with the brand recognition it has accumulated over decades.
According to the company, Panda Express runs more than 2,300 stores, all company-operated, across locations such as airports, malls, and stadiums.
A recent American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) survey shows how ingrained the brand is in North America. In the US fast food customer satisfaction rankings, Panda Express tied with Starbucks for second place, behind Chick-fil-A and ahead of Domino’s, Burger King, KFC, and Chipotle.
“Panda Express has a very high visit frequency in North America. Its flavors have been localized and it represents tens of thousands of Chinese restaurants there. It has become the taste memory of several generations,” said Gao Yuan, a North American restaurateur.
Gao’s entry into the industry began as Dianping’s service partner in Canada. He later helped Bingz open its first overseas location in Canada. He now owns and operates several community restaurants and is exploring a central-kitchen-based Panda Express 2.0. “Restauranting is traditional work, you have to get in the trenches to understand the details. Many restaurateurs ultimately want to build a brand that grows up with a generation.”
Panda Express took many years to reach its current scale. It evolved from the more traditional Panda Inn: in 1973, founder Cheng Zhenchang and his father opened Panda Inn, a traditional Chinese restaurant. In 1983, Cheng and his wife, Peggy Cherng, opened the first Panda Express, merging Chinese food with fast casual and launching a new path for Chinese-style fast food. In adapting to local tastes, Panda Express developed signature dishes such as orange chicken, Peking beef, and honey walnut shrimp. They aren’t common in mainland China but have become hallmarks of Chinese cuisine in the US.
Panda Express began expanding internationally in 2011, opening its first overseas unit in Mexico. Since then, it has opened restaurants not only in the US but also in Canada, South Korea, Japan, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and Guatemala.
Other companies are also trying to push Chinese food into the mainstream. That group includes PF Chang’s, Pei Wei, and Leeann Chin, most of which adapted their flavors to local preferences.
Happy Lamb Hot Pot took a different route into the mainstream.
Founded by the team behind the Little Sheep Group, Happy Lamb opened its first US store in Boston. Today, it operates more than 100 company-run stores in over 90 countries and regions, with more than 50 overseas locations. The largest presence is nearly 40 stores in the US, with others spread across Canada, the UK, Austria, Sweden, Singapore, Vietnam, and Cambodia.
On flavor, Happy Lamb hasn’t made the same level of localization as Panda Express. According to Owen, the brand’s vice president, high-quality lamb and beef plus freshly simmered hotpot broths have universal appeal: “There isn’t much difference between American and Chinese flavors for this product. The broth is essentially the same, which shows that it’s a product different cultures and palates can accept.”
Owen said that 70% of Happy Lamb’s customers are local non-Chinese, and the chain serves more than six million guests a year. “At the start we were dependent on Chinese customers as non-Chinese diners were unfamiliar with hotpot. But Chinese customers started bringing their non-Chinese friends, who then told other friends. After more than a decade of cultivation and word-of-mouth, we reached today’s scale.”
“Whether a Chinese restaurant company going overseas succeeds depends on its leadership’s attitude and vision. Are they trying to build a global Chinese brand, or are they just looking for another revenue stream? We want to build an international brand, so we invest heavily in every market,” Owen said. “For many of our first stores in a new country, we choose a flagship location and operate it intensively. For example, our first UK store opened opposite the British Museum, and that helped us build local recognition.”
Restaurant globalization faces challenges at every turn. From securing store locations to team management and supply chain compliance, everything is fragmented and detail-heavy. For example, sourcing good lamb rolls takes far more work overseas than in China. “When we first entered the US market, we used Australian lamb. But Australian factories wouldn’t produce thinly sliced lamb rolls. To keep the meat tender and remove membranes requires many steps. Overseas factories typically do rough processing and chefs handle fine work. During Australian slaughter seasons we’d send chefs from Inner Mongolia to train local workers to make the lamb rolls,” Owen said.
Beyond lamb rolls, Chinese hotpot seasonings often contain medicinal herbs such as angelica, codonopsis, and cardamom, which require extra compliance work. “Seed-based ingredients are hard to clear customs, and everything must pass strict pesticide residue audits. To export smoothly, we get involved from the source, overseeing planting and testing to avoid heavy-metal and pesticide issues. Our hotpot base still carries a fairly high cost.”
The right people make things right
When it comes to going overseas, people remain the most decisive factor.
Overseas business heads not only carry the responsibility of opening new markets but also bridge headquarters and local operations. They must find the right franchisees and partners to improve local management and operational efficiency while also smoothing cultural differences and organizational friction.
In Tianlala’s experience, standards, processes, and systems form the foundation that empowers managers and releases organizational capability. “When thousands of stores and tens of thousands of employees make the same dozens of products—each with different prep times and consumption scenarios—you need standards and rules to ensure consistent quality and efficiency. The management practices we accumulated domestically still need to be applied overseas,” said Xie Guanhai, head of Tianlala’s overseas business. Tianlala has signed more than 200 overseas stores. Besides Indonesia, the Philippines, and Cambodia, it has expanded to Uzbekistan and plans to enter Singapore and Japan.
Tianlala’s overseas division is rapidly maturing. After a period in which markets were developed country by country, the company is consolidating organizational experience and managing overseas markets centrally through its overseas division. In each country, Tianlala sets up a fairly complete operating structure while headquarters supports international trade, supply chain, functional teams, and product R&D.
Many companies treat globalization as a CEO-level initiative. Chairmen and CEOs personally go into markets to feel the “temperature.”
“At Happy Lamb, the chairman and CEO participate in every market and every store’s early research and preparation. They are involved in mode adjustments, pricing, and other decisions. They need to understand the market firsthand by visiting local restaurants and wet markets to form judgments. For example, people assumed Cambodia would be too hot and low-spending, but our business there is good. You don’t know until you go,” Owen said.
The new wave of Chinese restaurant globalization that began in 2023 may owe its difference to the changing makeup of its leaders.
More restaurateurs with international vision and a capacity to keep learning are now at the helm of Chinese restaurant companies. They have more opportunities to take Chinese dining to more places around the world.
In this new global culinary exchange, we have reason to expect more global brands to emerge from China.