Chinese food brands double down to scale up in US market

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US, New York | Xinhua

Brands of new Chinese food are tapping cutting-edge technologies and innovative marketing to build up their businesses in the crowded US market.

Dozens of Chinese and Asian food brands, along with hundreds of industry professionals, convened on Friday at the 2025 Taste of Asia -- North America Asian Food & Restaurant Industry Conference. Attendees indulged in signature Chinese and Asian cuisine while discussing emerging trends and innovative business models with industry insiders.

The showroom dazzled visitors with Chinese delicacies such as milk tea, Sichuan cuisine and steamed dumplings. Many brands eagerly shared their innovative product designs and effective strategies for broadening the North American market.

Supreme Dumplings, a steamed dumpling brand, was on hand to make delicious dumplings for visitors. It has two offline restaurants in Washington state and offers frozen instant products to cater to a wider range of customers.

To ensure a stable and efficient supply chain, Supreme Dumplings uses machines to make frozen dumplings, according to Brandon Ting, founder of the brand.

"Labor shortages and high turnover make it difficult to maintain a consistent team for hand-wrapping dumplings. Machine output also helps us not have to worry about labour," said Ting.

A similar emphasis on automation was evident at miMap, a restaurant supply brand that introduced automated milk tea machines. One such machine, designed for restaurants and supermarkets, can make 23 popular drinks at the touch of a button and deliver several thousand cups per day, significantly cutting manpower requirements.

Milk tea is a booming category in the United States, reflecting growing consumer interest in Chinese beverages.

"In the future, standardized and automated production will be the key trend in the milk tea industry," said Li Yu, CEO of MenuSifu, a catering management tech company and one of the conference's sponsors.

Automation technology is also used in food delivery. Tech company Clipp serves food wholesalers that supply restaurants with an app powered by artificial intelligence technologies. Faced with a wholesaler that needs to deliver to many restaurants, Clipp's software automatically calculates the optimal routes and provides shipment tracking management, thus reducing the food wholesaler's labour expenses.

To further integrate Chinese cuisine into the US market, brands are also adapting flavours to American palates.

Lee Kum Kee, a renowned sauce brand, has adjusted its recipes by incorporating sweeter and sourer flavours into its traditionally spicy sauces, according to Fred Wang, senior corporate chef of Lee Kum Kee USA.

Chinese cuisine has a long-standing presence in the United States, dating back more than 200 years. According to MenuSifu, there are more than 40,000 Chinese restaurants in the United States, more than McDonald's, Burger King, KFC and Wendy's Burgers combined.