Customers visit a Chinese restaurant specializing in Sichuan cuisine in Vienna. [Photo provided to China Daily]

There are more than 400,000 Chinese restaurants outside China with total market value exceeding $250 billion, which is almost half of the value of Chinese restaurants on Chinese mainland, according to a report released by the World Federation of Chinese Catering Industry.

Last week, during its celebration of its 25th anniversary, the Beijing-based international non-profit organization－formerly known as the World Association of Chinese Cuisine－released a report on the development of Chinese restaurants outside China.

The report explored the history, operation models and development trends among overseas Chinese restaurants, as well as the obstacles they face to survive and expand.

Most of these restaurants are in Europe, the United States and Southeast Asia, and most are individual restaurants, rather than franchises, the report says. Very few restaurants are branches of restaurant companies from the Chinese mainland.

The owners of these restaurants are often people of Chinese origin, who run the restaurant to make a living, according to Yang Liu, the president of the organization.

In the past, cooks in overseas Chinese restaurants often had little training before they entered the profession, and foods they served often were not authentic but adapted to appeal to local taste.

Nowadays, some high-end Chinese restaurants abroad are doing well in attracting local diners through providing authentic Chinese cuisine, and some are succeeding in non-Chinese communities.

In places where Chinese cuisine is relatively popular, such as the Netherlands, France and the US, many restaurants now offer a large selection of Chinese dishes of various regional cuisines, from in-restaurant dining and take-outs to online ordering.

In a survey of people who work at Chinese restaurants, about 80 percent of respondents say they hope to join a Chinese cuisine restaurant organization because－as Chinese in a foreign land－they often suffer due to language barriers and lack of money, and have difficulties in improving cooking skills and promoting themselves, the report says.

On the other hand, many restaurants are also getting more professional in streamlining work duties and expanding quickly.

Chinese restaurants are active in promoting Chinese culture, through decoration, architecture and events in addition to their food. Using internet tools help Chinese restaurants with publicity and online-offline business, the report says.

However, Chinese restaurants abroad are faced with a number of challenges, the report says.

Professional training is an urgent need for many of their cooks and owners, but such training is often difficult to get unless they come to the Chinese mainland, which is often impossible due to the inconvenience, time and expense. Also, overseas Chinese restaurants are not well aware of the importance of innovation and brand-building. Price competition among them is often fierce, which limits their healthy development, and also diminishes the image of Chinese cuisine.

The World Federation of the Chinese Catering Industry also released a report on the Chinese catering industry in China on the same day it released its assessment of overseas Chinese restaurants.

During the just-ended 12th Five-Year Plan period, the overall Chinese catering industry－including in-restaurant dining, take-outs, and catered dining－has experienced a V-shaped development curve, and now is rapidly growing, due to an improved business environment and use of the internet, the report concludes.

The overall Chinese catering market in 2015 was worth 3.2 trillion yuan ($489.6 billion), up 16 percent compared with 2014. In 2011, the market value was 2 trillion yuan, a record high then, but this was followed by sharp decreases in 2012 and 2013.