Flavors of modern China spread globally

Becoming mainstream

Amy Duan, founder of Chihuo, a leading North American Chinese-language food media platform, has spent more than a decade working at the intersection of Chinese food culture, consumer insights and restaurant expansion across North America.

"In the early days, it was about filling a gap. There were hundreds of thousands of Chinese students with no real options. So, restaurants started serving more authentic regional food, Sichuan, Hunan, hotpot. That laid the groundwork for what came next," said Duan.

Chinese food companies today have mature systems and clear commercial strategies. "They're taking the North American market seriously now," she said. "That's new."

Tea drink brands have made the deepest inroads.

"You can see it in who's queuing. American-born Chinese customers, Korean Americans, Latino diners, even white customers at some of the more localized brands. It's become genuinely mainstream for certain demographics," she said.

Hotpot and malatang dishes have followed a similar trajectory, helped in part by the popularity of Japanese ramen and Vietnamese pho, which familiarized American diners with broth-based Asian dishes.

For brands considering expansion, Duan cautions against unrealistic expectations. Opening a restaurant in the United States generally costs between $500,000 and $1 million and becoming profitable takes time.

"In China, you can open fast and scale fast, but the competition burns you out just as quickly. In America, if you build something properly, it can last 50, 70 years. But you must be willing to play the long game," she said.

Duan points to two brands she considers exemplary.

Tai Er, known for its sauerkraut fish, has retained its core identity while making its menu accessible to American diners through careful cultural explanation, helping them embrace dishes that are still relatively unfamiliar to them. Bistro Na's, a Chinese imperial cuisine restaurant in the Los Angeles area that held a Michelin star from 2019 to 2022, has woven imperial Chinese culinary heritage into a dining experience that resonates with American expectations of atmosphere and culture.

Failure, she said, often has a common thread.

"They replicated the domestic model without understanding the local market. In America, labor laws, consumer culture, even the pace of business; everything is different," she said.