“Duk Haan Yum Cha”: Chali and Chua Lam’s Dim Sum Rejuvenate the Tea Trend with Zao Cha Culture (早茶文化)
“得闲饮茶” (Duk Haan Yum Cha), a popular greeting in Cantonese-speaking areas, meaning “let us go for tea together when we have time”. This is one of the most representative expressions under Cantonese Zao Cha Culture (早茶文化). Chali, a tea brand based in the Guangdong Province, is utilizing this culture to present a joint program with […]
How brands are biting into Chinese mooncake culture
Every mid-autumn festival Chinese people celebrate by spending time with their loved ones while exchanging and eating mooncakes, densely baked pastries that come with a wide variety of fillings. The festival is deeply rooted in ancient tradition and there are several legends about its origin, but the most convincing explanation is that it is closely […]
“土” is in: How a beverage brand makes corny rural-style advertising cool again
Starting with a viral popularity of its corny theme song, MXBC (Mi Xue Bing Cheng 蜜雪冰城), a beverage brand known for its cheap drinks, became a phenomenal hit among Chinese Gen Z in 2021. MXBC infused a brainwashing jingle and catchy lyrics into their theme song, triggering a wave of parodies and short videos on […]
Harbin Beer’s secret to increasing their female consumer base: Leveraging the idol economy
At a time when China’s idol economy has an unprecedented influence on young consumers, Harbin Beer has successfully attracted the attention of the fan circle and set itself apart from other brands that use celebrities as their endorsers. Harbin Beer is one of the oldest beer-brewing companies in China. Zhang Yixing is a Chinese idol […]
The premium bakery market in China begins to trickle into lower-tier cities
China’s bakery sector has been expanding rapidly in recent years, underpinned by the country’s rising middle class, the ongoing Westernization of lifestyles and diets, and the increasing demand for convenient food. The baked goods market in China began to gain momentum in 1980 and boomed between 2000 and 2010. During this period, all kinds of foreign brands […]
Foodtech in China: Is this the answer to national food self-sufficiency?
China’s most popular C2M platform Pinduoduo has recently overtaken Chinese E-commerce giant Alibaba as China’s top shopping site. Although Pinduoduo is now king among Chinese E-commerce platforms in active users, it has yet to achieve profitability. So in order to become profitable, Pinduoduo is now focusing on Foodtech. As executive director Xinyi Lim puts it: […]
Manner Coffee: From one roadside store to nation-wide, how this boutique coffee shop has expanded throughout China
The coffee market in China continues to grow at a tremendous pace, with a variety of shops testing out different business models in this industry. But after the rise and fall of Luckin, the sudden rise of instant coffee like Coffee Pls, and a myriad of foreign players like Starbucks, a simple and humble Manner […]
A guide to product packaging sizes in China
China’s retail industry looked promising in the first quarter; the retail sales of consumer goods excluding automobiles was 3,155.4 billion yuan (USD 492.2 billion) in March, a 34.2% increase from last year. This gives a positive outlook for consumer-packaged goods (CPG) companies as consumption rebounds in China. However, the rising competition intensity and changing consumer […]
Chinese wine market 2.0: how COVID-19 and politics have reshaped the landscape
The Chinese wine market is expected to double in size in the coming decade, despite the major setback caused by the global pandemic. The total imports of bottled wine have seen a stable growth since 2006, from 2.25m nine-litre cases to 50.5m in 2019. Data from Vinexpo reveals the imported wine market in China has […]
Successful co-founders on how to scale a restaurant business in China by creating unique and adaptable restaurant brands: China Paradigm transcript #112 with Gennadii Bochkar and Chen Feng
Gennadii Bochkar and Chen Feng are co-founders of a chain of restaurant bars in China. Shanghai residents will be very familiar with some of their brands such as Bites & Brews, Blue Frog, Barbarian, and Nomad among others. Here, they offer insights into how to successfully scale a restaurant business in China. They don’t concentrate […]