Chinese burger start-ups on the rise

Chinese burgers are getting popular so quickly these years. And this also means that the burger start-ups are on the rise.

In the 2023 China Western Fast Food Category Development Report released in January, the reasons why Chinese burgers are popular were analyzed.

For example, the typical Chinese brand Tastien, which was founded in 2012, has an explosive growth in the number of stores after launching a new positioning of "Chinese burgers" in 2020. Then, the number of its stores exceeded 1,000 by the end of 2021.

According to the data from Hongcan, a professional website for analyzing data of catering industry, the number of western fast food stores with “Chinese burger” characters in store names is surging. It rose from 1,772 in August 2022 to 3,533 in January 2023, a doubling in only five months.

Most of the brands produce Chinese burgers focusing on the following two aspects. First, the products are integrated into Chinese food culture. Both the burger bread and the inner filling are of Chinese dish style. Thus, the taste is more suitable for Chinese consumers. Second, the design style of its store decoration and product packaging is of trendy Chinese style.

A Tastien burger. (Photo fro Tastien official website)

For example, Tastien has created a hand-rolled and baked burger that inherits the Chinese pastry making process. In addition, it adopts Chinese dishes such as tofu in hot and spicy sauce, braised pork with salted vegetable, Beijing roast duck, roasted pineapple and shredded pork of fish flavor as fillings. Its brand image and visual elements also reflect Chinese characteristics.

As for the price, Chinese burgers have advantages. For example, Wallace, positioning on low-end market, has set the unit price for each customer to about 16 to 18 yuan. However, that of western burger brand, such as KFC, McDonald’s and Burger King is between 28 to 35 yuan.

Source: CNR; Trans-editing by Wang Yunya