Street Snack Stories

By+yuan+yuan

there is one food found nearly all over China—roujiamo， a round， flatbread bun split into two halves and filled slow-cooked pork that has been stewed in a broth that can contain upward of 20 spices. The mouth watering snack originated from northwest Chinas Shaanxi Province， though in modern times it has found itself on the streets of nearly all of Chinas cities. Three young men from Shaanxi making the snack may seem nothing special at first， but their vision is unique—to transform the foods image from a common street snack to a fast food brand.

Going popular

Song xin， Meng Dong and Luo Gaojing are all from Shaanxi and are graduates of the famous xian Jiaotong University. Meng and Luo used to work for Baidu， owner of Chinas most popular search engine， as well as being involved in a multitude of other Web-based ventures. However， despite the prestige， the pair decided to quit and open a small restaurant selling roujiamo. Song， who majored in industrial chemistry， joined them soon after.

They named their small boutique eatery xishaoye—literally translating as young men from the west—and chose a location in Wudaokou， a bustling area in Beijings Haidian District close to a number of well known universities and IT companies. They decided to open their doors to the public on April 8， the anniversary of their alma mater.

Before setting up， they went back to Shaanxi and studied making roujiamo from experienced chefs， the research from which eventually culminated in a recipe of their own. They chose an approach that differed from traditional cooking， which tends not to rely on precise measurement of ingredients， but the chefs intuition and expertise. Instead， the trio chose to standardize their recipes down to the gram to make the result more consistent.

One roujiamo from xishaoye is 8 yuan（$1.3）， a price similar to other restaurants. On the opening day， they planned to offer 1，000 roujiamo for free， but to their surprise they ran out before lunch on account of the long queue that had formed outside. Within six months， xishaoye had already opened four more branches.

Another long line of customers in Beijing can be found outside Huangtaiji， another small eatery. Huangtaijis specialty is different however—they sell jianbing， a type of thin， savory pancake not unlike a large crêpe originated from the northeast. Street vendors can be seen serving this every morning in cities like Beijing and Tianjin. Huangtaijis founder， He Chang， is from the northeastern Heilongjiang Province， and his wife hails from Tianjin.

As a fan of the jianbing， he studied different vendors to learn about the skills and eventually came up with the idea of running a pancake eatery by himself. Born in 1981， He studied design in Denmark and dabbled in a number of different professions with varying levels of success.

In August 2012， he opened his first outlet in Beijings CBD area， a restaurant that had just 13 seats in no more than 20 square meters of available space. Beijings CBD is home to a large cluster of office buildings and before 9 oclock every morning， there is always a long queue of office workers waiting to sink their teeth into Huangtaijis delights.

The motto of Huangtaiji is “Quality， fresh ingredients； memorable， traditional taste.”He describes the goal of Huangtaiji as being to “cook simple Chinese food to perfection，”instead of simply focusing on profits.

Another thing that makes Huangtaiji stand out from other vendors selling the same food is their marketing strategy， which harnesses the benefits of social media. Shortly after their first outlet was opened， he posted a photo explaining that he and his wife delivered takeout orders in their Mercedes， which surprised many online.

“By using the Internet and online marketing to find potential customers we can earn more money while avoiding the risks brought about by high rent，” said He. “A generation ago， people wandered the street in search of an attractive restaurant， today they are using their smartphones to check for nearby recommendations.”

Now Huangtaiji has opened nine branches in Beijing and one in Shanghai， with their estimated brand value already reaching 900 million yuan （$145 million）.

Zhang Tianyi， a 24-year-old man with a masters degree from the prestigious Peking University， had no any work experience before opening a rice noodle restaurant at Beijing World Finance Center.

Zhang opened the restaurant before graduating. When his classmates were all busy job hunting， Zhang was busy preparing his own business. On April 4， Zhangs restaurant， named Funiutang， which translates as “crouching cattle，” was opened at Beijing World Financial Center， with a floor space of around 40 square meters.

Despite its diminutive size， Funiutang also enjoys queues stretching out the door at lunch and supper time. He attributes the restaurants popularity to his being the first to offer this kind of food in Beijing. Instead of hiring servers， Zhang has instead set out three garbage bins for food residue， plastic and paper， respectively. He encourages customers to serve themselves and dispose of their trash properly.

In June， Zhang opened a branch in a small lane beside the second ring road in east Beijing. “I dont think studying for a masters degree then opening a restaurant is a waste，” said Zhang. “I studied law for six years but there is another more important thing that I learnt from my university is to be brave enough to follow my heart. To open a rice noodle restaurant was my dream for years and I am happy to make it happen.”

Zhang also has the ambition to change the traditional image of restaurants and incorporate both cultural and hi-tech elements. On September 1， Funiutang became the first restaurant in Beijing to adopt fingerprint payment.

the future

There are quite a few similarities between these success stories—the founders are all young， well educated and have ambition. Huangtaijis owner hopes to get listed on New york Stock Exchange. xishaoye also wants to spread Shaanxis food worldwide in a similar fashion to McDonalds.

They also all know how to use Internet to promote their companies. Meng from xishaoye simply said “my thinking is still influenced by my time at Baidu.”

But does the food taste good？ This is the acid test of any establishment serving food. On Dianping. com， a website that allows public reviews， more than 50 percent of the reviews complain about the Huangtaijis pancakes.“The owner is too busy at promoting， and has no time to take care of his product，” said one reviewer. “It is even not as delicious as the street vendors， but its more expensive. I will not come back.”

In response， He insisted he spends the most time on ensuring the taste of pancake no matter how busy he is， but its not possible to satisfy everybody.“If it is as bad as what they say， how can you explain the long lines every day？”

Compared to criticisms of flavor， xishaoyes problem is an even bigger headache. Song， one of the original founders， left in August and opened a new roujiamo eatery by himself. They didnt reveal the reasons in detail but a news report from Economy & Nation News Weekly mentioned it was over financial disagreements.

Zhang， as the only owner of his restaurant， has no such issues but he felt his original expectation for running a restaurant was overly idealistic. “People still dont show enough respect for restaurant staff and it is tiring to get up very early and work till late at night every day.”

But Zhang has never regretted his decision. “It is exciting to have a business that I love with passion， I just need time to get adjusted.”

Huangtaiji is already planning to open a branch in the United States. “Nothing is impossible，” said He. “When I wanted to open a jianbing eatery in Beijing， nobody thought it would make money except for my wife. Now you can see we are growing a lot faster than I could have hoped. Lets see.”