Get Ready, America: China’s Food and Drink Chains Are Moving In

Get Ready, America: China’s Food and Drink Chains Are Moving In

A surge of Chinese food and beverage brands is rapidly expanding across the United States, bringing cheese-foam teas, fried chicken sandwiches, and performance-style dining to American cities — even as relations between Washington and Beijing remain strained.

For many of these companies, the U.S. represents a rare opportunity for growth away from China’s oversaturated and fiercely competitive domestic market.

A New Wave of Chinese Brands

Tea chains are leading the charge. Heytea, founded in Jiangmen in southern China, has opened more than three dozen U.S. locations since 2023, including an expansive flagship in New York’s Times Square. Rival brands Chagee and Naisnow launched their first American stores this year, offering beverages topped with the milk and cheese foams that have become a signature of China’s modern tea culture.

Meanwhile, coffee giant Luckin Coffee — which now operates roughly three stores for every Starbucks in China — is quietly building a footprint across Manhattan.

Affordable Eats With a Chinese Twist

Along the West Coast, Chinese fried chicken and fast-food chains are drawing in customers with low prices and menus that blend American comfort food with Chinese flavors. Other restaurateurs are introducing Americans to theatrical dining experiences, including table-side noodle-pulling performances and modernized hot pot.

Why the U.S. Market Matters Now

China’s restaurant and beverage sectors have become brutally competitive, with thousands of brands vying for customers and many chains expanding faster than the market can sustain. The United States offers not only access to a large consumer base but also a chance for these companies to distinguish themselves in a less crowded environment.

American diners, increasingly open to global flavors, have embraced bubble tea culture and specialty beverages — providing fertile ground for Chinese brands with large product lines and high-volume experience.

Cultural Competition Meets Culinary Exchange

Even as geopolitical tensions dominate headlines, Chinese culinary brands are forging a different kind of relationship with U.S. consumers. Their rapid expansion is reshaping beverage and fast-food trends in American cities and signaling the start of a new era of cross-Pacific food culture.