Popular Chinese food chains eye big growth overseas

Building the name

Around 60,000 stores with the name Shaxian Snacks were once open across China, and they were known for affordable pricing, but the quality of service was inconsistent.

Business waned in recent years under the competition of national food chains, and Shaxian Snacks Group has been working to round up the scattered family-run eateries under a unified brand and set of standards.

The group upgraded the interior design of its franchises and spent 20 million yuan ($2.9 million) on building a "central kitchen" for distributing semi-finished products to the stores, according to Liu Chongxin, who heads the project.

With a red Pac-Man-like logo, Shaxian Snacks built itself into a national food chain with nearly 1,900 stores, and Luo said the group plans to open another 2,000 in 2019.

The kitchen will also explore ways to send products to its overseas franchises, possibly starting with stores in Japan and Southeast Asia, according to Luo.

"A whole unified system of a supply chain is best for the franchises," Lin said. "To build a brand, it is important to set standards from the very beginning."