Fish With You Demonstrates the True Strength of Chinese Cuisine Going Global
On May 7, the topic “Guangdong Fish Filleting Specialists Earning RMB 20,000 Per Month” ranked fourth on Shenzhen’s local trending topics on Weibo. Within just one month, two major trending topics spanning both domestic and international markets once again placed Chinese fast-casual restaurant brand Fish With You in the spotlight.
Earlier, on April 19, the brand officially launched its first-ever 6.0 Mountain Retreat-style Tang Lao concept store. Popular actor and celebrity Boun attended the grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony. On the same day, the event climbed to No. 4 on X (formerly Twitter) trending topics, generating more than 69,000 discussions and attracting attention across Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Vietnam.
The Three Stages of Chinese Restaurant Globalization
According to Fish With You’s brand leadership, the international expansion of Chinese dining brands can be divided into three distinct phases.
The first phase consisted primarily of independent full-service restaurants, following a “one category, one restaurant” model, largely driven by immigrant entrepreneurs.
The second phase was led by hotpot and tea beverage brands, marking the rise of brand awareness and standardized operations.
The third phase—the current stage—is characterized by chain restaurant brands becoming the primary force behind globalization. In this stage, brands export not only products but also supply chain standards, operational models, and brand aesthetics as integrated systems.
According to data from Qianzhan Industry Research Institute, China had approximately 1.194 million Chinese-style rice meal restaurants in operation by 2025. As market competition intensifies, international expansion is no longer optional but essential. The ability to export a complete business system has become the determining factor in sustainable global growth.
As of February 2026, Fish With You had surpassed 2,700 stores worldwide, with locations spanning Asia, North America, and the Middle East. The brand has established a presence in major international cities including Bangkok, New York, Vancouver, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, and Jakarta.
In Malaysia, the company successfully launched six stores simultaneously, while its dual-category “Sauerkraut Fish + Tang Lao” model continues to achieve strong sales growth in North America. A New York Times food columnist once commented:
“My favorite is the version with pickled mustard greens and green Sichuan peppercorns. Every bite is remarkably satisfying.”
After successfully validating the Mountain Retreat concept through its flagship international location, Fish With You rapidly replicated the standardized model across China. New 6.0 stores opened simultaneously in Changzhou and Shenzhen. On opening day, Tang Lao contributed more than 30% of total revenue at the Changzhou store, while the Shenzhen location achieved sales exceeding RMB 27,000. The transition from overseas validation to large-scale domestic replication highlights the efficiency and scalability of the model.
Mountain Retreat: Creating Cross-Cultural Resonance
The mature operating model refined through more than 2,700 stores, combined with the differentiated experience of the Mountain Retreat concept, has become one of the brand’s most difficult competitive advantages to replicate.
According to company representatives, the 6.0 Mountain Retreat store format represents a critical breakthrough for Chinese restaurant brands expanding internationally. Following the success of the “Sauerkraut Fish + Tang Lao” dual-category strategy, it marks a comprehensive evolution in both spatial aesthetics and product offerings.
Centered on the philosophy of “returning to nature and embracing authenticity,” the stores incorporate natural materials such as rammed earth, solid wood, and greenery while drawing inspiration from traditional Eastern mountain landscapes. The result is a relaxing and immersive dining environment that aligns perfectly with Tang Lao’s emphasis on freshness, natural flavors, and healthy dining.
A standout feature is the six-meter open-display dual-mode air-cooling freshness cabinet. Even in tropical climates with year-round high temperatures, the system enables fully open and panoramic presentation of nearly one hundred fresh ingredients sourced globally. This innovative approach breaks the stereotype of Chinese fast food as being focused solely on strong flavors while neglecting customer experience, instead delivering a dining environment comparable to that of premium full-service restaurants.
Strong supply chain capabilities combined with cross-cultural design appeal ultimately form a highly replicable and scalable global operating system. Fish With You has moved beyond simply exporting products, progressing from product export to business-model export and ultimately to system export.
The Mountain Retreat format fully incorporates the dual-category strategy. Sauerkraut Fish serves both individual diners and traditional meal occasions, while Tang Lao expands into afternoon tea, late-night dining, and casual group gatherings. Together, the two categories overcome the traditional lunch-and-dinner peak limitations of fast-casual dining and create revenue opportunities throughout the day.
Supply Chain Excellence Across Borders
The viral social media videos featuring overseas customers praising the tenderness of Fish With You’s fish fillets serve as a direct reflection of the brand’s supply chain capabilities.
At the company’s processing facilities in Guangdong Province, dedicated quality-control specialists inspect fish products daily, removing more than 5,000 fish that fail to meet standards. This rigorous process ensures consistency in both appearance and taste from the source.
Every snakehead fish is harvested, processed, filleted, and marinated on the same day. Highly skilled processing technicians can transform up to two tons of fish into premium fillets in a single day, ensuring maximum freshness retention.
Throughout processing, only potable low-temperature water is used for cleaning, with daily water consumption exceeding 2,000 tons. Freshness is further protected through a comprehensive temperature-controlled supply chain system that includes:
• Ultra-low-temperature flash freezing at -45°C
• Deep cold storage at -33°C
• Global cold-chain transportation maintained at -18°C
This end-to-end cold-chain infrastructure preserves product quality throughout the entire journey from processing facilities to international restaurants.
According to Fish With You’s management team, Southeast Asia already possesses abundant local seafood resources. Therefore, imported freshwater fish products must consistently exceed local standards in order to differentiate themselves from domestic alternatives.
From strict source selection and precision processing to comprehensive cold-chain logistics, every upgrade in customer experience is supported by supply chain excellence. Across thousands of kilometers and multiple international markets, Fish With You maintains unified flavor profiles, standardized operations, and consistent product quality worldwide.
International social media trends have highlighted the brand’s enhanced customer experience, while domestic discussions have showcased the strength of its supply chain foundation.
The company believes that the third and most important capability of Chinese restaurant globalization is now being proven: success is no longer about opening a single overseas store as an experiment. Instead, it is about possessing the operational systems required to open multiple locations simultaneously while maintaining consistent customer experiences across markets.
Through the coordinated power of its brand model and supply chain infrastructure, Fish With You is helping Chinese restaurant brands move beyond simply “going global” and toward achieving sustainable international leadership.