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2025

Catering Enterprises' Southeast Asia Expansion — "An Opportunity Firmly Grasped"

Author:

Betsey

Release time:

2025-06-21

Chinese catering enterprises have been aggressively expanding into Southeast Asian markets in recent years, a strategic move driven by profound real-world considerations.

Domestically, after years of high-speed growth, China's catering industry has gradually entered a mature stage. Market competition has intensified exponentially, with the landscape of leading brands in major categories largely stabilized. The growth rate of new consumer demand has slowed, and the domestic market shows clear signs of saturation.

Concurrently, the Chinese government's vigorous promotion of the "Going Global" strategy has provided strong policy support and guidance for catering enterprises to explore overseas markets. The policy actively encourages companies to engage in international competition and expand their development horizons.

Southeast Asian Catering Market

Pros

Large consumer groups
Market gaps
Cultural similarity
Open investment policies

Cons

Fierce competition
Regulatory challenges
Supply chain issues

In this wave of expansion, leading brands have focused on niche sectors such as ice cream and bubble tea. For instance:

Mixue Ice Cream & Tea has quickly established itself in Southeast Asia with cost-effective products and a robust supply chain.
Naixue's Tea caters to local consumers' pursuit of quality life through its premium tea positioning.
Luckin Coffee accelerates store layout in Southeast Asia by leveraging digital operations.
Cha Baidao actively expands via unique product flavors and marketing strategies.

Unlike Western brands like Starbucks, which rely on exclusive franchising with local conglomerates, Chinese enterprises adopt low-threshold franchising (initial capital < $40,000, e.g., Mixue), enabling rapid market coverage—especially in non-urban areas. Mixue exemplifies this, becoming the fastest-growing brand in Southeast Asia with over 2,000 stores in Indonesia just four years after entering in 2020.

However, market entry isn’t seamless everywhere:

Strict regulations and high food safety standards in Australia, Japan, and South Korea, combined with strong local brand loyalty, hinder Chinese enterprises’ penetration.
In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, brands face unique challenges. Mixue triggered protests in 2023 due to delayed Islamic council certification but eventually obtained approval from the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) after proactive communication.

In Southeast Asia, Chinese brands compete fiercely with early entrants from the U.S., Europe, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, which enjoy higher brand recognition. For example:

Aice Group, a Singaporean-Chinese brand entering Indonesia in 2015, won market trust with low-cost ice cream tailored to local tastes, growing into a large catering enterprise with 3 factories by 2022.
China’s Yili Group enters via its Joyday ice cream brand, competing directly with Aice and Mixue.

Chinese enterprises’ expansion in Indonesia brings positive impacts: creating jobs, offering affordable quality products, and gaining local media recognition to improve their international image. However, the sustainability of low-cost models faces scrutiny, with challenges in quality control, market saturation, and profitability.

Outlook: Chinese catering enterprises must balance rapid expansion with localized operations in Southeast Asia, deeply understand consumer preferences, and continuously adjust products and strategies to navigate intensifying competition and shifting demands for sustainable growth.

None

"Jurassic World" was filmed in Thailand with a cost of 400 million baht.

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