Chinese Shaxian delicacies now ready for overseas palates

China's restaurant chain serving Shaxian county cuisine has opened its first eatery in the US.

Located in New York, the restaurant, which opened on October 15, presents overseas foodies with traditional Chinese snacks, including peanut butter noodles and pork wontons.

Originating from Shaxian county in East China's Fujian Province, the snacks spread as locals traveled far and wide for work.

"In my childhood, food stalls could be seen everywhere in my hometown in Fuzhou," said the chain owner, Shao Binfang, a 34-year-old Chinese-American who was born in the provincial capital.

"But this is just a small step for the company, Shaxian Delicacies, to go global."

In June, the company set up its first overseas chain-eatery at Takadanobaba Station in Tokyo, Japan.

As of the end of September, the 80-square-meter restaurant's monthly revenue is around 5 million yen ($44,563) monthly. About one third of their customers are Japanese residents.

"Our second eatery will open soon, and we plan to have 30 chains in Tokyo in the long run," said Wang Yuanyao, the owner of the Shaxian Delicacies eatery in Tokyo.

According to the brand's industry development center, overseas Chinese in more than 10 countries, including the US, UK, Argentina, Australia and Canada, have shown an interest in joining the chain.

Representatives from France and Malaysia have even come to China for further training.

With the help of modern commercial operations, the center hopes to bring fresh energy to traditional Chinese snacks.

"We will try our best to make Shaxian Delicacies an iconic Chinese brand with world-wide influence," said Zhang Xin, deputy director of the center.

Providing customers with good quality snacks at competitive prices, Shaxian Delicacies has become a local pillar industry, with more than 10 billion yuan ($1.44 billion) turnover annually.

There are more than 60,000 restaurants serving Shaxian snacks nationwide, but only about 1,800 of them are the brand's authentic chain restaurants.

In order to prevent counterfeit restaurants and provide customers with authentic Shaxian foods, the Shaxian Delicacies trade association, founded in 1997, registered its trademark in 2014.

Shaxian county is also building a "central kitchen" for distributing semi-finished products to its franchises worldwide, according to Zhang.

"The standardized Shaxian Delicacies has improved customers' impressions of traditional Chinese snack stalls," Shao said.

Shao adopted the design of an open kitchen to create a clean and brightly-lit environment in her restaurant.

"When customers can see the cooking process, it puts them at ease concerning food safety," Shao said.