The economic relationship between the United States and China is as fraught as it has been in recent memory, but that has not stopped a wave of Chinese food and beverage chains from moving aggressively into the United States for the first time.

尽管近年美中经济关系前所未有地紧张，但并未阻挡一波中国餐饮连锁品牌首次大举进军美国市场。

Chinese tea shops in New York and Los Angeles are offering consumers drinks topped with a milk or cheese foam. Fried chicken sandwich joints are trying to lure diners in California with affordable fast food. Restaurant and drink brands, some with thousands of stores in China, are taking root in American cities to escape punishing competition at home.

纽约和洛杉矶的中式茶饮店带来了奶盖或芝士顶饮品。在加州，来自中国的炸鸡三明治店铺试图以亲民价格吸引食客。为了逃离国内残酷的竞争，这些中国餐饮品牌——其中有一些在国内已经拥有了数千家门店——正在美国城市扎下根来。

HeyTea, a tea chain originating in Jiangmen, a city in southern China, has opened three dozen stores nationwide since 2023, including a flagship operation in Times Square, in New York. Two other rival tea brands, Chagee and Naisnow, opened their first U.S. stores this year. Luckin Coffee, a chain with three outlets for every one Starbucks in China, opened several spots across Manhattan.

起源于中国南方城市江门的喜茶，自2023年以来已在全美开设了30多家门店，包括一家位于纽约时报广场的旗舰店。另两家茶饮竞争对手霸王茶姬与奈雪的茶也于今年登陆美国市场。在中国门店数量三倍于星巴克的瑞幸咖啡已在曼哈顿开设多家分店。

Wallace, one of China’s largest fast-food chains with more than 20,000 stores selling fried chicken and hamburgers, landed in Walnut, Calif., for its first shop. Haidilao, China’s largest hot-pot chain, is redoubling its efforts in the United States after entering the market more than a decade ago.

中国最大西式快餐品牌之一、有两万余家炸鸡和汉堡门店的华莱士在加州核桃市开了美国首店。进入美国市场十余年后，中国最大火锅连锁海底捞如今正加倍推进在这里的扩张。

The American expansion comes at a challenging moment for China’s food and beverage industry. The Chinese economy is no longer growing at a breakneck pace, hampered by a long-running real estate crisis and sluggish consumer spending. To survive, restaurant chains are undercutting one another on prices, inciting an unsustainable, profit-killing race to the bottom.

中国餐饮业向美国市场的扩张正值一个面临严峻挑战的时刻：受长期房地产危机与消费疲软拖累，中国经济已告别高速增长时代。为了生存，餐饮连锁竞相压价，引发了一场不可持续、吞噬利润的恶性竞争。

“China’s food service industry is suffering from severe oversupply,” said Bob Qing, the founder of Tomato Capital, a Chinese firm that invests in restaurants.

“中国餐饮业正遭受严重供过于求的问题，”投资餐饮企业的番茄资本创始人卿永说。

In China, there are three times more food and beverage establishments per capita than there are in the United States, according to Mr. Qing. And half the new restaurants that open in China close within a year.

据他介绍，中国的人均餐饮门店数量是美国的三倍，且新开业餐厅中有半数撑不过一年。

时报广场的喜茶旗舰店内，员工正在制作茶饮。这家连锁品牌起源于中国南方城市江门。

Many Chinese fast-food restaurants have expanded internationally in recent years, especially in Asia, but the United States, according to Mr. Qing, holds significant appeal because it is “the only market as mature and large as China.”

近年来，许多中国快餐品牌已走向国际市场，尤其是在亚洲。但在卿永看来，美国市场独具魅力，因为这是“唯一与中国同样成熟且规模庞大的市场”。

But a U.S. expansion is not without its challenges. Chinese brands must walk a geopolitical tightrope because of China’s position as an economic rival — or adversary — to the United States. While their global expansion is celebrated in China as a sign of the country’s progress and development, it can be viewed as a threat to America’s local businesses.

但进军美国市场并非没有挑战。由于中国被美国视为经济竞争对手乃至敌手，中国品牌必须在地缘政治上谨慎行事。虽然它们在全球的扩张在中国被视为国家进步与发展的象征，但在美国却可能被视为对本土企业的威胁。

Chinese food and beverage chains are moving into the United States as many American brands that stormed into China decades earlier are pulling back.

当中国餐饮连锁大举入美之际，那些几十年前大举进入中国市场的美国品牌却在收缩战线。

This month, Starbucks sold a controlling stake in its China operations to a Chinese investment firm, Boyu Capital. The fast-food conglomerate Restaurant Brands International sold most of Burger King’s China business to a Chinese private equity firm.

11月，星巴克将中国业务的控股权出售给中国投资公司博裕资本。餐饮巨头餐饮品牌国际公司也将汉堡王中国业务的大部分股权售予一家中国私募股权公司。

Domestic competition is especially fierce in China, where milk tea shops have sprouted up over the last decade. According to some estimates, there are 420,000 milk tea shops in China. Some stores have started selling drinks for less than $1, while others offer free online orders. Many of these brands carry an upscale version of bubble tea, which has been wildly popular for years. They brew loose tea leaves instead of using tea bags or powder and add fruit slices, fresh milk or whipped cream cheese foam on top.

中国本土市场竞争格外激烈，过去十年间，奶茶店如雨后春笋般涌现。据估算，目前全国奶茶店数量已达42万家。部分门店饮品售价已跌破7元人民币，还有品牌提供线上点单免单。多个主打高端新式茶饮的品牌近年来风靡市场。它们坚持使用原叶茶汤而非茶包或粉末，佐以鲜果切片、鲜奶或特调芝士奶盖。

HeyTea, which helped pioneer the trend and has about 4,000 stores in China, stopped accepting new franchise applications earlier this year. The company started its American expansion two years ago as the battle among tea brands intensified.

作为该趋势的引领者之一，在中国市场拥有约4000家门店的喜茶于今年初停止接受新的加盟申请。随着茶饮品牌竞争白热化，该企业于两年前启动了美国扩张计划。

At HeyTea’s store in Times Square one recent afternoon, lines stretched out the door with groups of customers waiting for elaborate drink concoctions such as a signature fruit tea topped with cheese foam.

近日的一个午后，纽约时报广场的喜茶门店外排起长龙，顾客们等待着购买精心调制的特色饮品，比如有芝士奶盖的招牌鲜果茶。

“They are getting so big now,” said Farida Abdelaziz, 20, who waited up to 30 minutes with her friends for drinks.

“它家生意太火爆了，”排队近半小时的20岁顾客法里达·阿卜杜勒阿齐兹感叹道。

Naisnow, a smaller Chinese tea brand, opened its first U.S. store in Flushing, a predominantly Asian neighborhood in New York, in October. The lines were long and sales were brisk. Its most popular items were avocado and kale-based drinks made for the United States. The company said it aimed to expand to 500 stores over the next three to five years.

规模小一些的中国茶饮品牌奈雪的茶于10月在纽约亚裔聚居区法拉盛开设美国首店。开业以来门庭若市，其中专为美国市场打造的牛油果羽衣甘蓝系列成为最畅销单品。该企业宣布未来三至五年计划拓展至500家门店。

在纽约法拉盛，一名奈雪的茶门店员工正在整理展示柜。法拉盛的这家店是奈雪的茶在美国的首店，该公司计划在未来几年内在美国扩张至500家门店。在以亚裔为主的法拉盛社区，奈雪的茶门店外顾客大排长龙购买牛油果羽衣甘蓝饮品。

Jerry Yao, Naisnow’s deputy manager in charge of overseas development, said one difference was already apparent: “The margins are definitely better than in China.”

奈雪的茶海外事业部副总经理姚杰（音）指出，美中市场有一个差异显而易见：“这里的利润率绝对高于中国。”

The transition to the United States is not always smooth. The hot-pot chain Haidilao, which has a cultlike following in China, struggled when it first entered the market in 2013.

进军美国市场并非总是一帆风顺。在中国拥有狂热粉丝的火锅连锁海底捞在2013年首次进入美国市场时就遇到了困难。

It did not provide English-language menus. The prices were higher than customers had expected. And its trademark over-the-top service came across as intrusive.

当时未提供英文菜单，定价超出顾客预期，其标志性的极致服务反被视作侵扰。

In China, Haidilao’s staff provides free manicures to customers waiting for a table, performs noodle-making dances to entertain guests and even peels shrimp by hand for diners. But the staff’s attentiveness was initially perceived as “eavesdropping” in the United States, said Qu Cong, the chief financial officer of Super Hi International Holdings, Haidilao’s overseas business entity.

在中国，海底捞员工会为等位顾客提供免费美甲服务，表演拉面秀来娱乐客人，甚至亲手为食客剥虾。但据海底捞海外业务主体特海国际首席财务官瞿骢透露，这种无微不至的服务最初被美国顾客视为“窥探隐私”。

“For American customers, there’s a strong sense of boundaries, so simply copying the practices used in China might not work,” Ms. Qu said.

“美国顾客边界感很强，完全照搬中国模式可能适得其反，”瞿骢表示。

Haidilao provided more guidance, in English, on how to navigate the hot-pot dining experience, in which diners dip various raw ingredients into a pot of boiling broth at the table. It tweaked the spice levels on some soup bases and expanded the beef selection.

为此海底捞增加了英文指引，帮助顾客理解火锅的用餐方式——食客需要将各种生食材放入桌上的沸汤中涮煮。它还调整了部分锅底的辣度等级，并丰富了牛肉品类选择。

The chain generated social media buzz over the summer when one of its restaurants appeared in the final episode of “And Just Like That…,” the sequel to “Sex and the City.” In the episode, the hostess sees that Carrie Bradshaw is dining alone and brings out “Tommy Tomato,” a plush doll, to fill the empty seat.

今年夏天，它的一家门店出现在《欲望都市》续集《就这样……》的大结局里，女服务员见凯莉·布拉德肖独自用餐，拿出一只名为“汤米·汤米拖”的番茄玩偶陪坐，引发社交媒体热议。

Chinese brands must weigh how much to cater to local tastes. When Wallace, the fast-food chain, opened its first U.S. store last year, it stripped down its sprawling menu to focus mainly on fried chicken sandwiches.

中国品牌还需权衡本地化程度。华莱士去年在美国开首店时，大幅精简菜单，集中主打炸鸡三明治。

Ricky Chen, the president of Wallace USA, said the standard chicken sandwich the company served in China came with lettuce and mayonnaise. For American diners, Wallace removed the lettuce and added a pickle, which is something Chinese customers “don’t really eat.” It also made its food saltier.

美国区总裁里奇·陈表示，中国版经典鸡腿堡带生菜和蛋黄酱，美国版去掉生菜，加了中国顾客“不怎么吃”的腌黄瓜，并把整体口味调得更咸。

Mr. Chen likes Wallace’s chances in the new market. “American fast food is getting too expensive,” he said. At its location in California, Wallace offers three full-size chicken sandwiches for $10. By comparison, a single chicken sandwich at Chick-fil-A or KFC sells for about $6.

他看好在这个新市场的前景。“美国快餐已经太贵了，”在其加州门店，三份足量鸡腿堡只需10美元。相比之下，Chick-fil-A或肯德基单份就要约6美元。

Wallace does not hide its Chinese roots, Mr. Chen said. But it also does not promote them. At first, most of his customers were Asian because they were familiar with the brand. That has since changed.

华莱士并不掩饰中国背景，里奇·陈说。但也没有刻意宣传。开业初期，顾客多是认识品牌的亚裔。但现在情况已经不同。

Wallace said it planned to open 10 more locations by the end of 2026.

华莱士称计划2026年底前再开10家店。

Chagee, a tea brand that started selling shares on the Nasdaq stock exchange in May, said customers did not perceive it as a Chinese brand. It derives its name from an ancient Chinese love story. Its logo features a concubine in a Beijing Opera costume, faintly resembling the Starbucks two-tailed mermaid logo.

5月在纳斯达克上市的霸王茶姬表示，顾客并未将其视作中国品牌。品牌名取自中国古代爱情故事，商标采用京剧旦角形象，隐约有点像星巴克双尾美人鱼。

Emily Chang, Chagee’s chief commercial officer in North America, said she was hired to develop the company as an ABC, or American-born Chinese, brand. She said that it had more than a dozen stores “in the pipeline” and that it planned to move beyond California. Chagee started in Los Angeles in April.

霸王茶姬北美首席商务官艾米莉·张说，她得到的任务就是把霸王茶姬打造成一个“ABC（美国出生的华人——译注）品牌”。她说目前已有十多家店在“筹备中”，并且计划走出加州。霸王茶姬4月在洛杉矶开设首店。

Mr. Qing, the restaurant investor and consultant, said that despite geopolitical tensions, the United States had welcomed China’s food and drink brands. He said the U.S. embassy in Beijing invited him and chain restaurant owners to tour various American cities earlier this year.

餐饮投资人卿永表示，尽管地缘政治紧张，美国对中国的餐饮品牌依然持欢迎态度。今年早些时候，美国驻北京大使馆还邀请他和多家连锁品牌负责人赴美多城市考察。

“This is one of the few industries in which people are still willing to engage in that kind of exchange,” he said.

“这是目前少数几个两国人民仍愿意相互交流的行业，”他说。