Food is exported to the world, and fast food is easier to open up the consensus of taste buds
August 06, 2025 10:48 United States
NoahWise Insight
Cross-Border Insights Global Overview|Fast FoodCategory
Source: NoahWise Insight-Cross-Border Insights Global Overview-Quick Food CategorySales Revenue in June 2025
2025 Jul.
Food going overseas
Go to the world
Fast food is easier to get through
Taste bud consensus
After content and clothing,
food
It is becoming a new growth point for Chinese brands to go overseas. Compared with traditional food single items, fast food has the advantages of strong taste adaptability, convenient packaging, and flexible channels.
Easier to open up early adopters for overseas consumers
. From Vietnam to Russia, the local tastes of different countries have posed new challenges and opportunities for "Chinese fast food". Going to sea,
Taste may travel faster than words.
01
across siberia
How to impress the taste buds of a fighting nation
Russian eating habits
1. Staple foods are mainly bread, potatoes, and cereals, and noodles are highly acceptable.
pasta
(макароны) is one of the staple foods in Russian households. It is fried or grilled with meat and sauce. The consumption habits are similar to those in Italy, but they prefer combinations with strong flavors and strong satiety.
Flour, cereals
(such as buckwheat, oats) are also widely used in home-made foods, such as pizza (blini), dumplings (pelmeni), bread, etc., so raw material commodities also have a strong demand base.
Compared to East or Southeast Asia, Russian people
Lower consumption of rice
, more commonly used in specific dishes (such as Central Asian-style pilaf).
2. Preference for hot food, food with strong taste and high fat content
The overall Russian diet is biased
High in calories, high in fat, heavy in taste
, due to the cold geographical environment, people's daily intake tends to be "calorie + satiety" orientation.
Like food with
Meat, cream, butter, cheese, pickled flavors
, so convenience foods such as macaroni with sauce, instant pasta, baked rice, and canned foods have a certain degree of acceptance.
Source: NoahWise Insight-Cross-Border Insights
Judging from the sales data in June 2025, the consumption preferences of users on the Ozon platform in the Russian-speaking area are
"Hoarding" raw materials in existing household scenarios
, there are also
Ready-to-eat products for everyday convenience.
1. Macaroni and flour occupy the forefront of sales volume, and the staple food structure is stable.
The data shows,
pasta
Products in this category account for approximately
14%
, slightly higher than
Flour (13%)
and
Instant noodles (13%)
, rice accounts for about 11%. This structure shows that in Russian-speaking areas, traditional Western-style pasta (such as macaroni) and raw materials for basic baking and home cooking are still high-frequency purchase categories for consumers.
Source: NoahWise Insight-Cross-Border Insights
In the pasta category, Italian brands
Barilla
Occupying approx.
17%
sales volume share, firmly occupying the top position. This proportion is within Category
It is not a monopoly advantage,
But it is enough to reflect that the brand's influence in consumers' minds has been established.
Barilla is known for its products
Stable quality and long brand history
Winning a large number of loyal users shows that the influence of "brand consumption" in this market is increasing.
For Chinese overseas brands, this also sends a signal:
Brand power
It can be a lever to leverage sales volume, especially in Russian-speaking areas where European and American food traditions are more accepted.
Despite Barilla’s impressive performance,
Its prices are generally higher than the market average
, which also creates differentiated entry opportunities for Chinese brands.
Products with mid-range prices that emphasize cost-effectiveness and functional differences, such as "nutritional macaroni", "rice noodles for children/seniors", and "low GI healthy flour", can quickly build user reputation. If Chinese brands can strengthen their packaging
"Natural ingredients" "Non-fried" "High protein"
and other labels, it is expected to gain a stronger sense of market recognition.
At the same time, emphasizing the characteristics of China’s origin (such as Northeastern rice, Xinjiang wheat flour) + quality packaging + platform praise mechanism is expected to quickly build consumer trust on platforms such as Ozon.
02
Fast food opens up the consensus of taste buds
Can “Chinese flavor” impress “Vietnamese stomach”?
Compared with the Russian-speaking market with a stable structure, Vietnam
Shopee
The Food and Beverage Category shows more
“Quick digestion”, “snack style” and “younger style”
There is a clear trend in Vietnamese people’s choice of snacks.
Pay great attention to the taste of food
, pay less attention to nutrients and calories than Russians.
Instant noodles
and
Deli snacks
The two sub-categories are growing rapidly, providing a window period for overseas brands to quickly start volume.
The taste is similar, the rhythm is similar, Chinese fast food only needs a little more
Southeast Asian taste
With just a few adjustments, you can easily impress the "Vietnamese stomach".
No one doesn’t love instant noodles
Source: NoahWise Insight-Cross-Border Insights
The data shows,
Instant noodles
Accounting for a high proportion of the "convenient fast food" subcategory on Vietnam's Shopee platform
40%
, not only is the largest single segment Category, but its sales volume also maintains a steady growth trend.
Instant noodles are popular in Vietnam
Strong consumption base
, belongs to
High frequency rigid demand food
, often used as a substitute for daily meals, overtime snacks, student fast food and other usage scenarios.
Vietnamese consumers prefer hot and sour instant noodles, especially among young people, who are very sensitive to the layering, excitement and fusion of local flavors.
New flavors, new brands, and new packaging are also more accepted.
Potential cooked food snacks
Source: NoahWise Insight-Cross-Border Insights
The data shows,
“Deli snacks”
Category
A month-on-month increase of nearly 150%
, showing
"Early adopter + social" consumption characteristics
, common categories include:
• Ready-to-eat braised food (chicken feet, duck neck, chicken wings)
• Vacuum packed snacks (fish tofu, dried tofu, sausages)
• Small packages of dried meat/pork floss/pickled pepper products
Source: NoahWise Insight-Cross-Border Insights
INDOMIE is the top fast food brand in Vietnam
Indonesia
Brand, SASIN is
Thailand
Brand, OMACHI is
Vietnam
Local brand, where the soil and water support the people, it has the best sales volume of fast food in Vietnam
Still a brand from Southeast Asia
, for Chinese overseas enterprises,
We cannot forcefully export “Chinese flavor” and must improve the flavor of Southeast Asia.
, and then on the basis of improving the taste
Find other breakthrough points.
Shopee consumers are mainly young people aged 18-35, concentrated in first- and second-tier cities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Da Nang. They have three major characteristics in food consumption:
•
Focus on appearance, taste, and packaging experience. Packaging is communication.
• Like to try new things, and are increasingly receptive to Chinese special flavors (such as spicy and sour).
• Tend to pass
Shopee live broadcast, TikTok short video, KOL delivery
To discover products through other methods, brands going global must not only have “product power” but also build
"Content + Channel"
Together.
Compared with the "raw material + brand" structure in the Russian-speaking area, the Vietnamese market is more inclined to "high-frequency fast-moving products + social attributes + popular flavors", providing natural soil for small and medium-sized fast food brands to overtake in corners. As long as product selection is accurate, packaging is innovative, and content marketing keeps pace, Chinese brands have every chance to incubate "Vietnamese popular products" on Shopee.
Whether fast food can become a breakthrough for Chinese food brands to go overseas ultimately depends on product strength, channel strategy and the depth of localization adaptation. Different markets have different taste preferences, but the commonalities are:
Delicious, convenient and cost-effective
. Starting with taste may be the fastest way to reach overseas consumers.
About NWi
Since 2023, NWi (NoahWise Insight) has expanded into overseas data services. We now cover major global e-commerce platforms including Amazon, Lazada, Shopee, and TikTok, tracking full-category market sales performance across nearly 30 country sites in Europe, the Americas, and Southeast Asia. We help brands deeply understand domestic and overseas market differences, identify growth opportunities in each market, and plan global expansion.
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