Agricultural product processing enterprises in Henan province have experienced robust and innovative growth in recent years, expanding their services to a growing number of domestic and global catering businesses and consumers.

Henan-based Xinxiang Qianwei Central Kitchen Food Co Ltd, which specializes in providing customized and standardized quick-frozen food for catering businesses, has become a key supplier to top catering brands such as Yum China, Wallace and ZKungfu.

Sun Jian, the company's chairman, said its annual output value exceeds 1 billion yuan ($137 million), with flagship products including youtiao (deep-fried dough sticks), sesame balls, cartoon buns and egg tarts each generating annual sales of over 100 million yuan.

"Seventy percent of the frozen youtiao in the Chinese market is produced by our company, with the highest single-day sales reaching 8.4 million sticks," he added.

Sun said the percentage of chain and franchise stores in China's catering industry is increasing year-by-year, but it's still far below the figure in developed countries, which is about 50 percent, presenting a huge opportunity for the catering ingredient supply chain.

The penetration rate of chain and franchise stores in the country's catering industry was 21 percent in 2023, according to a white paper jointly released by the China Chain Store and Franchise Association and online services giant Meituan.

Sun said his company plans to seek further growth in the field of prefabricated dishes and expand its presence in the consumer market through online channels with innovative products favored by the younger generation. It is also exploring overseas markets, with an annual compound growth rate of more than 30 percent in sales.

Jia Xueming, the company's R&D director, said thousands of cases of its quick-frozen steamed dumplings are currently on their way to the United States for the first time, where they will be sold in mainstream supermarkets.

"It is expected that during the Spring Festival, people in the US will be able to enjoy these Chinese-made dumplings," he said.

Jia said the company is committed to meeting the needs of catering businesses and diverse consumer scenarios through technological innovation.

"For instance, our youtiao products have evolved to version 4.0, expanding from traditional ones to dozens of varieties such as hot pot youtiao, egg-filled youtiao, and steamed youtiao," he added.

Jiaozuo, Henan-based Daka International Food Co Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese new-style tea beverage brand Mixue Ice Cream and Tea, is one of the largest beverage raw material suppliers in China, with an annual production capacity of 1.2 million metric tons.

As Mixue expands its presence to more than 10 countries, the company is supplying beverage ingredients to 30,000 tea outlets and restaurants worldwide, with a main business revenue of 13.75 billion yuan last year, the company said.

The agricultural processing industry is a pillar of Henan's economy. The province produces half of the country's ham sausages, one-third of instant noodles, one-fourth of steamed buns, three-fifths of tangyuan (glutinous rice balls), seven-tenths of dumplings, and four-fifths of hot and sour noodles, according to official statistics from the Henan provincial government.

Wang Junzhong, deputy director of the province's agriculture and rural affairs department, said that as of October this year, Henan had a total of 6,103 agricultural product processing enterprises, each with an annual revenue of over 20 million yuan.

By transforming and upgrading its agricultural product processing industry, the province is nurturing a modern food industry cluster of more than 1 trillion yuan in output, he said.

"Henan is evolving from the 'nation's granary' to the 'nation's kitchen' and the world's dining table," Wang said, adding that locally produced agricultural products are exported to 140 countries and regions.