Enjoying the Taste
Local chefs work in Tin Tin, a Chinese restaurant in Nairobi XINHUAWhile Chinese food is popular the world over, this has not always been the case in Kenya. However, recent growth in the online food delivery business has had a positive knock-on effect in the demand for this cuisine.Six years ago, the first online Chinese food ordering service in the country was launched and, like all startups, the idea took time to take off.
“We started with six or seven orders and celebrated when we got to 20,” said Kent Kagicha, Marketing Manager of Yum Kenya. The platform now boasts more than 100,000 users and has grown into Nairobi’s premier food delivery service provider.
Jumia Food, launched a year after Yum, tells a similar story.
“We used to get 50-100 orders a day; but now we do 50 orders an hour,” said Shreenal Ruparelia, Managing Director of Jumia Food and Jumia Party. As orders increased on both platforms, so exponentially did the number of people eating Chinese food. In fact, in one Chinese restaurant using online delivery, results were instant.
Slow start
In the past, Chinese food in Kenya was mainly only eaten by the elite.
Tin Tin, one of the first Chinese restaurants in Nairobi, was established more than 40 years ago in the Central Business District (CBD). The restaurant was so exclusive that the first president of Kenya was among its regular patrons.
“When we started out, major corporate companies were located here and so there was a high concentration of restaurants,” said Jamie Pujara, Tin Tin’s business partner, who has both Chinese and Indian heritage. Many of their clients were corporate white-collar workers who would walk over for lunch and the upper middle class who would drive to town for dinner. Over the years, businesses have relocated from the CBD and many restaurants have followed suit. But Tin Tin didn’t go that route.
“After the corporates moved, we realized that very few people were going to brave the traffic to come to the CBD just to eat, so we changed our business model and started providing outside catering to various blue-chip companies,” said Pujara. The new strategy helped Tin Tin retain its niche market; however, it would be years before Chinese cuisine would trickle down to the ordinary Kenyan.
Reasons for popularity
The popularity of Chinese food in Kenya has been triggered by a combination of three factors.
First, in 1996, then Chinese President Jiang Zemin set out a five-point proposal of engagement between China and Africa. This triggered a steady influx of Chinese to the continent. Statistics show that more than 1 million Chinese live on the African continent as of 2017, compared with less than 160,000 in 1996. The figure has continued to rise annually. While some Chinese nationals have come here to work, the more enterprising ones came to start businesses - including operating restaurants - thus contributing to the accessibility of Chinese food in Nairobi.
Secondly, the ease of entry into the Kenyan food industry has encouraged Chinese entrepreneurs to venture into the restaurant business. As Kwame Owino, CEO of the Institute of Economic Affairs, a public policy think tank, explains, when foreigners want to establish restaurants, they are under the same stipulations as local Kenyans.
Thirdly, more Kenyans now than in the past have the capacity to eat out because they have disposable income. A study done in 2017 by global market research group IPSOS entitled African Lions Who Are Africa’s Rising Middle Class, says that there are 100 million middle-class people in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa), representing a total spending power of $400 million a day.
Statistics show that 49 percent of Nairobi’s population is middle-income earners. It is this middle class, who are acquiring a taste for things past generations could never afford - and eating out is one of them.
Thus, the combination of enterprising Chinese, an enabling environment and a growing middle class is the push that was needed to make Chinese food popular.
Love the taste
Although the flavor of Chinese food made in Kenya is different to the “real” thing, it is loved by locals.
Andia Akidiva, a Kenyan who grew up in Canada eating Chinese food, said when she went to China, she could not eat the food there because it was steamed and boiled. “But the stuff we eat here is fried and really flavored well like the sweet and sour pork, so I prefer it,” she said.
Fred Opato who works at Chinese Corner, a restaurant that’s been open for more than 10 years at a busy Nairobi mall, said it’s not just how it’s prepared, but the food is also easily recognizable.
“We serve 80-90 Africans daily and they like noodles because it’s like spaghetti, the dry beef resembles the local delicacy called nyama choma,” he said.
And as more families opt for take-out, especially on Sundays, Chinese food is becoming their preferred choice because of the generous portions and variety of dishes. Nina Zhen Ye, owner of the Double Dragon Chinese Restaurant, who has been in Nairobi since 1997, describes how having a wide range of dish options puts her ahead of the competition.
“When the other restaurants have competitive offers on their meals, we lose money but we always recover it over the weekend; because when families come to eat, they order a portion of chicken, fish and pork with rice and then share. They like trying out different tastes,” said Ye.
Nairobi resident Wendy Kinyua takes her family for Chinese food every Sunday, “I like that we can all eat together. We order as a family and share the same meal, plus, the spices are mild for the children,” she said.
Food strengthens cultural ties
Although Kenya’s middle class has more money than past generations, they are still frugal, when it comes to eating out, said Ruparelia. “Chinese restaurants have understood the math of volumes. The average order for a Chinese meal is $10, unlike other cuisines that would be $24 dollars,” he said, adding that with a lower margin but higher number of orders, Chinese restaurants are profitable.
Chinese restaurants can also afford to keep costs low because ingredients are easily available. Bo Li, co-owner of Chinese Kitchen and Dim Sum House, said he buys most of his ingredients locally. He also points out that he finds Kenyans are now willing to try authentic Chinese meals, not just the “Kenyan Chinese variety.”
“From time to time we make authentic Chinese food for our regular customers and the feedback is always positive. So we are looking for another location to serve more authentic food like Beijing roast duck,” he said.
Chinese restaurants have also been inadvertently improving Sino-African relations. Kenyans’ view of Chinese people is heavily influenced by negative stories broadcasted by Western media. These narratives undermine relations between ordinary Chinese and Kenyans. Chinese restaurants are helping to change this. Kamau Wango, Director of the Confucius Institute at Kenyatta University, said, “When Kenyans visit these restaurants they begin to understand the broader Chinese culture.” These contacts with ordinary Chinese help Kenyans forge a more unbiased view, he said.
As Minna Cai of Chinese Kitchen and Dim Sum House says, her customers regularly ask her about Chinese culture and she can offer a more objective narrative than the media. She also tries to decorate the restaurant during the various Chinese festivals just to make people aware of the cultural differences.
**Reporting from Kenya
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