Din Tai Fung Builds a Global Dynasty with Precision Dumplings
By Kelli Luu | 10 Aug, 2025

What began as a humble Taipei oil shop has become a family-run restaurant chain selling enough luxe dumplings to approach a half billion dollars a year.

Din Tai Fung started off as a small oil retail shop in Taipei and is now a leading dining force in the U.S. bringing in over $411 million in total sales annually. Let’s take a look at how this soup-dumpling sensation is taking over the nation. 

Bing-Yi Yang and his wife Pen-Mei Lai opened up Din Tai Fung as a cooking oil business in 1958 while tinned cooking oil became very in demand. When oil sales collapsed in the 1970s, the couple decided to make xiaolongbao in order to keep up with their shop. 

Xiaolongbao was a common dish in Shanghai, but it was rare to find in Taiwan. This allowed the couple to capitalize off the soup dumplings and it eventually grew to be so popular that they stopped selling oil completely and converted it into a restaurant in 1972.

After receiving recognition from the New York Times, Din Tai Fung’s first international location opened in Tokyo in 1996 and in 2000, the first North American location was set up in Arcadia, California. 

Today Din Tai Fung has over 170 locations across 13 countries. In the United States, there are currently 16 outlets which includes a stronghold location in Midtown Manhattan that spans over 25,000 square feet and produces over 10,000 dumplings every day. 

Over the past few years Din Tai Fung has blown up on the West Coast where most of the company's U.S. restaurants are located. Influencers shared their must-have menu items and had Din Tai Fung’s reservations fully booked for months. So if you are thinking about doing a walk-in then be prepared for a lengthy wait time. 

With Din Tai Fung’s check average being about $45 a person, the company achieved an AUV (average unit volume) of roughly $27.4 million per restaurant in 2024 which was the highest in the entire restaurant industry. 

To put this number into comparison, it is almost double competitor Mastro’s Steakhouse’s AUV and one Din Tai Fung restaurant is racking in as much as nearly four Chick-fil-As. 

As each dumpling is folded 18 times, the company’s success stems from consistency and quality. Founder Bing-Yi Yang passed away in March 2023 and left a restaurant legacy to his grandsons who are now co-CEOs. The brothers are Cornell hospitality grads managing 21 different locations in the United States and Canada continuing their grandfather’s meticulously maintained standards. 

The journey behind Din Tai Fung’s empire proves that precision and passion can turn a classic dish into a total global phenomenon and as long as those 18 folds keep popping out of their kitchens, I think it is safe to say that the xiaolongbao reign is far from over.