Exquisite dining defines Guiyang and Gui'an as shining food destination

Specialty cuisine has become a top attraction in Guiyang City and Gui'an New Area, Southwest China's Guizhou province, with the catering industry ranking among the province's largest in scale and playing a prominent role in driving related sectors. The region is currently home to 120,000 catering businesses.

Time-honored brands elevate catering quality

The vibrant food culture of Guiyang is deeply rooted in the dedication and breakthroughs of its long-established enterprises.

Every morning, a line forms outside Dan's Crispy Duck shop on Minsheng Road in Yunyan district. The freshly fried crispy duck, infused with a numbing and aromatic spice mix, has been winning hearts since the Guangxu Reign of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Recognized as a provincial-level intangible cultural heritage in 2019, a "Guizhou Time-Honored Brand" in 2021, and a "China Time-Honored Brand" in 2024, Dan's Crispy Duck has since brought together over 200 specialty products from 60 local enterprises into a diversified product line combining crispy duck with Guizhou specialty gifts.

Currently, Dan's Crispy Duck operates nearly 200 stores in Guizhou and nearly 100 outside the province, with sales increasing by nearly 8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter. "In the next two years, we will deepen our presence in Southwest China and gradually expand nationwide, bringing Guizhou's signature crispy, numbing flavor to more people," said Liu Haibin, operation director of Dan's Crispy Duck.

Another icon of Guizhou cuisine is the local brand Wugongbao. "Our must-order signature dishes are the Three Delicacies, Gongbao Chicken, and pickled pepper whole fish. The Gongbao Chicken, in particular, balances sour, sweet, salty, and umami flavors perfectly – each flavor distinct yet harmonious. It has been named one of Guizhou's Top 10 Local Dishes and wins awards at every competition," said Yang Lei, general manager of Guizhou Wugongbao Catering Management Co.

With over 10 outlets in Guiyang and more than 100 employees, Wugongbao continues to grow strongly, backed by its commitment to traditional Guizhou cuisine and market recognition.

Led by such flagship brands, Guiyang now boasts 80 diamond-level restaurants (49 of which are four-diamond level or above) and 46 time-honored brands, steadily raising its culinary quality and influence while revitalizing local flavors.

Innovative flavors infuse new energy into local food scenes

In Nanming district, the Dapangliu Laoguo near Jiaxiu Pavilion draws long queues every evening.

"Starting from a three-table stall in Meikuang village, we have grown to 20 stores nationwide over more than a decade. This market recognition comes from our dedication to taste, continuous innovation, and service improvement," said Liu Xiang, founder of Dapangliu.

"We aim not just to build a successful commercial brand, but to become an ambassador of Guiyang's food culture," Liu said. He plans to open 50 new stores in the next three years, cultivate more management talent, and expand internationally, bringing Guiyang's unique laoguo (a stir-fried mix of vegetables, tofu, and meat in a flat pan) experience to the world.

In Guanshanhu district, Morning Home Cooking, a bistro serving authentic "young Guiyang food" with warm service, has topped the local home-style dish popularity chart for nearly a year. Many of the Guizhou dishes on its menu have been innovated, reflecting how the bistro concept is being integrated with Guizhou cuisine – a microcosm of fusion innovation and outward development.

Across Guiyang and Gui'an, catering and snack business owners, while ensuring high ingredient quality and adhering to food safety standards, are using creativity as their brush to reshape the old Guiyang food scenes. In doing so, they are revitalizing the city's traditional tastes, passing them on with a fresh, youthful energy.

Strengthening the city's food identity with long-term vision

More young travelers are now putting "what to eat" at the top of their itineraries, making food-focused trips to Guiyang a new trend. Weekend or three-day getaways centered on eating are common.

To tackle long-standing issues like outdated facilities, uneven service quality, and fragmented supervision, Guiyang issued the 2025 Catering Service Quality Improvement Hundred-Day Action Implementation Plan.

Authorities are renovating kitchens, dining halls, storage rooms, and restrooms in catering businesses, combining detailed oversight with steady improvements. A "Guiyang Catering Food Map" is also being developed, featuring time-honored brands, famous snacks, and renowned restaurants, including over 100 brand-name catering businesses.

The Guiyang Catering Industry Association has been established, with sub-associations for supply chains and master chefs on the way, aiming to export standardized, branded "Guiyang solutions" to the national catering industry.

The Guiyang bureau of commerce will work with multiple departments to step up the standardized cultivation, deep processing, and branded promotion of local ingredients, boost industrial chains for specialty items like sour soup and chilies, and promote standardized, industrial production of signature dishes to lower procurement and operating costs.

Efforts will also focus on nurturing internationally influential catering brands and master chefs through skills competitions, vocational training, and certification, while improving the "food education" system.