Photo shows a view of the 2025 Xinjiang Rice Noodle Festival. (Photo/Urumqi Evening News)

The 2025 Xinjiang Rice Noodle Festival recently wrapped up in Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Around the same time, a stir-fried rice noodle brand called "Huaxiaoxiao," operated by 4Youngs, a catering brand in Beijing, launched its 22nd front-end warehouse in Xinjiang.

To date, Huaxiaoxiao has opened more than 3,500 chain stores worldwide. Following the launch of the new warehouse, the company plans to build a global flagship store of over 1,000 square meters in Xinjiang and establish a 3,000-square-meter global R&D center dedicated to Xinjiang cuisine.

Other major stir-fried rice noodle brands are also racing to grow their national chains. There are now more than 10,000 Xinjiang stir-fried rice noodle chain stores across more than 300 cities in China, according to the Xinjiang Catering Association. Some leading brands have even opened outlets in the U.S., Canada and Kazakhstan.

Based on industry estimates that an average store sells about 150 bowls of Xinjiang stir-fried rice noodles per day, total annual sales across the 10,000 outlets are projected to exceed 7.5 billion yuan ($1.05 billion). Including online and supermarket sales, the market size for Xinjiang stir-fried rice noodles is likely already above 8 billion yuan.

Huaxiaoxiao opened its first store in Beijing and now operates five locations in Xinjiang. With a new warehouse in Urumqi, the company plans to speed up its local rollout and open 200 additional stores across Xinjiang by 2026. It also aims to expand into Central Asia, with its first Kazakhstan location already being scouted.

Another brand, "Mizige," shares a similar story. It was founded in Beijing in 2014 by Jin Meijiao, then a college student, and her husband, Li Jianfeng, who started out with a 16-square-meter shop selling Xinjiang stir-fried rice noodles.

In 2018, the couple brought their brand home to Xinjiang and began expanding nationally. Today, Mizige runs more than 260 stores across China, 90 percent of which are in Xinjiang.

From fast-food shops and breakfast stalls to late-night food trucks, Xinjiang stir-fried rice noodles have become a familiar sight across the country.

As Xinjiang stir-fried rice noodle chains expand across the country, demand for sauces has surged. Xinjiang Xierdan Food Co., Ltd. was quick to seize the opportunity, scaling up large-scale production to supply rice noodle sauces to stores nationwide.

More than 20 rice noodle and supply chain companies from across China took part in the 2025 Xinjiang Rice Noodle Festival, where free tastings over three days drew large crowds and created a lively buzz.