There's a hidden network behind Chinese restaurants

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:00]To many people it feels like almost every Chinese restaurant copied the same menu.

[00:00:04]And you probably see the same dish every single time General Tso's Chicken Beef and Broccoli and of course the famous egg rolls.

[00:00:11]But the real reason why this happens is not what people think. Across the United States there's a hidden network of workers, immigrants as well as shared recipes that connect thousands of Chinese restaurants together.

[00:00:22]According to the journalist Lauren Hilgers there's around 40,000 Chinese restaurants in the United States.

[00:00:28]Nearly three times as many as McDonald's locations.

[00:00:30]In cities like New York especially in Chinatown, employment agencies connect cooks and waitresses with restaurant owners across the country.

[00:00:37]Workers can sometimes find a job within hours and travel hundreds of miles to a new restaurant.

[00:00:42]Because cooks move between restaurants so often they bring the same recipes and cooking techniques with them.

[00:00:48]Over time this spreads the same dishes across thousands of different restaurants.

[00:00:52]In the early 1900s, the big three of Chinese American restaurant food were Chop Suey Chow Mein as well as Egg Foo Young.

[00:00:58]Later new menu items took over like Kung Pao Chicken and General Tso's Chicken.

[00:01:03]And as customers grew familiar with these foods, new restaurant owners kept them on the menu because they were safer for business.

[00:01:09]Basically, if people expected certain dishes at restaurants then owners will add them to the menu.

[00:01:14]Together these factors created something remarkable.

[00:01:17]Chinese restaurants in America operate almost like a giant unofficial franchise system.

[00:01:22]There are no corporations controlling it.

[00:01:23]Instead, it works through immigrant communities and job networks.