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Ever craved authentic home-cooked food far from home? HungryPanda’s journey began in 2017 when University of Nottingham student Eric Kelu Liu asked, “Why can’t ordering Chinese food abroad feel like home?” Frustrated by clumsy translations and a lack of local options, he built a delivery platform for his fellow overseas Chinese in Nottingham intelligentcxo.com techcrunch.com.
That founder-first mindset set the tone. HungryPanda literally speaks its users’ language: menus and app text use Chinese characters, and even restaurant owners see Chinese names in their portal. It also embraced local Chinese payments, letting customers pay with WeChat Pay or Alipay by default techcrunch.com. In short, the tech was built around the customer.
Eric Liu often says he started by doing everything himself – “I didn’t have the budget to develop an advanced delivery system, so I operated the system and delivered orders myself.” intelligentcxo.com. That hands-on start gave him deep insight into what overseas Chinese really needed.
HungryPanda’s cultural moat isn’t magic – it’s deliberate focus. By 2020, its UK and NYC operations were profitable, proving the model worked. Eric put it simply: “focus on the precise needs of our customers and launch in every new city within a two-week window.”techcrunch.com.
Every new market got the same Chinese-friendly UX and local support. Seasonal promotions cemented loyalty – think Lunar New Year banquet bundles or mooncake gift sets for Mid-Autumn Festival, all tailored to the Chinese calendar and tastes.
The result? Rapid growth. Within a few years HungryPanda expanded to 80+ cities across 10 countriestechcrunch.com. Over 6.5 million users and 100,000 restaurants now use the platform, driving roughly $1B in annual orderstechcrunch.comt. It rolled out PandaFresh (grocery delivery) in 2021 and even acquired local players – Australia’s EASI and New Zealand’s Buy@Home in 2022 – all while maintaining profitability.
“We saw millions of overseas Chinese needing to feel at home – so we became that home.” – HungryPanda Founder (paraphrased)
HungryPanda’s success story is a blueprint in customer obsession. The team didn’t chase all markets; it laser-focused on one community. Every element – language, payment, product selection – was built for themintelligentcxo.com. Now imagine you did the same for your niche audience.
HungryPanda vs Your Ordering.co Marketplace
HungryPanda’s story shows what’s possible, but you don’t have to write all the code and raise $275M to get started. With Ordering.co, entrepreneurs can launch a similar niche delivery platform in days, not years. Check out this side-by-side:
| Aspect | HungryPanda (Traditional Build) | With Ordering.co |
|---|
| Time to Market | Years of custom dev and integrations. | Launch in days with white-label website & native apps (no coding). |
| Localization & UX | Custom Chinese-language UI built from scratch. | Built-in multi-language interface; easily enable Chinese (or any) language on site and app. |
| Payments | Manually integrated WeChat Pay, Alipay, credit cards, etc. | Out-of-the-box support for WeChat, Alipay, Stripe, PayPal, credit cards and 30+ gateways. |
| Marketing & Promotions | Hand-crafted Lunar New Year meal bundles and localized discount campaigns. | Advanced offers, dynamic banners, and holiday campaign templates ready (e.g. Chinese festivals). |
| Product Expansion | Launched separate brands (PandaFresh, content) and did M&A for groceries. | Add groceries or lifestyle sections using built-in marketplace modules; bundle features integrated. |
| Operations & Scalability | Built local teams and logistics city by city; funded via large VC rounds. | Use Ordering.co’s integrated logistics tools (driver apps, fleet management) and cloud scaling. |
| Startup Cost | High burn on custom tech and marketing, plus equity dilution. | Predictable pricing (free trial, no CC needed) and lower tech cost; you keep full equity. |
With Ordering.co you get the core marketplace tech – ordering site, apps, delivery logistics, analytics – so you just add your unique branding and marketing. You get 80% of HungryPanda’s features out-of-the-box. Why build from zero?
Every niche has its HungryPanda moment. If you see a community gap – a cultural group, specialty cuisine, or local market underserved by big players – you can build for it. Ordering.co empowers founders to be the HungryPanda of any niche. The heavy lifting (apps, cart, payments, delivery routing, analytics) is done. You just plug in languages, payment options, and your local promotions.
“Imagine your community having its own HungryPanda. Why not be the one to build it?”
Ready to build the next HungryPanda? Ordering.co gives you a turnkey platform – white-labeled website and native apps, delivery dashboards, loyalty programs and more – so you can launch fast and focus on growth. Start free (no credit card required) and create your branded delivery marketplace today 👉 Ordering.co 🚀
Sources: HungryPanda facts from media reports and interviews techcrunch.com
techcrunch.com techcrunch.com intelligentcxo.com. These illustrate HungryPanda’s growth, cultural focus, and milestones. All Ordering.co references are illustrative of features offered by the platform.