HyVee Chinese Express

One out of every five meals purchased at a restaurant is purchased from the car, so convenience is the key factor. Drive-thru provides convenience. Curbside delivery also does that. For customers who love Chinese food, but have to shop fro groceries, it means great convenience if a supermarket offers ready-to-eat Chinese dinners to take home. That is exactly what Hy-Vee Chinese Express does. It is even smart for HyVee Supermarket to employ chef-owners of Chinese restaurants to manage a take-out food counter inside the grocery store. “Our food was never designed with ‘fast food’ in mind … but rather ‘quick service’, featuring “a tradition of fresh, prepared from scratch foods we have been known for” says Greg Frampton, VP-Foodservice in Hy-Vee Supermarket. Hy-Vee, 75-year, and one of the most recognized regional supermarkets, is currently operating over 200 stores in seven states (IA, MI, NE, SD, MN & IL). The Chinese Express concept was first added into Hy-Vee Supermarket in 1992, and has expanded to over 110 units since. “We know we had a winner from the beginning. Sales were brisk and our customers were excited,” commented Greg. Hy-Vee Chinese Express is different from the traditional Chinese fast food in the way of its convenient supermarket locations, its healthy self-developed menu and well-presented food package. Offering dine-in, take-out and catering service options, it has enjoyed steady profit growth in each store location. Average sale ranges from $3.99 to $5.99 for dine-in business, and there has been a good success with the $18.99 dinner for four package meal. If treated as an independent chain, Hy-Vee Chinese Express could be counted as the 7th largest Chinese fastfood chain in the U.S. The Chinese Express has been one of the fastest growing departments in Hy-Vee. At its peak time, 55 stores were opened within 5 years. The rapid growth is largely attributed to the founding partner Kwok Chow, who once owned his family Chinese restaurant before joining Hy-Vee. “ I was the man for everything in the early years. I had to handle sales projection, hiring, training, motivating staff, supervise the set-up of each new store and the daily operation,” says Kwok. “I was luckily enough to draw from my previous restaurant operation experience. And from that I know, a good candidate for a manager would be someone like me, a restaurant owner”. The recruiting criteria for a store manage was then made easy: allure chef-owners of Chinese restaurants to join, and set up a profit-sharing system. As the first Chinese supervisor in Hy-Vee, Kwok Chow now oversees the Chinese Express Department that expands into 7 states. (-ARN staff editors)