HungryPanda Business Model: How It Wins the Asian Food Delivery Market

Key Takeaways (or TL;DR)

• HungryPanda was established to serve the needs of Chinese communities worldwide. Today, it continues to improve its services and expand as a preferred platform for Asian Cuisine, fresh food, and lifestyle services.
• The HungryPanda business model follows a hyperlocal approach, connecting customers exploring Asian cuisine with a wide network of restaurants and delivery providers to deliver orders to customers’ doorsteps via the mobile app.
• The company uses a simplified workflow, where a customer browses and orders an item, restaurants accept and prepare the food, and the delivery provider delivers it to the customer’s doorstep.
• The HungryPanda revenue model primarily comes from commissions, delivery charges, membership programs, and in-app advertising.
• The success of this Asian-led food delivery business lies in its strong focus on niche markets, strategic partnerships, and a community-centric marketing strategy.

Starting a food delivery business in a saturated market is challenging. However, HungryPanda, an on-demand food delivery platform that connects customers exploring Asian food with a wide range of restaurants, shows that the right strategy can drive the business successfully.

The HungryPanda business model focuses on a niche market, which drives its growth in this highly competitive sector. In fact, this is a core strategy that entrepreneurs who want to build an online food or grocery delivery business must understand from the company.

Now, let’s take a closer look at this article to understand how HungryPanda works, how it makes money, and notable factors that have shaped the company.

What is HungryPanda?

HungryPanda is an on-demand food delivery platform that connects Chinese communities and Asian food enthusiasts with Asian restaurants via a mobile app.

About HungryPanda: A Journey to a Homegrown Food Delivery Platform

“Necessity is the mother of innovation” aptly describes HungryPanda’s background story. It was born when Kelu “Eric” Liu, the founder, was struggling to order Chinese food from local Chinese restaurants in Nottingham.

Company Overview

Founded In: 2017

Founder: Eric Liu

Headquarters: London, United Kingdom

Operates In: 10 Countries

Industry: Food Delivery

Liu always found it hard to read the English menus of those local restaurants. And this wasn’t only him; almost every Chinese student faced the same problem.

This situation left Liu deeply disappointed and with an intense craving for authentic Chinese food. To help himself and his fellow students, he decided to build an app in Mandarin that would help them find nearby Chinese eateries serving traditional food. This idea eventually became HungryPanda.

Back then, the company was focused on a niche audience – Chinese people living abroad. But as the user base grew, the app expanded its offerings to include other Asian cuisines, such as Korean, Japanese, and Southeast Asian dishes.

Over the years, the founder identified a need for a reliable, convenient grocery delivery platform that offers fresh, authentic ingredients for Asian dishes. This led to the launch of PandaFresh-HungryPanda’s grocery delivery segment.

Today, it has become a go-to place for all Asian dishes. It has crossed the British borders and become a truly global platform for finding not only ready-to-eat Asian food but also fresh groceries and specialty items that are popular in Asian countries.

From a niche-specified food delivery platform to becoming a Golden Panda Award winner, which symbolises excellence in the global overseas Chinese food industry, the company set the highest standard for culinary achievements!

Recently, HungryPanda has served over 3.5 million users across Australia, holding off tough competition from global giants like Uber Eats and DoorDash. Moreover, it has expanded its operations across 10 countries and over 80 cities.

Now, what’s the secret behind its success?

Here are the key milestones that highlight HungryPanda’s core achievements since its inception.

Success Timeline

2017: Established in the UK

2018: The company expanded its operations to France and New Zealand.

2019: Entered the landscape of America and Australia. Also formed partnerships with Alipay+ and WeChat Pay.

2021: Expanded its operations into the Tokyo, Japan market. Also, the same year, the company launched its PandaFresh.

2022: The company acquired EASI and BUY@HOME

2023: HungryPanda officially launched its new brand campaign.

2024: Praised with a Golden Panda Award, creating a formal collaborative platform for the global Asian food industry.

2025: It has successfully formed new partnerships with Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern merchant groups, making the brand an ethnic-focused leader.

Funding History

To date, HungryPanda has raised $275 million across 4 rounds.

HungryPanda Business Model Canvas Explained

The HungryPanda business model operates as a hyperlocal approach connecting customers with restaurants that offer delicious Asian cuisine through a unified platform.

Key Partners

• A large network of independent delivery partners who provide delivery services.
• HungryPanda collaborated with thousands of Asian-owned restaurants and local grocery stores.
• Strategic partnership with iFresh to provide online perishable goods delivery in the eastern U.S.
• Also, HungryPanda partnered with Alipay+ for digital payment solutions and marketing, making payments easier to access in regions such as the UK, France, and Italy.
• The company also collaborated with Alibaba Cloud to provide PaaS and IaaS solutions to manage its rapid growth and app scaling.

Key Activities

• One of the company’s prominent activities is overseeing deliveries in real-time and ensuring everything runs smoothly.
• Expanding its business operations by collaborating with local merchants.
• Onboarding delivery partners and providing them with training, ensuring effective delivery of food parcels to customers’ doorsteps.
• Continuously updating technologies to deliver a better ordering experience for customers.
• Connecting with key investors who help accelerate business growth.

Value Proposition

For Customers

• Provides easy access to a wide range of Asian restaurants.
• Competitive price and convenient payment options.
• A special loyalty program to offer customers special deals.
• Easily get a favorite meal delivered to their doorsteps.
• User-friendly app interface and native language options.
• Flexibility to schedule the order for later to avoid last-minute hurdles.

For Delivery Providers

• As the company offers Asian food, groceries, and fresh produce, delivery providers will receive consistent demand from its customers.
• The delivery provider can utilize their flexible time to offer delivery services.
• In-built advanced features that help the delivery provider optimize the routes and manage delivery services efficiently.

For Restaurant

• Restaurants using the HungryPanda platform can even sell Asian groceries through the PandaFresh brand.
• The restaurant can easily reach a wider customer base on the platform, enabling prompt business expansion.
• Also, the company monitors customers’ preferences and uses them to highlight restaurants that align with their favorite choices.

Customer Relationship

• Offers 24/7 customer support, which allows customers to access assistance whenever needed.
• A real-time feedback system to maintain the quality standards among partners.
• Also, the company offers VouchersPanda, providing exclusive lifestyle services to its customers.
• Customers receive in-app notifications regarding order status, special discounts, and any new exclusive deals.
• The company often hosts or participates in community events and festivals to showcase its role as a cultural connector rather than just a delivery service provider.

Cost Structure

• A significant expenditure for marketing and customer acquisition.
• Payment to technical service providers for maintaining the platform and upgrading technologies.
• Paying remuneration to the staff members.
• Other operational costs, such as infrastructure maintenance.

How HungryPanda Works? Insights into its Working Flow

The platform has emerged as a leading Asian food provider in the online food delivery sector. At the same time, its market-specific approach is a major advantage for the company. Also, its smooth workflow plays a significant role in its widespread popularity.

Let’s dive deeper into how HungryPanda works.

• Customers can easily register themselves on the platform and start ordering instantly.
• They can browse a wide range of restaurants or supermarkets (from HungryPanda and Panda Fresh, respectively).
• Each item is meticulously displayed, making it easier for customers to check details such as price, discounts, and more.
• Also, the customer can choose between doorstep delivery and takeaways.
• After selecting the item, customers can confirm the order by paying with their preferred payment method.
• The restaurant receives the order request, accepts it, and begins preparing it.
• Once the order is ready, the restaurant assigns it to a nearby delivery provider.
• The delivery provider then arrives at the restaurant, picks up the parcel, and delivers it to the customer’s doorstep.
• Once the order is successfully delivered, the app asks both customers and delivery providers to rate each other, maintaining the service quality.

How HungryPanda Makes Money? Check Out Its Key Revenue Channels

HungryPanda’s operations are expanding beyond an Asian focus, with presence in over 10 countries and more than 80 cities worldwide. Its revenue model is also soaring.

Here’s a quick look at how HungryPanda makes money through its diversified revenue streams.

Commissions

It is recognized as the core of the HungryPanda revenue model! The company charges restaurants and supermarkets a per-order commission of 15% to 30%, depending on the market and partnership tier.

Delivery Fees

The company also earns good income through delivery fees. For every customer order, the platform charges a delivery fee of $2 to $5, which may vary by location, order size, and whether personalization was added.

Advertisements

HungryPanda uses advertisements as one of the key marketing strategies to drive user engagement, promoting its restaurant partners and offering discounts.

One of the good-to-go examples is the company creating an Instagram reel to promote buy 1, get 1 free on selected milk teas (Strawberry Jasmine Fresh Milk Tea Daifuku) from March 27 to 29, 2026. Additionally, it highlights additional social media incentives to attract a customer base.

Moreover, the company also offers an advertising partnership program for businesses that helps them gain high visibility through opening-screen ads or first-screen banners, as these placements play a key role in increasing restaurant sales, by appearing to customers at first sight.

Membership Program

One of the company’s steady sources of income is its membership program. Often known as VIP or Member Package, the company offers exclusive membership plans for its daily and monthly customers.

The customer has to pay a fixed charge as per the package they opt for to receive free delivery on eligible orders and 3 to 5 exclusive high-value coupons per month. Restaurants can take the subscription as a VIP Partner to enjoy a top listing and special pricing, along with these benefits.

Loyalty Program

Originally based in the UK, the app not only builds loyalty within the app but also fosters community through participation in seasonal events, such as mooncake gift sets for the mid-autumn festival and Lunar New Year banquet bundles, which connect people with love and joy.

Moreover, they welcome new customers with significant rewards, such as up to $25 off through referral offers and more. This, in turn, helps them build their customer base.

PandaFresh

PandaFresh is the company’s grocery model, focused on delivering authentic Asian ingredients, condiments, snacks, and specialty items hard to find on mainstream platforms.

Here, the company generates income by charging the commission and delivery fees.

VouchersPanda

VouchersPanda extends the brand’s ecosystem into lifestyle services, offering vouchers and deals for Asian spas, beauty treatments, karaoke venues, and more.

Understanding the Key Growth Strategies of HungryPanda

Hyper-Focused Niche Specialization

In competitive markets dominated by platforms like UberEats and DoorDash, the company chose depth over breadth. By focusing on Asian cuisine, it has become a household name among Chinese cuisine lovers.

While already dominating the authentic Chinese food market, the company is also expanding its services to include groceries and other fresh products. It expanded its operations to 10 core countries.

Vertical Integration & Technology

Beyond connecting restaurants and customers, the company directly integrated a POS system for its partnered restaurants. These integrations result in gathering valuable data in one place, efficient kitchen operations, and consistent quality of service.

Moreover, HungryPanda is leveraging advanced technology to help delivery providers with reliable location tracking, data analytics for customer preferences, and culturally localized features such as WeChat Pay and Mandarin support. This helps them scale internationally while maintaining strong connections with their core user base.

Strategic Partnerships

The company builds both strategic partnerships and cultural connections through participation in various cultural events and a partnership with a local grocery chain.

Its collaboration with Alipay+ to offer seamless native payment methods and a partnership with Haidilao to provide an at-home dining experience are how the company is winning its audience’s hearts.

Community-Centric Marketing

One of the core reasons behind the company’s success is its community-centric marketing. The way the company celebrates each festival by offering a variety of gifts and discounts encourages people to return.

Moreover, they also dominate niche social platforms like Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu) and partner with community influencers. The company maintains its origins, building high trust among its customers by delivering content mostly in Mandarin rather than generic digital ads in the app.

How Elluminati Can Help You Build a HungryPanda Like App?

The HungryPanda business model is significant proof that a niche-focused food delivery platform can easily sail through a competitive market by serving specific communities with authenticity and efficiency. As the on-demand economy evolves, many entrepreneurs are considering entering niche markets, and HungryPanda is a prime example to follow.

But, as the market is niche, you need a clear strategy on what to cover, what to serve, and who to serve. Moreover, an advanced platform is also needed to grow your business digitally, and that’s where Elluminati plays a vital role.

Our ready-to-deploy HungryPanda Clone supports multilingual and multi-country features, making it reliable for serving diverse communities. Also, it supports an integration of multiple payment gateways, making it easier for you to scale without glitches and stay competitive in the food delivery market with confidence.

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