Constant upgrades

Xingfu's entrepreneurs are increasingly looking beyond China's borders. For Kingbetter, overseas sales accounted for 45 percent of total revenue in 2025, and it has established subsidiaries in Los Angeles and Singapore.

The road to global respect hasn't been easy, though. "In the past, foreign buyers were prejudiced against us as a 'small town' operation," Wang said. To build trust, the company installed live cameras in its workshops as early as 2006, allowing international clients to monitor production in real time. Today, that transparency has paid off, with foreign customers now seeking out Xingfu brands by reputation.

"The early family workshops and local pioneers created a strong grassroots startup atmosphere," said Liu from the Shandong macroeconomic research academy.

For years, Xingfu town's industry relied on cost advantages and scale. But as competition intensified and consumer expectations evolved, weaknesses such as lagging technology, weak branding and shrinking profit margins emerged. Transformation became urgent.

Private entrepreneurs responded by committing to innovation. They invested heavily in advanced equipment, recruited talent nationally, and partnered with universities for research and development.

Today, the town's kitchen equipment products encompass 12 major series and thousands of varieties.

Kingbetter is transitioning from digitalization toward full intelligence.

"While our stoves and ovens are already individually smart, the future trend is the intelligent and digital integration of the entire kitchen," said Wang.

"With AI, the concept of a comprehensive smart solution is becoming a reality," he added.

Two years ago, Kingbetter launched a smart kitchen where any behavior failing to meet hygiene standards is immediately detected and corrected. The system enables complete traceability of the entire food processing chain.

"The core of building a smart kitchen is food safety, which is why many schools are particularly interested," said Wang.

Liu said that Xingfu town's entrepreneurs have consistently anchored themselves in manufacturing, pursuing intelligent and green transformation around their core business.

"This offers important lessons for resource-dependent and agricultural regions that upgrading existing traditional industries is often more sustainable than starting something entirely new," said Liu.

Wang from Kingbetter said: "Kingbetter has become a major producer in the commercial kitchen industry by scale. We expect exports to keep growing. Overseas sales may exceed domestic sales this year."

Shandong Jingdu Kitchen Industry Co, a relative latecomer to international markets, is catching up quickly. Starting exports only in 2024, the private company achieved over 10 million yuan in overseas sales in 2025, primarily to the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

"Exporting is the future trend," said Zhao Panjiang, the company's general manager. "There's enormous room for growth."