Challenges
Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao was named a Michelin-recommended Shanghainese restaurant for nine consecutive years and has been deemed “The City's Best Soup Dumplings” by news outlets like Eater, New York Magazine, Grub Street, and Gothamist. The business is thriving and its average wait time is more than 40 minutes. Because of the high in-store sales, they never considered the need for online business.

From February 2020, the COVID situation in New York City started to worsen. Nan Xiang saw a sharp decline in revenue as few customers dined in.  In the meanwhile, the stay-at-home order changed people’s consumption behavior - a tremendous increase in demand for online ordering and delivery.

Nanxiang joined Ubereats and Doordash which charged a very high commision rate. The restaurant was making very thin margins, sometimes none, with these third party delivery platforms. Customers were also unsatisfied because they had to pay 15% higher prices through these platforms.