Chains are coming to Chinatown, bearing bubble tea and hot pot. Is that a good thing?

Boston Globe

07-07-2025

In all, close to 20 chain restaurants have settled in and around Chinatown over the past decade, and word is more are on the way:
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Housing advocates have long fought
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The shift reflects a changing customer base. Rather than catering largely to immigrants seeking a taste of home, Chinatown businesses
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Two of the biggest hot pot chains in China —Happy Lamb Hot Pot and Liu Yi Shou Hotpot — compete for customers with locations across the street from each other in Chinatown.
Heather Diehl for the Boston Globe
'It's a double-edged sword,' observed Brian Moy, whose family has owned the China Pearl restaurant for four decades. 'It's great for the new generation to really be able to get a great product. It does limit the mom-and-pop shop, and it's hard to compete being next door to a well-oiled machine that is a corporate entity.'
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It's a familiar pattern in and around
Boston from Harvard Square to Newbury Street, where the proliferation of national and international brands like H&M and Shake Shack
can give shopping districts a cookie-cutter feel.
The change may be less apparent in Chinatown, because the international brands, while well-known in parts of Asia, aren't exactly household names in the US. And they often find local partners and franchisees to operate their businesses.
But the money they can pay is substantial. And the influx has kept rents high in Chinatown and made it difficult to find space, say local business owners and real estate brokers.
Retail spaces in Chinatown are small, but lucrative. A 1,000-square-foot storefront can command over $100 per square foot, making Chinatown rents among the highest in Boston after the Seaport District and Newbury Street, according to
brokers.
Landlords in Chinatown often welcome chains because their deep pockets typically mean they can pay high rents and
'Chains' chances of survival are higher,' he said.
But that just puts more pressure on independent business owners like Gloria Chin, who runs
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Chin said she's facing eviction from her storefronts
with landlord raising the rent to $25,000 a month, up from $14,000. She thinks her landlord can charge a lot more because chains have been circling Chinatown. A representative for her landlord said Chin's lease is up, which means the higher rent likely reflects the going rate.
Chin's parents started Bao Bao Bakery in 2004, and Gloria Chin took over the bakery and opened Double Chin in 2016, serving up modern Asian fusion cuisine like Peking duck fries.
As out-of-town bubble tea shops and others take over Chinatown, Chin — who went to Boston Latin School and Northeastern University — prides herself on building something unique in her hometown.
'It doesn't feel like they're creating any value or doing anything creative,' said Chin. 'They're just copying and pasting and then gentrifying our city and causing Boston to lose its flair.'
Gloria Chin owns the Double Chin restaurant and Bao Bao Bakery in Chinatown.
Heather Diehl for the Boston Globe
But to David Zhao, the cofounder of
Zhao, whose brands include Mikiya Wagyu, Chubby Skewers, and Matsunori Handroll Bar, said first-generation immigrant restaurant owners in the US relied on cheap prices to attract customers and made ends meet by operating in hole-in-the-wall spaces and skimping on service.
Zhao said he wants to change that reputation and in the process 'transform Asian towns all over America.'
'Finally, it's no longer that Asian food is the underdog in the US or internationally,' he said. 'Asian food can be phenomenal, just like French cuisine, just like Italian, and serve fantastic ingredients and [have] fantastic service.'
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Celine Nguyen prepared hot pot at Mikiya Wagyu Shabu House in Chinatown.
Heather Diehl for the Boston Globe
To community advocates, this represents a new form of gentrification — one that could accelerate as
Karen Chen, executive director of the Chinese Progressive Association, said the fear is that the new owners, having paid a premium for these properties, will need to charge higher rents to recoup their investment, pressuring small business owners even more.
'The city has a chance to take a strong stance, enough is enough,' said Chen. 'We need to protect Chinatown.'
But to Andy Kuang, cofounder of the Massachusetts Asian Restaurant Association, the chains reflect the diversity of Chinese cuisine in America today, moving beyond the Cantonese dishes of early Chinese immigrants.
It's the variety that can keep Boston's Chinatown vibrant, as more options for Asian food open up in surrounding communities like Malden and Quincy.
'It's a natural transition, said Kuang. 'Chinatown needs a little change."
Gong Cha, a boba tea chain that started in Taiwan, competes with small business owners for business in Chinatown.
Heather Diehl for the Boston Globe
Shirley Leung is a Business columnist and host of the Globe Opinion podcast 'Say More with Shirley Leung.' Find the podcast on
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Shirley Leung is a Business columnist. She can be reached at