Din Tai Fung

Who owns Din Tai Fung?
The founding Yang family of Taiwan. Third-generation brothers Aaron and Albert Yang co-lead the North American business. There are no outside shareholders.

Is Din Tai Fung a franchise?
Internationally, most locations run through franchise or joint-venture partners. All 21 North American locations are company-operated.

Where is Din Tai Fung headquartered?
Globally in Taipei, Taiwan. Din Tai Fung North America is based in Arcadia, California.

Why is Din Tai Fung so profitable?
US locations average $27.4 million in annual sales, the highest of any American chain, driven by exceptional demand, premium pricing, and high table turnover.

How many Din Tai Fung locations are there?
More than 165 across 13 countries, with 21 in North America and Brooklyn, Chandler, and Topanga announced for 2027.

Who founded Din Tai Fung?
Bing-Yi Yang and Lai Pen-Mei in Taipei in 1958, originally as a cooking oil shop converted to a restaurant in 1972.

Bing-Yi Yang and Lai Pen-Mei opened Din Tai Fung in Taipei in 1958 as a cooking oil retail shop. When that business declined, they converted it to a dumpling and noodle restaurant in 1972, and the xiao long bao became a phenomenon.

The original shop drew international attention, and expansion through Asia followed in the 1980s and 1990s. A Hong Kong location earned a Michelin star, and The New York Times once counted Din Tai Fung among the world's ten best restaurants.

North America entry came in 2000 with a 19-table restaurant in Arcadia, California. Growth was deliberately slow for two decades while the family built a training pipeline that takes months to certify a dumpling chef.

Under the Yang brothers, expansion accelerated: two US openings in 2024, Santa Monica and Vancouver in 2025, then Irvine, Scottsdale, and Brea in 2026, bringing North America to 21 locations across California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, New York, and British Columbia. The 25,000-square-foot Manhattan flagship at 1633 Broadway proved the East Coast model. Brooklyn is slated for spring or summer 2027, with Chandler and Topanga in the fall.

Technomic data shows US locations averaged $27.4 million in 2024, nearly triple Nobu's AUV and about double Mastro's, with the brand's TikTok virality driving waits of one to two hours.

A Hong Kong Din Tai Fung earned a Michelin star, and the chain has been named among the world's best restaurants by The New York Times. Technomic confirmed it as America's highest-grossing chain per location in 2024 data, and Albert Yang was named to the LA Business Journal's LA500 list in 2026.