Behind the pad thai sauce, rice noodles or sake that are tasted in some Spanish restaurants and supermarkets is Oriental Market, a company run by Christian Lee, a businessman originally from Taiwan, from Barcelona. With it, it imports food, kitchen utensils, tableware and original decoration from thirteen Asian countries that it then distributes to manufacturers, restaurateurs, supermarkets and hotels, as well as to the final consumer through its store in the Catalan capital and e-commerce.
The pandemic has been an opportunity for him. Some of his competition did not overcome the strong Covid downturn, with restrictions on restaurants and difficulties in importing, and some clients lost distributors. “We were there and we've gained market share,” Lee explains. All of this, linked to a diversification of channels and products, has raised its turnover from 8 million euros in 2020 – the year of the pandemic – to 16 million in the last year. For this year, they hope to be able to approach twenty million in revenue.
The rise of oriental food in Spain, with a multitude of supermarkets that sell ingredients and prepared food, specialized restaurants and chefs who are committed to fusion in Asia, has helped business. Before Oriental Market, Lee worked at the family business IberoChina, created by his parents in Madrid. The family came to the city in the 1980s from Taiwan and ran up to five Chinese restaurants. Over time, they left the hospitality industry and focused on importing and distributing food products. In 2016 Lee separated from IberoChina, with Oriental Market already active and focused on the entire oriental market, not just China. This type of restoration, says Lee, was in decline, while cuisines such as Japanese, Thai or Vietnamese have experienced strong growth.
More than 5,000 product references pass through its logistics plant in Montcada i Reixach. “One of the most complex tasks is to adapt them to European regulations; We work with suppliers and embassies so that food and packaging comply with community legislation and can be exported better,” he explains.
In addition to distribution, they offer advisory services to their clients to better choose the ingredients and foods they sell. “A product may become fashionable in some other country, or because a renowned chef uses it, but it does not mean that the general public will like it,” he emphasizes. They have also recently started selling exotic fresh fruit and frozen products, with a fleet of fourteen trucks. They have also just entered cosmetics and manga items.
