- Company signs partnerships with major tea, hotpot and dining brands
- Cross-border settlement and franchise accounting emerge as pain points in global expansion
Global payments platform PingPong unveiled a new cross-border treasury and payments system for Chinese restaurant chains expanding overseas, as brands rushing into Southeast Asia, Japan and North America increasingly face operational headaches around local payments, currency conversion and franchise settlement.
Chinese restaurant operators going global are increasingly running into fragmented payment ecosystems, complex revenue-sharing structures and rising compliance costs across different markets, according to Tong Jianlei, vice president at PingPong and head of its new consumer business unit.
Tong made these remarks at a catering industry event held in Changsha, capital of Hunan Province, on May 8. “As restaurant brands move from simply opening stores overseas to competing through integrated operating systems, the maturity of fund management is starting to determine the ceiling for global expansion,” he added.
Headquartered in Hangzhou, PingPong said its system integrates online and offline payment collection, automated franchise revenue splitting, supply-chain settlement and cross-border fund transfers into a single platform.
To date, the company operates across more than 200 countries and regions and holds 67 payment licenses and qualifications globally.
The platform allows restaurant groups to aggregate local payment methods through a single API while enabling headquarters to automatically split store revenue, management fees and supplier payments based on preset rules.
Real-time foreign exchange tools and multi-currency wallets are designed to reduce currency losses and improve settlement speed.
PingPong said one listed Chinese tea chain using the system across 14 overseas stores cut reconciliation errors and labor costs by more than half after integrating local wallets, bank cards and QR-code payment systems through a single interface.
At the event in Changsha, the fintech player also launched what it called the first “Global Food Expansion Alliance,” bringing together brands, suppliers, franchise operators and industry advisers to support overseas growth.
It announced strategic partnerships with lemon tea chain Ningji, restaurant operator Green Tea, hotpot brand Zhu Guangyu and fast-food chain Xiongdaye Dumplings.
Its partnership network now extends across 50 Chinese restaurant and beverage chains, including Luckin Coffee, Ningji, Green Tea, Shanghai Auntie and Yuanji Dumpling, spanning segments from tea drinks and hotpot to casual dining and fast food.
