When you think of China’s favorite snacks, Filipino prawn crackers probably aren’t the first thing that comes to mind.

For decades, Chinese consumers stuck to traditional favorites.

But today, if you walk into a supermarket in Shanghai, Beijing, or Guangzhou, you’ll find bright red bags of Oishi Prawn Crackers sitting next to China’s biggest snack brands.

Most people assume Oishi is a Chinese brand. After all, it’s been around for decades, and its flavors feel right at home. But Oishi didn’t start in China.

It started in post-war Manila, as a tiny family business repackaging cornstarch.

So how did a small Filipino snack company survive and become one of China’s most iconic brands?

They have 12 factories, 400 dealers, and products sold by more than 700 wholesale distributors across China,

This is the story of Oishi, a company that took a huge risk, entered an unpredictable market, and won millions.

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🥢 A crunchy beginning

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The story starts in 1946, when Manila was still recovering from World War II. An immigrant couple from China named Lib Chan and Ying See started Liwayway Marketing Corporation.

At first, Liwayway was a small operation. It was a repackaging business that sold cornstarch, coffee, and candles.

At the time, Filipinos didn’t buy mass-produced snack foods. Most people ate fresh street food or homemade treats.

That changed in the 1970s, when their son, Carlos saw an opportunity no one else did.

What if he could introduce something entirely new to Filipino consumers? A crunchy, savory, and addictive snack.

So in 1974, Liwayway made a bold investment: a Japanese food-processing machine. With it, they created a snack inspired by a local favorite—prawn crackers.

They gave it a name borrowed from Japanese: Oishi, meaning "tasty."

It was an instant hit. Filipinos loved the crispy, umami-packed crackers, which quickly became a household favorite. By the 1980s, Oishi was dominating the Philippine snack market.

But Carlos Chan wasn’t satisfied. He had bigger ambitions. If Oishi could win over Filipinos, why not the rest of Asia?

And his next target? China.

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🇨🇳 Entering the unknown

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In the late 1980s, China was a mystery to most foreign businesses. The country was just starting to open its economy under Deng Xiaoping’s market reforms, and foreign investors hesitated.

The risks were huge.

China’s snack food industry barely existed. Most people were used to eating traditional munchies like watermelon seeds, fresh fruit, and nuts.

For Oishi to succeed, it had to introduce the very concept of packaged snacks to Chinese consumers.

Most companies would have waited.

But Carlos wasn’t most people.

In 1993, Oishi made history as one of the first foreign food companies to establish a local production facility in China.

They partnered with two state-owned enterprises and built a factory in Pudong, Shanghai.

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🚀 Building trust

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But nothing about this was easy.

For Oishi, the biggest hurdle wasn’t just logistics or competition – it was winning trust.

To launch the business in Shanghai, Carlos sent his sons, Carlson and Archie, to oversee operations.

Chinese workers were used to state-owned enterprises that guaranteed lifelong employment. Oishi, by contrast, was an unknown foreign brand. Many employees quit within months, afraid the company wouldn’t last.

He raised wages, proving Oishi could offer better opportunities than government jobs.

He installed heaters in factory kitchens—a small but powerful signal that Oishi cared about its workers.

And to make sure people recognized the brand before production even started, Carlos imported Oishi products from Manila to stock in Chinese stores.

But the biggest challenge? Selling a product that no one was looking for.

Unlike in the Philippines, where Oishi was already a household name, China had no packaged snack culture. People mostly nibbled on sunflower seeds, watermelon seeds, or preserved plums.

So Carlos went directly to the consumers.

Oishi launched free sampling campaigns in major shopping areas like Shanghai’s Huahai Road commercial complex. Instead of asking customers to buy, they gave away snacks for free.

It worked! The product spoke for itself.

Within two years, Oishi had already recouped their investment.

By 2000, it was officially recognized as a Shanghai Famous Brand.

By 2005, Carlos Chan was named an honorary citizen of Shanghai—a rare honor for a foreign entrepreneur.

And by 2006, Oishi earned the prestigious China Famous Brand title.

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📦 Scaling like crazy

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Once Oishi found their footing in China, there was no slowing down.

Instead of relying on one central factory and imports, Liwayway took a bolder approach.

They built production hubs across the country. This meant fresher products, faster distribution, and a stronger local presence.

By the mid-2000s, Oishi had 12 factories in China, from major cities into remote locations like Harbin, Xinjiang, and Kunming.

Its distribution network grew rapidly—1,500+ distributors stocked its products.

The most impressive part? Most people didn’t even realize it was a foreign brand.

But China was just the beginning.

Oishi expanded to Vietnam in 1997, Myanmar in 1999, Thailand and Indonesia in 2006, and later Cambodia, South Africa, Bangladesh, and Uzbekistan.

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🔥 Turning up the heat

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And the strategy wasn’t one-size-fits-all.

Rather than forcing the same flavors everywhere, Oishi adapted to local tastes. They launched spicy mala-flavored chips for China, chocolate-filled treats for Indonesia, and street food-inspired flavors for Vietnam.

In some markets, it meant playing to existing preferences. In others, it meant offering something no one else had thought of yet.

"We can offer things that are not yet available in the local market," says Larry Chan. "That's why in Indonesia, our chocolate-filled snacks clicked."

It wasn’t instant success everywhere, though. In Indonesia, Oishi lost money for five years before it finally gained traction. Today, the company is building a second factory in Surabaya to keep up with demand.

But Liwayway wasn’t just growing in snacks—it was expanding into beverages, too.

In 2008, they acquired Great Lakes, a company producing fruit juices and concentrates under the brands Great Lakes and Rougemont.

In 2011, they took over Hebei Xiao Health Food Co., famous for its carrot-based drinks.

In 2013, Oishi was generating $1B in retail sales.

And in 2015, Liwayway added cocoa-based products to its portfolio with the acquisition of Spanish brand Cola Cao in China.

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🦐 Crunch period

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Oishi’s success didn’t mean smooth sailing.

China’s economy was slowing down, and competition was getting fiercer. More foreign snack brands entered the market, and local competitors fought back hard.

To make things worse, labor costs in China skyrocketed, making production more expensive than ever.

But instead of scaling back, Oishi doubled down on innovation.

They launched healthier snack alternatives, like pea-based chips with higher protein content.

They also expanded into new beverage categories, with Great Lakes fruit juices and XiAo carrot-based drinks.

They launched Oishi Marty's Cracklin', a vegetarian version of the Filipino favorite chicharon (pork cracklings).

And they kept expanding into new markets, ensuring it wasn’t too reliant on China alone.

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⏩ Betting on the long game

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Today, Oishi is more than just a snack.

Sometimes, the biggest opportunities are the ones nobody else believes in.

When Carlos entered China in 1993, most people thought it was a mistake. It was too risky, too uncertain, and too foreign.

But he bet on the long game.

He adapted. He innovated. He refused to fail.

And today, as millions of people across Asia tear open a bag of Oishi snacks, they’re not just eating a snack.

They’re tasting the result of a vision that never backed down.

Success in an unfamiliar market isn’t about size— it’s about patience, adaptability, and persistence. You have to prove your value one customer at a time.

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Updated March 12, 2025:

Article was updated to clarify that Liwayway was founded by Chan Lib and See Ying. Oishi was launched under Liwayway by their son, Carlos.