In the United States, there are around 41,000 Chinese restaurants, earning $17 billion a year—right up there with McDonald's—so it's no wonder many entrepreneurs are looking into Chinese food delivery supplies and equipment. Most Americans assume Chinese restaurants deliver or allow carry out, and with Chinese food delivery comes specialized supplies. You may choose simple, plain supplies, decorative and practical items or even custom printed items, depending on how you visualize your business.

Whether you choose to stock basic items or fancier, custom products, take some time to consider what your customers need—and what will make your Chinese restaurant memorable. There are essentially three products you will require if you want to offer Chinese food delivery. They are:

1. Chinese food delivery boxes or pails,
2. Chinese food delivery condiment packets,
3. And Chinese food delivery chopsticks.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Purchase Chinese food delivery take-out pails

Americans have come to expect Chinese food restaurants to offer up meals in Chinese food pails, or specially shaped paper boxes, sometimes with metal handles. These come in a vast assortment of sizes and colors. You may buy them plain white and seal them with a sticker of your restaurant name or logo, or you may purchase them in interesting patterns. You can even buy clear plastic Chinese take-out boxes.

I recommend: Uline Shipping Supplies sells basic black, red and white Chinese take-out boxes that come with handles to make for easy carrying. Bayley's Boxes offers a more unusual assortment of take-out pails in white, solid colors, metallic moires and patterns such as "old parchment," "silver scroll," "leopard" and "patriotic."

Look for Chinese food delivery condiment packets

Soy sauce is standard in Chinese-American food, but you won't want to give take-out customers a whole bottle of this condiment. Instead, opt for small packets that can be thrown into a bag alongside take-out pails. You may also find other Chinese condiments, such as duck sauce, in single-serving packets.

I recommend: The WEBstaurant Store carries duck and soy sauce in packets suitable for take-out food. Instawares Restaurant Supply also sells soy sauce in single-serving packets.

Check for Chinese food delivery chopsticks

Not all Chinese restaurants offer chopsticks to their customers, but if you'd like to, there are a number of options. The most sanitary way to provide chopsticks for take-out food is to buy cases of individually wrapped chopsticks. You can buy such chopsticks in many colors and may even have their packages custom printed with your restaurant's name and logo.

I recommend: Reliable Paper sells plain wooden chopsticks in individually wrapped packages. Galasource also sells an assortment of wooden chopsticks (including plain wooden and decorative wooden styles), and JR Sales creates custom chopstick packages for restaurants.

For your next corporate party or event, consider Chinese food delivery to business services to cater something out of the ordinary for your employees or your clients. You might also consider Chinese food delivery for your next department meeting or to reward employees burning the midnight oil on your client's huge upcoming project.

Finding a Chinese food delivery provider is easy in any major metropolitan area. Some even offer a variety of other Asian cuisine as well.

To make the most out of your Chinese food delivery provider search:

1. Determine how many people you are looking to feed with your Chinese food delivery order.

2. If available, read the restaurant's online menu before calling to speak to their delivery or catering people.

3. Make sure you are provided a clear total including delivery costs.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Look for a Chinese food delivery provider in NYC

Find Chinese food delivery from a wide range of NYC locations. Create a corporate account for easier billing as well.

I recommend: Open a corporate account with Empire Szechuan in New York City. They serve Japanese & Chinese cuisines, and you can easily order online. Peking Hunan Park offers the same availability of opening a corporate account as well as ordering online. Find out about catering from Rice Restaurants. Rice Restaurants has also gone green with food sourced from green conscientious vendors as well as fueling their delivery van with filtered Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO). Create an account at Delivery.com for additional Chinese delivery options in NYC.

Look for Midwest Chinese food delivery information

You don't have to live on the two coasts to find quality Chinese food delivery. Find one of the many local Chinese food delivery hot spots in any major Midwestern big city.

I recommend: Find out the catering options from Friendship Chinese Restaurant in Chicago. Order online and find out the new delivery area of Papajin in Chicago. Check out delivery information from MayDragon Chinese Restaurant in Dallas. Grand China Restaurant of Atlanta offers takeout, delivery and catering. They serve Chinese, Japanese and Thai.

Find West Coast Chinese food delivery

Serve your office up right with West Coast Chinese food delivery service.

I recommend: Set up your account with Restaurants on the Run for West Coast catering and delivery services. Find out if you are Seattle's Four Seas Restaurant territory. Call in or order online. Contact San Francisco's Yank Sing Banquets and Catering to find out about their banquets, receptions, luncheons, private parties catering services. Find out about the Chin Chin Café catering and banquets options.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  If you want a real treat for your office, Chinese food delivery services that also offers a wide variety of other Asian dishes like Japanese or Thai will impress your employees.
• •  Not everyone at your business may like Chinese food, so choose at least some options that are relatively safe like chicken and rice dishes that aren't highly seasoned or that you can administer your own amount of sauce.
• •  Tip generously. With the cost of gas, your time in not having to go get it yourself is certainly worth the couple of extra dollars to make the delivery person's day. For businesses that you purchase from frequently, keep them happy for ensured speed and quality service.

Chinese food delivery is a great service for busy people and a good side business for Chinese restaurants. Chinese food delivery advice and ratings will help you make the most fun and money from chow fun and chow mein.

There are several Chinese restaurants in most urban communities. Therefore, it is important to know the strengths and weaknesses of the local Chinese food delivery so you pick the establishment that best fits your needs and tastes and so you know what the competition is in case you want to go into the business yourself.

1. Know the local restaurants and seek out Chinese food delivery advice and ratings to find out how they fare.

2. Decide which delivery outlets meet your needs, and figure out if you want to invest in one.

3. Test several Chinese food delivery outlets and reach conclusions on quality, flavor, and financial opportunity.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Learn about the Chinese Restaurant Delivery business

Whether you're interested in Chinese food delivery as a business or as a customer, you need to know the local market and what might appeal to you about each outlet. Chains are easier to research and offer more overall consistency, but independent restaurants are often more unique and more fun.

I recommend: Learning about the local Chinese food delivery market from the customer's point-of-view can be easy and direct. Switchboard offers a list and rating by local community, with the Fresno listing shown on the link below. Frannet offers a business analysis of Chinese restaurants, with and without delivery, to help you make a more educated choice.

Test the local market by having some Chinese food delivered and comparing what does and doesn't work

This is the fun part. Make a list of the local Chinese food delivery options and order away. Order from chains, order from independent restaurants, compare the food, measure the delivery times, invite friends over and see what's what.

I recommend: Use the local or online Yellow Pages as a starting point. The Superpages will tell you how to get to your own local directory and find the local Chinese delivery restaurants so you can rate them. Then, find out what local chains are nearby. Epinions has a section devoted to Chinese restaurant chains with reviews and ratings.

Review Chinese delivery restaurant business plans

If you are looking at Chinese Food Delivery as a business opportunity, you can look at business plans that have been published on the web to see if it is the kind of business that might suit you. If you are not experienced at reviewing business plans, your local college might have a professor or graduate student who could help you.

I recommend: HJ Ventures has model Chinese restaurant business plans and advice on raising money from investors. Even easier, workbooks are available at 125-a-day for developing a Chinese restaurant business plan that includes a process for the valuation and rating of the delivery segment of the Chinese restaurant business.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  If you decide to invest in a Chinese restaurant, or you decide to open your own, at least consult with a restaurant business expert or an expert in the development of business plans and execution against those plans. If your interest is in consuming Chinese delivery, just compare, rate and enjoy!

Chinese food delivery businesses can be a profitable investment, since it is a popular cuisine. A majority of all Chinese restaurants offer delivery or take-out options. If you want to stand out from other competitors and be profitable, then you must become familiar with key terms within the industry. Educate yourself so that you can serve your customers better, as well as ensure a better relationship with your vendors.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Duck sauce

Duck sauce, also called plum sauce, is a thick, rich dipping sauce made out of fruits. It is used for dipping deep-fried appetizers, such as egg rolls.

I recommend: Check out ChineseFoodDIY.com to learn more about duck sauce.

Soy sauce

Soy sauce is a flavorful sauce brewed from soya beans and salt. It is considered the most important flavor used in Chinese cuisine. For delivery purposes, soy sauce is usually provided in individual packages.

I recommend: Read more about soy sauce at Chinese Food Recipes.com.

Egg rolls

Egg rolls are popular Chinese appetizers. There are numerous recipes that can be used to make this dish, but most egg rolls contain vegetables, meat and occasionally noodles that are wrapped in a sheet of dough.

I recommend: Learn more about egg rolls at The Food Timeline.

Chopsticks

Chopsticks are an integral part of Chinese culture. Coming in all shapes and forms, the most popular type of disposable chopsticks are made out of bamboo.

I recommend: Learn more about the history behind chopsticks at AsianArtMall.com.

Szechuan

Szechuan cuisine, also called Sichuan cuisine, is a specific type of Chinese food and is the most popular type of Chinese cuisine in the world. It contains spicy flavors accentuated with a large quantity of chili powder or pepper. Some other common spices used in this type of cuisine include ginger, garlic and fermented soybeans.

I recommend: Learn some of the common cooking techniques used in Szechuan cuisine at Foodler.com.

Fortune cookies

Normally eaten after a meal, fortune cookies are wafer-like and contain a 'fortune' written on a piece of paper inside. You should include these cookies free of charge in a customer's Chinese food delivery order.

I recommend: Check out What's Cooking America to learn more about the history behind fortune cookies.