Why did "this bowl of noodles" become the focus of the provincial governor's special investigation?
Kong Shaoxun, Deputy Secretary of the Gansu Provincial Party Committee and Governor of Gansu Province, delivered a speech on the spirit of the 5th Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Lanzhou on November 9, and conducted a special investigation into the development of the Lanzhou beef noodle industry. During the investigation, Kong Shaoxun inspected the exhibition of characteristic products in the upstream and downstream of Lanzhou beef noodles, and learned about the supporting industrial chain, brand cultivation, market expansion, skill training, and employment promotion.
He pointed out that after a century of inheritance, innovation and development, Lanzhou beef noodles have become a characteristic food culture brand renowned across the country and even around the world, and it is also a beautiful business card of Lanzhou. We should take the Lanzhou beef noodle industry as an important starting point to promote economic development, boost employment and carry forward cultural inheritance, adhere to market leadership, park guidance and clustered development, refine industrial planning, expand the development scale, improve the supply chain support capacity, make good use of public brands, strengthen the whole-chain supervision of food safety, and build Lanzhou beef noodles into a "gold-lettered signboard" with stronger influence and higher reputation.
It is not rare in the past few years that a local specialty food is regarded as an "important starting point for promoting economic development, boosting employment and inheriting culture".
The most well-known one is probably Liuzhou river snail rice noodle. In 2025, its total industrial chain sales revenue reached 81.31 billion yuan, with a brand value of 15.051 billion yuan, and its products are sold to more than 30 countries and regions.
Driving industrial development with characteristic delicacies, Liuzhou river snail rice noodle once served as the "reference frame" for Lanzhou beef noodles. As early as 2024, Lanzhou set up a special working group to systematically study the experience and practices of the industrial development of Liuzhou river snail rice noodle.
Since then, at relevant work meetings on the development of the Lanzhou beef noodle industry, Lanzhou has also notified the experience and practices of Liuzhou river snail rice noodle industry development and its enlightenment to the high-quality development of Lanzhou beef noodle industry, and made arrangements for the coordinated promotion of the high-quality development of its own industry.
At present, the "annual transcript" of the Lanzhou beef noodle industry shows that in 2025, the total revenue of the whole industrial chain of Lanzhou beef noodles reached 80 billion yuan, of which the revenue of offline stores was 48 billion yuan, the output value of the upstream and downstream supply chain was 20 billion yuan, and emerging business forms such as pre-packaged food and IP development contributed 12 billion yuan; the number of stores at home and abroad exceeded 82,000, covering the whole country and more than 60 countries and regions.
However, there are still industrial pain points. Not long ago, the Lanzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce conducted a self-analysis: first, the level of chain operation is not high, and the endogenous motivation for outward expansion of stores is weak; second, the overseas expansion is fragmented, and the brand recognition is insufficient; third, the supply chain is "extensive but not clustered", with limited capacity to ensure stable supply and reduce costs and increase efficiency; fourth, there is a lack of a long-term mechanism for market promotion, and the value of public brands has not been fully transformed.
Earlier this month, the *Regulations on the Promotion of Lanzhou Beef Noodle Industry* was officially implemented, marking that the development of Lanzhou beef noodle industry has officially entered a new stage of legalized and standardized development.
A number of targeted measures have been launched, such as carrying out franchise operation training for chain headquarters, e-commerce operation training for supply chain enterprises, and standardized skill training for practitioners.
It is not just about economic accounts. For many regions lacking large-scale industrial projects, a mature food brand is the most realistic industry that enriches the people. Data shows that by the end of 2025, the Lanzhou beef noodle industry directly employed 707,000 people and indirectly drove more than 1 million jobs.
During this investigation by Kong Shaoxun, Governor of Gansu Province, one of the sites visited was Gansu Xinglong Lanzhou Beef Noodle Vocational Training School. Kong Shaoxun pointed out that it is necessary to give full play to the main role of institutions, enterprises and other entities, build a whole-chain employment service mechanism covering talent training, evaluation and incentive, and entrepreneurship support, stabilize and expand employment capacity, improve employment quality, and support the high-quality development of the industry with efficient supply of human resources.
This article is from the WeChat Official Account "City Evolution Theory", written by Yang Huan, and published with authorization from 36Kr.