WeChat Dining: Promotion on app impacts NYC's restaurant business

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The popularity of Chinese messaging app WeChat has been growing overseas. And its many features beyond messaging have also turned it into a low-cost tool for business promotion. It comes in handy especially, when businesses want to reach Chinese customers abroad. Our Karina Huber has more.

Chinese restaurant Mala Project specializes in dry pot. Guests pick their own ingredients that are cooked and combined with 24 different spices and served in a bamboo bowl. Dry pot originated in China's Sichuan province and is relatively unknown in Manhattan. Ning Kang opened the restaurant just over two years ago. Wanting to spread the word, she posted an article on WeChat.

NING KANG CO-OWNER, MALA PROJECT "It was a small simple article, but the impact was very direct, and you can see the result right away."

Shan Tong, owner of 95 Fusion Tearoom and Kitchen Bar in Manhattan's Chinatown, also used WeChat to promote his restaurant.

SHAN TONG, OWNER 95 FUSION TEAROOM "I've used TV, video, newspapers and magazines for promotions. Of all of them, WeChat has been the best."

That's because it attracted the audience he wanted - young students.

KARINA HUBER NEW YORK "The rise of WeChat's influence is directly linked to the increase in the number of foreign-born Chinese people in New York. Between 2000 and 2015, that population has grown by almost 50 percent. Many of the new arrivals are Chinese students who use WeChat to navigate the city."

Serena Dai, editor at Eater, a popular website on dining and food, says many Chinese students are opening restaurants in New York.

SERENA DAI, EDITOR EATER NEW YORK "They are not only running the restaurants and cooking the food. They're also the audience for it. So, they're also the diners and the ones running the WeChat accounts and following the WeChat accounts. So, it's this entire network of super-influential young Chinese people who really love food and are making a huge mark on the New York City dining scene."

Many of the influencers on WeChat are paid to review a restaurant. Dai says that doesn't deter followers.

SERENA DAI, EDITOR EATER NEW YORK "They really just want to hear from people who understand their palate and understand where they're coming from."

Having a loyal audience of Chinese foodies means restaurants can offer more authentic Chinese food from all regions of China, not just dishes that appeal to Western tastes.

SERENA DAI, EDITOR EATER NEW YORK "They don't need to worry about English-language social media like Instagram, Yelp or Foursquare. They are filled to the brim anyway just from doing WeChat."

Karina Huber, CGTN, New York."