Haitangchun, a 100-year-old breakfast institution in Taizhou, Jiangsu province, has secured an unprecedented third consecutive championship at the Jiangsu Breakfast Competition, cementing its status at the pinnacle of the province's morning dining scene.
The award ceremony took place on Aug 3 at Haitangchun's Laojie branch in Taizhou, where industry leaders presented a commemorative plaque to Yuan Haijun, the fourth-generation inheritor of the family-run teahouse.
A commemorative plaque for the third consecutive championship at the Jiangsu Breakfast Competition is presented to Taizhou's time-honored brand Haitangchun on Aug 3. [Photo/WeChat account: weihailing0523]
The recognition followed the brand's dominant performance at the Third Jiangsu Breakfast Competition, held alongside the 8th China (Jiangsu) Time-Honored Brand Expo in Nanjing. More than 50 renowned breakfast brands from across the province competed.
Haitangchun swept all three judging categories — sales volume, expert evaluation and public voting — to claim the title, making it the only brand in the competition's history to achieve a three-peat.
Since its debut in the inaugural contest, Haitangchun has steadily expanded its presence. The first edition featured Yuan alone representing the brand at a modest booth. By the second competition, the team had grown to three intangible cultural heritage masters showcasing noodles and dried tofu across a 36-square-meter space.
This year, the operation scaled to 120 sq m with five heritage craftsmen preparing signature dishes live, ensuring the expo offerings matched the exact taste served at its hometown outlets.
"We owe this honor to our unwavering commitment to authentic Taizhou flavors," Yuan said. "While some regions prioritize presentation, our breakfast culture has always been rooted in taste and accessibility."
Founded in 1925, Haitangchun bears the calligraphy of Zhang Jian, a renowned scholar and industrialist from the late Qing Dynasty (1664-1911). The teahouse is recognized as a Jiangsu Time-Honored Brand and an Intangible Cultural Heritage Workshop, preserving five traditional culinary crafts including Taizhou dried tofu, hand-pulled noodles and sesame pastries.
Haitangchun's signature dishes. [Photo/WeChat account: weihailing0523]
The brand's popularity extends well beyond Taizhou. At a food fair in Changzhou this February, Haitangchun sold out 150 servings of dried tofu and 2,000 steamed buns in just 90 minutes. Today, roughly 80 percent of the shop's post-9 am clientele are out-of-town visitors.
Looking ahead, Haitangchun will participate in three national exhibitions in September as it pursues broader recognition for Taizhou's breakfast heritage.