HF Foods speaks fluent takeout

A takeout container is a small thing to run out of. So is a particular sauce. Neither looks especially consequential on a warehouse shelf. Inside a restaurant, however, the missing item can interrupt the entire transaction. Dinner needs ingredients, packaging and a supplier who understands exactly what the owner meant to order. HF Foods Group built its business around that collection of apparently small demands.

• Specialty ingredients and everyday supplies arrive through one distributor.
• Language and cultural knowledge are part of the service.
• National scale brings purchasing power, along with expensive operating complexity.

The customer came first

The beginning was suitably practical. Zhou Min Ni and his wife, Chan Sin Wong, came from Fuzhou, China, worked in Chinese takeout restaurants and eventually operated restaurants in North Carolina. They saw an opportunity in supplying businesses like their own. In 1997, the operating predecessor started in a 3,000-square-foot warehouse in Kernersville. The founders had already stood on the receiving end of the delivery.

That experience helps explain the company's focus. An independent restaurant needs products that fit its menu, in quantities it can use, with an ordering process it can manage. A distributor familiar with those requirements saves the proprietor work. The useful question is how much of the purchasing routine one supplier can absorb.

The noodles and the paperwork

HF Foods offers more than 2,000 products. Seafood, meat and poultry sit alongside rice, specialty vegetables, sauces, dry foods, cleaning supplies and takeout accessories. A restaurant can buy ingredients for the meal and supplies for handing it over. Chopsticks earn their place in this story because the customer needs them, however modest their individual value.

The commercial proposition is consolidation. Restaurant operators can request a catalog and apply to become customers, then assess local availability and delivery arrangements. Instead of coordinating separate purchases for every category, they can route more of their requirements through one relationship. The company buys from domestic and international suppliers and resells to business customers. Its economics depend on the spread surviving the warehouse and the delivery route.

Language gives that relationship another dimension. HF Foods emphasizes employees who can speak with customers in their primary language. It also uses an outsourced call center in China to support ordering and service outside U.S. office hours. Cultural familiarity can help salespeople understand the products a kitchen actually uses. Here, knowing the customer has an operational meaning.

A large network, a narrow cushion

At the end of 2025, the U.S. platform comprised 16 distribution centers and four cross-docks, supported by more than 400 vehicles. It served approximately 15,000 customer locations across 46 states. Refrigeration, inventory and delivery frequency turn a product list into a working service. A sauce in the wrong warehouse is still unavailable to the kitchen that needs it.

HF Foods positions itself between broadline distributors such as Sysco, US Foods and Performance Food Group, and smaller specialty wholesalers. Its stated distinction is a combination of Asian cooking essentials, sourcing expertise and language capabilities. Large competitors have resources; local suppliers know their neighborhoods. HF Foods is attempting to combine purchasing scale with that closer understanding.

The financial statements show the constraint. In 2025, revenue reached $1.228 billion, but consolidated GAAP net loss was $39.3 million. A $38.8 million goodwill impairment was a substantial part of the result. Adjusted EBITDA, a separate non-GAAP measure, was $45.0 million. Higher sales, an accounting loss and positive adjusted earnings can coexist. Choosing just one produces a misleading picture.

The machinery behind the machinery

Some problems were more serious than operating costs. In June 2024, the SEC announced settled fraud charges concerning disclosures and conduct involving former executives. HF Foods agreed to a $3.9 million civil penalty without admitting or denying the findings. The SEC described misappropriation and concealed liabilities, and credited the company's remedial actions and cooperation. Any account of the business has to include that failure of controls.

Felix Lin became permanent CEO in January 2025. The operational rebuilding included completing a new enterprise resource planning system across distribution centers and consolidating two call centers into one. In its 2026 proxy, management reported clearing the IT general-controls material weakness. These are concrete changes to coordination and oversight; their value still depends on execution.

More room. Then more responsibility.

The company opened its replacement Atlanta-area distribution center in Powder Springs in December 2025. Lin said increased demand had caused it to outgrow the previous facility. On the subsequent earnings call, he acknowledged that filling the added space would take time. Extra capacity creates an opportunity before it creates a return.

“increased market demand that caused us to outgrow our previous Atlanta facility”Felix Lin / December 2025

In September 2026, HF Foods bought Canadian seafood distributor Searay. Base consideration was approximately US$35 million, with additional payments contingent on performance. The acquisition added Canadian operations and specialty seafood brands. Management expects financial benefits; those expectations remain a test for the combined business.

There is a useful limit to the analogy for other businesses. A supplier can copy the attention to language and the effort to combine related purchases. It cannot assume that a narrow customer focus automatically pays for trucks, refrigeration or a larger building. The local concentration of buyers matters, as does their willingness to keep ordering. Those are conditions to investigate before adding capacity.

The latest quarter illustrates the work ahead. Second-quarter 2026 revenue rose 2.8% to $323.8 million, while adjusted EBITDA declined 2.0% to $13.6 million. The practical lesson is to organize around a customer's complete purchasing task, then build shared systems behind it. That approach needs enough local demand to support delivery costs. Without dependable orders, disciplined controls and usable margins, understanding the restaurant is only the beginning.