Chongqing - After Zhang Xue asked online for help fixing his factory's bland rice, rice sellers and equipment makers rushed to Chongqing with samples, cookers and advice.
Zhang Xue posted a video asking for help improving the rice in his company canteen. Screenshot from Zhang Xue's social media account
"Our canteen caters for more than 1,000 people, and rice steamed in giant batches never tastes as good as rice from a home cooker."
That complaint from Zhang Xue, founder of Chongqing-based ZXMOTO, has gone viral. Within two days of his video, rice suppliers and kitchen equipment makers from across China were showing up at his factory with sample rice and steamers.
The company was already in the spotlight. Founded only in April 2024, ZXMOTO made headlines in late March, when French rider Valentin Debise won the Portuguese round of the FIM Superbike World Championship on one of its bikes. He crossed the line nearly four seconds ahead of the field, a rare margin in a sport often decided by milliseconds, and won the next day again. The victories broke the long dominance of European and Japanese brands such as Ducati, Yamaha and Kawasaki, and turned the young Chongqing company into a social media sensation in China.
Now, it seems, the public is just as interested in what its workers eat.
In a video posted on Oct. 19, Zhang said his company canteen serves over 1,000 employees a day but has long struggled with its rice. It was either hard and undercooked or soft and mushy, and it lacked the natural aroma of good rice.
He asked the public for solutions, offering to pay for consulting and equipment. If a proposal worked well, he said, the company might even outsource the canteen to whoever came up with it.
The response was swift. Catering professionals shared tips on soaking times, steam pressure and resting the rice after cooking. Rice companies shipped samples overnight, some drove to the factory to deliver rice in person, and equipment makers brought new commercial rice steamers.
Some companies were invited to cook rice on site for staff to taste. One of them was a rice supplier surnamed Fang, who drove overnight from Chengdu after seeing the video and brought samples of premium Wuchang rice his company supplies to high-end restaurants.
Mr. Fang cooks rice for staff to taste at ZXMOTO's office. Screenshot from video
When he arrived early on Oct. 20, more than a dozen rice and equipment companies were already at the factory gate.
Strict canteen rules kept outsiders from entering the kitchen to inspect the equipment, so Fang cooked rice for office staff to taste and won their approval. He also gave the canteen manager a plan to improve its cooking process.
Fang said the main problems were the wrong water-to-rice ratio and leaving cooked rice in the steamer too long, where moisture builds up and makes it sticky. He recommended a roughly 1:1 water-to-rice ratio for new-crop rice, fluffing the rice right after cooking and storing it in insulated containers instead of the steamer.
Fang said he wasn't there for publicity or business. "I simply admire how much he cares about his employees," he said.
Another rice company employee said cooking at this scale often leaves the top layer dry and the bottom soggy. Workers who eat first get decent rice, but those who come later get worse. "It's not that the rice is bad," he said. "It's very hard to heat and moisten such large batches evenly."
"Who knew cooking rice was so complicated?" said one employee who took part in a blind taste test in the canteen. Some samples used the canteen's usual rice, with only the equipment, soaking time, water amount and a little cooking oil changed. Staff then ranked them by taste.
Many male workers preferred firmer rice with distinct grains. "We like it a bit hard, with some bite," one said. "Otherwise we get hungry too fast." Female workers tended to prefer softer, stickier rice.
Zhang Xue tastes rice cooked with the canteen's improved method on Oct. 23. Screenshot from video
As more suppliers arrived, Zhang posted another video asking people to stop sending rice. "Changing the rice won't solve the problem," he said, explaining that the real issue is large-scale cooking: controlling water, temperature, and resting time. If the process can't be fixed, he said, the company may buy hundreds of high-end rice cookers and cook in small batches so every employee gets good rice.
The company is also hiring a new canteen manager with higher pay, looking for someone experienced in large-scale catering.
Many netizens praised the company for going to such lengths over a bowl of rice, calling it a visible sign of care for employees. Some in the catering industry hope the tests will lead to a method other factory canteens can copy.