It was 1927 in Nanlou Village, on the western bank of the Haihe River, and at work among a cluster of shanty homes was Liu Laoba, a man both diligent and modest. Unlike many of his neighbors, who had big dreams of big money, Liu was content to make his living frying up dough twists.

Although not plotting grand plans for great riches, his business realized steady progress, thanks to his improved technique for achieving an optimal ratio of flour and water, his better method of fermentation, and his adding of specialness to his twists, with ingredients like sweet-scented osmanthus, Fujian ginger, walnut kernels, sliced cucumber with condiments, and finely-cut green and red plums. Liu’s fried dough twists, crispy, sweet and delicious, became known as the Eighteenth-Street Twists, for the name of the lane in which Liu resided.

Liu’s business boomed, and was handed down by his later generations.

In 1956 Liu’s store was named Gui-faxiang, after becoming an enterprise under joint public and private management. Guifaxiang’s Eighteenth-Street Fried Dough Twists won high acclaim throughout the country, and through the National Exhibition of Flavored Food at Tianxiang Market, Tianjin. More fame came at the 1971 Guangzhou Exports Fair, attended by businessmen from more than 60 countries and regions.

During their visits to Tianjin, many foreign leaders and senior Chinese officials praised Guifaxiang’s products, including Norodom Sihanouk, former King of Cam-bodia, Kim Il-sung, former leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Zhou Enlai, former premier of the State Council of China, and Zhu De, former chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China.

Guifaxiang gained high fame through the application of traditional techniques, careful selection of ingredients and precise formula. Apart from furthering their fine tradition, the company employs the most modern of systems for management, marketing, and branding.
To enhance the company’s competitiveness, Guifaxiang has focused on accelerating its traditional food culture while building brand awareness among consumers, catering to higher demands for food culture, fashion, and taste.

To strengthen its Development Center for Food Technology and proceed further down the path to a complete system of R&D and production, Guifaxiang recruited a number of technicians based on experience, academic credentials and professional accom-plishment. Over the last few years, the company has developed more than 50 kinds of traditional fried dough twists in four series and more than 100 types of Chinese and Western pastries and local snacks.

As a time-honored brand, Guifaxiang has always put development first. The company invested a large sum in establishing a production base along the bank of the Changtai River in the Hexi District in Tianjin. Put into operation on October 28, 2002, the garden-like headquarters and production site is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, boasting a fried dough twists production capacity of 50 tons a day. All production procedures completely comply with state standards for environmental protection in fully-enclosed, bacteria-free working conditions. The product quality is effectively controlled under the ISO9001 quality management system, further confirming Guifaxiang’s commitment to a scientific mode of quality management.

Today Guifaxiang’s former way of manual operation and marketing - stores selling products and workshop producing in the backyard - has been completely replaced by production lines and a perfected system for branding and marketing. Accordingly, sales volume has increased dramatically from tens of million yuan to hundreds of million yuan.

In recognition of the company’s successful and intelligently applied efforts in development, honors and titles have been bestowed by both the state and the Tianjin municipal government, and the brand has become famous at home and abroad. Guifaxiang was cited as a Time-Honored Chinese Brand, a Famous Brand in Tianjin, and a Famous Brand in China. Its Eighteenth-Street Twist was designated as a Famous Chinese Snack at the First China Fair for Famous Snacks, and the long-lived and distinctive product won a Gold Medal at the Asian-Pacific Fair.

With the registration of the trademark “Eighteenth-Street” in more than 20 countries and regions, including the US and Canada, the brand and flavor of Guifaxiang is now known and enjoyed around the world.