Whenever the name DinTaiFung is mentioned, the first thing that people think of is small, delicate steamed dumplings. It’s only natural to associate the two, after all. But where did the famous DinTaiFung name come from? What were its origins? This is the story of how the DinTaiFung legend came to be.

The founder of DinTaiFung was Bingyi Yang, born 1927 in China’s Shanxi Province. In the summer of 1948, Bingyi Yang decided at the age of 21 to leave the KMT-CCP Civil War in China behind. He boarded the ferry “Hualien” and decided to seek his fortune in Taiwan with an uncle there. With the help of his uncle’s wife, Yang found his first job in Taiwan – as a deliveryman with “HengTaiFung”. Being honest and hard working, after two years the owner put him in charge of the accounts and the store’s inventory. At the age of 28 Yang married Penmei Lai who also worked at “HengTaiFung”. He continued working at the cooking oils store for another 3 to 4 years until the owner’s other investments failed. Weighed down by the other losses, “HengTaiFung” was eventually forced to close its doors. Bingyi Yang was now 31 years old. Left unemployed by the closing of the oil store, Yang and his wife decided to start up their own business. They weren’t sure what they should call it though. After thinking about the matter for some time, Yang decided that since he bought his oils wholesale from “DinMei Oils” and got his start with “HengTaiFung”, he would name it “DinTaiFung”. This would also show how grateful he was for the kindness of HengTaiFung’s owner and his wife. Thus “DinTaiFung” was born. It was now 1958. Telephones weren’t easy to get back then and the number that DinTaiFung still uses today – 23218927 – was purchased from a Control Yuan commissioner who happened to be a fellow Shanxi native. While buying the telephone number, Bingyi Yang also asked the commissioner Youren Yu to write the characters for the shop sign “DinTaiFung Oil Store”. More than forty years later the sign is today still on display at the entrance of DinTaiFung’s Xinyi Store.

With the reputation and connections that he established at “HengTaiFung”, “DinTaiFung” quickly established itself on the market. With the profits from their business, Yang and his wife managed to find the money to buy a shop front on Xinyi Road. They moved their oil business here and this is today the site of DinTaiFung’s Xinyi main restaurant. When tinned salad oil went on sale around 1980 it completely changed how consumers bought their cooking oil. Business at “DinTaiFung” plummeted with Yang and his wife both thinking: “We need to do something!” Just as Yang and his wife thought that this was the end of their business, opportunity knocked. Taking the advice of Mr. Tang, owner of the “Fuhsing Garden” restaurant, Yang and his wife turned one half of their shop over to making and selling steamed dumplings. The quality of steamed dumplings at “DinTaiFung” soon captured the stomachs of customers. Though the store never advertised, word-of-mouth brought in more customers and the business took off. “DinTaiFung” soon stopped selling oil entirely and became a full-fledged restaurant. This was also where the legend of how “DinTaiFung” became an international brand began.