Which cooking essentials brands do AI assistants recommend in China? Q4 2026
In China, AI assistants most often recommend Lee Kum Kee, Haitian and Maggi for cooking essentials. Lee Kum Kee is named by 4 of 4 assistants.
What the data says
Lee Kum Kee is the cooking essentials brand AI assistants recommend most in China, taking 27% of all recommendation points across 4 assistants. Haitian follows with 19% and Maggi is third with 13.4%.
Lee Kum Kee's lead over Haitian is 8 points, a clear advantage in how AI shortlists the category.
Grok puts Lee Kum Kee first, while ChatGPT favours Haitian, DeepSeek favours Haitian and Gemini favours Haday.
The top five brands hold 74% of recommendations out of 13 brands named in total, leaving room for challengers to break into AI shortlists.
| # | Brand | Owner | AI share | ChatGPT | DeepSeek | Gemini | Grok |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lee Kum Kee | Lee Kum Kee | 27% | 25 | 25 | 25 | 60 |
| 2 | Haitian | COFCO | 19% | 35 | 35 | – | 25 |
| 3 | Maggi | Nestlé | 13.4% | 8 | 12 | – | 47 |
| 4 | Heinz | Kraft Heinz | 8% | – | 20 | – | 20 |
| 5 | Haday | Haday | 7% | – | – | 35 | – |
| 6 | Kikkoman | Kikkoman | 5.6% | 20 | 8 | – | – |
| 7 | Knorr | Unilever | 4% | – | – | – | 20 |
| 8 | Lao Gan Ma | Lao Gan Ma | 4% | – | – | 20 | – |
| 9 | Golden Mountain | Tang Sang Hah | 4% | – | – | – | 20 |
| 10 | Pearl River Bridge | Lao Gan Ma | 2.4% | 12 | – | – | – |
| 11 | Totole | Shinho | 2.4% | – | – | 12 | – |
| 12 | Shinho | Bright Dairy | 1.6% | – | – | 8 | – |
| 13 | Haishenwang | Generic | 1.6% | – | – | – | 8 |
Questions about AI cooking essentials recommendations
- Which cooking essentials brand does ChatGPT recommend most in China?
- ChatGPT recommends Haitian most often for cooking essentials in China. Across all assistants, Lee Kum Kee leads with 27% of recommendations.
- Which cooking essentials brand is improving fastest in China?
- Haday has the strongest momentum among challengers: AI names it first in 1 of 1 answers where it appears, while holding 7% share. This is the first Q4 2026 reading; change over time will be shown from the next update.
- How is the ranking calculated?
- We ask each AI assistant the questions shoppers ask in each category and market, record the top five brands it names, and give 35, 25, 20, 12 and 8 points for positions one to five. Share is a brand's points divided by all points awarded.
Cooking Essentials: AI rankings by country
Covers: Sauces & Condiments.
Method: each AI assistant is asked the shopper questions for every segment in the category and market; the top five brands named score 35, 25, 20, 12 and 8 points. Share is a brand's points divided by all points awarded. Rankings reflect AI answers, not sales.
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