Meituan is considering expanding food delivery service outside mainland China, with Hong Kong as its first stop, Chinese tech news outlet LatePost reported on Sunday.

The company, billed as the largest food delivery platform in China, is hiring people from different departments to help with its plan to expand overseas, and the R&D department has started to develop multilingual platforms including English, Spanish and Arabic.

Tony Qiu, an executive hired from Kuaishou Technology, China's second-largest short-video app, will lead Meituan's international operations.

Before making its official debut in the international market, Meituan decided to test the waters in Hong Kong.  

According to the report, it's not the first time that Meituan has set its sights on the metropolis adjacent to Shenzhen. 

In the first half of 2018, the company had intended to begin operations in Hong Kong, but the expansion was put on hold because electric bikes are not allowed in the Special Administrative Region. In the mainland, the majority of drivers rely on two-wheeled electric vehicles to fulfill orders.

With a population of 7.48 million, Hong Kong is a competitive food delivery market with both local players and international giants. 

According to a survey by Rakuten Insight, about 75% of Hong Kong respondents named Germany-headquartered Food Panda as their preferred app for ordering takeout. UK-headquartered Deliveroo, Uber Eats, as well as Hong Kong-based Eatojoy and Klook were other prominent players in the market.

Compared to multi-market players Food Panda, Deliveroo, and Uber Eats, Meituan is not as well-positioned in the competition. It will be challenging to bring the experience it has accumulated in the mainland, an undiversified market, to the very fragmented international market.

China's consumer-facing tech companies are seeking overseas expansion as growth in the mainland market has slowed.  Shanghai-based e-commerce platform Pinduoduo recently Pinduoduo launched its cross-border shopping website Temu in the US, marking its first overseas foray.