Senior executive Yang Lijuan, who has served the company for 31 years, returns to the parent company. This manager, who was once responsible for the global business of the hot pot chain, may become the key hope to reverse the stagnation of mainland revenue and the decline in profits.
<h4>Key Points:</h4>
<ul>
<li>HAIDILAO announced that its overseas business CEO and senior executive Yang Lijuan will return to the parent company, a news that drove the stock price up by about 7%.</li>
<li>The former hot pot leader has seen a significant decline in customer traffic, and despite laying off over 11,000 employees, it is still expected to record a profit decline in 2025.</li>
</ul>
Tan Ying
Almost every successful company eventually reaches a turning point, at which point they often rely on the founder to seek new development momentum. The once-glorious hot pot chain HAIDILAO International Holding Ltd. (6862.HK) has experienced this situation twice this year, first with founder Daniel Zhang returning as CEO in January; this month, the company took action again, recalling Yang Lijuan, who was referred to by Daniel Zhang as the &#34;best server&#34; and &#34;firefighter,&#34; from her latest position as head of overseas business.
HAIDILAO's stock price rose nearly 7% the day after the announcement was made last week, and has largely maintained its gains, indicating that investors hope Daniel Zhang can inject new growth momentum into the company.
Yang Lijuan's resume indeed makes her a suitable candidate for this task. She served as CEO of HAIDILAO in 2022 when the company was struggling due to aggressive expansion and the impact of the pandemic, with her main task being to close underperforming stores. Within just one year, Yang Lijuan led the company from a loss of 3.2 billion yuan (approximately 469.3 million USD) in 2021 to a profit of 1.6 billion yuan in 2022, earning her the title of firefighter.
Two years later, in June 2024, Yang Lijuan transitioned to head the overseas business entity Tehai International Holdings Ltd. (9658.HK; HDL.US). This company currently has a price-to-earnings ratio of about 24 times, higher than HAIDILAO's approximately 18 times, reflecting the typical situation where a subsidiary is valued higher than its parent company. Her return comes after Tehai International saw an 8% increase in revenue and a significant 70% rise in profits last year.
Yang Lijuan is also regarded as HAIDILAO's best server and is an important role model for thousands of frontline employees from similar grassroots backgrounds. She only has a high school education and began working as a server at the age of 16. In 1994, founder Daniel Zhang raised 8,000 yuan to open the first HAIDILAO in Sichuan; in 1995, after Yang Lijuan's small restaurant closed, Daniel Zhang recruited her as one of the first employees. Subsequently, Daniel Zhang appointed her as the manager of the second store and regarded her as a pioneer when the company expanded from Sichuan to Shaanxi.
<h4>Peak Turnover Rate</h4>
At its peak in 2018, HAIDILAO achieved an impressive daily turnover rate of about 5 times, with annual revenue and profit both growing by about 60%. The company is known for transforming hot pot dining into an experiential consumption model, offering customers free manicures, shoe shines, snacks, and performances of hand-pulled noodles at the dining tables by servers moving around the restaurant
However, the situation has changed significantly since then. According to the latest annual performance, the company's turnover rate last year dropped from 4.1 times in 2024 to 3.9 times, far below the level of 2018. HAIDILAO's revenue for 2025 is projected to be 43.2 billion yuan (approximately 6.3 billion USD), only a 1% increase from 2024, while profits are expected to decline by 14% to 4 billion yuan. The weak performance is partly due to a decrease in customer traffic at self-operated HAIDILAO stores, with total customer visits decreasing by 7.5% year-on-year to 383.9 million.
HAIDILAO is stabilizing its operations by reducing staff and streamlining the scale of self-operated stores, as the profit margin of self-operated stores is usually lower than that of the franchise model. The company cut 11,558 employees in 2025, following a reduction of up to 16,569 in 2024. During this period, 85 underperforming self-operated stores were closed, while 79 new ones were opened, ending the year with a total of 1,304 self-operated stores and 79 franchise stores.
The company is pinning its hopes on developing higher-margin franchise businesses, as well as takeout services and new brands. However, these businesses are still in their infancy. In 2025, the franchise business contributed only about 270 million yuan in revenue, accounting for 0.6% of total revenue, a slight increase from the almost negligible level in 2024. In terms of takeout services, revenue last year was 2.65 billion yuan, more than doubling from 1.25 billion yuan in 2024.
The new restaurant brand contributed 1.52 billion yuan in revenue in 2025, more than doubling from 483 million yuan in 2024, but still only accounted for about 3.5% of the company's overall revenue. At the same time, the food raw materials business is also expanding to meet consumer demand for homemade hot pot. This business recorded revenue of 1.1 billion yuan in 2025, nearly doubling from 575 million yuan in 2024, but still only accounted for about 2.7% of last year's total revenue.
<h4>Intensifying Competition in the Market</h4>
HAIDILAO's new sources of income may become key to its sustainable development. The Chinese hot pot market is still growing, being both a comfort food and popular for its social dining characteristics. However, after years of rapid expansion, signs of market slowdown have begun to emerge.
According to data from Hongcan, the national hot pot market size is expected to reach 639 billion yuan in 2025, a 3.5% increase from 2024, and is projected to further grow to 670 billion yuan this year. However, despite the expanding market size, the number of hot pot stores decreased by 15.3% year-on-year to 448,000 last year.
HAIDILAO is not the only former restaurant leader under pressure; consumers are continuously seeking new experiences beyond large brands. Among its peers, Xiabuxiabu (0520.HK), which focuses on individual hot pots, has seen a decline in revenue and recorded losses; while Jiumaojiu (9922.HK), known for its pickled fish, also experienced a decline in revenue and stagnant profits last year.
Returning to the company, Yang Lijuan may also face challenges from the existing 125,620 employees, most of whom belong to a different generation than her and founder Daniel Zhang. They are less interested in the emotional connection of the apprenticeship system that Yang Lijuan and Daniel Zhang experienced during their growth
This generation of employees mostly comes from middle-class backgrounds and has higher expectations for work, making it difficult for them to view waiter positions as a long-term career development direction.
This generational difference was clearly revealed in an incident earlier this year. An employee reported that when customers complained, the company required them to pay out of pocket for a 500 yuan apology gift. The incident sparked a nationwide public outcry on social media, and Daniel Zhang subsequently issued a public apology and promised to increase his stake in the company.
Although HAIDILAO later launched an investigation and refunded part of the amount to four employees, the incident has already caused significant damage to the company's reputation. The company has always positioned itself as providing a relaxed, enjoyable dining experience with a family atmosphere.
The damage to the aforementioned reputation is just one of the many challenges faced by Yang Lijuan, the returning firefighter, and it shows that her future tasks will be daunting

06862

HAIDILAO announced the return of senior executive Yang Lijuan to the parent company, aiming to restart local growth momentum. Yang Lijuan served as CEO in 2022 and successfully reversed the company's loss situation. Following her return, HAIDILAO's stock price rose by about 7%. Her leadership experience and performance make her a key hope for the company's recovery

HAIDILAO recalls the fire-fighting captain, hoping to restart local growth momentum