Haidilao Tops China’s Most Valuable Restaurant Chains List

By Lynn Yu

On September 18th，Hurun Research Institute and Big Eyes Bizoppsjointly released“Big Eyes Bizopps · Hurun TOP 50 Most Valuable Restaurant Chains in China 2021”， with the list of the top 50 restaurant chains covering all categories such as snacks， meals， drinks， hot pot， baking and barbecue. Shanghai and Beijing have the largest number of restaurant chains， with 10 and 8 restaurants respectively， accounting for 1/3 of thetotal list， followed by Guangzhou and Shenzhen with 4 restaurants each.

The list is ranked by market capitalization or valuation. The market value of the listed company is calculated according to the closing price on July 30th 2021， and the valuation of the unlisted company refers to that of the listed companies in the same industry or is estimated based on the latest round of financing. This is the first time for Hurun Research Institute to release this restaurant chain industry list.

Restaurant chains included are those that have a business model based on catering， and catering chain enterprises are those that franchise. The“Chinese restaurant chain enterprises”in this list refer to those established on the mainland， Taiwan， Hong Kong and Macao of China. Restaurant chains based in China but founded abroad， such as Yum China and Golden Arches China， were excluded from the study.

Much room for growth in Chinas restaurant chain industry

According to Hurun， chairman and chief research officer of Hurun Report， “there is still much room for growth in Chinas restaurant chain industry. The percentage of restaurant chains in the US is close to 60% and globally it is close to 30%， while in China it is only 15%. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that the catering industry， which was heavily affected by the pandemic， has recovered significantly compared tolast year， earning more than RMB 2 trillionin the first half of this year， up 49% year-on-year. Chinas catering industry investment and financing is booming， and as of August this year the investment and financing amount reached RMB 43.9 billion， more than twice over that of last year， according to data from Forward the Economist. As more catering enterprises attach importance to fulfilling social responsibility for green development， it will also promote the sustainable and healthy development of the whole industry.”

Zhao Manman， co-founder and CEO of Big Eye Bizopps said， “the model of Chinese restaurant companies is rapidly changing. With the rapid growth of the catering chain rate， China has undoubtedly stepped into the era of thousands of stores， and franchising has become an important growth source for catering enterprises. The business environment and business thinking of restaurant enterprises are quietly changing， and the continuous upgrading of consumer demand and consumption trend brings new opportunities and challenges to the chain management of restaurant enterprises， which has also become an important topic for the restaurant enterprises to cope with.”

“Haidilao is absolutely No. 1 in Chinas local restaurant chain indus- try， with a value of nearly RMB 150 billion， more than the total of the next five companies， and this 27-year-old enterprise ranks sixth globally，” Hurun points outs. “The worlds leading restaurant chains are two trillion-level enterprises， McDonalds and Starbucks， each with 5，000 or 6，000 outlets in China. But the biggest restaurant chain in China is Yum China， incubated by Yum Group， which is valued at RMB 170 billion and has more than 8，000 KFC outlets in China. The top 50 Chinese restaurant chains have a combined value of RMB 600 billion， slightly bigger than Xiaomi Technology and half the size of McDonalds.”

Although Chinas catering industry has matured， there are only 16 listed companies among the top 50 catering chain enterprises. The largest enterprise in the industry， Haidilao， has a value of RMB 150 billion and more than 1，300 directly managed outlets， which means each outlet is valued at approximately RMB 100 million. With franchise for expansion， MIXUEBINGCHENG possesses a value of around RMB 10 billion. Although the expansion is very fast and the number of outlets is more than 14，000， the value of each outlet is relatively small. New tea brands represented by HEYTEA and Nayuki Tea are fast becoming the most dynamic food and beverage category in China. HEYTEA is currently worth RMB 30 billion and Nayuki Tea about RMB 10 billion.

Hurun said， “Food plus wine is becoming a tool for catering companies to create their own unique brand image， and this trend has been growing rapidly recently.”

Chinas restaurant industry has changed rapidly recently， with 1/5 of the top 50 companies established in the last 10 years. The five youngest are Luckin and M Stand， which were founded in 2017， and Manner， Nayuki Tea and Wenheyou， which were founded in 2015.

“At least 16 brands of the six companies on our list have a history of more than 60 years. In recent years， time-honored brands have kept on innovating， such as entering e-commerce retail and innovating products， represented by Guangzhou Restaurant， Shanghai Xinghualou and Hangzhou Zhiweiguan，”Hurun points out.

The highlight of the list

With a value of RMB 147.2 billion， Haidilao is the most valuable company in Chinas restaurant chain industry. Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Chengdu， Haidilao currently has more than 1，300 outlets across the country. It is a large-scale trans-provincial hot pot catering chain brand that mainly operates Sichuan hot pot and integrates the characteristics of hot pot all over the country.

Juewei food came in second with a value of RMB 37.6 billion. Headquartered in Wuhan and founded in 1999， Juewei is a leading company in the leisure stewed food industry in China， with more than 13，000 outlets across the country. Juewei adopts the production and operation mode of “one market， one production base and one distribution chain”， and its business scope covers 31 provincial markets in China. Juewei was Listed on A-shares in 2017.

With HEYTEA as the representative brand， Meixixi Catering came in third with a value of RMB 30 billion. As a young， international new tea chain brand in China， HEYTEA combines Chinese cultural tradition with creativity and innovation， opening the trend of new tea drinking. Headquartered in Shenzhen， the company currently has more than 700 outlets in China.

Jiumaojiu Group ranked fourth with a value of RMB 29.7 billion. Headquartered in Guangzhou， the main brands are Jiumaojiu（nearly 100 outlets） and Taier Chinese sauerkraut fish （more than 270 outlets）. Jiumaojiu Group continues providing northwestern classic dishes and also innovates withnew dishes taking northwest food and ingredients as inspiration.

Luckin ranked fifth with a value of RMB 25 billion. Luckin， headquartered in Beijing and founded in 2018， is committed to providing customers with high-quality， cost-effective and convenient products with a goal to provide high value cups of coffee to every customer. Luckin currently has more than 4，600 outlets.

Helens ranks sixth with a value of RMB 22.8 billion. Headquartered in Shenzhen and founded in 2009， Helens has more than 500 outlets nationwide. Recently the brand landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Helens is unique in China as it integrates elements of American cowboy aesthetics with Southeast Asian and Chinese tujia customs， providing trendy American and European music as well as delicious food and drinks.

With a value of around RMB 10 billion， Laoxiangji ranks the top 15. Headquartered in Hefei and founded in 2003， the brand was upgraded from FeixiLaomuji to Laoxiangji in 2012. With Feixi old hen soup as the main dish， Laoxiangji mainly cooked in Chinese style. By the year of 2020， it has served 600 million consumers with 500，000 daily visits to its outlets.

Xibei， valued at more than RMB 10 billion， ranks among the top 15. Headquartered in Beijing and founded in 1988， Xibei carries forward traditional oat noodle culture and is famous for northwest cuisine. In 2013， Xibei redefined the main brand of its core business as “Xibei Oat Noodle Village”.

City distribution： Shanghai and Beijing have the most companies on the list， with 10 and 8 companies respectively， followed by Guangzhou and Shenzhen with 4 companies respectively； and Zhengzhou has 3 companies.

As for the distribution of business categories， 17 companies in the list come from the snack and fast food category， including Juwei， Laoxiangjiand Zhouheiya； 13 companies from the dining category， including Xibei and Guangzhou Restaurant； 10 companies form the beverage category， such as HEYTEA andLuckin； 6 companies are in the hotpot category， such as Haidilao， Xiabuxiabu and Banu； four companies from the baking category and two from the barbecuecategory.

The oldest brands： Among the top 50， sixcompanies have at least 16 brands with a history of more than 60 years， for instance， Xinghualou was founded in 1851， Hongbinlou in 1853， Quanjude in 1864， Kuiyuanguan in 1867， Shendacheng in 1875， Taotaoju in 1880， Zhiweiguan in 1913， Hangzhou Restaurant in 1921， Tongqinglou in 1925， Tianxianglou 1927， Dahuchun in 1932， Guangzhou Restaurant in 1935， Xiaoshaoxing in 1943，Qingfeng Steamd Dumpling in 1948 and Emei Restaurant in 1950.