... [+]Zhang established Haidilao in 1994 in his hometown of Jianyang in Sichuan province with the help of three friends, including one who became his wife. The 51-year-old and his spouse have been serving as the chairman and director, respectively.
The hotpot chain built a reputation for putting a strong emphasis on customer service that includes activities like free manicures, shoulder massages and noodle-pulling demonstrations. Haidilao aggressively expanded its network in 2020 with the opening of 544 new restaurants in spite of the disruption to its operations caused by the pandemic. It now boasts of having a network of 1,298 restaurants, and 93% of them are located in mainland China. “It’s better to scale fast and be everywhere instead of having a single towering presence,” Zhang
Poor little baby...