FILE PHOTO: A staff member attends customers at a Haidilao hotpot restaurant in Beijing, China October 11, 2021. Picture taken October 11, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
The largest hotpot chain in China, Haidilao, anticipates a return to profitability for its overseas unit this year. This follows the unit’s 80% year-on-year revenue growth for 2022, which was announced on Thursday.
Haidilao International Holding’s Super Hi International Holding reported revenue of $558.2 million and a net loss of $41.3 million for 2022, a marked improvement from the $150.8 million loss in 2021. In an interview with Reuters, Zhou Zhaocheng, the CEO of Haidilao’s overseas unit, expressed satisfaction with the performance in 2022 and optimism for the upcoming year.
According to Zhou Zhaocheng, the CEO of Haidilao’s overseas unit, there is an opportunity for the unit to return to profitability this year, and he expressed hope for it. Haidilao, which originated in Sichuan Province in China in 1994, has expanded to operate over 1,300 stores across China, providing customers with a communal dining experience where they cook meat and vegetables in a shared soup pot.
Zhou oversees all of Haidilao’s restaurants outside of China and attributed his optimism to the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions and the opening of new stores. He also stated that the crowds and spending levels during festive seasons like Christmas and New Year have returned to pre-Covid levels. The Southeast Asian market has seen the fastest growth for Haidilao.
Zhou announced that Haidilao will open its first store in the Philippines this year.
Currently, Haidilao has 114 overseas stores, including a new store that opened in Dubai this month, marking its entry into the Middle East market.
Zhou mentioned that the pace of opening new overseas stores this year would be similar to last year, during which 17 new stores were added. He also stated that the company is cautious about opening new stores, having learned a hard lesson in 2020 when they opened over 400 new restaurants across China and some overseas markets, only to close more than 200 stores shortly thereafter to minimize losses.
Haidilao International Holding recently spun off its overseas units to create Super Hi International Holding, which was listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange in December. According to Zhou, this move was made in the interest of shareholders, as the pace of development for Haidilao in China and overseas markets is different. Zhou also likened the development of Haidilao’s overseas business to sharpening a sword, citing the opening of their first overseas store in Singapore in 2012 and the confidence gained in listing the overseas unit last year.
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