news

tencent news "periscope"

author xu tan

editor liu peng

2024 is a particularly difficult year for the catering industry. in the first half of the year, about 1.05 million catering companies went bankrupt, which is almost the total number of catering companies that went bankrupt in 2023 and twice the number of those that went bankrupt in 2022. in this context, how can catering companies survive?

august 27,haidilaothe company announced its financial report for the first half of 2024, with revenue of 21.491 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.8%; core operating profit of 2.799 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.0%, and revenue and core operating profit hitting a record high. why can haidilao achieve a growth curve against the trend?

it is worth noting that haidilao has launched a senior management team, the "five tigers of operations", which are song qing, deputy general manager, director of the product committee, and executive director; shao zhidong, deputy general manager; miao xiqing, rotating coo; yang hua, head coach of the entrepreneurship committee and founder of the yanqing bbq brand; and zhang guanping, marketing director and regional manager of haidilao. they will promote innovative entrepreneurial projects and the overall development of the company in five major areas: entrepreneurship mechanism, product innovation, supply chain guarantee, operational coordination, and marketing support. the adjustment of people means the adjustment of strategies to adapt to different stages of development.

although haidilao founder zhang yong once said, "the haidilao car can only be driven by me. no one can compete with me for the steering wheel. whoever competes will get off the car." however, since the establishment of the decision-making committee in 2020 and the transfer of the ceo position to yang lijuan in 2021, zhang yong has increasingly delegated power.

zhang yong's most capable disciple and most capable person, yang lijuan, was appointed as the head of the overseas business.tehai internationalin june, haidilao’s new ceo gou yiqun took over yang lijuan’s position.

yang lijuan is characterized by decisiveness. in 2021, haidilao suffered a historic loss of 4.16 billion yuan in 30 years and was admitted to the icu. the strategy of the past three years was implemented at the "woodpecker plan" and "hard bone plan", which were completed by yang lijuan. the core words are iron-fisted store closures, system adjustments, and organizational structure changes.

haidilao's current strategic plan is set as the "red pomegranate plan", which is a multi-brand strategy. for example, haidilao's new brands include yanqing bbq, xiaohai hotpot, wugu sancan, and miaoshixiong hotpot.

the new ceo gou yiqun is also a veteran. he joined haidilao in 2002 and has served as chief financial officer, head of information technology, and head of supply chain and procurement. he has led the creation of the "entrepreneurship and innovation committee" and the "digital operation committee" and has been involved in investment business. his current task is to lead the five tigers to promote the "red pomegranate plan". haidilao has entered the stage of multi-brand management and systematic and refined management.

if you don't agree that "you can change your destiny with your own hands", no matter how good you are, don't

haidilao's success in recovering from the market trough is still due to the unique corporate culture designed by zhang yong, whose core value is "changing your destiny with your own hands". zhang yong has his own unique training method, and finally created a team with high loyalty and belief in "changing your destiny with your own hands". the current core management team can be said to be a typical representative of "changing your destiny with your own hands".

zhang yong said that the first thing that management should do is to select talents with the same values ​​as them. those who do not agree with the core value of "changing your destiny with your own hands" will not be accepted, no matter how excellent they are.

among the "five tigers of operations", song qing, yang hua, miao xiqing and zhang guanping are all veterans who have worked in haidilao for more than 17 years. most of them, like zhang yong, have low education and started as store waiters. initially, this was the natural growth experience of senior executives in the early days of the company. later, zhang yong turned this tradition into a system. even graduates from ivy league schools such as harvard and yale who join haidilao have to work as waiters in stores. because all of haidilao's businesses, such as the supply chain derived from hot pot, ultimately serve the stores. without understanding the stores, it is impossible to make the most accurate decisions.

the only member of this management team is shao zhidong, an external executive who was parachuted into haidilao in 2010. he has served as the head of human resources, information technology, and rotating coo. he experienced a conflict right after arriving at haidilao - the autumn johns incident.

on april 1, 2010, shao zhidong, who holds a master's degree in computer science and a doctorate in human resources, joined haidilao and founded haidilao university (corporate training center). in november, when autumn began, an excellent foreman training was held in the suburbs of beijing. at that time, the weather was getting cooler and it was in the mountains, so the employees were very cold. vice president song qing noticed it and immediately bought a pair of long johns for everyone, and distributed them to everyone the next day. shao zhidong did not understand this behavior. although it was right to buy long johns for employees, according to the procedure, the person in charge of haidilao training should be informed to handle it. how could he just do it without following the procedure?

the conflict between the two even reached zhang yong. in the end, each of them was given 50 lashes, and they each paid for half of the money to buy autumn johns.

this conflict is more like a conflict between cadres and paratroopers, a conflict between foreign culture and native culture. song qing also said that "this incident is an explosion of the running-in of two groups of people, a combination of two kinds of people."

song qing is almost a representative of haidilao's original culture. he joined haidilao in 2000 at the age of 18, and initially worked as a waiter and buyer in the xi'an store. on a cold winter morning in xi'an, he went to the vegetable market to buy vegetables, and angered the stall owner because of his careful selection.

xi'an store was the first stop of haidilao outside sichuan. zhang yong and yang lijuan were almost song qing's earliest masters. later, at every stage, there were masters who taught her step by step, including sorting out the supply chain structure and sending her to business school, until she became the head of the supply chain.

"don't let employees get bored" and "act immediately" are almost the working styles of haidilao's native managers. but now song qing believes that people who share the same ideas as her must be constrained by process specifications.

shao zhidong told tencent news that there are currently two types of senior executives at haidilao. one type can be described as the representatives of "walk, do and talk", who started out as front-line waiters. they have strong mobility and execution capabilities, and a deeper understanding of corporate culture, which is imprinted in their blood. they are a typical group of people who dare to fight and strive hard.

the other group of people are the representatives of "reading, writing and thinking". they are not the ones who started out as waiters like me. they think more, act more slowly, but have more complete systematic thinking. there are still big differences in the cognition or way of doing things between these two types of cadres. the senior management team of haidilao gradually adjusted and integrated in this kind of running-in.

generally speaking, paratroopers have a long "physical adaptation period" when they arrive at haidilao. shao zhidong said that haidilao has a typical characteristic: they say it today and do it tomorrow, and they want results tomorrow. at first, i was always hesitating between shooting and aiming. should i shoot first or aim first? our habit is to think before we do it, so how can we just do it right away? this matter troubled me for two or three years after i came to haidilao. our habit is to aim first. but haidilao's habit is to shoot first after receiving the order, and then talk about it. anyway, you will be accurate naturally after shooting 100 times.

in april 2012, two years after joining haidilao, shao zhidong was appointed as the manager of haidilao's fourth store in beijing. there were more than 120 employees in the store, including 50 couples. shao zhidong said, "i have never managed such a group of people in my career. if i criticize the husband, the wife may be unhappy. not only do i have to manage the business, but i also have to understand people's hearts. understanding human nature is also a compulsory course for haidilao."

he believes: "this is how brother zhang employs people. he thinks people like me should learn on the front line, so he made me the store manager."

after working as a store manager for more than a year, shao zhidong rotated to various business units, launched haidilao's first smart restaurant in beijing, was in charge of the human resources department and information department, served as a coach for the beijing region, served as a rotating coo, and is now the group's vice president. he has a lot of feelings: "it took me ten years to learn how to understand human nature."

don't talk about feelings with grassroots employees, talk about interests

zhang yong has several criteria for selecting cadres: first, they must love haidilao; second, they must be proficient in the business; and third, they must have insight into human nature.

loving your own company is an initiative of almost all companies to their employees. but how can this be achieved?

the author has two observations on haidilao: profit-driven + a deep sense of belonging to the company.

zhang yong has a point of view that we should not talk about feelings with grassroots employees, but about interests. in practice, it means timely incentives and generous money.

rotating coo miao xiqing was born in a rural area of ​​shaanxi province and had a difficult childhood. he dropped out of school in his teens and worked in xi'an. he joined haidilao in 2007 because the salary of a waiter at haidilao was 800 yuan per month, 200 yuan more than the hotel he worked for. in his first month at haidilao, he received a bonus of 800 yuan + 150 yuan for his hard work, and he was very happy.

three months later, miao xiqing became a foreman, and his monthly salary increased to more than 1,500 yuan. nine months later, he became a lobby manager, and his monthly salary increased to more than 3,000 yuan. five years later, he was promoted to store manager, and his salary reached 8,000 yuan/month. in 2012, he was far ahead of his peers. in recent years, the monthly salary of haidilao store managers has been a hot topic. basic salary + dividends from the main store + dividends from the apprentice store + dividends from the apprentice's store. the annual salary of an extremely outstanding store manager is close to 2 million.

at that time, miao xiqing felt that he had endless energy every day.

miao xiqing told tencent news, "i have always thought that i have done a very bad job, but the company has always given me opportunities and platforms, until now i am the rotating coo."

in 2012, miao xiqing was still an intern store manager before he was promoted to store manager of zhengzhou no. 4. a fire broke out in the store, causing a loss of 2.55 million yuan. he thought that the store manager promotion was definitely a failure. however, after the matter was reported internally in the company, he was still made the store manager. during a trip to thailand to reward outstanding store managers, he happened to sit next to zhang yong. zhang yong asked him who he was. he said miao xiqing, the manager of zhengzhou no. 4 store. zhang yong said, oh, that's the store manager who caught fire. miao xiqing was so scared that he froze in his place.

later, miao xiqing always stood out from the crowd of store managers, family heads, and outstanding regional managers. miao xiqing believes that he is very grateful to the company because haidilao can afford the huge cost of trial and error and trust the senior management.

trust is also a driving force for innovation. zhang guanping, the marketing director of haidilao, joined haidilao in 2006 at the age of 20. he started as a waiter and worked his way up to store manager, family head, and regional manager. he is currently serving as the marketing director. he is designing a marketing plan that is suitable for different regions and customer groups, trying to become a universal template. "haidilao's more than 1,000 stores can have more than 1,000 ways to play," and "store managers should be free to run as long as they do not violate the red line."

how haidilao trains its managers

ren zhengfei once said that generals are selected, not trained. this is also the view of some business school professors.

but zhang yong is different, he believes that people can be trained. almost all of haidilao's senior executives were trained by zhang yong himself.

his most common practice is to rotate executives to different positions, the so-called "one position with multiple skills", and at the same time urge executives to do innovative things. for example, yang hua, the overall coach of the xi'an area, has served as a store manager, community manager, and regional manager since joining the company in 1999. he is currently the head coach of haidilao and the founder of its sub-brand yanqing bbq shop.

in 2020, haidilao proposed a multi-brand strategy for the first time, mobilizing all the overall coaches to start a second business internally. yang hua was reluctant to break out of his current comfort zone.

zhang yong knew many senior executives and said to yang hua: "you must make yourself comfortable. if you can't, come back and continue to be a coordinating coach." this sentence was like a stimulus to yang hua, and her enthusiasm for work was aroused.

it is human nature not to want to change. only by forcing employees to constantly try to change can we stimulate their potential and bring about rapid changes in the business.

yang hua told tencent news, "brother zhang would recommend different books to us at each stage. for example, when i was an ordinary employee, he recommended me to read a letter to garcia, which talks about mission accomplishment; when i was a foreman, he recommended me to read who moved my cheese, which talks about crisis awareness; when i was a store manager, he recommended me to read the one minute manager; when i became a regional manager, he recommended me to how to win friends and influence people and management books by jack welch. this kind of recommendation is uninterrupted. he is like a class teacher and also like a principal."

later, yang hua went to three business schools: xi'an jiaotong university, peking university, and national university of singapore. like many haidilao executives, after years of practical experience, the company sent them to business schools to make up for theoretical courses.

but most of the time, zhang yong provides "on-site guidance", corrects mistakes in reality, and adjusts management's perception of customers.

yang hua told an example that he remembers vividly. once, zhang yong went to inspect a store in xi'an and found that a private room had no air conditioning, and the guests were obviously very hot when eating. zhang yong asked all relevant executives to live in that private room for 7 days to experience the guests' feelings. so these executives worked during the day and slept in the hot private room at night.

normally, when zhang yong visits a store, he doesn’t ask “how’s business lately?” instead, he’ll ask “how far do the employees live from the store?” “how many dishes and soup do they eat?” “is the dormitory clean?”

this is actually the concept that zhang yong has explored since he started his business. only by taking good care of employees can employees take good care of customers.

yang hua said that when zhang da ge corrected mistakes, he was like a strict parent. but in this process, we realized what it means to focus on employees and customers at the same time.

these two dimensions are ultimately implemented in haidilao's most basic assessment. haidilao does not assess its stores based on operating income and profit indicators, but rather on employee effort and customer satisfaction, using an abc three-level scoring system. this may seem incredible, but haidilao's consideration is that if the store's profit indicators are assessed, the store will cut costs and increase revenue, which will in turn hinder the customer experience.

zhang yong still talks about feelings with the executives. yang hua said that zhang yong would chat with the executives in an informal setting, talking about ideals, feelings, and everything else. he was still very happy.

based on years of guidance from business to spiritual aspects, the entire management team has absolute trust in "brother zhang". "brother zhang" is like the strongest brain of haidilao. usually every six months or a year, he will designate a direction, and then the leadership team will run towards this general direction, and in the process of continuous error correction, they will realize "brother zhang's" vision.

multi-brand portfolio caters to new consumption trends

in the past three years, yang lijuan has completed her phased mission, which is to turn the tide. not only did she keep haidilao alive, but she also achieved the best results in its 30 years of existence in 2023 with operating income of 41.453 billion yuan and net profit of 4.495 billion yuan.

closing stores, improving efficiency, and controlling the blind rush to open stores at a high speed to seek more rational development. however, this also exposes a real contradiction. the core value of "changing destiny with one's own hands" is based on the rapid development of haidilao. if the expansion slows down and the growth space becomes smaller, how can employees change their destiny with their own hands?

at the same time, in the context of consumption downgrade, can haidilao's single main brand be responsible for responding to current consumption realities and meeting the needs of sustainable development?

therefore, in the next few years, haidilao will continue to seek business upgrades, diversification, and even franchise, creating the company's second growth curve. haidilao has incubated brands such as yanqing bbq shop, xiaohai hotpot, and miaoshixiong hotpot, and is forming a variety of combined business formats such as barbecue, fast food, and chinese dinner.

on december 29, 2023, haidilao’s first "yanqing bbq shop" opened in xi'an and achieved profitability in the first month of its opening.

yang hua, the founder of yanqing bbq, believes that the barbecue model is valid. first, young people like it; second, barbecue is the first cooking method of human civilization and can be accepted by global consumers. whether in china, japan, south korea, europe or the united states, people all eat barbecue, and to a certain extent, consumers have an almost addictive consumption habit of barbecue; third, there is no real leading brand in this track; fourth, it can be highly compatible with haidilao's supply chain and can be grafted onto haidilao's strong advantages.

based on these judgments, "yanqing bbq shop" has also achieved profitability in several stores in yiwu, nanjing and hangzhou.

in march 2024, zhang yong visited the yanqing bbq shop in xi'an and proposed the concept of "multi-control", aiming to integrate yanqing's talent system with haidilao's resources.

yang hua described his feelings at that time as "like having wings all of a sudden." he was certain that "with the support of haidilao's powerful supply chain system, talent delivery management system and profit distribution system, this battle will definitely be won."