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the news that bawang cha ji founder zhang junjie "joined" haidilao and became the latter's independent non-executive director has attracted attention.

on the evening of august 27, haidilao issued an announcement stating that it had appointed ba wang cha ji founder zhang junjie as an independent non-executive director, who will be mainly responsible for supervising the haidilao board of directors and providing independent judgment, effective from august 27, 2024.

zhang junjie has signed a letter of appointment with haidilao for a period of three years. zhang junjie is entitled to receive an annual salary of rmb 1.2 million.

in this regard, the securities times e-company reporter contacted bawang cha ji, and the relevant person in charge said that the haidilao announcement should be taken as the final word.

a person related to haidilao responded to reporters on august 28 that haidilao's board of directors pursues a diversified composition, and zhang junjie's joining will further enrich the diversity of the company's board of directors.

in the industry’s view, the founder of bawang cha ji’s joining haidilao may herald the beginning of future cooperation between the two parties.

"independent directors have voting rights on the board of directors and can decide many things, including when major shareholders trade with listed companies and need to avoid conflicts of interest. at this time, the vote of independent directors is very important. as for haidilao's move, i think it is just a nominal operation, and there may be cooperation between the two companies behind it. whether it will empower franchising remains to be seen, because tea drinks are different from heavy catering. it is more difficult to franchise heavy catering, but it is much easier to franchise tea drinks." the secretary of a hong kong-listed catering company told the securities times e-company reporter.

haidilao pursues diversification

the announcement also showed that zhang junjie (formerly known as zhang jun), 29, founded the chagee brand in june 2017 and is currently the chairman and ceo of chagee holdings limited.

zhang junjie has over 13 years of operation and management experience in the catering industry. prior to founding bawang chaji, zhang junjie worked at shanghai muye robotics technology co., ltd. (now known as shanghai noah mumu robotics technology co., ltd.) from july 2015 to march 2017 as the deputy director of the cooperation department, responsible for the asia-pacific business. prior to this, zhang junjie served as the regional deputy manager of yunnan dawei beverage co., ltd. and later as a franchise partner.

"haidilao's board of directors pursues a diverse composition. in addition to the company's management, the company hopes to include members from different fields who can provide observational and constructive supervisory opinions for the company's business. currently, haidilao's independent directors come from different backgrounds and fields such as law, food safety, and the internet. the joining of zhang junjie will further enrich the diversity of the company's board of directors. as an outstanding industry figure, the board of directors believes that zhang junjie's professional background, work experience and the performance of his independent director duties can provide supervision and guidance for the development of haidilao." a person related to haidilao responded to reporters.

it is worth mentioning that the "joining" of bawang cha ji's founder at haidilao has also sparked speculation in the industry. zhu danpeng, a chinese food industry analyst, told securities times e-company reporter, "this may be a preparation for future cooperation between the two parties. bawang cha ji has been developing strongly in the past year, and haidilao actually needs to expand its product line, introduce new chinese milk tea, and improve its product matrix. bawang cha ji may be seeking to rely on a strong partner to further expand its market influence and achieve common growth of the brand. therefore, both parties have their own considerations and plans."

in fact, in recent years, innovative development and diversified testing have become the keywords of haidilao. according to data, haidilao began to try milk tea as early as 2019. in 2021, haidilao entered the tea market again. in january of that year, haidilao launched the first "unmanned self-service" milk tea shop with a price of 9.9 yuan. then in february, haidilao opened three milk tea shops in shanghai and nanjing, offering four fruit teas and two milk teas.

since then, haidilao has not stopped pursuing tea drinks. in 2023, haidilao launched the haidilao black tea series. recently, haidilao is renovating water bars across the country to create "haidilao tea shops". the upgraded tea shops are functionally equivalent to small tea stalls. it is reported that one of the "triple grapefruit fragrance ice drinks" has sold more than 900,000 cups since its launch.

it is worth mentioning that haidilao also released its latest report card last night. in the first half of 2024, the company achieved revenue of 21.491 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.8%; core operating profit reached 2.799 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13%, and the turnover rate increased to 4.2 times/day. as of june 30, 2024, haidilao operates a total of 1,343 restaurants in greater china.

at the same time, haidilao also launched the "red pomegranate plan" for diversified development, aiming to encourage the incubation and development of more new catering brands and promote innovation in catering services.

bawangchaji is developing rapidly

since the beginning of this year, although the growth rate of the new tea beverage industry has slowed down and competition has become increasingly fierce, bawang cha ji's growth momentum has been rapid.

on may 21 this year, zhang junjie, the founder of bawang cha ji, revealed at a press conference that in 2023, bawang cha ji's gmv exceeded 10 billion for the first time, reaching 10.8 billion yuan.

in the first quarter of 2024, the gmv of bawang cha ji exceeded 5.8 billion yuan. as of may 20, 2024, the number of registered members of bawang cha ji has exceeded 130 million. as of now, the number of bawang cha ji stores around the world has exceeded 4,500.

at the same time, zhang junjie also set the latest growth target for bawang cha ji: the overall sales target of bawang cha ji in 2024 is to surpass starbucks china, and the annual gmv in 2024 will exceed 20 billion yuan. this means that compared with last year, bawang cha ji's sales target this year is nearly doubled.

last month, there was news that bawang cha ji was recruiting a large number of people in the industry. at that time, the relevant person in charge of bawang cha ji responded to the reporter of securities times e-company and said, "bawang cha ji is currently developing strongly and has accelerated the pace of opening stores. at the press conference in may, the company also set a full-year growth target. therefore, with the needs of business growth, normal recruitment has been continuing and will not be limited to specific companies."

in fact, the pace of bawang cha ji's store openings has accelerated significantly recently. on august 7, bawang cha ji announced that in august, bawang cha ji opened three direct-operated stores in singapore. as of now, bawang cha ji has more than 100 overseas stores in malaysia, singapore and thailand, with the largest number of stores in malaysia. as of early august, bawang cha ji has more than 5,000 stores worldwide, which means that less than three months after zhang junjie revealed the business data, bawang cha ji has opened more than 500 stores.

on august 23, bawang tea also announced the opening of the first batch of pet-friendly stores, which will be opened in various cities one after another. as bawang tea's flagship product, boya juexian has sold over 600 million cups so far.

according to qichacha, bawang chaji was founded in yunnan in 2017, and its signature product is "boya juexian". in terms of financing, bawang chaji has previously experienced two rounds of financing. the b round of financing took place in october 2021, with a financing amount of over 300 million yuan. the a round of financing was jointly led by xvc and fosun; the b round of financing was led by congbi qiushi, followed by xvc.

editor: chen lixiang

proofreading: gao yuan