Don't obsess over short-term profits! Haidilao's true trump card is hidden in its new business ventures.

Ask AI · How should Haidilao balance short-term profits with long-term development during its transformation?

Produced by | Zhongfang Network

Reviewed by | Li Xiaoyan

On March 24, leading hotpot chain Haidilao released its full-year 2025 performance data. For the full year, it achieved revenue of 43.225 billion yuan, a marginal year-over-year increase of 1.1%. Although core operating profit was 5.403 billion yuan and net profit was 4.042 billion yuan, down 13.3% and 14.0% year-over-year respectively, behind this set of results lies the company’s strategic determination to proactively seek change in the era of competition within existing market capacity. The explosive growth of its delivery business and multi-brand matrix is building a brand-new growth pole, marking that Haidilao’s transition from a single hotpot brand to a comprehensive restaurant group has entered a new stage.

In 2025, Haidilao’s main business faced dual pressures: segmentation of consumer scenarios and intensified industry competition, showing transformation characteristics of “steady scale growth and efficiency optimization.” By the end of the year, the company operated a total of 1,383 restaurants, a net increase of 15 compared with the previous year. Of these, there were 1,304 self-operated restaurants and 79 franchised restaurants. The steady expansion of franchise channels further strengthened the foundation of its store network.

In terms of operating efficiency, the average table turnover rate of self-operated restaurants was 3.9 times per day, slightly down from 4.1 times per day in 2024. The company served 384 million customer visits for the year, down 7.5% year-over-year. Behind this change is Haidilao’s strategic investment in proactively advancing “one store, one strategy” fine-grained operations, refurbishing over 200 themed stores, and developing regional specialty products. In the short term, innovation investment increases operating costs: the cost of raw materials and consumables rose 8.1% year-over-year, and delivery-related promotion and support expenses grew 21.8% year-over-year, leading to phased fluctuations in profit.

But from a long-term perspective, the results of main-business optimization are gradually emerging. The average check size remained stable at 97.7 yuan, showing that consumer stickiness for its mid-to-high-end positioning has not been impacted. The company’s proactive shutdown or relocation of 85 stores that failed to meet expectations is also an active choice to optimize store structure and improve quality at the single-store level. As industry experts analyze, this is the phased cost of transformation for leading companies; behind the short-term profit pressure lies an improvement in long-term operating quality.

In 2025, Haidilao’s delivery business became the biggest highlight of its performance. Annual revenue reached 2.658 billion yuan, up 111.9% year-over-year. The share of revenue rose from 2.9% in 2024 to 6.1%, successfully making it the second-largest source of revenue. This explosive growth is attributable to the company’s precise capture of demand for convenient dining and its building of an all-scenario delivery supply system.

In terms of scenario expansion, Haidilao broke through the traditional limitations of hotpot dine-in and extended from hotpot delivery to single-serve products for one person, such as “rice dishes,” mixed rice, covered rice, and more. It covers diverse time slots including lunch and late-night snacks, meeting consumption needs across different scenarios such as at home and in the office. In terms of channel layout, the company has completed the setup of more than 1,200 delivery outlets nationwide and has deepened cooperation with all major delivery platforms to achieve full-coverage delivery networks across the entire country. In product innovation, it continues to optimize the delivery scene fit, launching new categories that match online consumption habits, further releasing growth potential.

Although there is still room to further increase the share of delivery and industry-wide factors such as platform commissions and delivery costs that compress profit margins are common, Haidilao has clearly stated that delivery is an “important pillar of revenue growth.” Through four major strategies—expanding product categories, expanding stores, expanding time slots, and expanding channels—the company continues to exert effort. In the future, as the delivery supply-chain system is further improved and cost-control capabilities are enhanced, delivery is expected to continue contributing growth momentum, forming a “dual-wheel drive” pattern together with its dine-in main business.

In 2025, Haidilao officially entered a new phase of group operation with “multi-brand parallel” development. The “Red Pomegranate Plan” completed the key transformation from internal incubation to market expansion, indicating that the company’s diversified strategy has moved into a phase of tangible returns. By the end of the year, it had successfully operated 20 sub-brands covering segmented areas such as seafood dales, sushi, Western light meals, small hotpots, and Chinese fast food. The total number of stores reached 207. Revenue from other restaurant operations was 1.521 billion yuan, up significantly 214.6% year-over-year, becoming one of the fastest-growing business segments.

Innovation in the brand incubation mechanism provides solid support for multi-brand expansion. Haidilao has built a dual-system incubation model of “Master Chefs” and “Common People Restaurants.” The “Master Chefs” system focuses on employees’ independent entrepreneurship, igniting internal innovation momentum. The “Common People Restaurants” system is planned and driven by headquarters, promoting multi-category and multi-tier market coverage and achieving improvements in both efficiency and quality. Currently, sub-brands such as seafood dales and sushi have shown strong potential. Among them, the seafood dale model is expected to expand to 500 stores in the next three years, while the sushi model plans to open 100 stores in the next two years. The growth momentum for multi-brand development continues to be released.

From the perspective of industry trends, the full-industry layout of “multi-brand, multi-category, multi-scenario” for restaurant enterprises has become mainstream. Haidilao’s multi-brand strategy targeting segmented tracks has precisely secured positions in popular growth areas such as barbecue and sushi, effectively offsetting constraints on the growth ceiling of the main brand. Although the current revenue share of sub-brands is only 3.5% and it is difficult to fully offset main-business pressure in the short term, as the brand matrix continues to improve and the single-store model matures, multi-brand operations are expected to become a core engine of long-term growth.

The performance fluctuations in 2025 are, in essence, the pain of Haidilao’s proactive transformation in the era of competition within existing market capacity. Faced with a reshuffling pattern where the hotpot market scales up steadily but the number of stores declines by 15.3% year-over-year, Haidilao did not cling to traditional growth models. Instead, it reshaped its competitiveness through three paths: optimizing the main business, breaking through in delivery, and expanding through multi-brands.

The key to future development lies in balancing short-term profit pressure with long-term strategic investment. While consolidating the fundamental base of the hotpot main business, it should amplify the growth momentum of delivery and multi-brand business. Industry experts suggest that Haidilao needs to further strengthen its core “service” label and help sub-brands establish independent recognition. It should also deepen the “Four Seasons New Product Launch” mechanism and improve a standardized quality-control system. Through customer segmentation, it can enable coordinated development between the main brand and sub-brands.

From its industry position, Haidilao, backed by scale advantages, supply-chain capabilities, and brand accumulation, still remains firmly at the top of the hotpot industry. The transformation and adjustment in 2025 is not only a proactive choice by the company to respond to market changes, but also a crucial move to consolidate its industry voice and seize opportunities during industry reshuffling.

Judging from the performance data, Haidilao faces challenges of short-term profit pressure in 2025. But from a strategic perspective, this is a key node for leading companies to pass through cycles and achieve second growth. The doubling growth of its delivery business and the accelerated realization of its multi-brand matrix together outline Haidilao’s new growth blueprint of “dine-in + delivery + multiple brands.”

At present, Haidilao is in a critical phase of transformation. Short-term profit fluctuations do not change the long-term growth trend. As strategic investments gradually take effect, the growth momentum of delivery and multi-brand businesses will continue to be released. With its main business base firmly established, Haidilao is expected to achieve a spectacular transformation from a “hotpot giant” to a “comprehensive dining ecosystem service provider,” providing a replicable leading example for industry transformation.