Launch of "Gabu Pasture" and "Gabu Steak," Gabu Gabu Group seeks new growth avenues

Ask AI · How Does the “One Less, One More” Strategy Balance Store Optimization and New Track Exploration?

By | Bai Xue

Edited by | Liu Peng

Recently, Haidilao Qianqian Group (00520.HK) released its 2025 annual performance report.

According to the financial statements, the group generated full-year revenue of RMB 3.79B. Its two core brands, “Haopi Haopi” and “Cui Cui,” jointly operated 905 stores in China and overseas, with a cumulative number of registered members of about 45 million. Full-year gift card sales exceeded RMB 670 million.

Behind this performance is Haidilao Qianqian Group’s “one less, one more” two-way response strategy in the face of overall pressure on the catering industry. With the “subtraction” approach, the group proactively shrank inefficient stores, optimized its product mix, and advanced refined operations to strengthen per-store profitability; with the “addition” approach, it relied on the supply chain system accumulated over nearly 30 years to incubate new brands, explore new tracks, and broaden growth boundaries.

The group’s founder and chairman, He Guangqi, defined 2025 as the key year for the group’s “breaking through and standing firm.”

At the level of core brands, “Haopi Haopi” continues its people-friendly, budget-friendly positioning and keeps optimizing its product structure. “Cui Cui,” meanwhile, proactively shrinks store scale, shifts its focus to improving efficiency in single-store operations, and pioneered an industry-first “selected single-point + unlimited all-you-can-eat” two-point model.

Moving in parallel with strengthening the business’s “basic盤” is the group’s proactive layout of a new growth curve.

By the end of 2025, “Haopi Ranch,” positioned as a build-your-own mini hot pot, entered the market with a starting price of RMB 29.82. Immediately after, in early 2026, the new brand “Haopi Steak” launched on the Western dining track, offering an all-you-can-eat set menu featuring steak and 158 dishes, with a per-customer spend of around RMB 100.

For members, in 2025 the group added about 3.46 million new members. Member spending transactions nearly reached 5.6 million, and the average number of consumption occasions exceeded 3.2 times.

The gift card program also showed notable results: full-year card sales amounting to over RMB 670 million, up nearly RMB 250 million compared with the same category in 2024. The balance of cards outstanding at year-end exceeded RMB 200 million.

On the internal management front, in 2025 the group rolled out its “Phoenix Returns to the Nest” partner program twice. Through an internal entrepreneurship model, it invited former outstanding employees and current key talent to participate in store operations as partners. By the end of 2025, 13 stores had participated in the program, with more than 50 people becoming internal partners. Revenue for the first batch of participating stores grew by more than 30% year over year, and the profit margin reached 30% or above.

Regarding store expansion, the group said it will continue to treat improving per-store profitability and capital return rate as its top principles, and plans to add no fewer than 100 restaurants in 2026.

At the same time, the group will continue exploring lightweight store models such as “Haopi Delivery Satellite Stores” and “Haopi Mini” to cover more diversified consumption scenarios and demand in lower-tier markets.

Looking ahead to 2026, Haidilao Qianqian Group founder and chairman Mr. He Guangqi said the group will continue to follow a “high-quality value-for-money” operating path, with “talent strategy + supply chain system” as its dual-engine drivers. It will apply effort on both sides—“solidifying the core basic盤 + deepening the new brand layout”—to continuously strengthen its “internal capabilities,” help the company move through cycles, achieve high-quality development, and fulfill its corporate vision of “giving employees a sense of belonging and giving consumers a sense of happiness.”