Hotpot giant Haidilao just gave Wall Street something unexpected to talk about. While traditional sit-down dining revenue dipped slightly, company shares caught a meaningful tailwind. Investors are looking past the headline restaurant numbers and focusing on an explosive surge in delivery and experimental new dining formats.
If you only look at the flagship brand's physical storefront revenue, the story looks sluggish. First-half revenue reached 22.34 billion yuan, marking a 7.9% year-over-year increase. Yet, net profit barely budged, ticking up a meager 0.47%. That disconnect reveals a classic growth squeeze. Core restaurant operating revenue actually dropped 4%, dragged down by a smaller total footprint of company-operated stores.
So why did the stock jump? The answer sits in two explosive auxiliary engines: home delivery and multi-brand diversification.
The Delivery Boom Beyond the Hotpot Table
Nobody expected delivery to scale this fast. Haidilao reported that delivery revenue skyrocketed 121.2% to 2.05 billion yuan. That pushed delivery from a tiny side project into a major pillar, doubling its share of total group revenue to 9.2%.
The shift isn't just about packing traditional tabletop burners into cardboard boxes. Haidilao completely re-engineered its off-premise strategy by aggressively pushing single-serve meal products, especially bibimbap-style rice bowls. Instead of forcing customers to order a massive sharing feast, the company captured the everyday lunch and solo-dinner market.
At the same time, they built out dedicated self-operated delivery stations. This solved a major operational bottleneck. Kitchens inside busy flagship restaurants no longer get bogged down trying to fulfill chaotic delivery queues during peak dinner rushes. Separating the fulfillment streams increased density, cut down delivery times, and protected dine-in service quality.
Multi-Brand Expansion Takes Center Stage
While the main hotpot brand figures out its next phase of physical expansion, secondary restaurant brands are quietly printing money. Revenue from non-flagship dining concepts jumped 113.1% to hit 1.27 billion yuan, accounting for 5.7% of total revenue.
Haidilao currently operates 21 distinct secondary brands across 183 restaurants. Concepts born out of their internal incubation initiatives—such as localized street-style hotpot formats and regional sushi concepts—are scaling rapidly. By leaning into a franchise-heavy model for these smaller brands, scaling the store count from 41 to 99 franchise locations, management has reduced capital expenditure risk while capturing high-margin royalty and supply chain revenue.
The Shift to Headquarters-Driven Operations
Underneath these financial shifts lies a massive internal corporate overhaul. Management openly acknowledged that the old playbook of letting individual store managers dictate local strategies is changing.
The company designated the current period as the inaugural year for building a centralized middle-office management structure. Founder Zhang Yong and the executive team are moving the company away from an isolated, store-by-store growth model toward an intelligent, headquarters-driven platform.
Instead of letting local branches experiment blindly, centralized data analytics now dictate product rollouts, supply chain routing, and site selection. This platform-level control aims to protect profit margins as the company prepares to accelerate physical store openings in premium shopping malls and lower-tier markets.
Market sentiment is beginning to price in this strategic evolution. Investors love operational discipline. By trimming underperforming locations, tightening quality controls, and doubling down on high-growth delivery channels, Haidilao is proving it can grow its footprint without relying entirely on building massive new dining halls. Watch how the middle-office transition impacts margins over the next two quarters. If centralized efficiency can match the velocity of its delivery growth, the current stock rally has plenty of room to run.
