Haidilao Under Pressure, Zhang Yong Leads 'Women Warriors' Back to the Frontline

Zebra Consumption, by Ren Jianxin

With performance declining again and management issues arising frequently, Haidilao has finally decided to make significant changes in its personnel.

On January 13, founder Zhang Yong replaced Gou Yiqun as the company’s CEO. This marks his return to the front lines after nearly four years away from daily operations management at Haidilao. Joining him are four young female executives who have risen through the ranks within the company.

This major personnel adjustment is both a response to Haidilao’s current need to alleviate operational pressures and a long-term strategy to train and develop a new generation of management teams.

Zhang Yong Returns with an 'All-Female Army'

After being away from the front lines for nearly four years, Haidilao (06862.HK) founder Zhang Yong has chosen to return and personally take back control over the company’s operations.

On January 13, Haidilao announced that executive director and CEO Gou Yiqun had resigned from his positions. Also stepping down were two other executive directors, Song Qing and Gao Jie.

The three departing directors will continue to hold key management roles within Haidilao. Gou Yiqun will focus on advancing intelligent and automated management processes, upgrading operational models, and building a smart central platform to enhance organizational efficiency and decision-making effectiveness; Song Qing will remain as the Director of the Group's Product Committee.

Following Gou Yiqun's resignation, the vacant CEO position was taken up by company founder and Chairman of the Board Zhang Yong himself. This marks his return since stepping down as CEO in March 2022 and moving away from day-to-day operations.

Although the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's listing rules explicitly require that the roles of chairman and CEO should be separated and not held by the same individual, Zhang Yong now holds both titles. This clearly does not comply with the relevant regulations. However, in Haidilao's board view, there are sufficient internal checks and balances in place, ensuring that Zhang Yong holding these two key roles will not disrupt the balance of power and authority between the board and management.

In this round of leadership changes alongside Zhang Yong, four young 'female leaders' were also appointed: Li Nana (38 years old), Zhu Yinhua (44 years old), Jiao Defeng (39 years old), and Zhu Xuanyi (35 years old). All have been appointed as executive directors of the company. Haidilao stated that the large-scale renewal of the board’s executive directors is to support the company's continuous innovation and long-term development, and to actively cultivate a new generation of management teams.

Looking at their personal backgrounds, these four newly appointed executive directors do not come from prestigious backgrounds but have all risen from grassroots roles within Haidilao, exemplifying the company’s talent philosophy and selection principles.

In 2005, Li Nana joined Haidilao at the age of just under 18. Over the past 20-plus years, she has held positions such as store manager and coach in multiple branches and regions. Currently, she serves as a director and holds other positions in four group subsidiaries. She does not possess an impressive educational background; in June 2024, she obtained an associate degree in Business Administration from Huazhong Agricultural University, and last May, she completed the Advanced Business Management Training Program at Wuhan University.

Zhu Yinhua also did not have an advanced initial education but completed the Advanced Business Management Seminar at Zhejiang University in 2017. After joining Haidilao in 2007, she started from the store level, and since September 2025, she has served as the acting regional manager for Hubei and Chongqing regions.

Jiao Defeng holds a junior college degree from Henan Vocational and Technical College. She joined Haidilao in 2012 and has served as the manager of several Haidilao outlets in Nanjing. Starting in April 2025, she was appointed as the head of the Second Department of Product Management, responsible for product research and development and procurement.

The younger Zhu Xuanyi is one of the few 'highly educated individuals' among the promoted 'female leaders.' In 2013, she earned a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Xi’an International Studies University. After joining Haidilao in 2018, Zhu Xuanyi made rapid progress. She successively served as assistant store manager and store manager, demonstrating strong store management and crisis response abilities. Since July 2023, she has served as the Secretary General of the CEO Secretariat, assisting the CEO with strategic planning, operational decision-making, and core business advancement.

Operations are under renewed pressure

Before 2020, Haidilao enjoyed smooth growth, leading the upgrade of service standards in China’s catering industry with its exceptional customer service, becoming a model for almost all service industries to emulate.

Under Zhang Yong’s leadership, this hot pot restaurant, which started in Jianyang, Sichuan in 1994, expanded across the country and grew into the world's largest Chinese food chain enterprise.

In 2018, Haidilao successfully listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Founder and controlling shareholder Zhang Yong saw his wealth skyrocket, making him the 'richest man in Singapore.'

However, with the sudden onset of adverse external conditions, Haidilao finally encountered a major crisis in its development process.

In 2020, when offline service industries such as catering generally chose to contract for survival during tough times, Zhang Yong, CEO of Haidilao, displayed excessive confidence and made an incorrect judgment on the trend, choosing instead to aggressively accelerate store expansion against market conditions.

The rapid expansion of the store network did not lead to performance growth. At this point, the crisis had quietly arrived but did not raise sufficient alarm within Haidilao.

In the first half of 2021, Haidilao continued to accelerate its store expansion, bringing the total number of stores close to 1,600. However, the external environment remained grim, causing the company’s overall operations to deteriorate rapidly.

In this critical moment, Haidilao had to slam on the brakes, initiating the "Woodpecker Plan" to adjust the pace of expansion and close unprofitable stores to cut losses. However, significant declines in performance and massive losses over the two consecutive years of 2020 and 2021 were inevitable.

In March 2022, Haidilao’s senior management underwent a major reshuffle, with Zhang Yong stepping down as CEO and Yang Lijuan, then Deputy CEO and Chief Operating Officer, taking over the position.

Yang Lijuan, known as the 'Top-Notch Waitress,' joined Zhang Yong early in his entrepreneurial journey and rose through the ranks from a server to become a top executive at Haidilao.

After becoming CEO, Yang Lijuan demonstrated remarkable determination, strictly enforcing the 'Woodpecker Plan' by firmly closing underperforming stores. When the business environment slightly improved, she discreetly launched the 'Hard Bone Plan,' balancing store openings and closures simultaneously.

During her tenure as CEO, Yang Lijuan achieved remarkable results. In 2022, the company turned losses into profits, and the following year, its performance reached new heights.

Once the阶段性任务 was completed, Haidilao again reshuffled its leadership. In July 2024, Gou Yiqun replaced Yang Lijuan as CEO of Haidilao, while Yang joined Special Sea International as CEO to help expand Haidilao's presence in international markets.

2025 will be an eventful year for Haidilao. Following the 'urine incident' in February, although the company responded promptly, it also fully exposed significant management flaws. Before the dust had settled on the 'urine incident,' another scandal, the 'diaper incident,' erupted at the end of the year, making matters even worse.

The company's management issues were also clearly reflected in its financial statements.

In the first half of 2025, Haidilao opened 25 new self-operated restaurants and 3 franchised restaurants, while closing 33 locations, resulting in negative store growth. During this period, the company reported revenue of 20.7 billion yuan and net profit of 1.759 billion yuan, representing year-on-year declines of 3.66% and 13.72%, respectively. Haidilao’s most pride-worthy table turnover rate dropped from 4.2 in the same period last year to 3.8.

Regarding the overall decline in operational efficiency and performance, in its 2025 interim report, Haidilao analyzed objective factors such as intensified competition in the catering market and changes in consumer demand, while also admitting that management capabilities were lacking.

This may be the most direct reason prompting Haidilao to carry out significant personnel adjustments at the start of 2026.

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