Introduction
In today’s new consumer landscape, crafting outstanding customer experience (CX) is the decisive path to sustained, robust growth. By clarifying brand positioning and values, formulating an experience strategy, identifying key moments, creating peak memories, and establishing action mechanisms and an experience-management system, companies can ensure that every touchpoint consistently conveys—and differentiates—the brand. This module uses an experience-framework lens to examine a service-led business success story: Haidilao Hotpot.
Industry Overview
China’s restaurant industry is vast and dynamic. According to the 2024 China Catering Industry Report, total revenue exceeded RMB 5.5 trillion, up 5.3 % year-on-year, underscoring huge market potential and consumer demand. Hotpot alone accounts for more than RMB 600 billion and over 500,000 outlets, making it the fastest-growing segment in the sector.
Over the past decade, Chinese dining has evolved from family-run eateries to diversified chain brands, driven by rising expectations for food quality, service, ambience and brand culture. Competition has intensified beyond price wars and menu innovation to encompass overall experience and emotional connection. Consumers now demand not only tasty dishes but also distinctive service and meaningful engagement.
In this environment, Haidilao has emerged as the benchmark. As of H1 2024, Haidilao operates 1,300+ stores in Greater China, serves 150 million loyalty members, achieved revenue of RMB 21.49 billion (+13.8 % YoY) and raised table-turnover to 4.2 times per day (+27 % YoY). Its success reflects not just hotpot innovation but China’s broader shift from “food-centric” to “experience-centric” dining.
Corporate Profile
Market Positioning & Rapid Rise
Founded in 1994 in Jianyang, Sichuan, Haidilao began as a single local hotpot restaurant. While its broth and ingredients were good, founder Zhang Yong realized that heartfelt service compensated for any flavour gaps. Free umbrellas on rainy days, snacks during waits and other thoughtful gestures became early differentiators. The brand therefore positioned itself around exceptional customer experience rather than merely good food.
Today, Haidilao is a domestic leader and an international ambassador for Chinese dining, renowned for service innovation and culture.
Core Brand Strategy
Customer-Centric DNA
In 1994, founder Zhang Yong opened his first hotpot restaurant in Jianyang, Sichuan Province. To make the business thrive, he taught himself how to stir-fry hotpot seasonings. Though the flavor of the seasonings, developed through trial and error, was not perfect, customers still spoke highly of Haidilao. Zhang Yong knew well that his enthusiastic service had touched the customers, thus compensating for the shortcomings in taste. He then decided to take service to the extreme—for example, providing umbrellas on rainy days and offering fruits and snacks while customers waited. Such practices were rarely seen in many restaurants at that time. Hence, people later said, "Haidilao wins customers table by table." From that moment on, a customer-centric philosophy has been deeply rooted in Haidilao’s brand DNA. Later, Haidilao repositioned its hotpot restaurants as providers of all-round dining experiences, and its various value-added services became widely talked-about brand features among customers.
Equal Emphasis on Employee Culture and Service Innovation
Haidilao’s success is inseparable from its emphasis on and incentives for employees. Employees are regarded as the "first face" of the brand, and every innovation and every ounce of service enthusiasm stems from their initiative and creativity. Through a sound employee training and incentive mechanism, Haidilao has built a service culture of "passion from the heart," inspiring employees’ creativity and enabling them to spontaneously provide customers with unexpected experiences during service.
Supply Chain Management
Haidilao ensures the standardization and high quality of ingredients and services by building a strong supply chain system. Its supply chain companies, such as Yihai International and Shuhai Supply Chain, not only support Haidilao but also provide services to other catering enterprises. The full-industry value chain strategy has further consolidated Haidilao’s position in the industry.
Brand Culture and Achievements: Emotional Connection and Word-of-Mouth Effect
Haidilao’s brand tone is deeply loved by customers. The core value of the brand is not only reflected in its products and services but also in the emotional connection it establishes with customers. Through meticulous care for customers and respect for employees, Haidilao has formed a positive cycle, making customers come not only for the food but also stay for the service. Among customers, Haidilao has become a "cultural phenomenon"—whether for gatherings, celebrations, or daily meals, Haidilao can always provide unforgettable dining experiences.
Brand Experience Analysis
Brand Commitment
— Clarifying brand commitments and reshaping consumer perception
Haidilao has always adhered to the philosophy of "service first, customer first," which is also the foundation of its unique brand experience. This commitment is not only reflected in the quality of meals but also deeply integrated into every detail of service. From meticulous customer care to employees’ enthusiastic service, Haidilao has always adhered to the customer-centric concept and strived to exceed customers’ expectations. Whether during the busy dining peak or when customers put forward personalized needs, Haidilao can always quickly respond and provide satisfactory solutions through flexible and considerate services. This commitment runs through the entire customer experience journey, ensuring that every customer entering Haidilao can feel the warmth and thoughtfulness of being at home. This brand commitment of "service first, customer first" has not only won Haidilao widespread reputation and loyal customers but also become an important weapon for it to stand out in the fierce market competition.
Experience Strategy
— Defining clear experience strategies and principles to guide experience implementation and fulfill the brand’s commitment to consumers With innovation at its core
Haidilao has changed the traditional standardized and monotonous service model, advocated personalized characteristic services, taken attentive service as its basic concept, and strived to provide customers with "intimate, warm, and comfortable" services. Under such values, it delivers unexpected experiences to customers through corresponding strategies: meticulous and considerate services, diversified entertainment and waiting experiences, efficient intelligent services, personalized customized services, and a pleasant community atmosphere.
Customer Journey and Moments of Truth
— The core of shaping an experience journey lies in starting from customer needs, creating **Moments of Truth (MOT)**, and leaving customers with unforgettable memories.
By gaining insights into customer needs, Haidilao is committed to creating meticulous and caring dining experiences that meet customers’ high expectations. Combining business goals, customer experience objectives, and its strengths, Haidilao has crafted surprise moments in key stages where customers receive experiences that exceed their expectations:
1. While waiting outside the restaurant: Free snacks, beverages, entertainment facilities, and nail services are provided, along with convenient amenities such as bag storage, making customers willing to stay and wait.
2. Upon entering and being seated: Waiters thoughtfully inform customers of the locations of facilities like restrooms and condiment stations. Led by a dedicated staff member through the corridor to a semi-enclosed seat, customers feel a sense of privacy, relaxation, and thoughtfulness.
3. When communicating with waiters: Waiters wear uniform attire—females with hair neatly tied up and all staff (both male and female) wearing hats—presenting a clean and tidy image. They respond to customer needs promptly with a warm and friendly attitude, assuring customers they can call for assistance at any time. They then step away, creating a pressure-free and comfortable environment for customers to order.
4. During meal service: Waiters maintain pleasant facial expressions while serving and enthusiastically assist with cooking meat or blanching vegetables. If customers prefer not to be disturbed, they can use a "Do Not Disturb" sign, and waiters will only quietly serve food or clear plates without unnecessary interruptions.
5. Dining on one’s birthday: Haidilao offers special birthday services with a dedicated atmosphere team. With a simple request, the team will gather to sing for the birthday person, present a small cake, and offer a birthday gift when the customer leaves, ensuring a memorable sense of ceremony. For children, toys and snack packs are provided.
6. Using restrooms: Restroom facilities are clean and tidy, equipped with tissues, aromatherapy, and vanity tables. Vanity tables are stocked with mouthwash, combs, moisturizers, cotton swabs, toothpicks, and hair gel. In female restrooms, a reminder is posted offering assistance from staff during special menstrual periods, avoiding embarrassment in such situations.
7. At the end of the meal: Waiters smile, remind customers to take their belongings, escort them out, and even press the elevator button, bidding them farewell warmly.
These Moments of Truth not only embody Haidilao’s care of "customer first, service first" but also deepen customers’ trust and reliance on the Haidilao brand throughout each customer journey, earning Haidilao a strong reputation and market advantages.
Experience Implementation
— Internal Actions to Turn Vision into Reality
Full Staff Participation, Internal Mechanisms for Service Innovation, and Corporate Culture
The key to Haidilao’s continuous improvement of customer experience lies in the comprehensive implementation of internal actions and full staff participation. The company regards the enhancement of customer experience as a systematic and long-term task, and through various initiatives, ensures the continuous improvement and innovation of services.
Empowerment of All Frontline Staff Haidilao’s employees are granted a high degree of autonomy, enabling them to adjust services according to customers’ immediate needs. For example, while customers are waiting, waiters will proactively offer additional services (such as nail care, free snacks, etc.) and even recommend suitable dishes based on customers’ preferences. This flexibility and initiative make customers feel the caring service as if they were at home. At the same time, during the service process, employees can collect and feed back customers’ subtle needs and pain points to the company’s decision-makers, helping the enterprise gain accurate insights into customers.
Internal Incentives and Capacity Building For internal employees
Haidilao advocates the value of "changing destiny with one’s own hands," providing a fair and just working environment, as well as sound employee benefits and incentive mechanisms. It guarantees opportunities for employees’ growth and development, stimulating their initiative. Within Haidilao, employees are managed in a humanized manner. Under the mentorship system, due to the high alignment of interests between mentors, apprentices, and junior apprentices, an effective and reasonable mutual assistance relationship has been formed between stores. This significantly improves management efficiency, reduces some of the headquarters’ functions, and avoids the redundancy of the headquarters as the scale expands. The tradition of rejecting (externally appointed senior positions) allows employees working at Haidilao to have a transparent and clear path for promotion and growth, boosting their enthusiasm. Regular service training not only improves service quality but also stimulates employees’ creativity and service enthusiasm. Employees’ participation in experience innovation also enhances their loyalty to the brand and improves the sustainability of services. This not only creates a ripple effect among employees but also enables Haidilao to demonstrate consistent internal and external cohesion. What is presented to customers is the ultimate service and experience. Investment in employees has brought Haidilao substantial returns.
Team Collaboration and Culture
Haidilao values the spirit of teamwork. Especially during peak hours, employees can coordinate and cooperate to efficiently complete service tasks. Haidilao’s corporate culture emphasizes teamwork and the principle of customer first, enabling every employee to align with the company’s strategy and ensuring the stability and consistency of the experience. Haidilao promotes the concept of sharing and win-win, fostering a good team collaboration spirit within the company. At the same time, through active social responsibility practices, it maximizes value together with customers, employees, and suppliers.
# Haidilao’s success is not accidental; it stems from its meticulous efforts in customer experience insight and management, internal action improvement, and corporate culture building. For other enterprises, Haidilao’s experience undoubtedly provides a valuable reference: the continuous enhancement of customer experience, full staff recognition and participation, continuous optimization, and strong corporate culture support.
Conclusion
Haidilao’s success is not merely a benchmark phenomenon in the hotpot industry but also a model of enterprises that prioritize investment in customer experience. From profound customer insights to precise experience strategies, from full-staff-participated service innovation to internal incentive mechanisms and culture, every link reflects its persistent pursuit of the brand commitment of "service first, customer first." It is these meticulous measures and continuous innovations that have enabled Haidilao to achieve a leading position in the highly competitive catering industry and become a role model for countless enterprises in improving customer experience.
Haidilao’s successful experience reminds us that improving customer experience does not rely solely on a single innovation but requires multi-dimensional and continuous efforts to build an all-round and in-depth experience system.
When enterprises truly understand and practice the customer-centric service concept, continuously optimize experience strategies in combination with their own characteristics, and implement them through action mechanisms, they can gain an advantage in the fierce market competition, win customers’ trust and loyalty, and achieve long-term brand development and success. Haidilao’s story is the best proof of this.
 |
