Haidilao Plans Hong Kong Listing for Overseas Business as June Table Turnover Doubles

This is an English adaptation of a FoodBud historical article originally published on July 11, 2022.

On July 11, Haidilao disclosed plans to spin off its overseas business and list it separately in Hong Kong. If completed, the move would mark a new stage in the global expansion playbook for large Chinese restaurant chains.

According to Haidilao's 2021 annual report, its overseas business generated RMB 2.7 billion in revenue in 2021. At year-end, it operated 114 overseas restaurants, with Asia as the largest market and North America second.

Why the Spin-Off Makes Strategic Sense

The timing is understandable from an operator perspective.

In China, Haidilao had gone through large-scale store closures in the previous year, and restoring the domestic business was expected to take time. Overseas, however, recovery appeared much stronger.

Relevant data cited in the article showed that in June 2022, table turnover at Haidilao's overseas restaurants had risen to more than twice the level of the same period in the previous year. In May 2022, overseas table turnover averaged 1.5 times the prior-year level.

For domestic restaurants, January-June 2022 table turnover compared with the same months of the prior year was reported at 106%, 100%, 80%, 80%, 100%, and 120%, respectively.

A Familiar Global Restaurant Structure

Separating an overseas restaurant business for independent listing is not unusual in global foodservice. Large international restaurant groups with meaningful cross-border scale have used similar structures, including Yum!, Domino's Pizza, and Burger King-related businesses.

Yum China's role is one example. It is Yum!'s largest operator in an overseas market and is listed not only on the New York Stock Exchange but also in Hong Kong.

Domino's has gone further. Across its ten largest markets outside North America, seven already had listed companies; if the then-planned Domino's China listing were included, that number would become eight.

What It Could Mean for Chinese Chains

Yum China is the largest restaurant chain group in China, but its core brands were imported from international markets. That makes it less representative as a model for Chinese-origin brands expanding globally, while its Chinese-food chain brands still had comparatively weaker momentum.

Haidilao, by contrast, is a major brand grown from the Chinese domestic market. It has also developed a broader supply-chain ecosystem, including listed company Yihai International, as well as sizable related businesses such as Shuhai, Weihai, and Shuyun Dongfang. This approach of developing supply-chain companies has been studied and copied by many restaurant peers.

If Haidilao's overseas spin-off and independent listing proceed smoothly, it could provide a useful reference case for Chinese restaurant chain groups pursuing international expansion.

The article also raised Mixue Bingcheng as a possible future example: once its overseas business reaches sufficient scale, it may consider whether to follow a Domino's-style international structure to attract more capital for global growth.

Note: IPO, listing, and forward-looking figures in this article are historical references from July 2022.