This book was published 6 years ago by a professor in Beijing University Management School. Surprisingly, it was very disorganized. There was no clear structure at all. Mr. Huang spent two years doing research on the best hotpot restaurant chain in China. He also wrote a case study for Chinese HBR, which earned him the best case study back then. It's true that this firm has unique characters as you would learn in the book. But my complaint is everything is scattered here and there. You need to piece them together on your own. The portrait is not professional. I recommend you read it as a collection of short essays. That way, you will feel better.
If you have been to China, you should know hotpot is one of the major cuisine throughout China. Almost everyone loves eating hotpot with friends, family, or colleagues. There are many types of hotpot in different regions. For example, people like to enjoy seafood hotpot, and the most famous Sichuan hotpot is very spicy. The protagonist of this book is 'Haidilao'. Currently, it has 190 restaurants in 57 cities, including LA, Seoul, Singapore, etc. It has expanded overseas since its establishment in 1994.
There are tens of thousands of hotpot restaurants in China. What makes Haidilao stand out? First, the service is outstanding in comparison to others. Someone could shine your shoes when you are waiting, you can have free finger nail decoration, you will be served towels after toilets... and the list goes on. It sounds absurd right? Actually, there is nothing impossible in China! Sometimes you need to adopt extreme strategy to successfully win your market share.
The secret for their success is the de-centralized policy by the boss, Mr. Chang. Chang was born in a poor rural village. He started the business from a street vendor. Gradually, he built his empire. He didn't get enough education. It made him realize hard-working is the only way to success. As a person from the lower class, he knew waiters were no easy jobs. He placed great trust to every waiter, who was delegated the power to make decisions that were usually made by store managers in other restaurants. For example, a waiter could give free plates of fish to customers if he saw fit.
Chang knew most the waiters came from villages. Most didn't have high education. These people came to big cities to earn a living. Furthermore, they are usually very young, about 20 years old. Alone in an unfamiliar environment could be daunting to them. Haidilao provided unparalleled benefits to its workers. Essentially, Haidilao became the second home for them. Mr. Chang's philosophy is as long as you treat your employees like family, they will return like a family.
The author introduced many people to readers. It's interesting and sometimes heart-warming reading their stories. Much of the content praised the firm earnestly. I thought it was a bit excessive. Indeed, the author noted some management issues near the end of the book. But it was not deep enough.
I didn't appreciate this book a lot. However, I think it's very useful for readers who want to learn about Chinese restaurant industry. It gives some good advice on how to manage restaurants. By the way, when I was studying my postgraduate, I found the Chinese hotpot in Sydney was ridiculously expensive. I had to restrain my appetite since it was beyond my budget. Noticeably, my Chinese classmates were so affluent that they had hotpots twice a week. The buying power of the new Chinese generation is very strong. You could see the shift of global power on this kind of petty thing lol.
This is indeed one of the best start-up / biz related books I’ve read recently, with the interesting stories and comprehensive examples of various positions regarding leadership styles, team management and even motivations handling. It explains the rapid growth of this company in a precise and understandable way with thought-provoking contents. Sad that this is only published in Chinese version.
The book is composed of a series of short stories/essays on Haidilao's operation. From it we get a glimpse of China's rural community behavior, and how the owners of the operation utilize that behavior to build his restaurant chain.