The headline numbers are encouraging, but the more significant story is where Haidilao is finding its growth.
Haidilao International Holding is giving investors a fresh reason to look beyond China’s crowded hotpot market. Shares of the Chinese restaurant group rose about 7% in Hong Kong on Wednesday after its latest results showed that delivery is becoming a powerful new growth engine, while a widening portfolio of restaurant brands is opening another route to expansion. The market reaction came after Haidilao reported a stronger first half of 2026. Revenue increased 7.9% year on year to RMB22.34 billion, while profit for the period edged up 0.5% to RMB1.76 billion. More importantly for investors, core operating profit, which excludes certain non-recurring items, rose 4.4% to RMB2.51 billion.
The headline numbers are encouraging, but the more significant story is where Haidilao is finding its growth. Delivery has rapidly moved from being a supporting service to a meaningful part of the business. Revenue from the segment jumped 121.2% to RMB2.05 billion in the first six months of the year, lifting its contribution to group revenue to 9.2%, compared with just 4.5% a year earlier. That acceleration reflects a change in how the company is positioning the Haidilao brand. Rather than relying almost entirely on customers visiting restaurants for a traditional hotpot meal, the group is expanding into everyday consumption. Single-serving products, including rice-bowl takeaway meals, have become an important part of the delivery push, allowing Haidilao to reach customers looking for a quick meal rather than a social hotpot occasion.
The company has also been building a denser delivery network through self-operated delivery stations. The strategy is designed to improve coverage and fulfilment efficiency while reducing pressure on restaurant kitchens. If successful, it could turn delivery into a more scalable business rather than simply an additional channel for existing restaurants. At the same time, Haidilao is attempting to reduce its dependence on a single restaurant concept. The group operated 21 other catering brands with 183 restaurants by the end of June, alongside 1,389 Haidilao-branded restaurants. During the first half, it opened 24 new self-operated Haidilao restaurants and 14 franchised outlets, although it also closed 32 restaurants as part of network optimisation.
The diversification strategy is increasingly important because China’s restaurant sector remains highly competitive and consumers continue to demand strong value for money. Haidilao has therefore been using its so-called “Pomegranate Plan” to incubate different restaurant concepts rather than depending solely on hotpot. That strategy is beginning to produce some particularly interesting experiments. Haidilao has expanded into sushi and other formats, while its Fresh Burger concept entered Wuhan in July, placing the group directly into China’s fiercely competitive burger market.
The company says its food-stall hotpot and sushi formats have now reached a stage where they can be replicated on a larger scale. It expects these businesses to receive greater resources from the second half of 2026, with management identifying them as potential contributors to growth in 2027. Meanwhile, the core Haidilao business has not been abandoned. Self-operated restaurants recorded an average table turnover rate of 3.9 times a day in the first half, up from 3.8 times a year earlier. That improvement suggests operational changes are helping restaurants handle customer demand more efficiently even as the broader Chinese consumer environment remains challenging.
The results also underline why the share-price response is about more than a single strong quarter. Investors are beginning to see Haidilao as a broader food-service platform rather than simply a hotpot chain. Delivery, new restaurant formats, franchising and expansion into lower-tier cities could create several sources of growth at a time when traditional dine-in expansion is becoming harder. There are, however, reasons for caution. First-half profit growth was modest, while China’s subdued consumer environment and intense competition could continue to pressure restaurant spending. Haidilao is also taking on established competitors as it enters categories such as burgers and sushi.