About Hailidao
Established in 1994, Haidilao is a restaurant brand. It has grown into the world’s top catering enterprise after over 20 years of development.
The chain has opened 768 restaurants in China, Singapore, the U.S., South Korea, Japan, Canada, and Australia with 54 million members and over 100 thousand employees by the end of 2019. It is the world’s largest Chinese catering company and was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on September 26, 2018.
Haidilao is world-renowned for unparalleled customer service, for instance, offering free manicures, car washes, birthday freebies, and even massages while customers wait. The list goes on and on. They have loyal customers who keep returning because of the great food and legendary service.
Haidilao has always maintained the concept of putting customers first, as well as emphasizing personalized service, and being committed to providing a pleasant dining experience. As for management, The Value of Changing Destiny with Both Hands embraces fairness and equity for employees, creates a humane and affectionate working environment, and enhances employee value.
What is special about Haidilao?
Flavors
Haidilao is committed to developing new ones and offering consumers a wider choice;
Raw material
Haidilao uses a unified distribution process for food raw materials to ensure efficiency in operations;
Service
Haidilao provides meticulous service throughout the entire dining experience.In addition to offering mass-market products, Haidilao has engineered a service concept that enables it to attract mid-to-high-end consumers.
An extremely loyal customer base.
In Haidilao’s survey, 68.3% of those who had eaten there say they frequented Haidilao at least once a month, and 98.2% of those who had eaten there liked it and would return.
Exceptional brand reputation. Haidilao’s research shows that 99.3% of respondents have enjoyed their dining experience at Haidilao, with more than 50% being very satisfied. Among the major Chinese restaurant brands, Haidilao’s service is the best.
What makes Haidilao so successful?
Impeccable service
Hadilao’s success lies in the impeccable service it provides to customers from the moment they step into the restaurant until the moment they finish eating and depart.
[Before dining] Make the wait enjoyable
In the waiting area of “Haidilao,” customers can watch a big screen for updates on seat availability. There are plenty of free fruits and drinks offered to customers sitting in the queue, as well as free Internet access, shoe shines, and manicures. Kids can enjoy the small amusement parks and cards games like chess and poker which Haidilao provides for free. It has become enjoyable to stand in line. When consumers are waiting for meals, they have access to a wide array of entertainment options
[During dining] Offer meticulous service
The waiters and waitresses are kind and gentle, always with smiles. A dedicated staff diligently cleans and organizes all the tableware and condiments in the dining area. For ladies with long hair, the waitress would offer to tie up their hair and provide a small hair clip to clamp their front bangs so that hair would not fall into their food. For customers who wear glasses, they will provide a glass cleaning cloth. We will pack the mobile phone on the table in a small plastic bag to prevent it from getting greasy. Wireless charging spots are available on the table so customers can recharge their phones quickly when their batteries run out. Customers will be offered a new hot towel every 15 minutes by a waiter/waitress.
[After dinning] Make loyal customers
The staff will offer customers chewing gum as soon as they finish eating, and all staff will say goodbye with smiles to customers on the way out. Haidilao focuses on every aspect of customer service, putting themselves in the customer’s shoes and listening to the customer’s concerns. By providing these meticulous services, Haidilao has reduced the emotional distance between themselves and their customers, laying the groundwork for a better following marketing campaign.
Providing excellent customer service requires the efforts of every department, every position, and every individual in the company, like purchasing, storage, cooking, food delivery, etc. All the links in this chain interlock and have an effect on the overall service level.
Smart pricing strategy
Haidilao’s pricing is higher than its competitors. When setting its prices, it also considers the cost of operating and services. By charging a higher price, the company offsets the free and personalized features it offers its customers.
Moreover, the higher prices of its online products are directly linked to free delivery services which are incorporated into the final price. Additionally, the company uses bundle pricing, in which products are bundled together and sold at a discounted price than if they were sold individually.
The high-profit price strategy is essential to Haidilao’s business, as well as the very foundation of the company’s growth and development.
Care for employees
Haidilao is home
Haidilao stressed the importance of employees over customers in a management approach. In contrast to other companies that rent basements as dormitories for employees, Haidilao rents good residential buildings in a residential area near the restaurant. The room can accommodate four people and has free WiFi, a hot water supply throughout the day, and a dedicated cleaning staff. The living conditions are very good.
Employees at Haidilao are entitled to unlimited free meals every day. During the Chinese New Year, employees will receive 12 days of paid leave and reimbursement of return train tickets home. Haidilao cares for the employees from all angles, listens to them and considers what they want, satisfies them, reassures their families, and makes sure they feel at home in our organization. The warmth of the company for employees translates into better service for customers, so Haidilao’s quality of service can far surpass competitors.
Trust and delegation
In other catering companies, every expenditure must be reviewed and approved at different levels. Haidilao is different. Hedidao’s store managers and employees enjoy great autonomy and power to make decisions. A store manager can approve up to 1 million RMB, which is more than enough to solve most of the issues that arise during operations and management.
Any employee can decide whether to give a fruit plate or waive orders. A full-scale decentralization approach is the best interpretation of trusting the employees. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, from the perspective of employees, being trusted also means being respected.
Having the right to be respected leads to faith and trust in both oneself and society, as well as a sense of value, which can motivate employees to work harder so they realize their self-value.
Fair promotion channel
There are three main ways for Haidilao employees to be promoted, namely, technical promotion, management promotion, and logistics promotion. The three promotion channels cover all types of jobs in Haidilao, even cleaners. At the same time, management personnel has strict limits on how they can progress. Haidilao’s management personnel must start at the grassroots level in all branches.
By relying on these systems, Haidilao has established a fair and just competition mechanism, allowing ordinary employees to see the possibility of advancement, motivating them to work hard and dedicate themselves to their work.
Haidilao and under table wireless charger
Installing wireless chargers under the desk is one of Haidilao’s strategies to enhance customer satisfaction. As more people use smartphones, they are constantly concerned about running out of power. The wireless charging spot on the table allows customers to charge their phones even if the phones are in plastic bags to keep them from getting greasy.
How does the charger work?
The long distance wireless charger can charge through any surface up to 50mm. Place it under the desk, plug it in, put your smartphone on it, and it will start charging automatically!
Note that it doesn’t work with metal surfaces.