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Introduction: From the "Internet celebrity in the Republic of China" to "unpaid closures", a bubble of high-end catering burst.

In Nanjing in September 2025, the evening breeze of the Qinhuai River is still wrapped in the fragrance of osmanthus, but on the bluestone road east of the old gate, a familiar vermilion door is always closed, and the notice on the glass is particularly dazzling.

This is the old Mendong store of the "Red Mansion of the Republic of China" that once made countless Nanjing people proud. Similar scenes are appearing simultaneously in many stores such as Confucius Temple, Daxing Palace, and Hexi Jinao.

Some stores even have "unpaid power outage notice" and "gas arrears gas outage notice" by the power company.

As the only catering group in Nanjing that also has the three-level certification of "Michelin + Black Pearl + Dianping Must-Eat List", the news of the closing of the "Red Mansion of the Republic of China" is like a stone thrown into the lake, causing layers of ripples in the catering circle.

This sudden "earthquake" not only tear open the business cracks of a leading local catering brand, but also reflects the collective dilemma behind the glamorous list of high-end catering industry.

The boss is suspected of "making money and running away"

Consumers were wasted 760,000

When talking about the Red Mansion of the Republic of China, Nanjing people always have a bit of "ritual sense" in their memories - Chinese architecture with pavilions and towers, the grand style of the Republic of China, and the waiter wearing Republic of China uniforms. Every detail guarantees the original Republic of China style to the greatest extent.

As a local brand founded in 2009, it accurately grasped the scarcity of Huaiyang food and Jinling culture: Using a scene-based experience that fully demonstrates the temperament of the Republic of China, turning "eating Huaiyang cuisine" into "take photos of the Republic of China", and packaging "Jinling flavor" into "high-end social symbols".

This differentiated positioning has allowed Honggongguan to rise rapidly in the Nanjing catering circle.

As Zijinshanyuan, a subsidiary of Honggongguan Group, has achieved remarkable results in the field of high-end catering and has won the honor of Black Pearl Restaurant three times. In April this year, Honor was selected at the time of the release of the Jiangsu Michelin List. It is a true shining star in the catering industry in Nanjing.

On June 25, the Red Mansion of the Republic of China (Laomendong Store) also won the honor of the 2025 Dianping Must-Eat List.

In the Nanjing food industry, Honggongguan Group is the only company that has won three authoritative honors: Michelin, Black Pearl and Must-eat List at the same time, and is a well-deserved benchmark in the Nanjing catering industry.

However, this "highlight" came to an abrupt end this summer.

In July, someone complained to the relevant departments" "From April to June this year, the salary of the Honggongguan was not paid, and the social security of employees was not paid", which aroused public attention.

After that public opinion became even more intense, starting from August, people who claimed to be employees of the Red Mansion posted that the boss had owed several months of salary and the payment for the goods in the store was not settled.

Source: Xiaohongshu

The most annoying thing about the closure of the Red Mansion in the Republic of China is the consumers trapped by "prepaid".

In June this year, Honggongguan suddenly launched the super-large value storage activity of "recharge 5000 and get 5000 and "recharge 10000 and get 10000", claiming that "all stores under its jurisdiction are universal"; in August, it launched a large-scale voucher for "981 Generation 1999" on Meituan, with a discount of as low as 49% off.

These almost "lose money" promotions quickly ignited the enthusiasm of consumers. Some old customers recharged tens of thousands of yuan for "fruit", and some consumers who were not short of money recharged a prepaid fee of 760,000 yuan in one lump sum.

However, only one month later, these "high balance accounts" became waste paper, and all the money consumers recharged was wasted.

For a moment, the remarks of "the boss flew away with money" were rampant.

Faced with the public opinion storm, Honggongguan has not given a positive explanation so far. The only information is the statement on August 18, but the specific details of the "fund turnover issue", the scale of wage arrears, and the stored value refund plan have not been disclosed.

On the evening of September 7, a statement of suspected Mr. Wu, the founder of Honggongguan, was circulated on social platforms. This picture revealed the real dilemma behind the operation of Honggongguan.

From the failure of the "Wangshan Street" and "Hanggong" project with a large investment, to the failure of employees under debt management, and the tragedy of his wife being trapped in order to save the company.

Every detail gives the outside world a more painful understanding of the fall of this "high-end catering benchmark".

According to previous articles by the Nanjing Commercial Real Estate Chamber of Commerce, the overall investment of the Wangshan Street project reached 30 million.

Source: Nanjing Commercial Real Estate Chamber of Commerce

On September 5, Honggongguan Laomendong Store added a new letter, which was posted by Nanjing Mendong Historical District Management Co., Ltd., indicating that Honggongguan should pay rent and other related expenses before July 29, 2025, but has not received the money so far, and has met the conditions for termination of the lease contract.

If there is no one going to connect before September 8, the vermilion door in the east of Laomen will eventually be completely closed - together with those unused recharge cards, unpaid wages, and the last memory of the "old taste" of Nanjing people.

The closing story of Honggongguan is essentially a collision of "idealism" and "laws of reality".

The "Jinling Cultural Catering Benchmark" that Mr. Wu wanted to create was ultimately lost to the huge losses caused by investment failure, the vicious cycle of debt management, the internal friction of management chaos, and the family tragedy.

Now, the member run is becoming increasingly fierce, and the company's cash flow has suddenly broken. Whether the Red Mansion can break free from the crisis and achieve "resurrection" is still unknown at the moment.

The "fragility" of high-end catering has exploded

The collapse of the Honggong Mansion was not accidental, but a chain reaction driven by the "cost out of control + customer group shrinkage + model hidden dangers".

The "high-end" of Honggongguan is essentially "stacked by burning money".

The founder of Honggongguan was originally an advertiser born in a catering family. He was simply picky about the location and design of the store.

Among the two Republic of China buildings next to the solemn Presidential Palace on the Yangtze River Road in Nanjing, Honggonggong won one of the Republic of China officers' villas.

The Confucius Temple Store in Honggongguan is located on the banks of the Qinhuai River where every inch of land is valuable. They have made almost half of the ground floor area into an art museum.

"If you say the architecture here is interesting, we have no cost in design, decoration and rent."This is what the founder's wife, "Gezi", said in the interview.

The new store of the Red Mansion in the Republic of China opened in July this year was located in the foothills of Zijin Mountain, in the 5A-level scenic spot, and shares a green mountain with Zijin Mountain Courtyard.

Not only do you want to spend money when choosing a store, but you are also "not stingy" in decoration.

The store decoration style of the Red Mansion in the Republic of China emphasizes "retro of the Republic of China"—a spiral ladder made of black steel plates and coral red marble, dark wooden frames inlaid with ceramic tiles and mirrors, brass furniture and utensils...

The superposition of these costs alone is enough to compress the profit margin of Honggonggong to "thin as a knife".

What's more, it is not new to high-end catering pressure in recent years. Under the wave of consumer rationality, the demand for "ritual consumption" such as business banquets and high-end dinners has shrunk.

Recently, news of the closing of the store of "Rêver Yue", a Michelin-star restaurant that has been operating in Guangzhou for more than five years.

" Due to the overall market recession and continued to increase operating pressure, the management finally made a decision to close the store after careful consideration."

EHB, a restaurant opened by the president of Holilai Group and Nordic chef Esben Holmboe Bang, has also announced the closing of the store.

The farewell of these restaurants puts the current collective dilemma of high-end catering in the spotlight.

Today's young customers prefer "light luxury substitutes". They are consuming the environment, but are unwilling to pay for "excessive premium", resulting in a drop in the table turnover rate and customer unit price of high-end restaurants.

In addition, the "prepaid + membership value storage" model of Honggongguan is the "time bomb" it buried itself.

Rely on "prepaid + membership value storage" to quickly recover funds. Once the expansion speed exceeds the actual operational capacity, the capital chain will become a "tightening wire".

The other thing is that the steps are too big.

From the per capita mansion coffee with 100 yuan per capita to the Zijinshan Courtyard with 1,000 yuan level, the multi-brand layout of Honggonggong seems to cover the entire scenario, but in fact it puts higher requirements on the supply chain and management radius. Omissions in any link may trigger a chain crisis.

From "Face Project" to "Survival in the Inner"

The closing of Honggongguan is essentially a typical case of "de-bubble" in the high-end catering industry. It warns all catering brands that rely on "high decoration, high unit price, and high prepayment":

First of all, the core of "high-end" is "irreplaceable" rather than "inflated price".

Consumers are willing to pay for unique experiences, stable quality, and warm services, but they will not pay for gorgeous decorations and empty cultural labels.

Rather than spending money on decoration, it is better to deepen the research and development of vegetables; rather than packaging with "Republic of China style", it is better to tell the story of "tracing the origin of ingredients".

Secondly, the expansion of the proportion of light assets is more important.

The "high-end" of high-end catering requires time to settle, and blindly opening a branch will only dilute the brand potential.

Instead of pursuing the number of stores, it is better to focus on single-store operations - to turn one store into a "century-old store", which is far more valuable than opening 10 stores that "close in half a year".

Finally, compliance is the bottom line and trust is the lifeline.

The prepaid model itself is understandable, but it must strictly abide by fund supervision regulations and put consumer rights first. Any "overdraw trust" operation will eventually be backfired by the market.

The signboard of the Hong Mansion in Laomendong is still eye-catching, but the lights inside the glass door are no longer on.

This storm will eventually pass, but the warning it leaves will not disappear: the charm of high-end catering has never been a "castle in the air" built by a few lists and a few slogans, but solid quality, clear trust, and stable management.

When the tide recedes, the ones that can truly stay on the shore are always those "long-distance runners" who respect the market and consumers.

What do you think about this? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area to discuss and express your opinions or opinions, thank you.

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