Zebra consumption Chen Xiaojing
Last week, "Zhang Liang withdrew from Zhang Liang Malatang" became a hot search, and various market speculations came one after another. The second in this industry may be laying the foundation for globalization or listing in advance.
Over the past 20 years, Zhang Liang Malatang has emerged from Bin County, Harbin City, and has expanded rapidly using the franchise model. It is known as the "two heroes of Malatang" together with Yang Guofu.
Malatang originated in Sichuan and Chongqing. It was improved after being introduced to the Northeast in the 1990s. After "transmission and help" development, it has become an important sub-category in the catering industry, with a market size of nearly 150 billion yuan.
Although the market is huge, there are many problems such as small brands, low market concentration, and product homogeneity, and the capital market is relatively cautious about this. Three years ago, Yang Guofu Malatang launched a sprint to the Stock Exchange, hoping to become the first Malatang stock, but there has been no new progress so far.
In the mass consumer market, the role of Malatang is very embarrassing. It has to face the squeeze of "close relatives" such as hot pot, schurri, and Maocai, as well as the red line of food safety at all times.
Even if there are hundreds of billions of dollars, industry participants are not easy.
Traveling and helping
Spicy hot pot originated in the Sichuan-Chongqing region. In addition to working, the early salt workers and shipmen stringed the scraps of the collected ingredients and boiled them in a clay pot and then ate them. Later, this way of eating gradually entered street restaurants and evolved into a way of eating hot pot and red soup boiled or dipping sauce dish.
What is surprising is that the Sichuan flavor of the spicy hot pot is not the mainstream, and the Northeast version is the backbone of the market.
In the late 1990s, Sichuan-flavored malatang was introduced to the Northeast thousands of miles away, and simple malatang became a common choice for local laid-off workers to start their own businesses. In order to adapt to the local people's eating habits, people from Northeast China made some "magic modifications" to Sichuan-style malatang.
The red soup popular in Sichuan and Chongqing was replaced with boiled bone soup, and the spicyness was reduced. The sesame paste that the locals liked were also added. It can not only eat vegetables but also drink soup. Because the price is affordable, it has gradually become a local civilian restaurant in the northeast.
According to public reports, the Northeast version of Malatang first emerged in Bin County, under the jurisdiction of Harbin. In Binxian, with a total area of 3,843 square kilometers, there are more than 330 spicy hot pot stores. Each of them has different recipes, but the overall taste is not much different.
Most of these spicy hot pot stores are named after the boss's personal name, such as Uncle Ma Yutao and Xiu Haifu brand. Yang Guofu and Zhang Liang also came from this place.
The development of these brands is mostly through the method of opening stores such as Qinbangqin, Nebanglin, etc., and gradually forming a cluster effect. For example, Yang Guofu is the cousin of Zhang Liang's aunt, and Yang Guotu, the founder of Quanyue Malatang, is Yang Guofu's younger brother.
With a pot of spicy hot pot, Yang Guofu is now worth up to 4 billion yuan. In the early days, Yang Guofu operated the iron squid business in Jianshe Road Pedestrian Street in Harbin. He only switched to Malatang in 2003. Based on bone soup + mala sauce, he created a self-selected weighing method, and gradually established the business model.
In 2005, Zhang Liang, who was 20 years old at the time, was deeply inspired to open a restaurant called Sunshine Malatang in Xiangfang District, Harbin. In 2008, the first Zhang Liang Malatang was opened, creating a one-person and one-pot cooking method. The race with Yang Guofu began here.
Chainization
Malatang operators in Bin County opened stores in the early stage, mostly cooperated with relatives or neighbors, put on the same signboard, and stayed in the family-based management stage.
With the expansion of stores, many irregular shortcomings such as ingredients, personnel and management have emerged one after another. In this process, Yang Guofu and Zhang Liang were the two major brands that started standardized business management earlier.
In 2007, Yang Guofu Malatang started joining. The following year, Zhang Liang Malatang also expanded with this. To this end, Zhang Liang also poached the industry's veteran Jiang Baidong to help the brand become national.
In the process of national expansion, the two major brands realize the importance of supply chains. In the past, the store’s ingredients were mostly purchased and distributed on-site. After the store scale expanded, the supply chain system must be iteratively upgraded.
From 2010 to 2015, it was a critical period for Yang Guofu to enter the national market, with the store size increasing from 1,000 to more than 3,500.
Since 2010, the company has successively established 10 room-temperature food logistics bases and 23 frozen products market logistics bases in Shanghai and other places, basically covering the national store network and improving distribution efficiency.
In order to cope with future market growth and overseas strategy, in 2015, Yang Guofu established a global center in Shanghai to build a larger supply chain system.
In 2016, Yang Guofu invested in the construction of a factory in Chengdu to standardize base products. In 2018, the "black lamp factory" that cost 500 million yuan was put into production, achieving complete self-sufficiency in the supply chain and extending its hands to the upstream raw material planting end.
After the long-standing problem of supply chain was solved, Yang Guofu led his troops overseas. In 2017, it launched its first overseas store in Vancouver, Canada, and so far there are more than 100 overseas stores.
A year earlier than Yang Guofu, Zhang Liang Malatang has landed in Japan and opened its first overseas store in Tokyo.
According to Hongcun data, as of January 2025, the number of stores of Yang Guofu Malatang and Zhang Liang Malatang was 6,900 and 6,400, respectively, becoming the industry's leading companies. Liu Wenxiang Malatang and Xiaogu Sister Malatang are ranked second in the second tier with more than 1,600 stores and more than 1,000 stores respectively.
Northeast has become a leading area for the development of the national spicy hot pot industry. Up to now, there are 176,600 related companies in China, and the total number of related companies in the three northeastern provinces accounts for 27% of the country, of which 21,700 are in Heilongjiang Province.
First trial capitalization
In early 2022, Yang Guofu Malatang submitted a prospectus to the main board of the Stock Exchange, officially launching a sprint to the capital market, and the outside world was able to clearly see the operating background of this Malatang company.
Similar to Mixue Bingcheng, Yang Guofu is doing a B-side business.
According to the prospectus, as of the end of September 2021, the company had 5,783 stores, 5,759 franchise stores and self-operated stores, respectively. Supply chain revenue is the absolute core.
From 2019 to the first three quarters of 2021, the company's sales revenue to franchisees was RMB 977 million, RMB 1.00 billion and RMB 1.058 billion, accounting for 82.7%, 89.8% and 90.9% of the company's revenue respectively.
The company has the largest franchise system in the industry, but the proportion of franchise fee income is very small. During the above-mentioned period, the franchise fee and system maintenance fee accounted for 4.9%, 5.0% and 3.3% respectively.
Malatang products are mass consumption. The company's average customer price is not high and it is in a downward trend. From 2019 to the first nine months of 2021, the average customer price was 34.3 yuan, 32.3 yuan and 29.3 yuan respectively.
Based on the advantages of the supply chain, Yang Guofu has strong profitability. From 2019 to the first nine months of 2021, the company's operating income was RMB 1.182 billion, RMB 1.114 billion and RMB 1.163 billion, respectively, and the net profit attributable to shareholders was RMB 181 million, RMB 169 million and RMB 202 million, respectively.
Even though the external adverse environment did not hinder the company's expansion strategy, 993, 1,475 and 970 new stores were opened respectively during the same period.
According to the Frost-Sullivan report, Yang Guofu Malatang ranks first in the Chinese fast food market and Malatang market in 2020 or the year.
However, since the submission of the prospectus, Yang Guofu Malatang has not officially announced new progress.
Zhang Liang Malatang's store opening speed is also rapid. According to Red Star News, from 2021 to 2022, it opened a total of nearly 3,000 stores; 762 new stores were opened in 2023, and 692 new stores were opened in the first nine months of 2024.
In 2019, founder Zhang Liang revealed in an interview that the company's annual income is about 60 million yuan, mainly from the franchise fee.
According to public information, the franchise fees of the brand in provincial capitals, municipalities and first-tier cities are 19,800 yuan/year and 10,000 yuan/year respectively. According to preliminary estimates, the company's annual franchise fee income is tens of millions to billions of yuan.
On September 3, Zhang Liang withdrew from the ranks of direct shareholders of Zhang Liang Enterprise Management (Group), and Shanghai Yiyan Jiuding, which was controlled by him, achieved indirect control of Zhang Liang Enterprise Management (Group).
Industry insiders analyzed that this equity adjustment is likely to pave the way for listing, and the company's globalization process may be further accelerated.
Product and Differentiation
After more than 20 years of development, Malatang has become a larger sub-category in the domestic catering market. The Red Catering Industry Research Institute disclosed that in 2024, the market size of this category will reach 148.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.3%, and is expected to exceed 150 billion yuan this year.
In such a huge market, only Yang Guofu and Zhang Liang are currently the largest brands, and more are small chains or husband-and-wife stores.
As of January this year, the number of stores nationwide reached 150,000, an increase of 8.6% year-on-year. During the same period, 10 brands and below, 11 to 50 brands, and more than 500 brands accounted for 7.7%, 15.1% and 0.7% respectively.
From the store distribution, East China, Northeast China and Central China account for 28.0%, 18.1% and 13.3%, respectively, reflecting the preferences of the three regional markets for Malatang products.
With the development of the industry, Malatang has gradually differentiated into many schools such as brewing, self-cooking, dry mixing, and fast food. For example, Tianshui Malatang is a typical dry-mixed one. Northeast sticky paste Malatang mainly has a sticky texture, casserole Malatang emphasizes health preservation, and Yiyang Malatang highlights hot, spicy and fresh fragrance.
Tianshui Malatang, which became popular last year, successfully caught the Tiantian traffic and was promoted to the top industry. However, the genre is still in its early stages of development and no strong brands have appeared yet.
In addition to the market, it is difficult for Malatang to form differentiation due to too many "close relatives" categories, resulting in greater pressure on brand competition.
In terms of soup base flavor, edible form, food selection, etc., Malatang is very similar to hot pot, Maocai, Chuanchuanxiang, and small hot pot, and is easily divided into customers by these categories and squeeze out market share.
At present, the trend of integrating malatang with catering categories has become very obvious. In the future, how will Malatang brands take advantage of the opportunities of category integration?
Malatang is not pleasing in terms of price. Public reports show that Zhang Liang's per capita consumption has increased from 20 yuan to around 40 yuan, and he may not be able to eat enough. He cannot afford to eat Malatang and Malatang light luxury per month, etc. have become hot topics.
The high price is only one aspect, but more importantly, the frequent occurrence of food safety issues.
On the Black Cat Complaint Platform, consumers have problems such as eating foreign objects, insects and food spoilage during the process of eating Zhang Liang Malatang and Yang Guofu Malatang. There are shortcomings in brand owners' control over terminal stores.
Chain catering companies can only "easily" tell their brand stories well, which is an important challenge left to top brands such as Yang Guofu and Zhang Liang.
