Haidilao

Haidilao is a Chinese hot-pot restaurant chain that has served as a recurring case study in consumption and retail analysis by FreeS Fund (峰瑞资本) since at least 2018. In FreeS Fund's framing, the company represents a hybrid model that blurs boundaries between dining and retail — it launched self-heating instant hot pots that brought restaurant-style experience into convenience-store channels, an early example of what Li Feng called adding "experiential texture" to retail formats . The chain is also cited as a benchmark for operational difficulty in offline services; Li Feng noted in 2023 that building something "as hard to manage as Haidilao" is precisely why his firm avoided further coffee-chain investments after Three Squirrels . Haidilao's 2021 announcement that it would close 300 stores marked what FreeS Fund described as the largest post-IPO store closure wave in the company's history, part of a broader reassessment of offline expansion timing across Chinese food and beverage chains . The company's 2022 return to profitability, contrasted with Helen's Bar's losses that same year, is used by FreeS Fund to illustrate how timing and execution rhythm matter in cost-cutting cycles . In consumer-behavior research cited by FreeS Fund, Haidilao also surfaces as a platform for user-generated content — particularly DIY dipping-sauce recipes on Xiaohongshu that give young diners a sense of creative participation .