"Chaotianmen Dock" Closes Pre-A Round to Build Chongqing-Flavored New Consumer Brand
Bring authentic Chongqing flavor into every household.
Chongqing-flavored new consumer brand "Chaotianmen Pier" recently announced the completion of its Pre-A funding round, with Gaorong Ventures participating as an investor. The proceeds will be used primarily to strengthen product R&D and data infrastructure, expand market reach, and begin extending upstream into the supply chain.
A strategic new consumer brand under Chongqing Chaotianmen Catering Holding Group, Chaotianmen Pier builds standardized products around the intangible cultural heritage techniques of its heritage hot pot brand "Chaotianmen Hot Pot," replicating the classic flavors that have been tested and approved by consumers across more than 1,000 offline locations. Guided by the product philosophy of "authentic, delicious, and convenient," the brand has launched signature products including self-developed hot pot base and self-heating hot pot, alongside derivative offerings such as local snacks and compound seasonings that draw on Chongqing's regional character. Leveraging the group's other offline sub-brand "Jiuyuan Snacks," Chaotianmen Pier will also introduce various cold-chain food products.
Founder and CEO Pu Wang has a track record of multiple successful ventures. He established Chongqing Chaotianmen Catering Holding Group, which encompasses brands including Chaotianmen Hot Pot, Chaotianmen Pier, Jiuyuan Snacks, and Yucheng Weidu, with over 1,000 locations globally. The group has been ranked among China's top 100 catering enterprises for nine consecutive years.
Wang noted that after nearly two decades of operations, Chaotianmen Pier has accumulated numerous recipes validated by Chinese consumers, distilling the common denominator of consumer tastes to form a distinctive resource moat.
Going forward, Chaotianmen Pier will leverage its group advantages to focus on new retail, empowering the entire industry chain from both B2B and B2C angles while increasing capital investment to solidify its supply chain capabilities. On the new retail front, the brand is moving beyond its previous role as a supplier to B2B franchise stores to directly serve C2C consumers across all channels. With "authentic Chongqing flavor" as its signature, it will target household and white-collar consumer scenarios, promoting concepts such as "a delicious calling card from Chongqing," "mini hot pot shop at home," "lazy people becoming chefs in seconds," and "quickly start today's feast." In terms of channel strategy, as a Chongqing-flavored new retail brand, Chaotianmen Pier is prioritizing online channels, using user feedback to rapidly iterate and upgrade products. It also plans to open "shop-in-shop counters" across its existing thousand-plus locations and more than 300 new stores annually, enriching the in-store product mix while building private domain traffic through its membership system. The company is using technology to drive industry chain upgrades, achieving end-to-end supply chain integration "from pier to home" through big data management at its cloud information center, continuously strengthening advantages in "centralized procurement + standardized production + unified distribution + quality control." Currently, Chaotianmen Pier is focused on ambient shelf-stable products (compound seasonings and convenience foods derived from hot pot base), controlling production through upstream factory acquisitions and traceable sourcing. It will also expand into low-temperature, long-shelf-life cold-chain food lines.
With its labels of "authentic Chongqing," "intangible cultural heritage," and "time-honored brand," the Chaotianmen Group has already secured strong consumer mindshare. Going forward, by combining this with supply chain advantages, Chaotianmen Pier will imbue the "time-honored brand" with greater social attributes, passing on Chongqing's culinary culture and the city's fiery passion to younger consumers. Xin Wei, partner at Gaorong Ventures, commented: "As consumer demand for food convenience grows, 3R foods (Ready to Cook, Ready to Eat, Ready to Heat) are seeing significant opportunity. Under the leadership of Chairman Wang and his team, Chaotianmen Catering has built solid supply chain and product R&D capabilities over more than 20 years of restaurant operations. In recent years, their investment in restaurant digitization has improved operational efficiency while deepening consumer insights. We look forward to Chaotianmen Pier's high-level integration of traditional hot pot culture with new consumer demands, bringing quality, innovative products not just to thousands of restaurants, but to millions of households."
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