Revenue growth has slowed! The Little Vegetable Garden stores are steadily expanding, with customer spending decreasing for four consecutive years.

AI问 · Is the decline in average ticket size related to strategic adjustments?

On the afternoon of March 25, 小菜园 released its 2025 financial report. In 2025, 小菜园’s revenue was 5.345 billion yuan, up 2.60% year over year; net profit was 715 million yuan, up 23.16% year over year.

Compared with previous years, 小菜园’s revenue growth rate slowed somewhat, while its net profit growth rate accelerated. In 2023 and 2024, its revenue growth rates were 41.58% and 14.52%, respectively; over the same period, its net profit growth rates were 123.96% and 9.13%, respectively.

In terms of operating efficiency, last year 小菜园’s net profit margin improved. From 2023 to 2025, its net profit margins were 11.70%, 11.14%, and 13.38%, respectively. Meanwhile, in terms of ingredient cost control, last year its gross margin also increased. From 2023 to 2205, its gross margins were 68.49%, 68.12%, and 70.40%, respectively. Compared with 绿茶集团 and 海底捞, which just released their financial reports, 小菜园 performs slightly better in this regard. In 2025, 绿茶集团’s net profit margin was 10.21% and its gross margin was 68.33%. Over the same period, 海底捞’s net profit margin was 9.35% and its gross margin was 59.45%.

小菜园 was founded in 2013 in Anhui. “小菜园” is its main brand, focusing on new Anhui cuisine. It is positioned as a mass, convenient Chinese dining concept, with an average ticket size of 50–70 yuan. In addition, it also has community dining brand “菜手” and “观邸,” which focuses on banquets and group dining. On December 20, 2024, 小菜园 listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Small菜园’s stores are still growing steadily. By the end of 2025, 小菜园 had 819 stores, an increase of 146 stores net from 2024, including 807 stores under the “小菜园” brand.

By business type, 小菜园’s revenue can be divided into dine-in, takeaway, and other businesses. In 2025, its dine-in revenue increased 2.16% year over year to 3.261 billion yuan, while its takeaway revenue increased 2.99% year over year to 2.065 billion yuan. Compared with 2024, the proportions of its 2025 dine-in and takeaway revenue were relatively stable at 61.0% and 38.6%, respectively. In 2024, the dine-in and takeaway revenue proportions were 61.3% and 38.5%, respectively.

Specifically at the restaurant operations level, in 2025, for dine-in customers at stores of the “小菜园” brand, average spending per customer was 56.1 yuan, down 3.1 yuan from 2024; the table-turnover rate was 3.0 times/day, unchanged from 2024. This shows that 小菜园’s average ticket size has been declining. From 2022 to 2024, its average spending per person was 65.8 yuan, 65.4 yuan, and 59.2 yuan, respectively.

In addition, in 2025, 小菜园’s same-store sales revenue declined 9.37% year over year; the same-store table-turnover rate fell from 3.0 times/day in 2024 to 2.9 times/day. Regarding the decline in same-store sales revenue, 小菜园 stated in its financial report that this was mainly because in the second half of 2025 the company optimized its takeaway business strategy, focusing on the dine-in experience, and adjusted dish prices to enhance product competitiveness.

小菜园’s takeaway business share increased and then fell over the past year. In the first half of 2025, the takeaway revenue accounted for about 39.0%, up 2.5 percentage points year over year. For all of 2025, the share of its takeaway business edged down to 38.6%. In August 2025, 小菜园’s founder and chairman 汪书高, in an interview with a reporter from 南都湾财社, previously said that he believed 小菜园’s takeaway revenue share was too high. His ideal takeaway revenue share is 30%. He pointed out that, since rent and labor costs do not increase, takeaway is “the icing on the cake,” so the best ratio of takeaway to dine-in is 3:7—slightly higher, but not exceeding 35%. If the stores put all their effort into takeaway, it would actually affect dine-in. The company is optimizing the takeaway ratio.

Written by: 南都·湾财社 reporter 詹丹晴