Xiao Guanzh Tea Founder & Chairman Du Guoying: From Chinese language questions to math problems, interpreting the underlying logic of future new consumption

Ask AI · How Does Du Guoying’s Thinking Integration Drive Innovation in the Tea Industry?

On March 25, the 2026 China Catering Industry Conference and the 35th HCC Global Catering Industry Expo, jointly hosted by the World Federation of Chinese Catering and the Hongcan (Red餐) website, were held at the Hangzhou Convention and Exhibition Center. At the “2026 China Catering Industry Conference,” Du Guoying, founder & chairman of Xiao Guanzi Tea, pointed out that when you break down the catering industry, it can be expressed as “food + drinks.” Beverage formats such as alcoholic drinks, milk tea, and coffee are crucial to the catering industry. Roughly estimated, “drinks” account for about 20% of the catering market capacity.

From the perspective of “food” and “drinks,” Du Guoying delivered an in-depth explanation around the theme of “from Chinese-language questions to math questions.” He noted that experience-driven thinking leans toward arts/humanities thinking—like solving Chinese-language questions—while standardized, scientific thinking leans toward science/engineering thinking—like solving math questions. At their core, the difference reflects distinct underlying cultural logic, just as Chinese cuisine and Western cuisine, and tea leaves and coffee.

Therefore, he said, “food” and “drinks” share related principles at the underlying level. In the past two decades, China’s Chinese-cuisine industry has made significant progress by building on traditional experience and learning from Western cuisine’s scientific standards and operational efficiency. In his view, the growth path of Chinese cuisine offers important lessons for the tea industry—when “food” and “drinks” integrate, it is not only complementary at the format level, but also a two-way upgrade in the way people think.

At the same time, he further emphasized that “Chinese-language questions” and “math questions” are not opposites, but two sides of one coin. Humanities thinking is responsible for proposing assumptions, defining direction, and giving the brand its soul, which is more suitable for the early stage of market development; science thinking is responsible for planning the path, validating logic, controlling costs, and improving efficiency—at the mature stage of the market, supporting sustainable brand development with solid data and rigorous logic.

Du Guoying also introduced that Chinese tea has gone through multiple key development milestones over the past one hundred years. After the reform and opening up, China’s planned economy transitioned toward a market economy, and around 1984, the rise of well-known and high-quality teas was spurred. After 2012, a new tea-drinks wave was launched by brands represented by Hey Tea.

△ Du Guoying, founder & chairman of Xiao Guanzi Tea

In his view, today, tea products can be simply categorized into milk tea, tea beverages, tea-brewing machines, and loose-leaf teas, among others—behind which lies changes in lifestyles and the empowerment of technology. Specifically, milk tea is a youthful expression of Chinese tea; tea beverages are a convenient expression; tea-brewing machines are an international expression; and loose-leaf teas are a professional expression. These different categories are not zero-sum competition, but rather a supplement to consumption scenarios and the creation of incremental demand.

Du Guoying believes that tea brands should take the route of standardization, youthfulness, and internationalization. The current difficulty in the tea-drinks market development is not that young people and people around the world don’t love Chinese tea. Instead, Chinese tea does not understand young people—it needs to be re-expressed. In the future, Chinese tea should become simpler and more straightforward.

Against this backdrop, Xiao Guanzi Tea is building an all-scenario solution for Chinese tea based on its “brew it yourself, brew it for you, no need to brew” three-brew tea strategy. It takes into account both fixed and on-the-go drinking situations, covering multiple forms such as liquid and leaf-based formats. Xiao Guanzi Tea’s business strategy has three steps: first, advance the standardization of Chinese tea, deepening standardized quality at the Xiao Guanzi Tea Huangshan Super Factory; second, continue to focus on youthfulness and create tea-drink products for young people that go beyond milk tea; third, promote internationalization so that people around the world can enjoy Chinese tea anytime and anywhere.

Author: Hongcan Editorial Department