Xiao Jiangxi · Jiangxi Cuisine General Manager Li Yichen: We need to seek supply chain empowerment based on customer feedback on the product.

Ask AI · Why did Li Yichen put customer preferences above supply chain stability?

On March 25, the 2026 China Catering Industry Festival and the 35th HCC Global Catering Industry Expo, co-hosted by the World Chinese Food Federation and Hongcan.com, were held at the Hangzhou Convention and Exhibition Center. Among them, at the “2026 China Food Ingredients Development Forum,” Jiangxia·Jiangxi Cuisine General Manager Li Yichen shared his views on the theme of “Sustainable Supply Chain: The Foundation for Stable Development of Catering Enterprises.”

△ Jiangxia·Jiangxi Cuisine General Manager Li Yichen

Li Yichen believes that the most crucial aspect of a sustainable supply chain is stability—specifically, the continuous supply of the products that customers like. For Jiangxia·Jiangxi Cuisine, this is the most important thing. If there’s only stability or only cost advantages, but customers don’t like it, then it’s no use.

Because catering enterprises must first survive. Even if the supply chain is strong, costs are optimized to the best level, and efficiency reaches the highest point, it’s all just talk if customers don’t buy it. And for a small stir-fry brand like Jiangxia·Jiangxi Cuisine, how delicious the dishes are and how much customers recognize and approve of the menu is more important than the supply chain.

Conversely, a chain brand with more than a hundred stores cannot operate without support from the supply chain. Therefore, it needs to leverage the supply chain by first looking for it based on customers’ feedback on products.

As for Jiangxia·Jiangxi Cuisine’s supply chain, it focuses more on “freshness.” Li Yichen gave the example of water dropwort and green eggplant that Jiangxia·Jiangxi Cuisine stores have just added to the menu. He said these ingredients are relatively unique and aren’t widely available across the country, but customers really like to eat them—so they directly find growing bases, talk with them, and have the vegetables shipped straight to the stores.

Li Yichen believes that a supply chain doesn’t necessarily have to involve sending goods through a central kitchen, nor does it necessarily have to be frozen and then delivered to stores. Instead, a supply chain can deliver freshness to the dining table in that way, so that customers will like it more.

Li Yichen also admitted that Jiangxia·Jiangxi Cuisine currently does not build its own supply chain, and all of it is done through third-party partnerships. The advantage of this model is that it is very flexible. He further explained: if something becomes popular in the market, it can be quickly developed, and then the relevant supply-chain companies can be found to produce it. But if you build your own supply chain, it’s difficult to keep up with these very popular things.

However, there’s also a prerequisite here: the ability to find third-party partners must be strong, and supply-chain companies must be broadly connected. The downside is cost, which is also a problem Jiangxia·Jiangxi Cuisine may face next. Therefore, after the next five years, Jiangxia·Jiangxi Cuisine may also consider building its own supply chain and taking the supply chain to the extreme.