Wei La Small Hot Pot Founder Zhang Xiao: Strong players in the restaurant industry remain strong; innovation and expansion are the key to breaking the deadlock

On March 25, the 2026 China Catering Industry Festival and the 35th HCC Global Catering Industry Expo, jointly hosted by the World Chinese Catering Industry Federation and the Hongcan Network, were held at the Hangzhou Convention and Exhibition Center. At the “2026 China Catering Industry Conference,” Zhang Xiao, founder of Wei La Hot Pot, believes that when catering businesses choose to “hold on,” it is often because they can’t run anymore or they no longer want to.

At present, the catering industry is in a period of deep reshuffling. The industry’s Matthew Effect is becoming increasingly evident, and the strong grow stronger. Therefore, catering brands need to maintain their capacity for innovation. This not only drives their own development, but also ignites vitality across the industry, helping the entire catering track move forward.

△ Zhang Xiao, founder of Wei La Hot Pot

Taking Wei La Hot Pot as an example, Zhang Xiao shared the advantages brought by large-scale development. He said that once the number of stores breaks through a certain scale, the scale effect becomes particularly prominent: the overall purchasing bargaining power increases significantly, and supply chain costs are effectively controlled. At the same time, the brand’s influence also grows stronger. The wider the store coverage, the higher consumers’ awareness and trust.

During rapid expansion, Zhang Xiao emphasized that catering businesses should pay attention to whether consumers trust the brand more, whether franchisees trust the headquarters more, and whether employees’ sense of happiness is getting higher and higher. Only when these three work together can the brand go farther and more steadily.