Source of this article: Times Finance
Picture source: Enterprise
Overlord Cha Ji and Haidilao have an unexpected intersection.
html On the evening of August 27, "Hot Pot Brother" Haidilao (06862.hk) released its 2024 interim results. Along with the results, there was also a director appointment. According to the announcement, Zhang Junjie, founder of Bawang Tea Ji, has been appointed as an independent non-executive director, effective from now on.announced that Zhang Junjie (formerly known as Zhang Jun), 29 years old, was appointed as an independent non-executive director of Haidilao on August 27, 2024. He is mainly responsible for supervising the company's board of directors and providing independent judgment. The two parties signed a letter of appointment for a period of three years starting from August 27, 2024, and must be subject to rotational retirement and re-election in accordance with the articles of association of Haidilao. According to the terms of appointment, Zhang Junjie is entitled to receive an annual salary of NT$1.2 million.
It is not surprising that Haidilao would choose Zhang Junjie. In 2017, Zhang Junjie founded Bawang Cha Ji. At present, Bawang Tea Ji has become the leading brand in the domestic fresh tea industry. It only took 3 years for
to grow from a regional brand to a national brand under the leadership of Zhang Junjie. In 2021, Bawang Tea Ji is still a regional tea brand active in the three southwestern provinces, with less than 500 stores. As of now, it has opened nearly 5,000 stores across the country. In 2023, Bawang Chaji GMV reached 10.8 billion yuan, exceeding 10 billion for the first time.
Since then, Zhang Junjie, a self-made post-90s generation, has often been talked about as a "business wizard" by the outside world.
At the age of 17, Zhang Junjie worked as a clerk in a chain brand called Dawei Milk Tea. Later, due to his outstanding performance, he became the brand's regional operating partner in Yunnan. In 2015, Zhang Junjie joined a Shanghai-based technology startup company to do overseas sales and rose to the position of deputy director of the cooperation department, responsible for the Asia-Pacific region.
In 2021, Bawang Chaji received two investments totaling more than 300 million yuan from xvc, Fosun Group, and Congbi Qiushi. But this is not outstanding compared with other tea brands in the same period. Mixue Bingcheng completed its first round of financing in January 2021, with a financing amount of over 2 billion yuan and a valuation of 20 billion yuan. In July of the same year, Heytea completed a new round of financing of US$500 million.
2023 is a year of rapid development for Bawang Tea Ji. During the year, the number of stores increased by 2,317, exceeding the total number of stores opened in the previous six years. The total number of stores also exceeded Heytea's more than 3,200 stores.
In May of this year, Zhang Junjie said at an event that according to the current growth rate of Bawang Chaji, the annual GMV in 2024 will exceed 20 billion yuan, and he shouted on the spot that it would exceed the sales of Starbucks China.
As an upstart in the tea drinking industry and a top player in the hot pot industry, the "hand in hand" between Bawang Chaji and Haidilao surprised the outside world. However, as a catering giant, Haidilao has also launched tea products.
Recently, some netizens discovered that Haidilao hot pot restaurant has an independent space outside or inside the store, transforming the traditional hot pot water bar into an experience space similar to a small tea stall. According to the relevant person in charge of Haidilao's product management, one of the "triple pomelo-flavored ice drinks" has sold more than 900,000 cups since its launch.
As early as 2019, Haidilao began to try milk tea and launched four drinks in some stores, including milk tea and fruit tea, with an average price of about 10 yuan.
In 2021, Haidilao will once again enter the tea market. In January of that year, Haidilao launched its first "unmanned self-service" milk tea shop priced at 9.9 yuan. Then in February, Haidilao opened three milk tea shops in Shanghai and Nanjing, offering four types of fruit tea and two types of milk tea, with an average price of about 18 yuan.
Since then, Haidilao’s pursuit of tea has not stopped. In 2023, Haidilao launched the Haidilao black tea series.
At present, both Haidilao and Bawangchaji are in the expansion period of promoting franchises and going overseas.
html In May, Haidilao founder Zhang Yong and his wife won their fourth IPO, promoting Haidilao's overseas business operation entity - Tehai International to achieve dual listing on Nasdaq. The financial report shows that Tehai International just turned a profit last year after experiencing losses from 2019 to 2022. In 2023, Tehai International's revenue was US$686 million, a year-on-year increase of 23%; the profit for the year attributable to the company's owners was US$25.653 million.In recent years, the trend of Chinese food going overseas has emerged. Representative local catering companies in my country, such as Haidilao, Xiabuxiabu, Kudi Coffee, Mixue Bingcheng, Bawang Tea Ji and other brands, have accelerated their opening of stores overseas.
In terms of overseas markets, Bawang Tea Ji’s first overseas store opened in Malaysia in August 2019, and then entered Singapore and Thailand. Currently, there are more than 100 overseas stores.
In April this year, there was news in the market that Bawangchaji would be listed in the United States as soon as the middle of the year. The amount of funds raised would be between US$200 million and US$300 million (equivalent to approximately HK$1.57 billion to HK$2.35 billion). It would be funded by Citibank and Morgan Stanley. Li is responsible for preparing for the listing.
(Times Finance Zhang Xuemei’s comprehensive self-media latepost, International Finance News, Jiemian News, Wall Street News, China Investment Network, etc.)
