On September 19, 2026, a piece of news that “Xibei will completely collapse” appeared on the hot search, pushing this leading Chinese restaurant brand into the spotlight of public opinion again. In response to media inquiries, Xibei officials responded that “stores across the country are operating normally.” However, media reports show that the situation is not optimistic: Xibei lost more than 600 million yuan in the first half of the year, closed 102 stores in the first quarter, founder Jia Guolong sold shares to introduce “life-saving money”, and the outgoing CEO retired behind the scenes. From the pre-made dish crisis to the current bankruptcy crisis, what kind of extreme pressure does Xibei face? How is the store currently operating? Upstream News learned about this.
爆料
On September 19, Internet celebrity “Li Ji” suddenly broke the news on Weibo: “In at least two or three months, Xibei, which has ranked first in Chinese dining for 11 consecutive years and has grown in scale, revenue, and profit for 11 consecutive years (as of September last year), will be completely bankrupt. Jia Guolong will personally take over most of the debt and give up his shares.” Immediately, the topic “Xibei is exposed to be completely bankrupt” quickly became a hot search topic on Weibo. Upstream News has seen that “Liji” currently has more than 5.4 million fans on Weibo.
Internet celebrity broke the news. Screenshot of “Liji” Weibo
On the same day, some media discovered that Zhang Liping, the wife of Xibei founder Jia Guolong, had pledged her Xibei shares. Tianyancha information shows that on September 2 this year, Inner Mongolia Xibei Catering Group Co., Ltd. added a new equity pledge information. The pledger is Zhang Liping, the pledgee is the Hohhot Ruyi Development Zone Branch of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Co., Ltd., the amount of pledged equity is 5.400005 yuan, and the status is “valid”.
Shareholder information shows that Zhang Liping holds 5.1959% of the equity of Inner Mongolia Xibei Catering Group Co., Ltd., subscribed for 5.400005 yuan, and serves as a director of the company. Public information shows that Zhang Liping is the wife of Xibei founder Jia Guolong.
Tianyancha’s industrial and commercial information shows that Inner Mongolia Xibei Catering Group Co., Ltd. was established in October 2017. The legal representative is Jia Guolong, with a registered capital of approximately 104 million yuan. Its business scope includes catering services, food production, food Internet sales, food sales, catering management, corporate headquarters management, and investment activities with its own funds.
Just a few days before “Liji” broke the news, some media reported that Xibei’s newly established brand had also closed stores. The Hohhot Horticulture Institute store and the Beijing Cuiwei Impression City store, the new brand “Tianbian Claypot Braised Noodles” created by Jia Guolong, are temporarily closed, and the Beijing Fengke Wanda store is closed for business transformation.
According to media reports, after the “prepared dish crisis”, the customer flow of Xibei stores fell off a cliff. Jia Guolong once revealed that from September 2025 to March 2026, Xibei’s cumulative losses exceeded 600 million yuan. In order to cope with losses, Xibei will close 102 stores (accounting for about 30% of the total) in the first quarter of 2026. Narrow-door restaurant data shows that as of September 10, Xibei had 226 operating stores nationwide.
回應
After the “bankruptcy” remarks appeared, when interviewed by the media, Xibei customer service responded: “Currently, stores across the country are operating normally. We will continue to provide products and services attentively, continue to adhere to quality, and receive every customer with heart. We also ask everyone to treat online information rationally.”
Another media report stated that Xibei revealed that the content published by the above-mentioned “Liji” was not official information from Xibei, and that Xibei stores across the country are currently operating normally. Regarding the store’s business model, Xibei said that Xibei has always been a direct operation and the internal partner model has not changed from the beginning to the end.
Regarding the closing of new brand stores, the relevant person in charge of Xibei explained to reporters: “This is a single store planning adjustment. The other stores of ‘Tianbian Clay Pot Noodles’ across the country are operating normally. We will continue to polish our products and services, and stores in Guangzhou will also be opened one after another.”
風波
It is understood that Xibei’s business turmoil originated from the public opinion crisis of prepared dishes in September 2025: On September 10, 2025, Internet celebrity Luo Yonghao complained that Xibei’s “almost all prepared dishes” were on Weibo hot searches, and Jia Guolong subsequently publicly refuted it. The two sides continued to compete on topics such as the definition of prepared dishes, how to prepare the dishes, and consumers’ right to know. On September 11, 2025, Jia Guolong responded that Xibei did not have a single pre-made dish, and opened the Xibei store’s back kitchen to the public the next day. However, during the visit to the media and netizens, Xibei fell into the dilemma of “self-testimony turning into self-exposure”. Later, Jia Guolong apologized and promised to make rectifications.
In September 2025, Jia Guolong refuted Luo Yonghao’s remarks. network diagram
In December 2025, in an interview with the media, Jia Guolong expressed his reflections on the “Xibei prepared dishes” incident a few months ago. In January this year, Jia Guolong posted an article online stating that he would “respond comprehensively to Luo Yonghao’s major slander and slander against Xibei one by one.” Luo Yonghao also issued an article to counterattack. On the evening of January 16 this year, the Weibo accounts of Jia Guolong and Luo Yonghao were both banned.
As the dispute between the two parties continues to ferment, Xibei’s dishes, pricing and kitchen model have been placed in the spotlight of public opinion, and store customer flow and revenue have also been severely impacted. Jia Guolong admitted that by January this year, Xibei store business had dropped by 50% year-on-year.
應對
Faced with the severe decline in passenger flow, Xibei responded from various aspects such as cost, management, brand, and capital.
When Jia Guolong was interviewed at the beginning of the year, he predicted that from September 2025 to March 2026, Xibei’s cumulative losses would exceed 600 million yuan. In order to reduce costs, closing stores is the first choice. In January this year, news of large-scale store closures was reported in Xibei. According to reports, the stores closed by Xibei this time accounted for about 30% of its total number, involving about 4,000 employees. Among the disclosed lists, store closures are mainly concentrated in first- and second-tier cities. Among them, Shanghai has the largest number of stores involved, with 19; Beijing, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou have closed 10, 8, and 5 stores respectively. Xibei will gradually close 102 stores across the country in the first quarter of 2026, accounting for 30% of the total stores.
In terms of management, Jia Guolong chose to retreat behind the scenes. At the beginning of this year, Jia Guolong stepped down as CEO of Xibei’s main brand, and former CEO Dong Junyi returned. After taking office, Dong Junyi successively proposed measures such as salary cuts for store management, store managers responsible for reducing store losses, and the elimination of Xibei’s unique management system. The only goal was to get Xibei out of the predicament. According to media reports, Xibei notified store management in early February that salary payments for February were to be delayed. February wages were supposed to be paid on March 10, but were delayed until the end of March. The salaries of store managers and chefs will all be reduced by 30%, but if losses are reduced month-on-month, they will be paid in the form of bonuses.
In addition to substitutions, Xibei also vigorously introduced funds. In January this year, industrial and commercial information showed that Xibei completed Series A financing. Investors include Taizhou Xinrongtai Investment Co., Ltd., Hohhot Collective Co-creation Enterprise Management Center (Limited Partnership), Chengdu Schindler Optoelectronics Co., Ltd., Hangzhou Zhouxuan Equity Investment Management Partnership (Limited Partnership), etc. At the same time, the registered capital increased from 89.9 million yuan to 101 million yuan, an increase of approximately 13.1%. The shareholding ratio of founder Jia Guolong and some original shareholders dropped to approximately 26.16%. Some comments said that this meant that Xibei received a round of “life-saving money.” By March this year, Xibei once again attracted investment. Lin Lairong, founder of Zhongxing Group, serves as a shareholder of Xibei, and the latter obtained 2.1626% of the equity with an investment of 2.247572 million yuan.
In addition to these, Xibei is also working hard on brand management. They first cut prices on the original brand to welcome customers. Before November 2025, Xibei will systematically adjust the prices of 30-40 dishes on the menu, with an average reduction of about 20%. At the same time, a customer recall plan was launched: from “get a 100 yuan voucher for any purchase in the store” to “buy 50 and get 50 free”, and then to the daily half-price dishes on the takeout platform. However, the actual effect was not good, and the discount could not bring the passenger flow back to the original level. Subsequently, Jia Guolong proposed the idea of ”closing some, transferring some, and retaining some” to transform some existing stores into new brands. The new brand “Tianbian Claypot Braised Noodles” opened in Beijing 798 in February 2026, with per capita consumption of 40-60 yuan. As of mid-August, there are 32 stores in operation across the country, concentrated in Inner Mongolia, Shanghai, and Beijing. Some stores were directly rebranded from the original Xibei stores, and the decoration and kitchen systems were retained to reduce store expansion costs. However, in less than half a year, some stores of new brands have also suspended operations.
Xibei fell into bankruptcy. Visual China
分析
Zhu Danpeng, a Chinese food industry analyst, pointed out that the Xibei Guan store is related to the previous crisis of prepared dishes, but “is not a decisive factor.” China’s catering industry has entered a “cold winter” since the second quarter of 2025. Mid-to-high-end catering that relies on business banquets has been particularly affected. In addition, rigid costs such as ingredients, labor, and rent have risen. The controversy over prepared dishes “has only further aggravated operating pressure. The core contradiction still lies in the adaptation of the cold industry environment and the company’s own business strategy.”
Some media commented that although public opinion incidents may have a short-term impact on the brand, the long-term development of the company ultimately depends on its own operating capabilities and the speed of adapting to the market. Jia Guolong previously admitted that he failed to follow professional public relations advice and chose to be tough with consumers, which was a response error. “Xibei’s road to ‘overwintering’ will ultimately depend on its own transformation and innovation.” Judging from the data, Xibei’s current contraction far exceeds normal adjustments. Even though there are still more than 200 stores across the country still operating, there is a long way to go to restore brand trust and adjust operations. We will always pay attention to whether Xibei will be completely closed or reborn in the future.
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