Zhang Yong
Overview
- Source of Wealth
- Restaurants
- Industry
- Food & Beverage
- Residence
- Singapore
- Marital Status
- Married
Assets
- Haidilao International Holding2,081,763,000 shares @ --6862-HK
- Super Hi International208,176,000 shares @ --9658-HK
- Yihai International Holding118,407,000 shares @ --1579-HK
Biography
Restaurateur Zhang Yong is chairman and CEO of Sichuan hotpot chain Haidilao International Holding, which went public in 2018.
Haidilao has nearly 1,400 restaurants in Greater China. It is renowned for its spicy dishes and attentive customer service, including free manicures for waiting customers.
It spun off its overseas business Super Hi, which went public in Hong Kong in 2022 and had a dual listing on Nasdaq in 2024. Super Hi has over 100 restaurants in international markets.
Having never finished high school, the entrepreneur says he didn't even know how to prepare the typical Sichuan hotpot when he started.
Three friends, including Shu Ping who became his wife, helped with seed money, but he ran the place. He stepped down as CEO in 2022 to focus on long-term strategies, but returned to the post in 2026 to address a slump in the company's business performance.
About
Haidilao means deep-sea fishing, or literally "scooping the bottom of the ocean."
Zhang often spent the night in his first restaurant on a foldaway bed. His worst memory was breaking a $100 aquarium he had saved up for to display fresh seafood.