Hotpot chain to close 300 outlets

Chinese hot pot chain Haidilao International (6862) is to shut down or suspend 300 underperforming branches by the end of this year, it said in an exchange filing.

Staff at these stores would not be laid off but reassigned within the company.

The company also said on its official Weibo account that the lower-than-expected performances of those stores are mainly due to its rapid expansion in 2019. However, some of the stores may reopen at appropriate times within two years, it said.

Haidilao also revealed its "Woodpecker" plan in the filing, which aims to improve its operating performance.

One goal of its plan is to slow down its business expansion strategy. If the average table turnover rate of Haidilao restaurants is less than four a day, no new stores will be opened on a large scale in principle, the company said.