China's hotpot billionaire ready to take on the world

Beijing

ZHANG Yong, the co-founder and chairman of Haidilao, one of China's most successful hotpot chains, remembers his first time eating out. As a 19-year-old welder in Jianyang, Sichuan, it was exhilarating to escape the proletarian company cafeteria and dine in an actual restaurant, a rare experience for him at the time.

But the staff was rude and the hotpot didn't inspire. Then came a twist of fate that would change China's culinary history: Mr Zhang bolted from his job at a state-owned tractor factory in a dispute over a company apartment for him and his fiancée. In 1994, he opened his first restaurant with just four tables.