The topic of "Xibei reported on the verge of complete collapse" recently surged to the top of trending lists, igniting widespread public discussion. According to a post by a prominent Weibo influencer, Xibei's founder Jia Guolong would personally shoulder the majority of the company's debt, relinquish his equity, retain roughly 100 profitable stores to be operated independently by employees, and strive to sustain the livelihoods of 3,000 to 4,000 people. The post claimed Xibei would entirely shut down within two to three months.

Amid the swirl of collapse rumors, the newly launched brand "Tianbian Claypot Braised Noodles" under Jia's direct management has also seen its Beijing Cuisine Impression City outlet close its doors. On-site visits revealed the main storefront is now completely shuttered and obscured by oversized posters, signaling a halt in operations. Staff at neighboring restaurants remarked: "It closed two days ago (September 17). The Luo Yonghao incident hit them hard. This outlet was converted from an original Xibei store, but it still couldn't survive."

Launched in February with its first store in Beijing, Tianbian Claypot Braised Noodles has expanded to nearly 30 outlets nationwide. However, as the store count grew, closures have begun emerging across Beijing, Shanghai, Hohhot, and other cities. In the Beijing area alone, the Cuisine Impression City outlet is the second closure in recent weeks.

While the "Xibei on the verge of collapse" narrative dominates headlines, Jia's new entrepreneurial ventures are encountering turbulence as well. Meanwhile, the significantly extended payment timeline for departing employees' severance packages is fueling growing dissatisfaction. One former Xibei employee lamented: "Mr. Jia, stop the frenzy and save some money to pay us our severance!"

Converted in two days, closed and up for lease after four months
At the Cuisine Impression City mall in Haidian, Beijing, the former Tianbian Claypot Braised Noodles outlet has vanished, its facade now covered by promotional materials from other brands like Feidachu, Yangfang Shuanrou, and Binsushi. Only a side door sign reading "Xibei Tianbian Claypot Braised Noodles delivery pickup point" remains as evidence of its past. A nearby restaurant employee stated: "This was converted from an original Xibei store. They pulled off the renovation and sign swap in just two days and rushed to open. It operated for only about four months before shutting down on September 17."

When asked about the cause, the employee explained: "They had poor foot traffic from day one." In their view, after the public backlash following Luo Yonghao's criticism, Xibei's overall brand reputation suffered a severe blow, and this negative perception directly impacted the new Tianbian brand, leading consumers to distrust the project and ultimately making it unsustainable. According to mall management, the outlet is now listed for lease.

The closures extend beyond this single location. In Beijing, another Tianbian Claypot Braised Noodles store at Fengke Wanda Plaza has ceased operations and been converted into "Tianbian Yangduo," another new project under the Xibei umbrella. In Shanghai, two outlets on Dongfang Road and Huangpuhui have also closed, as has a store in Hohhot. These staggered shutdowns reflect a synchronized contraction of the project across multiple regions rather than isolated store-level issues.

A Xibei customer service representative confirmed these closures, attributing them to "strategic adjustments in company planning," but declined to disclose specific reasons or remediation steps.

Persistent store closures and Jia's difficult self-rescue
In February, Tianbian Claypot Braised Noodles debuted with its flagship store in Beijing's 798 Art District. As a new dining brand incubated by Xibei Group, the project was personally overseen by Jia, aiming to repurpose existing Xibei store locations for low-cost, rapid openings in an attempt to shed legacy baggage with a fresh label. Yet, the rapid cycle of openings followed by swift closures underscores that the market validation for this venture has not gone smoothly.

More critically, following Luo Yonghao's pre-made food controversy in September, Xibei's operations began a sharp decline, with customer traffic dropping precipitously. By November 2025, overall revenue had fallen to 265 million yuan, less than half of the previous year's figures for the same period. From September 2025 to March of the current year, Xibei accumulated losses exceeding 600 million yuan. To counter these losses, Xibei shuttered 102 stores in the first quarter of 2026, representing approximately 30% of its total outlets.

Data from the Zmkcy platform shows that as of August 15, Xibei had 228 operating stores. However, by September 19, that number had dropped to 226, a further reduction of two within a month. Even with external funding injections, the store count continues to dwindle, and the fallout from the brand trust crisis persists in eroding its core business.

In response to the mounting pressure, Jia has not chosen to consolidate or take a breather. Instead, he is pinning hopes on incubating new projects. Tianbian Claypot Braised Noodles embodies this self-rescue strategy: leveraging prime locations from existing Xibei stores, executing simple renovations, and swiftly rebranding to create low-cost new brands in hopes of distancing them from the parent company's negative image. However, the pattern of rapid openings followed by quick closures across multiple cities suggests that merely swapping brand labels cannot insulate these ventures from Xibei's underlying trust crisis.

According to Tianyancha App, a new entity named Wuhan Xibei Mingyou Catering Management Co., Ltd., wholly owned by Inner Mongolia Xibei Catering Group, has recently been established, with legal representative Li Mingyou and registered capital of 400,000 yuan. Its scope includes catering management, cultural and art exchange activities, fresh fruit retail, daily necessities sales, and conference and exhibition services. Could Jia be launching yet another new project? As of press time, Xibei had not responded.

The "no wage arrears" pledge falls short as Jia's promises waver
Under operational strain, Jia's previously pledged commitments to employees are facing fulfillment challenges, with labor disputes intensifying. During the mass store closures earlier this year, Jia publicly vowed: "For employees who must leave, not a single cent of wages will be withheld; we won't shortchange anyone." Yet, that promise has evidently shifted recently.

Several former Xibei headquarters employees have revealed that the 2025 year-end bonus, originally slated for disbursement in July, has been postponed to a schedule of five installments by the end of 2026. Severance payment deadlines have also been stretched, moving from 2026 all the way to installment settlements by 2028. "Mr. Jia broke his word," one ex-employee stated. Another noted: "Our supervising manager called and said it's mandatory, not up for discussion." This employee, who resigned in April, is still owed approximately 140,000 yuan in compensation. A growing number of former staff have filed for labor arbitration to assert their rights.

While Jia continues pouring resources into incubating and iterating new ventures like Tianbian Claypot Braised Noodles and Tianbian Yangduo, the payment cycles for employee severance keep lengthening. Under tight cash flow conditions, the allocation choices highlight Jia's management dilemma: continuously making promises amid crisis, even as Xibei's current operational reality makes it increasingly difficult to fulfill them. With the core business suffering persistent closures and significant losses, new brands emerging only to be quickly shuttered, and internal trust fractures from labor disputes, Jia's path to self-rescue through new ventures appears fraught with profound uncertainty.