During the 2026 Spring Festival, younger individuals have taken the lead as "holiday planners," bringing new settings and meanings to the traditional family reunion holiday and influencing changes in festive dining habits. From special New Year collaborations to regional holiday-themed products, Haidilao has leveraged a "festive atmosphere" to cater to various reunion scenarios. As a familiar dining spot for many young people, Haidilao saw particularly frequent visits during the 2026 Spring Festival holiday period. Internal data from Haidilao shows that over the 9-day holiday from February 15th to 23rd, its stores nationwide served more than 14 million customers.
During the holiday, Haidilao focused on scenarios like family reunions and friend gatherings by enhancing store decorations, organizing interactive activities, and launching new seasonal menu items to create a strong New Year atmosphere. For example, the company launched a "My Little Pony" themed series of activities for the Year of the Horse, featuring collaborative desserts, special children's meals, and interactive games to enrich the in-store dining experience. Some Haidilao locations in different cities also introduced unique regional products. In Hangzhou, certain stores drew inspiration from purple ingredients and the festive meaning of "auspiciousness from the east" to offer three "purple prosperity dishes." In Nanjing, some locations served flower-shaped steamed buns shaped like koi fish, allowing customers to more directly experience the Spring Festival ambiance.
Beyond collaborative events and regional specialties, Haidilao's exploration of innovative store formats also accommodated high customer traffic during the holiday. Notably, the Haidilao Da Paidang Hotpot location in Nanning's Jiangnan Wanda Plaza opened on February 21st and demonstrated significant popularity. Following the opening of its first store in Guangzhou, the Haidilao Da Paidang Hotpot format has expanded to cities including Shanghai, Wuhan, Qingdao, Fuzhou, and Nanning, all of which saw active customer flow during the holiday, with some locations experiencing waitlists of several hundred tables at peak times.
Even after the holiday concluded, the demand for group dining continued. From February 23rd to March 2nd, Haidilao launched a promotion in multiple locations under the theme "First Meal Back to Work: Start at Haidilao." Customers presenting travel documents from their return journey after the holiday could enjoy a 15% discount on their meal. The initiative aimed to accompany people as they transitioned from the holiday back to daily routines, adding a warm, ceremonial touch to the start of the new year.
A representative from Haidilao stated that as younger people increasingly take charge of Spring Festival arrangements, the brand's presence in their lives is also growing. While it is a familiar choice for casual gatherings on ordinary days, it serves more family reunions and friend meetups during the holiday. Furthermore, it has become a popular choice for the "first post-holiday gathering" as people return to their cities after the break.
From family reunions at hometowns to the trend of "north-south swaps," diverse ways of celebrating the New Year have driven active customer traffic to Haidilao stores. During the Spring Festival, customers placed greater emphasis on the "sense of reunion" and "festive feeling," with many young people introducing their elders to their preferred dining style, which is becoming a new tradition for numerous families. Ms. Zhang, a Haidilao Black Sea member working in Shanghai, returned to her hometown of Yuzhou, Henan for the holiday and took different relatives and friends to Haidilao on three separate occasions. She noted that even her New Year's Eve dinner was at Haidilao, and her parents, who initially seemed hesitant, ended up enjoying the experience the most.
A regional manager for Haidilao in Henan mentioned that many stores in lower-tier cities within the province met the dual demand of "family reunion meals for returnees" and "local leisure dining." Customer traffic was notably high during the holiday, with some stores in cities like Zhoukou, Nanyang, Zhumadian, and Jiaozuo serving over 2,000 customers daily. Across the province, Haidilao served more than 900,000 customers over the 9-day period.
The "north-south swap" travel trend remained popular, with Guangdong, Fujian, and Hainan becoming ideal destinations for family trips and reunions. Haidilao stores in Guangdong collectively served over 1.7 million customers. Cities such as Shantou, Zhuhai, Jiangmen, and Zhongshan saw active traffic driven by a combination of tourism, family visits, and inter-city travel. In the first few days of the holiday, all five Haidilao locations in Shantou experienced significant increases in customer numbers.
This year, major first-tier cities were no longer "empty" during the holiday, as many families chose to celebrate in their city of work, sometimes even bringing parents from their hometowns to join them. Cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen saw increased average daily customer traffic at Haidilao compared to the previous year. This "reverse reunion" trend reflects a shift in how younger generations perceive the "essence of the New Year"—it is not just found in one's hometown, but wherever family gathers.
This trend of "reuniting in the city of work" is not only evident among customers but also among the families of frontline employees who remained on duty during the holiday. Haidilao organized a "Winter Warmth Camp" for employees' children across the country, providing activities such as in-store learning sessions, New Year crafts, cooking classes, educational outings, and family bonding time. This initiative allowed families of frontline staff to enjoy more companionship and reunion moments in their work cities during the Spring Festival.