Zhang Yong: The King Of Hotpot
SME Magazine Singapore|October 2019
“Zhang would leave his low-wage jobs and opened his first shop in 1994 with only 4 tables in a small booth. He’s admitted that he didn’t even have a cooking background, or a strong handle on preparing the traditional Sichuan hotpot dish, he told Forbes.”
Zhang Yong: The King Of Hotpot

Food! Glorious Food!” That is the name of the famous song everyone can relate to from the 1968 musical “Oliver!” Everyone can relate to good food. In this world of many diverse cultures and languages, good food is the one thing that can bring everyone together.

As many of you might know by now, good food has an almost magical way of making you happy. Even more so when you are sharing that food around friends and family while making merry. Each culture around the world has developed some sort of feast and cuisine that is meant to be shared. Such communal eating not only provides delicious meals, but uplifts the spirit of the feasters.

The Chinese hotpot is one such cuisine. It is a delicious and fun communal eating experience that is thought to hail from Eastern China. Typically, it involves a huge bowl of broth placed in the centre of a table that is heated there via induction or flame. Ingredients ranging from raw vegetables to thinly sliced meats are also placed on the table (or sometimes on a nearby cart) so that diners can submerge them in the broth to cook before eating.

While it is certainly a popular Chinese dish that you’ll stumble upon when traveling in China, it isn’t terribly common elsewhere, with the exception of a few different variations in other Asian countries. However, a few enterprising individuals have found themselves with the opportunity to spread the joys of hotpot throughout the world. Hotpot is now growing in popularity all over the globe and there are no signs of it slowing down.

If there is one name that has become synonymous with hotpot as of late, it would be Zhang Yong, CEO and founder of Haidilao. Zhang’s story is that of the classic underdog. Through his entrepreneurial nature and perseverance, he was able to go from a high-school dropout to a world renown magnate and one of Singapore’s richest restaurateur.

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