On October 11, the “23rd China Fast Food Industry Conference & China Fast Food Categories & Representative Brands Release Conference,” hosted by the China Cuisine Association, was grandly held in Dalian. During the event, the Association released the “2018 Top 70 Chinese Fast Food Enterprises” list.

Portfolio company Laoxiangji, backed by Harvest Capital, ranked fourth in the “2018 Top 70 Chinese Fast Food Enterprises”—trailing only KFC, McDonald’s, and Burger King—and emerged as the national champion of Chinese fast food. With a record of 800 directly operated stores across China, it also claimed the top position in the “2019 Chinese Fast Food Brands” ranking.

Who Is Laoxiangji?

Jiang Junxian, President of the China Cuisine Association, remarked that Laoxiangji is a highly grounded Chinese fast‑food leader that meets the needs of mass‑market diners.

He added that the biggest test for Chinese fast‑food brands lies in standardizing product quality and service while maintaining unified management. In his view, Laoxiangji has already established its own complete industrial chain for product supply, introduced advanced production lines, and maintains strict quality control across the entire supply chain.

In terms of operations, Laoxiangji has developed a distinctive philosophy and approach—including its expansion model, central‑kitchen setup, and unmanned distribution system—all of which position it to capture a larger share of the dining market.

Today, Laoxiangji has expanded beyond Anhui, establishing a presence in cities such as Nanjing, Wuhan, Xuzhou, and Shanghai, and is steadily becoming a truly national chain‑fast‑food brand.

In January 2018, Harvest Capital invested RMB 200 million in Laoxiangji, becoming its largest institutional investor. Over the past two years, Harvest Capital has supported Laoxiangji across multiple dimensions—business management, internal system building, and external market expansion—helping to accelerate its nationwide development.

In July 2018, Harvest Capital assisted Laoxiangji in acquiring Wuhan Yonghe, a time‑honored local breakfast brand with over 20 years of history and a leading position in Wuhan’s healthy‑breakfast segment. Through this acquisition, Laoxiangji successfully entered Wuhan’s highly competitive dining market.

As of October 2019, all 800+ Laoxiangji stores are directly operated. The company oversees a full‑process industrial chain covering upstream breeding, mid‑stream processing, and downstream sales, delivering healthy and flavorful chicken soup to every household and consumer.

Currently, the company employs over 15,000 staff, has served customers more than 600 million times, welcomes over 400,000 diners dailyon average, and achieves annual sales exceeding RMB 3 billion, firmly establishing itself as a leader among national dining brands.

What Will Laoxiangji Become?

Shu Congxuan, Chairman of Laoxiangji, stated that over the next two to three years, the company aims to grow to 1,500 stores and reach a sales target of RMB 10 billion.

His confidence stems from Laoxiangji’s fully integrated industrial chain: the company operates its own all‑natural breeding base to ensure safe and stable ingredient supply, and it has introduced advanced production lines to maintain stringent quality control throughout the entire chain.

A bowl of savory “Feixi Old Hen Soup”—simmered from 180‑day free‑range chickens, Nongfu Spring water, and 21 precise steps—is the signature offering that defines Laoxiangji’s product appeal.

To ensure rapid supply, Laoxiangji built a 60,000‑square‑meter central kitchen in Hefei several years ago, capable of supporting 1,200 restaurants. To accommodate national expansion, a second central kitchen near Shanghai is also in active preparation.

In store operations, Laoxiangji adheres to a "standardized directly‑operated model" and has implemented rigorous internal controls, enabling 24/7 operation.

As a forward‑looking company, Laoxiangji never stops evolving. In October 2018, under the leadership of second‑generation successor Shu Xiaolong, Laoxiangji launched its fifth‑generation store.

The store design blends low‑brightness gray and natural wood tones, with an open and transparent layout that aligns with contemporary youth aesthetics. It replaced the previous “order‑pay‑pick‑up” flow with a more flexible “self‑select” model that better meets consumer needs.

The fifth‑generation stores also thoughtfully address the entire dining journey—offering hand‑washing stations before meals, self‑service options during meals, and post‑meal amenities—delivering a more considerate, high‑quality dining experience from start to finish.

According to Shu Xiaolong, General Manager of Laoxiangji Group, Laoxiangji aims to be the “family kitchen” for Chinese consumers—pursuing excellence in cleanliness, hygiene, nutrition, and taste—and to become the preferred Chinese fast‑food brand for hundreds of millions of Chinese families.

Founder and Chairman Shu Congxuan believes that over the 40 years of reform and opening‑up, per‑capita spending in China’s dining sector has grown from less than RMB 6 in 1978 to RMB 3,073 in 2019—a "512‑fold increase". In such a favorable environment, Chinese fast food is poised to enter a new spring of development.

Alan Song, Chairman of Harvest Capital—Laoxiangji’s largest institutional investor—notes that with China’s dining market exceeding RMB 4 trillion, leading player Haidilao holds a market value of about RMB 170 billion, representing less than 3% market share. By comparison, in the US dining market, which is valued at USD 800 billion, a multinational giant like McDonald’s has achieved a market capitalization of USD 160 billion. This suggests immense room for growth in the industrialization of China’s dining sector, and Laoxiangji is among the enterprises best positioned to break through and reach new heights.

Always moving forward, Laoxiangji not only conveys community‑oriented culture but also continues to explore the long road ahead—bringing Chinese fast food nationwide and, in time, beyond China’s borders.

Harvest Capital will continue its mission to “support the private economy and empower Chinese consumption,” working side‑by‑side with Laoxiangji to create a legend that belongs to Chinese chain restaurants.

Note: Portions of this article are adapted from the public account “Looking at Anhui.”