Jiumaojiu International Holdings – the operator of one of China’s largest seafood restaurant chains – reported a 10.1 percent drop in sales during the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year, signaling that Chinese consumer sentiment remains tenuous.
Profits at Jiumaojiu, which operates the popular Tai Er chain of restaurants, fell 13.7 percent year over year to CNY 58.7 million (USD 8.2 million, EUR 7 million) during the six-month period.
Same-store sales at Tai Er, which offers a range of fish soups that feature species like pangasius, tilapia, snakehead, and shrimp, dropped 19 percent in the first half of the year compared to a period in 2024, which itself saw a 15.5 percent decline year over year, according to company results filed with the Hong Kong stock exchange.
As a result of the ongoing domestic difficulties, Tai Er is closing several outlets.
The company now has 566 Tai Er locations in operation, compared to 614 in the same period last year. Of those, 535 are in China, compared to 592 in the first half of 2024. The company did, however, grow its store count abroad in the same time frame, increasing from 22 to 31 outlets operating outside China.
The international expansion has come about largely due to much more lucrative margins from overseas stores. Its H1 2025 results report showed that average spending per customer at the restaurant’s China outlets totaled CNY 66 (USD 9.05, EUR 8.71) compared to CNY 155 (USD 21.26, EUR 20.47) per customer in the chain’s other regions.
Describing the outlook for the firm, Jiumaojiu Holdings said it would follow a “prudent” policy with regard to opening new stores, which may come in foreign countries with large Chinese populations, including nations in North America and Southeast Asia, while also “decisively closing” underperforming outlets.
This aligns with strategies laid out late last year by the firm in which it cut back domestic expansion plans.
Competitive firms are also struggling in China.
Restaurant operator Jumbo Group, which owns restaurants across Asia, including over 20 outlets of Jumbo Seafood, announced its revenue fell 10.6 percent year over year in the six months to the end of March 2025.
During that time frame, revenue from Jumbo’s Chinese outlets fell 2.5 percent year over year to SGD 9.6 million (USD 7.5 million, EUR 6.5 million) from “weak consumer confidence and cautious spending” in the country, according to the firm.
