A Chinese catering company with deep roots in seafood sourcing has gotten a CNY 300 million (USD 43.6 million, EUR 39.1 million) cash injection from a state-owned conglomerate.
The Xinliangji Company, which sources seafood but also controls its own seafood-focused restaurant chains, has taken the money from the Hong Kong listed Sino Ocean Group, in what is the company’s third refinancing in as many years.
Xinliangji is attractive to investors because of its focus on concept dining favored by China’s younger consumers, whom it serves with traditional favorites like pickled fish, hairy crabs, and spicy crayfish. Among the dining brands it operates are “Yu Ban Zhang” and the “Feng Wei” chain, which serves crab “farmed in rice paddies.”
Company CEO Li Jian has promised his firm will revolutionize China’s catering industry by making the value chain more efficient. His firm claims to have 100 restaurant outlets operating nationwide, but it’s not clear if all of these are franchised or self-operated.
The firm also claims to have exclusive supply arrangement with crayfish and crab producers across China.
Annual retail sales price for all full-service restaurants in China was worth CNY 3 trillion (USD 435.8 billion, EUR 390.8 billion) in 2017 and the sector is set to continue growing in the high single-digits over the next few years, led by restaurant chain expansion, according to the China Chain Store and Franchise Association.
