Caterer turns on the heat (2)

The motto at Haidilao is "Service first, customers first" and it has been known to push it to the extreme.
One of Haidilao's first tactics to lure Chinese diners was a free nail beauty service while they waited for a seat. There were also free drinks, fruit and cake as well as shoe-polishing. Potential customers could kill time by surfing the Internet on the restaurant's computers or play cards and chess.
One day during the summer of 2009, Zhang randomly visited a Haidilao outlet in Beijing and found the watermelons on offer as free desserts were not sweet enough. When asked why, the outlet manager said sweeter watermelons would cost them 10,000 yuan more a day.
Zhang took the matter very seriously.
He said: "Costs and profits, the financial figures - they are soulless. I believe that showing real feelings toward the customers would help boost your business rather than dwelling on these figures.
"In fact, there is room for more competition in the Chinese catering market. It has enormous potential. Chinese consumers easily find satisfaction if you care about them a bit more. We just made a little more effort to please our consumers and then won over the market," he said.
During a period when the company was developing rapidly, Zhang considered listing the business, but not for long.
He said that it would be dangerous to obtain a great amount of money after an initial public offering and then start aggressively adding more new outlets without a concrete system for the training and supply of human resources as well as quality services.
Many catering companies in China just went too fast and their brands disappeared after a round of blind expansion, he added. The service-oriented restaurant chain seems to be doing all the right things and avoiding most of the pitfalls plaguing others.
"Take McDonald's or KFC as an example. They have their corporate genes throughout the process of manufacturing and selling as well as their systematic management models, which is the difference between them and us," Zhang said.
Someone once said that happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
Zhang said: "It is similar when it comes to successful and unsuccessful companies."
Employees' passion
Haidilao is a family without a blood relationship.
Employees all call Zhang Yong "big brother Zhang" while he usually calls them "my little kids".
The company rent apartments near the restaurants for employees with access to the Internet and air conditioning.
Zhang said that consumer satisfaction is difficult to measure, but ensuring that employees nurture a desire to take better care of them is vital.
Zhang is committed to establishing a proper human resources system for Haidilao. Most of his employees are young with limited education and from small towns or rural areas.
Shaking off poverty and improving one's destiny is undoubtedly an encouraging slogan for migrant workers.
"The core philosophy of Haidilao is that you can change your life using your own hands," said Zhang. "I give these so-called migrant workers hope of a better life by working hard."
At Haidilao, every employee has the chance to be promoted. Zhang said that he avoids appointing managers who did not start in the lowliest of positions.
Yuan Huaqiang is an example. The countryside boy used to be the meeter and greeter at the entrance, as well as working as a dishwasher and waiter.
Now, at 27, he is a general manager in Beijing and has been the owner of a 3 million yuan apartment in the capital since 2007, where he lives with his parents.
Employees of more than three years' standing can get an annual subsidy for their children's education, worth anything from 3,000 to 10,000 yuan.
Zhang still hopes to take his catering business outside China, taking the view that a more fierce competitive environment could boost the company's development and improve service considerably. The domestic business would then benefit from that.
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