Chapter 1: What Is Haidilao? The Hot Pot Restaurant That Feels Like a Friend

Have you ever waited an hour for a hot pot restaurant, bored out of your mind while your parents chat with their friends? Have you ever had a birthday dinner where the servers just bring you a cake and leave, no extra fun at all? What if I told you there’s a hot pot restaurant where waiting for a table feels like a playdate, and your birthday feels like a party with 100 new friends? That restaurant is Haidilao, the hot pot spot that treats every guest like a long-lost friend, and its service system is a real, repeatable “magic trick” that works for every team, every class, and every project you’ll ever be part of.

Haidilao was started in 1994 by a man named Zhang Yong, in a tiny town called Jianyang in Sichuan, China. Back then, it was just four tables squeezed into a 25-square-meter space, smaller than your average classroom. Zhang Yong didn’t start with a big fancy plan to build a global hot pot empire. He just loved eating hot pot with his friends, and he noticed something: all the other hot pot restaurants only cared about making their soup tasty and their meat fresh. No one cared about how the guests *felt* while they ate. Zhang Yong thought that was silly. “Eating isn’t just about filling your stomach,” he told his early team. “It’s about having fun with the people you love, just like coming over to a friend’s house for dinner.” That simple idea was the first seed of Haidilao’s magic.

Today, that tiny four-table restaurant has grown into a global hotspot with more than 1400 stores across 11 countries, from China to the United States, Singapore to Japan. If you walk into a Haidilao in New York or London, you’ll get the exact same warm welcome as you would in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. More than 100 million people eat at Haidilao every single year, and almost a third of those guests are kids like you, coming with their parents for a fun family dinner. You might even spot a foreign kid at the next table, munching on Haidilao’s sweet tomato soup and laughing at the servers doing the viral “科目三” dance for their birthday. That’s the magic of Haidilao: it makes people from all over the world feel at home.

The Signature “Over-the-Top” Service You’ll Only Find at Haidilao

Haidilao’s service feels like magic because it does things no other restaurant dares to do, all to make guests feel special. Let’s look at the most famous tricks that kids love the most:

1. Waiting for a table? That’s the best part of the trip! Most restaurants make you stand around awkwardly while you wait for a table, scrolling on your phone or nagging your parents to hurry up. At Haidilao, waiting is a treat. As soon as you walk in, a server will hand you a free snack—maybe a crispy rice cracker, a sweet jelly, or a warm cookie straight out of the oven. If you’re waiting for more than 15 minutes, they’ll bring out a whole tray of snacks, plus free drinks: warm milk for little kids, soda for older kids, even hot tea for your parents. If you’re bored, they’ll bring you board games, puzzles, even a handheld gaming console to play with while you wait. For older kids and moms, they have free nail services: you can pick any color you want, even sparkly pink with little star stickers, and the nail artist will paint it perfect, no charge at all. If your dad’s glasses are smudged, or your mom’s shoes are scuffed, they’ll even clean them for free, no questions asked. <!-- 纸书插图提示：此处为跨页全彩插画，画面是等位区的小女孩坐在软垫椅子上，手里拿着果冻，旁边的工作人员正给她做粉色带小花朵的美甲，背景里还有其他小朋友在玩跳棋，餐桌上摆着免费的零食盘 --> <!-- 电子版侧边栏提示：💡 小彩蛋：如果你在等位的时候说“我今天过生日”，服务员可能会偷偷给你多拿一份你最喜欢的零食，还会给你准备一个小惊喜哦！ --> <!-- Markdown 语义标签：<!-- 服务模块：等位服务 --> -->

2. Birthdays that feel like a concert! If you tell the server you’re celebrating a birthday before you sit down, you’re in for a show. No boring “happy birthday” hummed under their breath here. The whole team will gather around your table, waving LED light sticks, singing the birthday song at the top of their lungs, and even doing silly dances like the super popular “科目三” dance that all the kids in China are learning at school. They’ll bring you a custom birthday hat with your name on it, a free birthday gift (sometimes a cute plush toy, sometimes a free meal voucher for your next visit), and a special bowl of longevity noodles with a sunny-side-up egg on top, just like the kind grandma makes for you at home. If you’re shy and don’t want a big show, just whisper to the server, and they’ll tiptoe around, only giving you a little birthday surprise when no one else is looking. <!-- 电子版超链接：[点击观看海底捞小朋友生日会现场视频](https://haidilao.com/kids-birthday-demo) --> <!-- Markdown 语义标签：<!-- 服务模块：生日服务 --> -->

3. They treat your kids like their own! If you bring a little sibling or a friend who’s still in diapers, the server will bring a cute baby chair with a safety belt before you even ask for one. They’ll hand out free baby snacks like steamed egg and soft fruit, so your little sibling doesn’t get cranky while you wait for your food. If you spill your drink all over your shirt, they won’t just hand you a wet wipe—they’ll bring you a brand-new kid-sized Haidilao apron with your favorite cartoon character on it, and even offer to clean your spill for you. If you don’t like spicy food, they’ll make you a special non-spicy tomato soup with extra corn, and serve you first, before the grown-ups get their food. It feels like having

Have you ever waited an hour for a hot pot restaurant, bored out of your mind while your parents chat with their friends? Have you ever had a birthday dinner where the servers just bring you a cake and leave, no extra fun at all? What if I told you there’s a hot pot restaurant where waiting for a table feels like a playdate, and your birthday feels like a party with 100 new friends? That restaurant is Haidilao, the hot pot spot that treats every guest like a long-lost friend, and its service system is a real, repeatable “magic trick” that works for every team, every class, and every project you’ll ever be part of.

Haidilao was started in 1994 by a man named Zhang Yong, in a tiny town called Jianyang in Sichuan, China. Back then, it was just four tables squeezed into a 25-square-meter space, smaller than your average classroom. Zhang Yong didn’t start with a big fancy plan to build a global hot pot empire. He just loved eating hot pot with his friends, and he noticed something: all the other hot pot restaurants only cared about making their soup tasty and their meat fresh. No one cared about how the guests *felt* while they ate. Zhang Yong thought that was silly. “Eating isn’t just about filling your stomach,” he told his early team. “It’s about having fun with the people you love, just like coming over to a friend’s house for dinner.” That simple idea was the first seed of Haidilao’s magic.

Today, that tiny four-table restaurant has grown into a global hotspot with more than 1400 stores across 11 countries, from China to the United States, Singapore to Japan. If you walk into a Haidilao in New York or London, you’ll get the exact same warm welcome as you would in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. More than 100 million people eat at Haidilao every single year, and almost a third of those guests are kids like you, coming with their parents for a fun family dinner. You might even spot a foreign kid at the next table, munching on Haidilao’s sweet tomato soup and laughing at the servers doing the viral “科目三” dance for their birthday. That’s the magic of Haidilao: it makes people from all over the world feel at home.

The Signature “Over-the-Top” Service You’ll Only Find at Haidilao

Haidilao’s service feels like magic because it does things no other restaurant dares to do, all to make guests feel special. Let’s look at the most famous tricks that kids love the most:

1. Waiting for a table? That’s the best part of the trip!

Most restaurants make you stand around awkwardly while you wait for a table, scrolling on your phone or nagging your parents to hurry up. A