Last December, Baheli, a hotpot chain brand owns 2000 branch stores in Mainland, landed Hong Kong and opened two stores in half a year. The Project Leader of Hong Kong Baheli Catering Management, Mr Xu Longyi states that they will use Hong Kong as a testing ground to prepare for overseas expansion.
In December last year, Baheli Beef Hotpot officially entered Hong Kong, with its first store located at New Town Plaza in Sha Tin. (Photo by InvestHK)
Xu Longyi, project manager of Hong Kong Baheli Catering Management Co., Ltd. (Photo by Bastille Post)
The very first branch store was opened at Sha Tin New Town Plaza, and another store was opened at Nam Cheong after half a year. Baheli is famous for its Chaoshan beef hot pot, Xu Longyi says that Hong Kong has diverse costumers and picky taste for food, which provides excellent testing ground for Baheli. He explains : “Owning international market, Hong Kong has people from different parts of the world, which makes the tastes and needs of costumers very diverse. We hope we can test whether our dishes, price and service can be adapted into a market like this by running stores in Hong Kong, and make preparations for other overseas market. ”
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In December last year, Baheli Beef Hotpot officially entered Hong Kong, with its first store located at New Town Plaza in Sha Tin. (Photo by InvestHK)
Xu Longyi, project manager of Hong Kong Baheli Catering Management Co., Ltd. (Photo by Bastille Post)
The new store at Nam Cheong V Walk covers an area of approximately 4,000 sq ft and can accommodate 100 to 120 seats. (Photo by Bastille Post)
The brand specially designed customized refrigeration equipment to precisely control temperature and humidity, ensuring the freshness and texture of the beef. (Photo by Bastille Post)
Baheli uses fresh beef. (Photo by Bastille Post)
Diner Ms. Kong said, "Considering the environment and service in Hong Kong, I think the value for money is very high, and the presentation here is much more refined." (Photo by Bastille Post)
Xu Longyi stated that the core of the brand lies in its commitment to fresh ingredients and the inheritance of Chaoshan culture. (Photo by Bastille Post)
The new store at Nam Cheong V Walk covers an area of approximately 4,000 sq ft and can accommodate 100 to 120 seats. (Photo by Bastille Post)
Xu Longyi mentions that although Sha Tin is not traditional uptown area like Causeway Bay or Tsim Sha Tsui, it is a mature business district and owns stable family and young costumers, which highly matches the brand position of Baheli. “We mainly offer friendly price and consuming environment that is suitable for family, young people and businessman. Sha Tin New Town Plaza is a ‘down-to-earth’ mall and can support our footfall.” He also adds that the operation of Sha Tin store remains stable since the opening last year, keeping stable footfall on both weekdays and weekends, the consumption of per costumer can reach 250 to 300 hkd and has gradually got used to local consuming habites.
Half a year after the opening of the first store, Baheli chooses to open its second store in Hong Kong at Nam Cheong V Walk this month to further expand its business in Hong Kong. Xu Longyi says that they have considered carefully to choose Nam Cheong V Walk. “Nam Cheong V Walk is a mall for young people and has stable footfall, its consuming environment matches our brand positioning.”
The new store at Nam Cheong V Walk covers approximately 4,000 square feet and can accommodate 100 to 120 seats, the design has fully considered needs of different costumer groups. The four-people booth in the store is suitable for couples and young people, and the two individual dining rooms are particularly for businessman and party, equipped with facilities like TV, costumers can watch movies or ball games in them.
Compared to the first store, the Nam Cheong store has made many improvements on dishes, adding Teppanyaki-style dishes, Chaoshan specialties like kway teow (rice noodles), and black olives, while introducing Chaoshan beverages such as Huangpi juice (wampee fruit drink), further incorporating more Chaoshan cultural elements. Furthermore, to fit into the taste of Hong Kong consumers, Nam Cheong store adds choices like seafood, barbecue and soup, and improves the matching way of the side dish and beef according to the feedback from the market.
The Nam Cheong store insists to “freshly cut to order” to make sure it will not exceed 4 hours from cutting beef to the table.The brand's custom-designed refrigeration equipment precisely controls temperature and humidity to ensure optimal freshness and texture of the beef. The store also features an open kitchen design, allowing customers to visually observe the beef being freshly cut to order.
The brand specially designed customized refrigeration equipment to precisely control temperature and humidity, ensuring the freshness and texture of the beef. (Photo by Bastille Post)
Facing the high cost of operation in Hong Kong, Baheli chooses to overcome the difficulties. Xu Longyi says frankly that the cost of transportation and labour sharply higher than Mainland since the beef need Customs import from Mainland. “We insist to use fresh beef, which makes the cost higher, but we will not totally transform the cost on the consumers.” By improving the operation and changing the price, Baheli chases the balance between the cost and the acceptance of the costumers.
Baheli uses fresh beef. (Photo by Bastille Post)
As for Hong Kong residents' northbound consumption trend, Xu Longyi says he is not worried about the footfall get affected. “Northbound consumption is a choice for part of people, but there are a lot of local people care about the quality and service. Our goal is to provide dining experience of high quality, and making people feel it worth the payment.” He adds that the staff team of Baheli all receive professional training, every beef cutting master has the experience of more than 5 years to make sure the quality is same as Mainland’s.
Although it is noon on weekday, there is no empty seat at Baheli’s Nam Cheong store. According to the observation of the reporter, many of them are office workers.
Diner Ms. Kong said, "Considering the environment and service in Hong Kong, I think the value for money is very high, and the presentation here is much more refined." (Photo by Bastille Post)
The costumer A Ying gets to know the opening of Nam Cheong Baheli because she lives nearby. She says the meat here is very fresh, and she ordered every beef dish which makes her full and the taste is delicious. Another costumer Miss Kong says the price of Hong Kong store is a little higher, compared to Mainland’s, but considering the environment and service of Hong Kong, she thinks it a good deal. She also says the dish set is much more delicate here and she will come again if there is discount or balance meal.
When talking about future, Xu Longyi says he would consider open more branch stores if there is suitable mall and position, but must make sure the quality and serive of every store matches the requirement.
Otherwise, Baheli also has plan to expand overseas market, but the mature of time and the conditions will be taken into consideration.
Xu Longyi stated that the core of the brand lies in its commitment to fresh ingredients and the inheritance of Chaoshan culture. (Photo by Bastille Post)
During the process of Baheli landing in Hong Kong, it also receive the firm support from Invest HK. Xu Longyi says the government has helped them in talent acquisition and the opening. “Our staff needed professional training, so Invest HK helped us successfully introduced the Mainland team, which made the opening more smooth.” He feels grateful for the support of the government, which provide significant insurance for brand landing.
