Sister Xiao Gu Founder Zhang Ke: Spicy Hotpot Supply Chain Must Meet 3 Brand Requirements

Ask AI · Why is it harder to manage ingredients than sauces in the spicy hot pot (malatang) supply chain management?

On March 25, the 2026 China Catering Industry Festival and the 35th HCC Global Catering Industry Expo, jointly hosted by the World Chinese Cuisine Association and Hongcan.com, were held at the Hangzhou Convention and Exhibition Center. Among them, at the “2026 China Food Ingredients Development Forum,” Zhang Ke, founder of Sister Xiao Gu, shared her understanding of sustainable supply chains.

△ Founder Zhang Ke of Sister Xiao Gu

Zhang Ke said that for the malatang category, a sustainable supply chain must achieve stable flavors and standardization. At the same time, costs must be controllable. In addition, health and safety are also important demands that catering companies place on the supply chain. In the past, consumers would first pursue what tasted good, and then choose some healthy, safe products from among what was good. Now, you need to ensure health and safety first; on that basis, then choose what tastes good.

Zhang Ke also shared some challenges in the malatang supply chain.

In her view, the malatang supply chain is relatively simple and can be divided into several major parts, such as sauces, packaging materials, and ingredients. Keeping the consistency of output for sauces and packaging materials is very basic, and it is also a key area where malatang brands must strictly control. This kind of management is manageable.

By contrast, managing the ingredients supply chain is more difficult. For example, fresh vegetables like leafy greens and fresh tofu products—these supply chains are not very mature, and delivery efficiency in various aspects cannot keep up. At present, many stores still adopt a local purchasing model. In that situation, how can the headquarters ensure, through strong operational control, that store ingredients are both fresh and have stable quality? That is a challenge.

As for ingredients in ambient temperature and frozen categories—such as products in the fish ball/sliced ball style and processed meat categories—the development process has been going on for many years and is already very mature, but this will also become a challenge for the headquarters to enforce strong control and centralized procurement of ingredients.

When discussing the market environment, Zhang Ke analyzed that it can be clearly felt that foodservice consumption is much lower than in the past few years, and there is a serious imbalance between supply and demand, with supply exceeding demand. At the same time, there has also been a phenomenon of consumption downgrading: consumers’ pockets have gotten tighter, but their requirements for quality have increased.

Based on market changes, Sister Xiao Gu has made some adjustments. For example, on the basis of existing core categories, she iterates and optimizes products and menus to accommodate all scenarios.

Specifically, in recent years, Sister Xiao Gu has added a “fragrant pot” option based on the foundation of malatang and mala cold noodles (malan). Because the fragrant pot’s “great with rice” attribute and “small-group sharing” attribute provide a strong complement to the malatang category. In addition, the renovation and environment have also been adjusted toward a lighter, more casual, clearer, and brighter direction.