Shrimp Paste Hot Pot Buffet $59 Profit Logic: The Next Beef Rib Trend?

## $59/person Shrimp Paste Buffet: Small-town Youth's 'Shrimp Paste Freedom'? Recently, when returning to my hometown, I found that a second-tier small city in Hebei has opened several 'shrimp paste hot pot buffet' restaurants. Unlike ordinary hot pot buffets, these are more like 'shrimp paste museums': original flavor, fish roe, mushroom, squid, even dragon fruit shrimp paste - more than a dozen varieties. Besides shrimp paste, there are chicken, beef, fish pastes - 'paste derivatives' - uniformly packed in bamboo tube-shaped containers, arranged in rows in refrigerated cabinets, with a strong atmosphere and display. ## Beyond Shrimp Paste: Traditional Hot Pot and Sides Complete In addition to shrimp paste, the stores offer traditional hot pot items like beef, lamb, vegetables, and mushrooms; common buffet desserts, drinks, and ice jelly are also available, and some stores even add pizza as a staple. However, most consumers come for the 'shrimp paste freedom.' ## Chain Explosion: Multiple Hebei Brands Expand to Other Provinces In fact, in the past year alone, a number of shrimp paste hot pot buffet chain brands have emerged in Hebei and expanded across provinces. - Example 1: Shijiazhuang's 'Cijie Fresh Beaten Shrimp Paste Buffet Old Hot Pot' was founded last year and has already opened 66 stores in Shandong, Jilin, Jiangsu, etc. - Example 2: Hebei's 'Chengkebei Shrimp Paste Hot Pot Buffet' was founded at the same time and has opened nearly 40 stores in Hebei, Shanxi, Heilongjiang, and Jilin. Meanwhile, 'Jiang Laolao Shrimp Paste Seafood Hot Pot Buffet,' which opened its first store in Zhejiang, now covers 12 provinces; concurrently, 'Lao Xiaoxian Shrimp Paste Seafood Hot Pot Buffet' is accelerating store openings, with 40 new stores in 2025. Some netizens even mentioned that shrimp paste hot pot buffet has appeared in South Korea, with a similar 'bamboo tube + shrimp paste' setup. ## Why Shrimp Paste? Value, Profit Expectation, and Supply Chain Synergy ### 1) Shrimp paste as a classic hot pot item, market continues to heat up One reason for the rise of shrimp paste hot pot buffet is the growing value application of shrimp paste in the catering industry; it is already a classic big-item in hot pot. MaShangYing offline retail monitoring network data shows: - 2025 shrimp paste category sales increased 56.9% year-on-year - Equivalent sales volume increased 60.6% year-on-year - Fastest growth among frozen food subcategories In Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hunan, and Guizhou, shrimp paste has even surpassed beef balls to become the top category of hot pot balls. ### 2) Premium nature reinforces '$59 profit return' mindset On the other hand, shrimp paste carries a premium connotation, satisfying consumers' profit return expectations. For example, at Haidilao, a serving of signature large-grain shrimp paste (about 140g) costs 74 yuan; in supermarkets, Anjoy shrimp paste can be priced at 16.5 yuan per 150g. Therefore, under a $59 buffet ticket, eating a few servings of shrimp paste can constitute 'breaking even'; combined with other hot pot items, the profit return experience is easily amplified. ### 3) Upstream supply chain strengthened: group/national standards drive capacity and quality More importantly, the shrimp paste upstream supply chain is getting stronger, with continuous increases in production technology and output. For example, 'Daixiaji' focuses on the single category of shrimp paste and led the drafting of the 'Shrimp Paste' group standard in 2023 and the 'Frozen Shrimp Paste' national standard in 2024. Now its monthly sales exceed 100 million yuan, with annual sales over 1 billion yuan. For the catering and hot pot track, the upstream supply chain is the core lifeline for brands to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and ensure quality; the rise of the supply chain also brings a turning point for the emergence of shrimp paste hot pot buffet. ## Will It Become the Next 'Beef Rib'? Fast Growth, but Testing Long-term Capabilities Chenzhi Big Data shows that in the past year, the number of shrimp paste buffet stores has grown rapidly from less than 10 to over 500, mainly in lower-tier markets. 'Using a big-item single product buffet model to create differentiation and opening stores quickly in a short time' inevitably reminds people of the similar 'beef rib buffet.' Beef rib buffet rose rapidly in the second half of 2024 and began batch closures in early 2025; some merchants lost over 2 million yuan in just three months. Unlike beef rib, shrimp paste costs are relatively controllable, especially with upstream supply chain development 'reinforcing the foundation' for the category. But note: ingredient cost is just the last straw affecting results. Another major reason for beef rib's decline was that many stores only rode the internet trend without converting category heat into brand repurchases, eventually losing out in a homogeneous market. For emerging shrimp paste buffet brands, challenges in brand differentiation, product innovation, and store operations management still exist. Whether they can scale over the long term remains to be seen.