The hotpot market (includes only restaurant dining) has maintained robust growth of RMB533.6 billion in 2019, with a CAGR of 11.0% from 2014-19. Disruption caused by lockdown has hit the sector in an unprecedented manner, and business’ recovery is hindered by lots of challenges (such as social distancing and consumers’ reduced discretionary spending on non-essentials). Mintel forecasts an 11.6% drop in terms of market size in 2020, and the market is predicted to take 1-2 year(s) returning back to pre-COVID levels.

The market is dominated by several category leaders, with the leading position held by Haidilao. The outbreak means only the fittest will survive, and contributes to accelerating consolidation in the hotpot sector. Also, COVID-19 opens up opportunities for hotpot brands to expand revenue streams by diversifying retail formats.

The epidemic brings healthy eating to the front of consumers’ minds, which encourages hotpot businesses to go beyond just looking at differentiators of flavour, and to provide more nutritive offerings in their menus in future.

• How the market has responded to the outbreak of COVID-19

• Market factors that influence the development of the hotpot dining market

• The performance of leading brands in 2019

• Consumers’ attitudes towards hotpot dining and hotpot delivery services

This Report explores consumers’ dining habits and attitudes towards hotpot and hotpot delivery services. The following will be discussed in the scope of this Report, but are not included in the hotpot dining market sizes:

• Takeaway hotpot

• Self-heating hotpot

Figure 1: Example of takeaway hotpot and self-heating hotpot

Takeaway hotpot	Self-heating hotpot

Source: Baidu.com

Mintel divides consumers into three groups based on their monthly household income (MHI), by city tier:

Ready meal = a meal sold in a pre-cooked form that only requires reheating.