China ‘most capable waitress’ begins career at top hotpot chain, becomes overseas unit CEO
‘Loyal’ lowly restaurant worker makes meteoric rise to top of corporate career ladder; leads projects to boost company profits, takes chain global
The senior executive of China’s leading hotpot brand Haidilao, Yang Lijuan, has been hailed as “China’s most capable waitress” thanks to her legendary waitress-turned-CEO story.
Yang, 47, started her career as an ordinary waitress at Haidilao, which used to be a small hotpot restaurant in southwestern China’s Sichuan province.
In 2022 she became the restaurant chain’s CEO after its founder Zhang Yong stepped down. Now, Yang is the CEO of Haidilao’s overseas unit, Super Hi.
Yang was born in Sichuan in 1978 and dropped out of secondary school as a teenager.
In 1995, she joined Haidilao, which was established in one of the hotpot’s hometowns, Sichuan, in 1994, as a waitress.
During her first year with Haidilao, Yang’s family’s creditors came to her home demanding they pay a debt they owed. Zhang generously offered to pay 800 yuan (US$115), which was twice the city’s average monthly salary back then.
Yang reportedly decided to stay with Haidilao for life.
