Recently, major hot pot brands have kept pace with market hot spots and trends, accelerating the pace of new products. For example, Haidilao has launched new special products such as freshly cut Qingyuan chicken and seafood porridge pot bottoms. Guangshunxing has launched new series of new products such as Guangfu soup pot and Shunde dry steamed dishes. Zhuangchun hot pot has launched tea-flavored pot bottoms, and Qixintian has launched the "crab flavor" crayfish set.

  At present, what trends are hot pot brands showing in product innovation? What is the current development status of the hot pot track? In order to explore these problems, the Red Catering Industry Research Institute and Meixin Food jointly launched the "New Trend Insight Report on Hot Pot 2025". The following is part of the report.

  The hot pot track has entered the stage of stock competition, and brands accelerate product innovation to enhance market competitiveness

  In recent years, with the increasing number of entrants, the hot pot track has begun to enter the stage of stock competition. According to Hongju Big Data, the national hot pot market size reached 617.5 billion yuan in 2024, an increase of 5.6% year-on-year, a significant decline from 2023.

  In terms of the number of stores, the number of hot pot stores showed a fluctuating adjustment trend from 2023 to the first quarter of 2025. Among them, hot pot stores gradually declined after reaching a peak of 535,500 in the third quarter of 2024, and decreased to 504,800 in the first quarter of 2025.

  At the same time, per capita consumption of hot pot is showing a continuous decline. Hongju Big Data shows that from 2023 to the first quarter of 2025, the proportion of hot pot stores with per capita consumption of more than 90 yuan dropped from 27.9% to 11%, a decrease of 16.9 percentage points; while the number of hot pot stores with per capita consumption of more than 70 yuan and below increased from 44.8% to 65.7%, an increase of 20.9 percentage points.

  In order to maintain brand vitality and competitiveness in the increasingly competitive hot pot market, many hot pot brands have accelerated the speed of product innovation and iteration.

  According to the new product data of sample brands monitored by the Red Catering Industry Research Institute, from January 2024 to March 2025, 43 hot pot sample brands launched a total of 1,009 new products, with an average of 1.56 new products per brand every month. Judging from the monthly data, hot pot brands have launched a large number of new products in spring, midsummer, winter and other seasons.

  Judging from the situation of launching new brands in specific brands, most brands have maintained new new products once every 1 to 2 months. Among them, the leading brand Haidilao ranked first in the number of new products with nearly 100 new products, with an average of 6.53 new models per month; Tan Sanniang’s fresh cut beef buffet hotpot also performed well, with an average of 6.4 new models per month; the monthly new products of brands such as Banu Maodu Hotpot, Zhu Guangyu Hotpot Restaurant, Zhu Kuang Hotpot, Laowang Pot Food and Shu Daxia all exceeded two.

  Judging from the sample brands monitored, brands such as Haidilao, Tan Sanniang freshly cut beef hotpot, and Banu tripe hotpot have higher frequency of new launches, both exceeding once a month.

  From the perspective of the categories of new products, from January 2024 to March 2025, among the new products launched by the hot pot sample brands, hot pot side dishes accounted for the highest proportion, reaching 46.0%; followed by drinks, accounting for 14.3%; pot bottom ranked third, accounting for 10.7%. In addition, desserts, special dishes and special snacks all account for a certain proportion of new products.

  It can be seen that the hot pot track has formed a multi-dimensional product innovation pattern, among which side dishes, pot bottoms and "hot pot+" are important focus points for the brand.

  Regional, niche, fresh cut and other ingredients have attracted attention, and the pot bottoms such as sour soup flavor and clear soup flavor are outstanding.

  Through continuous tracking of some sample brands of the hot pot track, the Red Restaurant Industry Research Institute believes that the new trends in the hot pot track are mainly concentrated in: regional, niche, fresh cut and other ingredients; sour soup flavor, clear soup flavor and other pot bottoms; upgrades of dipping area. At the same time, upstream companies are becoming an accelerator of product innovation. For example, Meixin Food has launched a monthly new strategy to help catering brands solve the problems of new product research and development.

  1. Regional, niche, fresh cut and other ingredients have attracted attention, and fresh cut and fresh cut chicken continues to rise

  The unique on-site hotpot dining style makes side dishes a key element in hotpot brand product innovation. In recent years, many hot pot brands have actively explored special ingredients from all over the country, and have successfully created differentiation while meeting consumers' new needs. For example, Banu Maodu Hotpot has launched the "Vegetables New Monthly" plan, which goes deep into the origin every month to find side dishes and ingredients suitable for hot pot. From January 2024 to March 2025, it launched dozens of regional ingredients such as Yunnan high-altitude fresh tribute dishes, Honghu powder lotus root, Sichuan panda bamboo shoots, and Lipu taro.

  At the same time, niche and seasonal ingredients such as coriander, folded ear root, golden ear, purple yam, malan head, pea tip, cucumber tender seedlings have also been discovered by some brands and presented them on the hot pot table. In addition, in order to satisfy consumers' pursuit of fresh ingredients, freshly cut beef, freshly cut mutton, freshly cut chicken and other freshly cut ingredients have also attracted much attention.

  In terms of freshly cut ingredients, driven by the continued decline in beef prices, freshly cut beef hot pot has risen rapidly. Data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs shows that in mid-April 2025, the wholesale price of beef has risen to 61.53 yuan/kg, an increase of 7.3 percentage points from the end of February 2025. Therefore, many hot pot brands have begun to look for freshly cut ingredients with more stable prices, such as freshly cut chicken. According to the Red Catering Industry Research Institute, a number of hot pot brands focusing on freshly cut chicken have emerged on the market, and Haidilao also opened its first "Freshly cut chicken workshop store" in Shenzhen in March 2025, focusing on freshly cut Qingyuan chicken.

  2. Spicy flavored pot bottoms are still the mainstream in the market, and the taste of sour soup and clear soup are becoming increasingly prominent

  Judging from the new flavors of the sample hot pot brand’s pot base, spicy flavor is still the mainstream flavor in the hot pot market. From January 2024 to March 2025, spicy-flavored pot bottom new products ranked first with 28.4%; followed by sour soup flavors and clear soup flavors, accounting for 23.0% and 21.6% respectively. In addition, some of the new pot bottoms include ingredients, fusion pot bottoms, etc., and the taste of hot pot bottoms is becoming increasingly diversified.

  From the perspective of innovative directions of new pot bottoms, in addition to upgrading the classic spicy pot bottoms, tomato pot bottoms, mushroom soup pot bottoms, etc., the brand is also actively exploring regional specialty pot bottoms, such as Guizhou sour soup pot bottoms, fig chicken soup pot bottoms, etc.

  Since 2024, the popularity of sour soup hotpot represented by Guizhou sour soup, Yunnan sour soup and Hainan dregs vinegar has continued to rise, and a number of representative brands have emerged in each sub-track. At the same time, many hot pot chain brands have also launched sour soup-style pot bottoms.

  For example, brands such as Haidilao, Banu Maudu Hotpot, Dezhuang Hotpot, and Weila Xiao Hotpot have launched Guizhou-style sour soup pot bases; brands such as Zhu Guangyu Hotpot, Mushroom Wild Fungus Hotpot, Zuoting Youyuan Fresh Beef Hotpot have launched Yunnan-style sour soup pot bases; Siji Coconut Forest has launched Hainan-style sour soup pot bases.

  While the sour soup-flavored bottom is popular, the clear soup-flavored bottom has also attracted market attention for its unique taste and health attributes. The bottom of the soup pot has a light taste, and the bottom of the pot is usually based on stock or water, and is cooked by adding a small amount of simple seasoning ingredients. In the hot pot market, the clear soup base is not only the protagonist of the sub-track tracks such as Cantonese hot pot, Northern Hot Pot and Yunnan Shanye Hot Pot, but also a fixed combination of some mandarin duck pots in the Sichuan-Chongqing hot pot track.

  In recent years, with the increasing fierce market competition, many hot pot brands have actively explored more local specialty clear soup bases, such as beef bone soup bases, chicken soup bases, medicinal food soup bases, mushroom soup bases, fish soup bases, porridge water bases, etc., and have met consumers' curiosity and diversified needs through innovative pot base flavors, further enriching the choice of clear soup bases.

  Among them, the popularity of fig chicken hotpot with Lingnan flavor characteristics continues to rise, and gradually moves from regional characteristics to nationalization. At present, a number of brands that mainly focus on fig chicken hotpot have appeared in cities such as Lin Xianji Chicken Pot, Wu Qiufang Chicken Pot, Xiaowang Crispy Chicken Pot, Lifang Border Roof, etc. At the same time, brands such as coconut chicken hotpot and chicken pot hotpot in the Cantonese hotpot segment have also followed suit and launched fig coconut chicken soup bases. Even some Sichuan and Chongqing hotpot brands have joined this trend, such as Haidilao launched fig Qingyuan chicken soup pot set meals in some stores.

  Fig Chicken Hotpot is a special delicacy in Guangdong. It is a hot pot form that uses fig chicken soup as the base and cut freshly cut chicken into the boiling soup base to quickly boil and cook. This way of eating not only retains the crispy and tender texture of the chicken, but also allows the chicken to fully absorb the mellow and sweetness of the soup base, and also exudes a faint fruity aroma, which is deeply loved by consumers.

  It is worth noting that fig chicken hotpot not only pays attention to fresh cut of chicken ingredients, but also requires high requirements for the soup base. The soup base needs to maintain a sweet taste and a rich fruity aroma during a long period of high temperature and boiling, so that the freshly cut chicken can be quickly scalded, crispy, tender, and sweet, with a fruity aroma.

  For hot pot brands, it is not only difficult to ensure the unity of taste and quality by the store, but also the traditional chicken soup base mixed with fig soup base tastes lighter and lacks freshness, which affects the taste of the chicken. Understanding this pain point, some upstream supply chain companies have specially developed and launched fig chicken soup base for fig chicken hotpot.

  For example, Meixin Food was the first to launch fig chicken soup base in March 2025. It is made and mixed with red dates, chicken soup, figs, corn, longan, astragalus, etc., and has the characteristics of clear soup color, sweet, fresh and sweet, rich fruity aroma and unique taste. The store only needs to add two ingredients to the prepared soup base to serve.

  As the popularity of fig chicken pot on the hot pot track increases, the flavor of this soup base has gradually been paid attention to by brands in other catering tracks. According to the observation of the Red Catering Industry Research Institute, brands have launched fig chicken soup-related products in the tracks such as flour noodles, rice fast food, and Chinese formal meals. For example, the rice noodle brand Zhuangwang Chicken Soup Bridge Rice Noodle has newly launched fig Qingyuan Chicken Rice Noodles; the casserole porridge brand Huoqi Casserole porridge has launched fig Qingyuan Chicken Pot and other products.

  In order to meet the innovation and research and development of fig chicken soup products by other track brands, some upstream companies have also further expanded the application scenarios of fig chicken soup. Taking Meixin Food as an example, after launching fig chicken soup base, it has carried out application scenario research and development for hot pot, snacks, fast food, Chinese meals and other tracks, and provided one-stop solutions for different application scenario needs.

  3. The dipping area is upgraded to another base for hot pot brand innovation, and regional characteristics have become the main innovation direction of "hot pot +"

  Dipping sauce is not only the soul mate of hot pot, but also one of the factors that enhance consumers' sense of value and differentiated experience in dining. In recent years, many hot pot brands have upgraded the dipping area to a self-service small dish, and extended the types of small ingredients from basic dipping sauces such as oil, salt, vinegar, chili sauce to specialty dipping sauces, fruits, snacks, desserts, cold dishes, staple foods and other products. Some brands even have dozens of small ingredients.

  Among them, seasonal fruits, regional specialty snacks and special dishes are the key to the iteration of Xiaoqian products and brand creation differentiation. For example, Haidilao will change seasonal fruits from small ingredients from time to time, and will also launch special dishes and snacks in different regions, such as cold fish skin, ice powder, spicy strips, etc.

  In addition, in order to meet consumers' needs for quick seasoning, some hot pot brands not only provide dipping sauce matching guides for different ingredients and flavors on the small ingredients table, but also launched special dipping sauces for "one-in-one seasoning". For example, the Coward Hot Pot Factory launched beef soul dipping sauce and special 37 sesame sauce on Xiaojiao in 2024, which can be directly adapted to beef and mutton and other ingredients.

  In terms of "hot pot +", as the trend of integrating various catering categories deepens, the application scope of the "hot pot +" model is becoming more and more extensive. From January 2024 to March 2025, among the new products launched by sample hot pot brands, non-hot pot products account for more than 40%, covering multiple categories such as beverages, desserts, snacks, special dishes, etc.

  Among them, in terms of beverages, the hot pot brand not only follows the trend of the live beverage track, launching a number of popular milk teas and fruit teas of the season, but also actively explores local specialty drinks, such as Yunnan sour corner juice, Hainan freshly squeezed coconut juice, etc.; new desserts show a trend of integration of Chinese and Western products, and some vegetables have also become creative ingredients for desserts; in terms of special snacks and special dishes, the brand has deeply explored regional food culture and launched snacks, dishes and staple foods such as fried skewers, grilled sweet potatoes, patten tofu, juicy seafood, hand-grabbed lamb chops, jacked jelly pot, claypot rice and other snacks, dishes and staple foods to meet the diversified needs of consumers.

  4. Upstream companies are becoming an accelerator of product innovation. Meixin Food’s monthly new strategy helps catering brands solve the problems of new product research and development

  In recent years, the rapid development of the hot pot track and its product iteration are inseparable from the in-depth support of the upstream supply chain. At present, a number of professional representative enterprises have emerged in all links from planting/breeding, food processing, seasonings, kitchen equipment, cold chain logistics to digital applications.

  For example, in the field of seasonings, upstream companies represented by Yihai International and Meixin Food have built a new ecosystem of collaborative innovation with upstream and downstream, providing support for product innovation of hot pot brands.

  Taking Meixin Food as an example, it is a modern enterprise specializing in the research and development of soup and sauce composite seasonings, integrating production and sales. With more than 20 years of catering operation experience, Meixin Food has accumulated more than 5,000 catering seasoning formulas, which can provide catering brands with full-link flexible customization solutions including formula customization, taste customization, and packaging customization. At present, many well-known chain brands including hot pot, Chinese-style meals, snacks and fast food have established cooperative relationships with them.

  At the same time, Meixin Food also accurately captures consumption trends through market research and provides brands with products and flavors that meet the market trend. For example, in 2024 and 2025, it launched a series of products such as raw boiled beef rice noodles soup base and fig chicken soup base, respectively, helping catering brands seize the market opportunity.

  In terms of products, Meixin Food’s products cover four series: hot pot flavor soup base, hot pot base, hot pot dipping sauce, and Chinese seasoning sauce, which can meet the product innovation needs of catering brands in hot pot bottom, dipping sauce and cross-category products.

  In addition, in order to help catering brands solve the pain points of high cost of new product research and development, Meixin Food launched a new strategy of "new products every month and hot products every quarter" in 2024 to better and faster meet the new product needs of catering brands.

  At a time when competition in the catering industry is becoming increasingly fierce, product innovation capabilities have become the core competitiveness of catering brands, and accurately capturing market trends is the key to brand standing out. To this end, the Hong Catering Industry Research Institute and Meixin Food have summarized the following three major hot pot product innovation trends for relevant practitioners in the hot pot track: the dimension of product innovation will continue to upgrade; the market share of light-flavored pot bottoms will gradually expand; and the evolution cycle of cross-category products will be shortened. (Author: Red Catering Industry Research Institute)

[Editor in charge: Xu Ning]