Will the 59 Yuan/Person Shrimp Paste Hot Pot Buffet Become the Next 'Beef Rib Buffet'?

59 yuan/person shrimp paste buffet: small-town youth achieve 'shrimp paste freedom'?

Recently, returning to my hometown, I found that a second-tier small city in Hebei has actually opened several 'shrimp paste hot pot buffets'.

Compared to ordinary hot pot buffets, this place can be called a 'shrimp paste museum': from original shrimp paste to fish roe shrimp paste, mushroom shrimp paste, squid shrimp paste, and even dragon fruit shrimp paste, there are more than a dozen varieties.

Besides shrimp paste, the store also offers chicken paste, beef paste, fish paste, and other 'paste derivatives,' all neatly packed in bamboo tube-shaped containers, arranged in rows in the cold cabinet, quite spectacular.

In addition to shrimp paste, the store also has traditional hot pot items like beef, mutton, vegetables, and mushrooms. Desserts, drinks, and ice jelly that are common in traditional hot pot buffets are also available, and some stores even add pizza and other staple foods.

Of course, most consumers are there for 'shrimp paste freedom.'

In fact, in the past year alone, a batch of chain shrimp paste hot pot buffet brands have emerged, even expanding beyond Hebei province.

For example, Shijiazhuang's Cijie Freshly Made Shrimp Paste Self-Service Hot Pot, founded last year, has already opened 66 stores, reaching Shandong, Jilin, Jiangsu, and other places; Chengkebei Shrimp Paste Self-Service Hot Pot, founded around the same time, has opened nearly 40 stores in Hebei, Shanxi, Heilongjiang, and Jilin.

Jianglaolao Shrimp Paste Seafood Hot Pot Buffet, which opened its first store in Zhejiang, now has a presence in 12 provinces across the country, with 20 new stores opened this year alone; Laoxiaoxian Shrimp Paste Seafood Hot Pot Buffet, founded in 2018, has also accelerated its expansion since last year, with 40 new stores opened since 2025.

The category is so hot that it has even become popular in South Korea. Recently, a netizen posted that South Korea also has shrimp paste hot pot buffet, with the 'bamboo tube + shrimp paste' setup identical to that in China.

Why Shrimp Paste?

There are several reasons for the rise of shrimp paste hot pot buffets.

On one hand, shrimp paste has become increasingly valuable in the catering industry and is already a classic signature item in the hot pot track. Data from MaxWin's offline retail monitoring network shows that in 2025, shrimp paste category sales increased 56.9% year-on-year, with volume up 60.6%, ranking first in growth among frozen food subcategories.

In five provinces—Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hunan, and Guizhou—shrimp paste even 'overtook' beef balls to become the top hot pot ball product category.

On the other hand, shrimp paste naturally carries a premium quality, meeting consumers' expectations of 'getting their money's worth.' Despite its popularity, this 'frozen product dark horse' is not cheap. For example, at Haidilao, a serving of signature large-grain shrimp paste (about 140g) costs 74 yuan; even in supermarkets, a pack of Anjoy shrimp paste can cost 16.5 yuan per 150g.

Correspondingly, eating a few servings of shrimp paste at a buffet can perfectly offset the 59 yuan ticket, and eating some other items can successfully 'break even,' making it quite tempting.

Most importantly, the upstream supply chain for shrimp paste is becoming stronger, with increasing production technology and output. For example, Daixiaji focuses on the single category of shrimp paste and took the lead in drafting the 'Shrimp Paste' Group Standard in 2023 and the 'Frozen Shrimp Paste' National Standard in 2024, now achieving monthly sales exceeding 100 million yuan and annual sales over 1 billion yuan.

For the catering industry, especially the hot pot track, the upstream supply chain is the core lifeline for brands to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and ensure quality. The rise of these shrimp paste supply chains has also brought a turning point for the emergence of shrimp paste hot pot buffets.

Will Shrimp Paste Hot Pot Buffet Become the Next 'Beef Rib Buffet'?

According to Chenzhi Big Data, in the past year, the number of shrimp paste buffet stores grew rapidly from less than 10 to more than 500, mainly distributed in lower-tier markets.

Using a signature item buffet model to create differentiation and quickly opening stores in a short time inevitably brings to mind the similar 'beef rib buffet.' The latter rose quickly in the second half of 2024 and then saw mass closures in early 2025, with some merchants losing over 2 million yuan in just three months.

Of course, unlike the beef rib buffet, which opened when beef prices dropped and closed when beef prices rose, shrimp paste costs are relatively controllable, and the development of the upstream supply chain has also reinforced the category's foundation.

However, it is worth noting that ingredient costs are just the 'last straw' for beef rib buffets. Another major reason for the decline of beef rib buffets is that most stores only rode on the trend of the internet-famous 'beef rib' without converting category popularity into brand repurchase, ultimately falling out in a homogenized market.

For these emerging shrimp paste hot pot buffet brands, challenges such as brand differentiation, product innovation, and store operations management still exist. Whether they can scale up in the long run remains to be seen.