At the age of 16, in order to help her brother pay off his debts, she dropped out of junior high school to work in a foreign country;
After 24 years of ups and downs, she counterattacked from a "working girl" to the chief CEO of Haidilao, and the boss Daniel Zhang also gave her 3 billion.
In March this year, she ranked eighth on the Forbes China Outstanding Business Women list, beating Dong Mingzhu and other bigwigs.
This amazing Sichuan girl is Yang Lijuan, who is known as "the best waiter in Haidilao".
The source of this article comes from official media (The Paper "Haidilao founder Daniel Zhang stepped down as CEO, 43-year-old "veteran" Yang Lijuan took over", Beijing News "From a monthly salary of 100 yuan to a net worth of 10 billion: "the most bullish waiter" became the CEO of Haidilao", interface news "Haidilao new CEO Yang Lijuan: the counterattack road of the most bullish waiter"", The Paper "Haidilao new CEO Yang Lijuan: the counterattack road of the most bullish waiter"" However, in order to improve the readability of the article, there may be polishing of the details, please read sensibly, for reference only!
Paying off debts for the family Dropped out of school to work
In 1978, Yang Lijuan was born in Jianyang, Sichuan, and has two older brothers. Although it is a rural family, her parents and brothers are very fond of the "elder" Yang Lijuan, which also allows Yang Lijuan to spend a happy childhood. In order to improve the family's conditions, Yang Lijuan's brothers used their family savings to start a honeycomb coal business, but it failed before it could improve.
The brothers' entrepreneurship not only did not succeed, but made the family have a large amount of debt, and the debt collector took the bill every once in a while to block the door and ask for money. Yang Lijuan was 16 years old that year, only halfway through junior high school, and her education was also affected by debt. The two elder brothers felt sorry for their sister and swore that they would have to provide for Yang Lijuan to complete their studies even if they smashed the pot and sold iron, but Yang Lijuan did not agree.
Yang Lijuan
Yang Lijuan felt that she should do something for her family, so she dropped out of junior high school and went to work in other places alone. Because she was young and had no education, she repeatedly hit a wall in her job search, and the money she brought with her before leaving home was about to bottom out. When Yang Lijuan was desperate, the owner of a restaurant took her in and offered her a job with a monthly salary of 120 yuan. Now, Yang Lijuan finally settled down.
Although the scale of the restaurant is not large, Yang Lijuan is still grateful for the owner's relief and does her best to serve customers every day. When it comes to payroll, she usually only leaves 10 yuan for herself as food money, and sends the rest home. Although the waitress's work was dirty and tiring, Yang Lijuan never complained, which allowed her to slowly walk into Daniel Zhang's sight.
Daniel Zhang
The year Yang Lijuan went to the county to work was 1994, when Daniel Zhang and his wife had just founded Haidilao. Sichuan is the golden area of the hot pot industry, and in order to make his Haidilao business more prosperous, Daniel Zhang often visits Yang Lijuan's restaurant. He admired Yang Lijuan's capable work style very much, so he found the latter and wanted to poach him with a monthly salary of 160 yuan.
Yang Lijuan did not agree, and chose to change jobs for a high salary, but she lived up to the boss's kindness to her. Seeing that Yang Lijuan had made up her mind, Daniel Zhang did not force her, but left her her address and contact information before leaving. Yang Lijuan remained at her original restaurant until a year later when the restaurant owner closed the shop and went to other places, and she switched to Daniel Zhang's Haidilao.
Although Haidilao also makes hot pot, its business philosophy and system are very different from the latter, focusing on "fast, stable and accurate". is also a waiter, Yang Lijuan in Haidilao must not only ensure that the gap between serving dishes is not too tender, but also have a service attitude in place at all times. Fortunately, through the tempering of the small restaurant, Yang Lijuan, who has outstanding business ability, quickly adapted to everything, and her performance became more and more eye-catching.
However, Yang Lijuan's job is stable, but her family is still plagued by debt. One day, Yang Lijuan's mother came to the door to borrow money from Yang Lijuan, saying that the creditor was at home and refused to leave. But at that time, Yang Lijuan had just sent money to her family, and she was really tight on hand, so she had to ask Daniel Zhang for help. After Daniel Zhang learned about it, he let the finance open 800 to Yang Lijuan without saying a word.
Yang Lijuan was grateful for this, she thought it should be regarded as an overdraft salary, but Daniel Zhang called it a "bonus" for Yang Lijuan. Although a few hundred yuan is not much, thanks to Daniel Zhang's charcoal in the snow, Yang Lijuan's family was able to escape the entanglement of creditors. This experience made Yang Lijuan firm in her determination to stay in Haidilao, she longed to break out of the world here, but will the reality be as she wishes?
Successfully counterattacked with a net worth of over 100 million
In 1999, 21-year-old Yang Lijuan was sent by Daniel Zhang to the Xi'an branch to independently take charge of the operation of the new store. That was probably when Yang Lijuan was the most devastated, the small advertisements and flyers posted out every day were always torn up by the chengguan, and she had to learn to use a computer and read books in the store. The store has been open for a long time, and there is no customer flow in the new store, and Yang Lijuan once had the idea of "quitting".
Yang Lijuan thought about resigning and leaving, but because of Daniel Zhang's encouragement, she eventually stayed. In order to increase the flow of customers, Yang Lijuan takes her employees to the streets every day to distribute flyers, and sometimes prepares hot soy milk for pedestrians in the morning. Such thoughtful and meticulous service quickly brought a large number of customers to the Xi'an store, making Haidilao successfully move from Sichuan to all parts of the country.
Haidilao has always been regarded by Yang Lijuan as her second "home", and she has put in a lot of effort to protect the Xi'an store. Late one night, a drunken customer was making trouble in the store, and she stood in front of the staff after calling the police. It is precisely because of Yang Lijuan's fearless, calm and calm style that the Xi'an store can rise quickly and become the leader of local catering.
At the age of 34, Yang Lijuan became the head of the operation of all Haidilao stores, second only to the "number one" Daniel Zhang. In January 2018, Yang Lijuan was appointed as Haidilao's Chief Operating Officer and Non-Executive Director. After Haidilao was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Yang Lijuan reached a net worth of 3 billion yuan by relying on shares. But the legendary road of this "business Mulan" did not stop there.
In 2021, due to the blind expansion of the misjudgment of the situation, Daniel Zhang's Haidilao encountered a crisis of collapse. At the critical moment, Yang Lijuan relied on the "Woodpecker Plan" to turn the tide, and finally helped Haidilao successfully tide over the difficulties. Today, Yang Lijuan has succeeded Daniel Zhang as the new CEO of Haidilao, and continues to lead Haidilao to become bigger and stronger. As the boss, Daniel Zhang commented on Yang Lijuan as follows:
"Without Yang Lijuan, Haidilao would not be so successful!"
Success is not achieved overnight, Yang Lijuan has transformed from a "working girl" to the female head of Haidilao, and it is by no means luck that depends on luck. As a "nobleman", Daniel Zhang gave Yang Lijuan a chance, but what really made Yang Lijuan succeed was her tenacious attitude and positive and enterprising will. Behind the "Haidilao's best waiter", the most inseparable thing is Yang Lijuan's 24 years of inexhaustible efforts.
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Resources
[1] The Paper, "Haidilao Founder Daniel Zhang Steps Down as CEO, 43-year-old "Veteran" Yang Lijuan Takes Over"; https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_16910003
[2] Beijing News, "From a Monthly Salary of 100 Yuan to a Net Worth of 10 Billion: The Most Bullish Waiter" Becomes CEO of Haidilao", https://m.bjnews.com.cn/detail/1646189878168339.html
[3] Jiemian News, "Haidilao's New CEO Yang Lijuan: The Road to Counterattack of the Most Bullish Waiter", https://www.jiemian.com/article/7166877.html
[4] The Paper's "Haidilao's New CEO Yang Lijuan: The Road to Counterattack of the Most Bullish Waiter" https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_16935418