Zhang Yong

Zhang Yong is a Singaporean Chinese billionaire who is the founder of the Haidilao International Holding Ltd restaurant group, best known for its Hai Di Lao chain of hot pot restaurants.

• China’s richest restaurateur, Zhang Yong is chairman of Sichuan hot pot chain Haidilao, which went public in September 2018.
• Haidilao now has $17 billion in sales from 466 restaurants, mostly in China but also in the U.S., Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
• Haidilao is renowned for its spicy dishes and attentive customer service, including offering free manicures for waiting customers.
• Having never finished high school, the budding entrepreneur says he didn’t even know how to prepare the typical Sichuan hotpot when he started.
• Three friends, including one who became his wife, helped with seed money, but he ran the place.