Hotpot festival spices up Chongqing's consumer market

Liu's Chongqing Hotpot opened the first overseas hotpot restaurant in Dubai in 2010, and the first hotpot base factory in Canada in 2021.

"Now we have 66 hotpot restaurants in 15 countries and our hotpot products, such as hotpot bases, are in over 2,000 overseas supermarkets," said Liu Mei, chairperson of the hotpot brand.

Chen said the hotpot industry not only works as a Chinese name card to promote international business, but also brings benefits to rural areas.

As chili is the most important ingredient in Chongqing hotpot, the Zhoushixiong hotpot brand purchases all of its chilies from the Shizhu Tujia autonomous county in Chongqing.

"For a year, we have purchased 500 tonnes of chilies worth over 10 million yuan from Shizhu. Radishes, soy cheese, sausages and other agricultural products are also on our shopping list," said Zhou Dao, founder of the brand, which has over 20 hotpot restaurants in three cities.

"I was born in a village, so I hope my business can deliver tangible benefits to rural areas," Zhou said.

Zhou said events like the hotpot festival are very conducive to economic recovery and to restoring consumer confidence, adding that he plans to expand the brand's international business in 2023.