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

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

Compared to regular hot pot buffets, this is like a 'shrimp slider museum': from original shrimp sliders to fish roe shrimp sliders, mushroom shrimp sliders, squid shrimp sliders, and even dragon fruit shrimp sliders—over a dozen varieties.

Besides shrimp sliders, the store also offers 'slider derivatives' such as chicken sliders, beef sliders, and fish sliders, all neatly arranged in bamboo tubes in a cold cabinet.

In addition to shrimp sliders, the store has traditional hot pot items like beef, lamb, vegetables, and mushrooms. Desserts, drinks, and ice jelly common in traditional hot pot buffets are also available, with some stores even adding pizza as a staple.

Of course, most customers come for the 'unlimited shrimp sliders.'

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

For example, Shijiazhuang-based Cijie Freshly Made Shrimp Slider Hot Pot Buffet, founded last year, already has 66 stores across Shandong, Jilin, Jiangsu, and more. Another brand from Hebei, Chengkebei Shrimp Slider Hot Pot Buffet, founded around the same time, has opened nearly 40 stores in Hebei, Shanxi, Heilongjiang, and Jilin.

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

The category is so hot that it has even spread to South Korea. Recently, netizens posted about shrimp slider hot pot buffets emerging in Korea, with the 'bamboo tube + shrimp slider' setup identical to China.

Why Shrimp Sliders?

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

First, shrimp sliders are increasingly used across the food industry and have become a classic hit in the hot pot category.

According to the Maying offline retail monitoring network, shrimp slider category sales increased 56.9% year-on-year in 2025, with volume up 60.6%, the fastest growth among all frozen food subcategories.

In five provinces—Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hunan, and Guizhou—shrimp sliders have surpassed beef balls to become the top hot pot ball/patty category.

Second, shrimp sliders are inherently perceived as high-value, satisfying customers' desire to 'get their money's worth.'

Despite their popularity, these 'frozen dark horse' products are not cheap. For example, at Haidilao, a signature large-grain shrimp slider (about 140g) costs 74 yuan. Even in supermarkets, a pack of Anjoy shrimp sliders can cost 16.5 yuan per 150g.

In contrast, eating a few servings of shrimp sliders at a hot pot buffet easily offsets the 59 yuan entrance fee, and adding other items means 'breaking even'—quite enticing.

Most importantly, the upstream supply chain for shrimp sliders is strengthening, with increasing production technology and volume.

For example, Daixiaji focuses on the single category of shrimp sliders and led the drafting of industry standards for shrimp sliders in 2023 and the national standard for frozen shrimp sliders in 2024. It now sells over 100 million yuan monthly, exceeding 1 billion yuan annually.

For the food industry, especially hot pot, a strong upstream supply chain is the lifeline for brands to cut costs and ensure quality. The emergence of these shrimp slider supply chains has provided a turning point for shrimp slider hot pot buffets.

Will Shrimp Slider Hot Pot Become the Next 'Beef Rib'?

Data from Chenzhi Big Data shows that shrimp slider hot pot buffet stores have grown from fewer than 10 to over 500 in the past year, mainly in lower-tier markets.

This model of differentiation through a single-product buffet and rapid expansion inevitably draws comparisons to the 'beef rib buffet' trend.

Beef rib buffets rose quickly in the second half of 2024 but saw mass closures by early 2025, with some merchants losing over 2 million yuan in just three months.

Unlike beef rib buffets, which thrived on falling beef prices and collapsed when prices rose, shrimp slider costs are relatively controllable, especially with upstream supply chain development grounding the category.

However, it's worth noting that food cost was just the 'last straw' for beef rib buffets.

Another major reason for the beef rib collapse was that most stores merely surfed the 'beef rib' trend without converting category heat into brand repurchase, ultimately exiting a homogeneous market.

For these emerging shrimp slider hot pot buffet brands, challenges remain in brand differentiation, product innovation, and store operations. Whether they can scale sustainably remains to be seen.