Long ago, I read the book "You Can't Learn from HAIDILAO," thinking its service was the ultimate: free manicures, shoe shines, unlimited fruit and snacks, and birthday surprises. While difficult to imitate, at least there were processes one could copy.
A loss of 2.14 billion yuan! It wasn't until Yonghui Supermarket's 2025 performance forecast was released on January 21 that I truly felt it: compared to HAIDILAO, Pang Donglai is the one that is truly unlearnable.
Even Yonghui, bearing the halo of being the "top disciple of Pang Donglai," has taken a major stumble. This pours a bucket of ice-cold water over all the enterprises trying to "learn from Pang Donglai"!
Why such a massive hole even when copying the homework? The answer is simple, much like "copying viral hits" on short video platforms: many only copy the superficial appearance, failing to grasp the underlying essence.
The unlearnable aspect of HAIDILAO lies in the extremity of its service techniques. The even more unlearnable aspect of Pang Donglai is its irreplicable corporate soul.
Pang Donglai is a fertile ground cultivated by Yu Donglai with a lifetime of experience. Yu Donglai's fundamental character is a "sincere obsession" forged through hardship. Few corporate founders have walked a path as thorny as his: dropping out of school as a youth to trade for survival, joining a rubber factory only to see it close down, engaging in illegal trading leading to two prison sentences, and venturing into mining only to be saddled with 300,000 yuan in debt. It wasn't until 1995, when he borrowed 10,000 yuan to open the "Wangyuelou Fat Man's Store," that he turned his desperate situation around. These experiences of being cheated, facing setbacks, and having nowhere to turn made him see clearly that "cutting corners never lasts."
A fire in 1998 fundamentally reshaped Yu Donglai. The support he received after the disaster made him realize that business is not just about making money, but also about conveying warmth. "Genuine products for genuine hearts" became more than a slogan; it became a principle etched into Pang Donglai's bones. Publicly displaying purchase prices and gross margins on price tags, accepting returns on half-eaten cakes and four-year-old televisions, and offering 10x compensation for non-fresh produce—these actions are neither marketing tactics nor methods for chasing traffic.
This sincerity, born from profound life experiences, is something that founders too entangled in performance metrics, KPIs, and profits cannot empathize with.
In the real business world, most bosses are calculating "how to achieve the highest output with the lowest cost," but Yu Donglai's approach is the complete opposite. Since 2000, Pang Donglai has distributed 50% of its net profit to employees, gradually increasing this to 95%. By 2025, the average monthly income for employees reached 9,000 yuan, with management able to receive around 700,000 yuan. The courage and willingness to share stem from his clear understanding of wealth, a hurdle where most imitators stumble, "unwilling to delegate power or share profits."
Those who want to have their cake and eat it too often end up losing on both fronts.
While competitors are busy expanding rapidly and rushing towards IPOs, Yu Donglai has always adhered to the principle of "fewer but better": to this day, it remains deeply rooted in Xuchang and Xinxiang with only 13 stores, even proactively closing older stores that cannot maintain quality. He has clearly stated, "There are no plans for an IPO or for scaling up." This all stems from his prioritization of "happiness": employees' well-being and customers' peace of mind will always be more important than scale and profit.
Yu Donglai's perceptiveness is further reflected in his consistent practice of "respecting human nature." He mandates a 40-day paid annual leave for employees and has established a "Wronged Employee Award": over 10,000 yuan for being insulted, 30,000 yuan plus legal assistance for being assaulted, and even bonuses for employees whose suggestions are adopted. These systems are not driven by performance reviews but originate from his belief that "you give employees dignity, and they will give customers dignity."
The unlearnable nature of Pang Donglai has never been a problem at the technical level, but rather a gap in the founder's cognition and actions. In every trade-off, every employee benefit, and every profit distribution lies the company's genuine intent. These characteristics cannot be acquired by merely imitating processes or copying systems.
In an interview with People's Daily, Yu Donglai said, "We have chosen a path that is difficult but right—using sincerity to earn trust, and using trust to win the market." At the same time, he has proven over decades that true customer loyalty stems from reverence for and practice of human values.
The hardest thing to replicate in this world has never been the business model, but the beliefs and fundamental character etched into the founder's bones.
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