A loud suona horn and rising steam filled the Hubei Road Gymnasium on the afternoon of July 17th. The Pengzu Mutton Soup Flame, escorted by a ceremonial guard, slowly entered the venue, officially launching the 23rd Xuzhou Pengzu Mutton Soup Festival in 2026. On the same day, parallel festival events began in Nanjing, Changzhou, Taizhou, and nine cities along the borders of Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, and Henan provinces. Across the city, 4,300 mutton restaurants and 4,500 barbecue shops entered "Mutton Soup Season." On the first day of the "dog days" of summer, Xuzhou consumes up to 300,000 sheep citywide.
The 23rd Xuzhou Pengzu Mutton Soup Festival has once again ignited a nationwide consumption craze. Shopping districts are packed, night markets are bustling, and the topic is trending across all online platforms. These fiery scenes confirm the immense power of Xuzhou's Mutton Soup economy. Yet, after the celebration, a series of sharp questions emerge. Why has the Xuzhou Mutton Soup custom, holding the national-level intangible cultural heritage title, not built an exclusive brand advantage? After 23 years of cultivation, how can the Xuzhou Mutton Soup Festival break free from homogenized competition and transition from a seasonal event to a sustainable industry? Once the 40-day summer festival ends, can this seasonal heat be converted into year-round momentum? The Mutton Soup Festival is a hit, but after the noise fades, this signature culinary IP of the ancient city still has a long path of advancement ahead.
Deepening the Cultural IP for a Leap in Scale
Summer nights in Xuzhou are brightly lit. At 11 PM on July 17th, Xiaochao BBQ in Quanshan District was full of customers. Owner Wang flipped skewers of lamb on the grill, with oil sizzling and aroma wafting down the street. Among the waiting crowd were not only local foodies but also many out-of-town tourists dragging suitcases. This scene is common. In commercial areas like Fuguo Street, Fengchu Street, and Minfuyuan Night Market, the milky-white mutton soup and sizzling grilled skewers fill the streets with the scent of lamb, creating a city-wide nighttime consumption route. Xuzhou currently has 4,300 mutton restaurants and 4,500 barbecue shops, supporting over 300,000 jobs and generating over 2.5 billion yuan in restaurant revenue. On the first day of the dog days, the city consumes up to 300,000 sheep, connecting the entire industry chain from farming, cold chain logistics, and catering to cultural tourism. This truly achieves the goal of "one festival driving one industry, one industry revitalizing one city."
"A bowl of mutton soup at the start of the dog days makes a doctor's prescription unnecessary." This custom of eating mutton in summer for health benefits has a long history in Xuzhou. Han Dynasty stone reliefs unearthed in the area clearly depict ancient scenes of slaughtering sheep, roasting, and cooking. Today, the opening ceremony of each Mutton Soup Festival includes the collection and transmission of the Pengzu Mutton Soup Flame, a sacrificial ceremony, and the official drinking of the first bowl of soup, serving as the most direct ritual expression of the living heritage. In 2009, Xuzhou was named "China's Home of Mutton Soup Cuisine," marking official industry recognition of this folk custom. In 2016, the Xuzhou Mutton Soup custom was successfully listed in the Jiangsu Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative Item List, integrating it into the provincial cultural protection system. Just five years later, in 2021, it was elevated to the national-level Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative Item List.
"Achieving national-level intangible cultural heritage status for the Mutton Soup custom results from a thousand years of history, continuous innovation, refined skills, and broad public participation. It is a unique cultural code for Xuzhou," said Ji Guanghui, President of the Xuzhou Cooking Association. Compared to similar festivals in neighboring cities, Xuzhou has a unique cultural origin, historical depth, and official heritage certification, laying a solid foundation for the long-term development of its Mutton Soup economy. In 2025, Xuzhou began its national "breakout" strategy, holding its first Pengzu Mutton Soup Festival press conference in Beijing, using a national platform to break regional communication barriers. This year, the 23rd Mutton Soup Festival entered a new phase of region-wide collaboration, with simultaneous events in Nanjing, Changzhou, Taizhou, and nine cities in the cross-border region of Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, and Henan. The Jiangsu-Anhui-Shandong-Henan Huaihai 10-City Culinary and Catering Association was established, and 18 themed events were launched in multiple locations, marking a leap from "a single city's fever" to "prosperity across the entire region."
From a self-organized neighborhood gathering to a multi-city event in 2026, the 23 years of dedicated work have seen the Xuzhou Mutton Soup Festival pass through several key turning points, completing a stepwise ascent from a grassroots folk custom to a local event, a provincial business card, and finally a national-level IP. A simple bowl of mutton soup has grown into a super IP that drives the city's entire industry, activates region-wide consumption, and empowers urban development. Data shows that the Xuzhou Mutton Soup IP now radiates to over 100 million people in Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, and Henan. The festival attracts over 20 million participants annually and draws over a million out-of-town visitors to Xuzhou each year. During the 2025 Mutton Soup Festival, 10 key monitored catering companies achieved sales revenue of 28.567 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 48.43%. Mutton soup cuisine has become a key business card for Xuzhou to attract tourists from outside the region.
Assessing Weaknesses: The Industry Encounters Real Bottlenecks
Impressive consumption data, trending online buzz, and profound cultural heritage make the Xuzhou Mutton Soup custom a top summer cultural tourism IP. However, behind the surge in traffic, consumption explosion, and city-wide excitement lie undeniable industrial weaknesses and development bottlenecks. As the birthplace of the Mutton Soup custom, Xuzhou possesses a unique Pengzu health culture, Han Dynasty culinary lineage, and national-level intangible cultural heritage certification. This fundamentally differentiates it from similar events in neighboring cities in terms of cultural origin, ingredient sourcing, and festival connotation. Yet, holding this top-tier heritage resource has not translated into absolute market competitive advantage. For a long time, the deep exploration and effective communication of its own differentiated advantages have been insufficient, weakening the brand's exclusivity. As Shanghai, Shandong, Anhui, and Zhejiang all launch "Mutton Soup Festivals," homogenized events have sprung up everywhere, intensifying price competition and model replication.
"Without continuous upgrading, the scarcity and exclusivity of the national-level heritage are not fully demonstrated, and our first-mover advantage will be continuously diluted," said a representative from a catering company directly. Any fast-moving industry must calmly examine its path forward amidst the noise. Despite its heritage background, the Xuzhou Mutton Soup Festival's industrial foundation is robust, yet it has failed to break free from the predicament of "seasonal explosion, daily flatness; lively but lacking long-term effect." This is the biggest factor hindering the IP's long-term growth. Heavy reliance on the season is a major weakness. The Mutton Soup Festival starts with the dog days, offering only about 40 days of peak consumption. During the season, mutton restaurants are packed and revenue soars, but in autumn and winter, smaller shops generally see a sharp drop in customer traffic, leading to a huge gap in revenue.
A lack of standardization systems has also caused the industry's upgrade to lag behind market demand. Reports indicate that Xuzhou has a huge number of mutton restaurants, mostly family-run shops or local scattered vendors, with very few national chain benchmark companies. There is no unified local industry standard for mutton soup brewing techniques or ingredient selection, leading to inconsistent quality across different shops and difficulty in building a stable brand reputation. Furthermore, there are weaknesses in industry support. On the first day of the dog days, the city consumes up to 300,000 sheep, but 70% come from Inner Mongolia, Shandong, and Hebei. "The big mutton-eating city cannot raise its own sheep." The national-level heritage brand has not fostered a complete local industry chain. The weak bargaining power in the upstream supply chain restricts high-quality industrial upgrades. At the same time, a mismatch exists between traditional business models and the consumption needs of younger generations. In the Huilongwo Historical and Cultural District, several post-2000 tourists commented, "The food tastes good, but the shops are too crowded and hot for taking photos," and "It's a bit too oily; once in a while is fine." Today's young consumers prefer light, visually appealing, and socially engaging consumption scenarios. However, most of Xuzhou's traditional mutton restaurants still operate with a rough, market-stall model, featuring heavy oil and spice and simple environments. This makes it difficult to meet the consumption aesthetics and sharing needs of the younger generation, causing the Mutton Soup IP's popularity among youth circles to lag behind newer food IPs like Zibo's barbecue or Tianshui's spicy hot pot.
In comparison, after Zibo barbecue became a sensation, the number of barbecue shops increased from over 1,100 to over 2,000, transforming the IP into a "traffic driver" for the entire city's tourism. Tianshui's spicy hot pot garnered over 86 billion views online, promoting the industrialization of chili pepper cultivation and the heritage status of its production techniques. Both cities achieved a transition from "internet celebrity" to "long-term success," proving that details of daily life can become leverage points for a city's leap in capacity. To achieve stable and long-term development, the Xuzhou Mutton Soup industry urgently needs to strengthen brand communication, break its seasonal dependency, complete its industry chain, and refresh its consumption scenarios. Only then can it truly transform its top-tier heritage resources into an irreplaceable competitive advantage.
Innovating for Breakthroughs: A Path to Long-Term Vitality for the Heritage IP
Recognizing its shortcomings and aiming to compete with the best, Xuzhou has recently begun a series of courageous "breakthrough experiments." Through innovative paths such as cross-regional collaboration, cross-industry integration, youth-oriented transformation, and industry chain upgrading, the city is continuously exploring a path for the long-term activation of its heritage IP, seeking answers for high-quality upgrades through trial and error.
Cross-regional collaboration aims to expand the "circle of common interest." During this year's Mutton Soup Festival, the Jiangsu-Anhui-Shandong-Henan Huaihai 10-City Culinary and Catering Association was formally established. This is not just a symbolic move. By setting up branch venues in different cities, Xuzhou is attempting to upgrade the "Mutton Soup Festival" from a regional event into a cross-regional "cultural community." This linkage expands the consumer base and shares the operational pressure of a single city. Cross-industry integration extends the consumption chain. This year's festival was deeply tied to the "Suchao" football matches. The "Xunwei Mutton Soup · Jiuxiang Pengcheng" 2026 Xuzhou Mutton Soup Foodie event at Jinweixingyue City created a dedicated football viewing area, using the combination of "fragrant mutton soup + passionate football" to attract a large number of young customers. At the same time, cross-industry collaborations with brands like Jinshiyuan Liquor aim to break the single perception of "eating mutton = drinking soup," building a composite consumption scenario of "food + sports + alcohol + night tours."
Youth-oriented expression aims to make the heritage "trendy." The "Pengcheng Mutton Soup · Enjoy Heritage at Your Doorstep" 2026 Xuzhou Mutton Soup Custom Heritage Food Life event at the Xuzhou Cultural Center's Guochao Hanfeng Cultural Station integrated Han culture displays, heritage transmission, folk customs experiences, cultural performances, and cultural creative exchanges. Xuzhou is using methods that young people like to repackage the ancient custom. The Mutton Soup custom is no longer just about "eating big chunks of meat," but has become a trendy lifestyle that can be checked in, shared, and promoted. The unavoidable topic of industry chain standardization is also being addressed. Xuzhou has proposed goals to advance the standardization of Mutton Soup cuisine and cultivate a distinctive folk custom food industry cluster.
A representative from the Xuzhou Cooking Association stated, "On the farming end, our city is accelerating the large-scale breeding of local goats. On the processing end, we support enterprises in developing gift items. On the catering end, we encourage brand chain development. Only by establishing a full-chain standard from field to table can the Xuzhou Mutton Soup custom truly become a super brand that can withstand market testing." The issue of seasonal dependency is not unsolvable. Zibo barbecue also has peak and off-peak seasons, but through continuous scenario innovation and business extension, it transformed "having a meal" into "playing a game," successfully converting short-term internet traffic into a city brand, expanding from a single catering business to tourism, prepared foods, and industrial tourism. After Tianshui's spicy hot pot craze faded, the city quickly implemented store standardization, prepared spice pack industrialization, and the fusion of "food + Fuxi culture + mountain and river tourism," upgrading a small snack economy to a comprehensive tourism economy. These ideas offer valuable lessons for Xuzhou's Mutton Soup Festival to move from a "40-day" event to a "365-day" industry.
A grand Mutton Soup Festival is a living continuation of a thousand-year cultural lineage, a true reflection of the city's vibrant daily life, and a vivid practice of regional consumption upgrading. But traffic can fade, celebrations can end, and the pressure of homogenized competition, the limitations of seasonal development, the weaknesses in industry chain upgrades, and the challenge of youth-oriented transformation remain long-term issues. The advancement path of Xuzhou's Mutton Soup IP continues. Holding the unique cards of a thousand-year cultural lineage and national-level heritage, only through persistent breakthroughs, continuous iteration, and dedicated effort can this heritage IP maintain its vibrant vitality in the new era and continuously empower the construction of a regional consumption center city.
Key Milestones of the Mutton Soup Festival
Over 23 years of dedicated work, the Xuzhou Mutton Soup Festival has passed through several key turning points, completing a stepwise ascent from a grassroots folk custom to a local event, a provincial business card, and a national-level IP. Each key node represents a comprehensive improvement in industrial upgrading, cultural empowerment, and influence expansion.
2002 was the budding year for Mutton Soup culture. The custom relied on folk transmission and had not yet formed a brand identity.
2009 marked the first turning point, with Xuzhou being named "China's Home of Mutton Soup Cuisine," formally recognizing this folk custom at the industry level.
2016 saw the Xuzhou Mutton Soup custom successfully listed on the Jiangsu Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative Item List, incorporating it into the provincial cultural protection system.
2021 saw it elevated to the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative Item List, becoming a signature cultural card for Xuzhou.
2025 marked the start of Xuzhou's national "breakout" path, holding its first press conference for the Pengzu Mutton Soup Festival in Beijing, using a national platform to break regional communication limits.
2026 saw the 23rd Pengzu Mutton Soup Festival enter a new phase of region-wide collaboration, further expanding branch venues to Nanjing, Changzhou, Taizhou, and nine cities in the border regions of Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, and Henan. The Jiangsu-Anhui-Shandong-Henan Huaihai 10-City Culinary and Catering Association was established, and 18 themed events were launched, achieving a leap from "a single city's fever" to "prosperity across the entire region."
The 23-year transformation has allowed a simple bowl of mutton soup to grow into a super IP that drives the entire city's industry, activates region-wide consumption, and empowers urban development.
Over the years, the Mutton Soup Festival has taken root in people's lives, radiating to over 100 million people in the Huaihai region of Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, and Henan. It preserves the health tradition of eating mutton in summer, attracts over 20 million participants annually, and draws over a million out-of-town tourists to Xuzhou specifically to taste the mutton soup.
On the first day of the dog days, the city consumes up to 300,000 sheep, connecting the entire industry chain from farming, cold chain logistics, and catering to cultural tourism, truly achieving the goal of "one festival driving one industry, one industry revitalizing one city."
Currently, Xuzhou has 4,300 mutton restaurants and 4,500 barbecue shops, supporting over 300,000 jobs. A closed-loop industrial ecosystem has formed, ranging from sheep farming, slaughtering, semi-processed product manufacturing, cold chain storage, logistics and distribution, to store operations, brand incubation, and cultural tourism consumption.
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