In a quiet corner of Beijing’s 798 Art District, a new restaurant named 'Tianbian Casserole Braised Noodles' has quietly opened its doors. While the signage is fresh, the man behind it is a veteran of the Chinese dining scene: Jia Guolong, the founder of Xibei, one of the country’s most prominent restaurant groups. This new venture marks a significant strategic pivot for a brand that has spent the last year embattled by public relations crises and shifting consumer habits.
For much of 2024 and 2025, Xibei found itself at the center of a national firestorm over the use of pre-made meals, or 'yuzhicai.' The controversy peaked when tech influencer Luo Yonghao publicly slammed the chain for charging premium prices for what he described as 'overnight food' quality. The backlash was swift and severe, leading to a precipitous drop in foot traffic and daily revenue losses in the millions of yuan. In response, Jia has opted for a 'strategic retreat' to his culinary roots in Inner Mongolia.
The new brand focuses on braised noodles—a staple of Jia’s childhood—served in traditional casseroles. With an average check of 40 to 50 RMB (roughly $5.50 to $7.00), it sits at less than half the price of a typical meal at Xibei’s flagship 'Oat Noodle Village.' This pricing shift is no accident; it is a calculated attempt to capture a middle class that is increasingly pivoting from 'brand prestige' to what Chinese consumers now call 'extreme quality-price ratio.'
Strategically, Tianbian serves as a brand firewall. By launching a separate entity, Jia can target the budget-conscious lunch crowd without diluting the premium positioning of the core Xibei brand. This allows the group to offload underperforming leases and surplus staff into a leaner, more agile business model. It is a 'defensive maneuver' designed to keep the company’s massive supply chain infrastructure running while insulating the parent company from further pricing criticism.
Technically, the move solves the 'industrial' perception problem that has plagued Xibei. While the ingredients are still sourced through Xibei’s high-tech central kitchens, the act of finishing the dish in a steaming casserole at the table provides the 'yanhuoqi'—or 'breath of the hearth'—that Chinese diners crave. It is a clever marriage of industrial efficiency and the visual cues of fresh cooking, aimed at neutralizing the stigma of pre-made food.
This transition also signals the end of the 'grand narrative' era for Xibei. After failed attempts to launch high-concept 'Chinese Burger' chains and retail meal kits, Jia is returning to a single-item, high-frequency model. These smaller, 'light cavalry' stores can be easily replicated in shopping mall basements and office districts, providing a secondary growth curve in a market where the old model of sprawling, expensive flagship restaurants is increasingly under threat.