# labor costs

China’s Restaurant Industry Is Souring: Xibei’s Store Closures Expose Wider Structural Pain

Xibei’s closure of 102 stores has become a high‑profile symbol of wider distress in China’s restaurant sector. Structural pressures—rising food and labour costs, falling per‑capita dining spend and tougher social‑insurance rules—are squeezing margins, prompting widespread closures, weak IPOs and a wave of industry consolidation.