Xibei, a Leading Northwestern Cuisine Brand, Accused of Using Pre-Prepared Meals by Internet Celebrity Luo Yonghao
At 16:55 on the afternoon of September 10—early in the evening dining rush on a regular workday—a 63-character Weibo post by Luo Yonghao, an internet celebrity entrepreneur, unexpectedly thrust Xibei, a top brand in Northwestern Chinese cuisine, into the spotlight.
By the afternoon of September 12, Luo Yonghao’s Weibo account "Luo Yonghao’s Crossroads" had published 33 posts related to the Xibei incident (mostly reposts and responses). By 20:30 on the same day, the third round of the "confrontation" between the two sides began when Luo launched a live stream simultaneously on 11 platforms—including Douyin, Weibo, Bilibili, and Baidu Baijiahao—with the theme "Not opposing pre-prepared meals, but promoting transparency of pre-prepared meals and safeguarding consumers’ right to know."
Luo maintained his usual "uninhibited" style during the live stream. He apologized for having to set up a "makeshift team" for the impromptu stream due to being on a business trip, and did not hold back in criticizing Xibei’s team: "The unprofessionalism of the two makeshift teams is comparable. Xibei being dragged through the mud isn’t my doing. I’m someone who’s always controversial, but this time over 90% of people are on my side. Are they really on my side? No—they just look down on you." He even added a touch of 凡尔赛 humor: "Please, someone criticize me!"
It’s hard to deny that Luo’s "calmness" during the three rounds of confrontation stood in stark contrast to Jia Guolong’s (Xibei’s founder) "grievance and anger." Even though Jia’s straightforwardness has been a defining trait of his nearly 40-year entrepreneurial career, many who know him well expressed sympathy amid the public opinion storm: "A smart person picks their own battlefield for a public opinion war, but Xibei is fighting this one in their own living room."
The dispute between these two "industry leaders" has, in essence, exposed the most hidden wound of China’s catering industry in the age of pre-prepared meals: the disconnect between brand narratives and consumer perception.
Luo Yonghao’s Accusation and Jia Guolong’s "Unjust Case"?
"The biggest injustice in the catering industry is saying Xibei is expensive," Jia Guolong told Huxiu in an exclusive interview four months ago. He repeated this controversial statement with great emotion during a media briefing after Luo Yonghao’s accusation on September 11, revealing his genuine confusion over the market’s "Xibei is expensive" narrative.
Is Xibei really expensive? A search for Northwestern cuisine on Zhaimen Canyin (a catering industry data platform) shows that while Xibei’s average per-person consumption is listed at 85.03 yuan, other chain restaurants with over 20 locations have average per-person prices ranging from 24 yuan to 55 yuan. Among them, another well-known chain—Jiumaojiu Northwestern Cuisine—has an average per-person price of 54.91 yuan.
During his live stream, Luo also compared a 21-yuan "qiangmian mantou" (a type of steamed bun with layered dough) from Xibei to two other buns: a 16-yuan meat bun from a Black Pearl One-Diamond restaurant and a 28-yuan "Jiaodong sauce pork with sea cucumber bun" from a two-Michelin-starred restaurant. He described this price comparison as "absurd."
Why does Jia Guolong insist on defending Xibei’s market position? As an entrepreneur who started in Linhe, Bayannur, Inner Mongolia, and is known for his aggressive style, Jia has long sought to position Xibei as a catering brand focused on "high quality, health, and family-friendliness."
A source close to Xibei told Huxiu: "At its core, Xibei’s business model is driven by emotional value. Consumers aren’t just buying food—they’re buying a brand promise of reassurance, health, and warmth. ‘You go to Xibei because you choose its brand, not because it has a specific dish you want to eat.’"
In recent years, Xibei has successfully maintained its brand narrative behind its high average spend by tying itself to keywords like "children’s meals," "healthy nutrition," and "quality ingredients." All of this, however, is built on consumers’ perception that Xibei serves freshly made (not pre-prepared) food.
This makes it clear why Luo’s "criticism" was so damaging: he didn’t target the products themselves, but the brand narrative system that Xibei relies on for survival. "What Jia Guolong fears most is a shift in the ideology and mindset of his paying customers—consumers. Once that mindset changes, the blow to Xibei will be devastating."
For this reason, Jia had no choice but to speak up; his response was essentially a public opinion battle to "prove his innocence." But just like the character Liuzi in the movie Let the Bullets Fly, once you’re trapped in a debate like "How many bowls of noodles did you eat?" the situation becomes delicate. The cost of proving innocence is far higher than the cost of making an accusation.
Multiple industry insiders told Gonglubian: "In recent years, for various reasons, the founders of some consumer brands have been surrounded by ‘advisors’ who only say what they want to hear—no one dares to tell them the truth." This information echo chamber of praise has made it difficult for them to perceive real changes in consumer sentiment. It wasn’t until Luo Yonghao’s Weibo post tore open a crack that they realized: consumers’ resistance to concepts like "pre-prepared meals" has already spread to the doorstep of their brands.
This public confrontation over "price vs. value" has exposed deep-seated contradictions in China’s catering industry: between efficiency and experience, and between standardization and emotional recognition. A growing trust gap now separates Jia Guolong’s insistence on a "high-quality narrative" from the "authentic consumer experience" that Luo Yonghao represents. Instead of obsessing over whether he’s "unjustly accused," Jia should rethink: What kind of products and services is Xibei’s value actually built on?
The Perception Gap Above and Below the Iceberg
Pre-prepared meals are like an iceberg floating in China’s internet space.
Above the surface, consumers denounce them, businesses avoid talking about them, and signs advertising "freshly made, stir-fried to order" are everywhere. Below the surface, more and more pre-portioned meal kits are quietly appearing in restaurant kitchens—and China’s pre-prepared meal market has doubled in size in just three years.
What exactly is a pre-prepared meal?
In March 2024, six government agencies including the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued a notice, defining pre-prepared meals for the first time: pre-packaged dishes that require heating or cooking before consumption. This definition excludes products that the public often confuses with pre-prepared meals, such as frozen rice/noodle products, convenience foods, boxed meals, rice bowls with toppings, steamed buns, pastries, roujiamo (meat sandwiches), bread, hamburgers, sandwiches, and pizza.
Jia Guolong insists that "Xibei does not use pre-prepared meals as defined by national standards." But Luo Yonghao argues that this is merely a notice, not a "national standard" as many enterprises claim.
Meanwhile, in public perception, the distinction between "pre-prepared" and "freshly made" has surpassed traditional cuisine categories (Sichuan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Hunan, Anhui) and differences in restaurant styles (time-honored brands, chains, street stalls) to become one of the most important criteria for evaluating restaurants. The range of pre-prepared meals rejected by consumers is expanding. Once labeled as "using pre-prepared meals," a restaurant may at best face controversy, and at worst be shunned by consumers.
Jia Guolong once bluntly stated: "In the future, catering enterprises will compete by efficiency—high efficiency will defeat low efficiency." Behind this statement lies the harsh reality of the catering industry: low profit margins, high costs, and limited ways to improve efficiency.
But consumers don’t care about backend efficiency—they only care about frontend experience. There is a severe mismatch between technology and consumer expectations. Unless pre-prepared meals can reach a level where "you can’t tell the difference" from freshly made ones, consumer resistance will only grow stronger.
In fact, Xibei is not an isolated case. More and more catering brands that promote "freshly made" or "handcrafted" concepts have quietly introduced pre-prepared components as they expand, yet still focus their marketing on "freshness" and "artisanal craftsmanship." When consumers detect a discrepancy between perception and reality, their backlash is swift and intense. Luo Yonghao’s accusation has pierced not just Xibei’s "persona," but the industry’s widely unspoken "emperor’s new clothes."
During his live stream, Luo showed support for Laoxiangji (another Chinese catering chain) by displaying its public notice on dish processing grades. Huxiu also noted that in April 2024, Laoxiangji officially released a dish traceability report, classifying its 119 main dishes into three categories: restaurant-made (including fresh-made, fresh-cut, and fresh-prepared), semi-prepared (including central kitchen semi-prepared and externally sourced semi-prepared), and reheated pre-prepared. The numbers were 84, 33, and 2 respectively, accounting for 70.6%, 27.7%, and 1.7% of the total.
On the surface, pre-prepared dishes account for less than 30%, but a closer look at the details reveals that many of the so-called "restaurant-made" dishes still use ingredients pre-processed at central kitchens or by suppliers.
In reality, consumers do not completely reject pre-prepared meals. What they reject is the disconnect between marketing and reality—promoting "handcrafted, stir-fried to order" while actually serving reheated pre-prepared food. By proactively disclosing its dish processing grades, Laoxiangji won recognition for safeguarding consumers’ right to know, even without completely eliminating pre-prepared components. This offers a lesson for the entire industry: honesty may be more powerful than justification.
Behind this dispute lies the catering industry’s difficult balance between efficiency and trust. Jia Guolong represents the irreversible trend of catering industrialization, while Luo Yonghao has tapped into consumers’ strong desire for "authenticity" and "transparency."
In the future, the catering brands that can truly bridge the perception gap will not necessarily be those with the lowest proportion of pre-prepared meals—but they will definitely be the ones with the most transparent information. Between efficiency and experience, honesty is the shortest path.
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