US stock beginner perspective: Will shrimp paste hot pot self-service become the next beef rib?

59 yuan/person shrimp paste self-service: Small-town youth achieve "shrimp paste freedom" first? Recently returning to hometown, a reader found several "shrimp paste hot pot self-service" stores opened in a second-tier city in Hebei. Compared to regular hot pot buffets, this place is like a "shrimp paste museum," with over a dozen varieties from original to fish roe, mushroom, squid, and even dragon fruit shrimp paste.

Besides shrimp paste, there are also chicken paste, beef paste, fish paste and other "paste derivatives," all uniformly packed in bamboo tube-shaped containers, lined up in several rows in the cooler. In addition to traditional hot pot items, desserts, drinks, ice jelly, etc., are fully available; some stores even add pizza and other staples. Most consumers go for "shrimp paste freedom."

In fact, in the past year, a chain of shrimp paste hot pot self-service brands has emerged in Hebei alone, even expanding outside the province: "Cijie Fresh Shrimp Paste Self-Service Old Hot Pot" in Shijiazhuang, founded last year, has opened 66 stores across Shandong, Jilin, Jiangsu; Hebei brand "Chengkebei Shrimp Paste Self-Service Old Hot Pot" founded around the same time has nearly 40 stores in Hebei, Shanxi, Heilongjiang, Jilin.

"Jianglaolao Shrimp Paste Seafood Self-Service Hot Pot" opened its first store in Zhejiang and now has locations across 12 provinces, with 20 new stores this year alone; "Laoxiaoxian Shrimp Paste Seafood Self-Service Hot Pot," founded in 2018, accelerated expansion last year, with 40 new stores since 2025.

The category's popularity has even spread to South Korea. Some netizens mentioned shrimp paste hot pot self-service in Korea, with "bamboo tube + shrimp paste" setup identical to domestic.

Why shrimp paste: growth, break-even psychology, and supply chain strengthening

The rise of shrimp paste hot pot self-service has multiple reasons. On one hand, shrimp paste is increasingly used in the restaurant industry, already a classic hot pot staple. Offline retail monitoring data shows that in 2025, shrimp paste category sales grew 56.9% YoY, volume growth 60.6%, the highest growth among frozen food subcategories.

In Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hunan, and Guizhou, shrimp paste even replaced beef balls as the top hot pot ball ingredient.

On the other hand, shrimp paste has an inherent premium perception, satisfying consumers' desire for value. Despite popularity, prices remain high: at Haidilao, signature large-particle shrimp paste (about 140g) costs 74 yuan; supermarket Anjing shrimp paste is about 16.5 yuan/150g. For self-service hot pot stores, eating a few servings of shrimp paste can perfectly offset the 59 yuan admission, and then eating other items achieves "break-even."

Most importantly, the upstream supply chain is getting stronger, with production technology and output continuously increasing. For example, Daixiajie focuses on shrimp paste as a single category, leading the drafting of group standard for shrimp paste in 2023 and national standard in 2024; now monthly sales exceed 100 million yuan, annual sales over 1 billion yuan.

For the restaurant and especially hot pot track, the upstream supply chain is the core lifeline for cost reduction and quality assurance. This change provides a more solid foundation for the emergence of shrimp paste hot pot self-service.

Will it become the next "beef rib": differentiation test amid scale expansion

Chengzhi Big Data shows that in the past year, shrimp paste self-service stores grew from under 10 to over 500, mainly in lower-tier markets. Creating differentiation with a single-category self-service model and rapid store opening indeed reminds of "beef rib self-service."

Beef rib self-service boomed in H2 2024 and then saw mass closures in early 2025, with some losing over 2 million yuan in three months.

However, unlike beef rib closures due to price fluctuations, shrimp paste costs are relatively controllable, especially with upstream supply chain development strengthening the category's foundation. But ingredient cost is just the last straw; another major reason for beef rib's decline was that many stores merely rode the hype wave without converting category heat into brand repurchase, eventually exiting in the homogeneous market.

For emerging shrimp paste hot pot self-service brands, brand differentiation, product innovation, and store operation management will still be tested. Whether they can achieve long-term scale remains to be seen.