South Beauty Group: In Quest of a‘Beautiful’ Growt|China Case Clearing House

It was October 18th, 2007. As an innovative upper-middle player in the Chinese Dinner segment, the South Beauty Group, with 20 restaurants and two soon-to-be-opened restaurants under three different brands, was dreaming about expanding its scale to 100 restaurants in three years (35 in China and 65 in the international market). To meet this ambitious target, the Group had to face many challenges, including standardizing Chinese cuisine, selection of domestic and international locations, development of franchising operations and the launch of an IPO. Moreover, as the only Food Service Partner of Chinese cuisine for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Group also had to organize the company’s resources efficiently to fulfill this prestigious contract.
This case was developed with following structure: 1) Introduction to the Group’s founder, Ms. Zhang Lan; 2) The Group’s birth, development, and current business model; 3) Consumer trends and opinions; 4) China’s restaurant market; and 5) the Group’s future plans and the challenges ahead. The case was developed mainly for MBA and EMBA students, with the main teaching objective being to understand the challenges of growth. Teaching note is available to this case. A video supplement including an introduction to the company, the restaurants and the dishes, and two interviews with Ms. Zhang Lan is available for better teaching and learning.
This case won the award in 2008 EFMD Case Writing Competition for the Category of Emerging Chinese Global Competitors.

Related Cases