59 Yuan per Person Shrimp Ball Hot Pot Buffet Trend: Will It Be the Next 'Beef Rib Buffet'?

Recently, when returning to my hometown, I found that a second-tier small city in Hebei had opened several 'shrimp ball hot pot buffet' restaurants. Compared with ordinary hot pot buffets, this place can be considered a 'shrimp ball museum': from original flavor shrimp balls to roe shrimp balls, mushroom shrimp balls, squid shrimp balls, and even dragon fruit shrimp balls, there are more than ten varieties.

Besides shrimp balls, the store also offers chicken balls, beef balls, fish balls, and other 'ball derivatives', all neatly packed in bamboo tube containers and arranged in rows in the cold cabinet, a rather spectacular sight.

In addition to shrimp balls, the store also has beef, mutton, vegetables, mushrooms, and other traditional hot pot dishes. Desserts, drinks, and ice jelly, commonly found in traditional hot pot buffets, are also available. Some stores even add pizza and other staples. Of course, most consumers come for the 'shrimp ball freedom'.

In fact, over the past year, just in Hebei, a group of chain shrimp ball hot pot buffet brands have emerged and successfully expanded to other provinces. For example, Shijiazhuang's Cijie Freshly Made Shrimp Ball Buffet Old Hot Pot, founded last year, now has 66 stores, reaching Shandong, Jilin, Jiangsu, and other places. Chengke North Shrimp Ball Buffet Old Hot Pot, also founded around the same time, has opened nearly 40 stores across Hebei, Shanxi, Heilongjiang, and Jilin.

Jianglaolao Shrimp Ball Seafood Buffet Hot Pot, which opened its first store in Zhejiang, now has stores in 12 provinces across the country, with 20 new stores opened just this year. Laoxiaoxian Shrimp Ball Seafood Buffet Hot Pot, founded in 2018, has also accelerated its store opening pace since last year, with 40 new stores opened since 2025.

The category is so popular that it has even spread to South Korea. Some netizens posted that South Korea also has shrimp ball hot pot buffets, with the 'bamboo tube + shrimp ball' setup identical to that in China.

Why Shrimp Balls?

There are many reasons for the rise of shrimp ball hot pot buffets. On one hand, shrimp balls are increasingly used in the food industry and have long been a classic single product in the hot pot segment.

Data shows that in 2025, shrimp ball category sales increased by 56.9% year-on-year, with sales volume up 60.6%, ranking first in growth among all frozen food subcategories. In five provinces—Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hunan, and Guizhou—shrimp balls even 'overtook' beef balls to become the top hot pot meatball category.

On the other hand, shrimp balls inherently carry a premium connotation, meeting consumers' expectations of getting value for money. Despite their popularity, this 'frozen dark horse' is not cheap. For example, at Haidilao, a serving of signature large-grain shrimp balls (about 140g) costs 74 yuan. Even in supermarkets, a pack of Anjoy shrimp balls can cost 16.5 yuan per 150g.

Correspondingly, eating a few servings of shrimp balls at a buffet restaurant can create an expectation of 'getting your money's worth' against the 59 yuan ticket price. Adding some other hot pot dishes can achieve a 'break-even' feeling, which is quite enticing.

Most importantly, the upstream supply chain is getting stronger, with increasing production technology and output. For example, Daixiaji focuses on the single shrimp ball category, and in 2023 and 2024 led the drafting of the 'Shrimp Balls' group standard and the 'Frozen Shrimp Balls' national standard. It has now achieved monthly sales exceeding 100 million yuan and annual sales exceeding 1 billion yuan.

For the catering industry, especially the hot pot segment, the upstream supply chain is the core lifeline for brands to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and ensure quality. The rise of these shrimp ball supply chains has also brought opportunities for the emergence of shrimp ball hot pot buffets.

Will the Shrimp Ball Hot Pot Buffet Become the Next 'Beef Rib Buffet'?

Data from Chenzhi Big Data shows that in the past year, the number of shrimp ball buffet stores has rapidly grown from fewer than 10 to over 500, mainly distributed in lower-tier markets.

Using a single-product buffet model to create differentiation and opening stores quickly inevitably reminds one of the similar 'beef rib buffet'. The latter rose rapidly in the second half of 2024 and then saw batch closures in early 2025, with some merchants losing over 2 million yuan in just three months.

Of course, unlike beef ribs, which became popular due to falling beef prices and then collapsed as beef prices rose, the cost of shrimp balls is relatively controllable, especially with the development of the upstream supply chain strengthening the foundation for this category.

However, it is important to note that ingredient cost is only the 'last straw' on the beef rib segment. Another major reason for the beef rib downturn is that most stores merely rode on the trend of the popular 'beef ribs' without converting category popularity into brand repurchase, ultimately exiting the homogenized market.

For these emerging shrimp ball hot pot buffet brands, challenges such as brand differentiation, product innovation capabilities, and store operation management still exist. Whether they can achieve long-term scale remains to be seen.