Hutouju raised hundreds of millions to open bakeries everywhere — then every store closed

Hutouju Zhada Binghang (虎头局渣打饼行) was a 'new Chinese-style bakery' chain founded by Hu Ting (胡亭). It sold traditional Chinese pastries — egg-yolk crisps, mochi tiger rolls, scallion crackers — in brightly branded stores aimed at young urban consumers. Backed by multiple funding rounds including Sequoia China and GGV Capital, it was reportedly valued at around 2 billion yuan at its peak.

The chain expanded rapidly across Shanghai, Changsha, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Chengdu and Chongqing, with queues of two hours reported at flagship locations. Its e-commerce arm, launched in 2022, reached roughly 100 million yuan in GMV and began turning a profit in the second half of that year. But the physical expansion was burning cash faster than any revenue stream could cover.

By late 2022, reports emerged of unpaid wages, unpaid suppliers and unpaid renovation contractors. In March 2023, social media posts alleged 300 million yuan in funding raised, 200 million yuan in unpaid debts, and imminent bankruptcy. Hu Ting denied the figures publicly — 'the closure reports are definitely untrue' — while stores across Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai were already shutting.

By 23 April 2023, only seven stores remained open in Wuhan. All e-commerce channels — Tmall, JD, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Pinduoduo, Vipshop — had closed. Nine related companies changed their legal representative to Hu Ting in a single month. The parent company was listed as a dishonest debtor, and Hu Ting was restricted from high consumption. Twenty-one court cases were filed in under two months.