Haidilao in China to refund 4,109 customers’ bills after 2 youths peed into hotpot

Hotpot chain Haidilao found itself in hot water after two male youths, both aged 17, were caught on camera peeing into a hotpot at one of its outlets in Shanghai.

According to a statement issued by Shanghai police on Mar. 8, the two youths entered the outlet at midnight on Feb. 24 and urinated into the hotpot after becoming "intoxicated".

On Mar. 12, Haidilao released a statement on its Weibo page apologising for the incident.

The hotpot chain revealed that the incident took place at its East Nanjing Road outlet located at the Bund, and the outlet had "replaced all hotpots and utensils" by 3:49am on Mar. 8.

Given the circumstances, Haidilao said it will refund all customers who visited the outlet from Feb. 24 to Mar. 8 and offer them cash compensation amounting to 10 times their dining bills.

Should any customers wish to seek compensation through legal means, Haidilao also promised to give its "full assistance" and "take full responsibility" for the incident.

Became aware of incident on Feb. 28

In the statement, Haidilao apologised for taking almost two weeks to respond to the incident:

"We are very sorry that, as the company management did not have any contingency plans or provide any training in terms of how to handle such incidents, the outlet's duty team failed to notice the incident promptly.

We did not safeguard the safety of the dining environment, and we are embarrassed for breaking the trust of our customers."

According to the hotpot chain, it only found out about the video of the incident on Feb. 28 and notified the police because "they were unable to determine where and when the incident occurred".

While Haidilao also conducted checks at its 1,400 outlets across 15 countries, they did not unearth many clues as there was a "tremendous" amount of data.

Filed lawsuits against 2 youths

According to the statement, it was only until Mar. 6 evening, 10 days after the incident took place, that Haidilao finally confirmed that it took place at the East Nanjing Road outlet.

After local police ascertained the youths' identities, the hotpot chain conducted checks on their dining bill and found out that they "did not purchase any alcoholic beverage at the outlet".

While the police had detained the youths, Haidilao said it had filed civil lawsuits against them on Mar. 10 to "hold them accountable" for their actions.

Refunding 4,109 bills

Haidilao added in the statement that it recognised the incident had deeply troubled its customers, and "no form of compensation" is sufficient enough to make up for its mistake.

Nevertheless, the hotpot chain said it will "do its best" to take responsibility for the incident, including by refunding 4,109 bills paid by customers who visited the East Nanjing Road outlet between Feb. 24 and Mar. 8.

At the same time, Haidilao promised that it will improve its management and service "with actions" and thanked customers for their "criticism and forgiveness".

Top images via Douyin & Dianping