Xibei (西贝) delays salary payments on a large scale; leaving on the same day is not affected

Large-scale wage delays, unusual carve‑out

Xibei (西贝), the Chinese casual‑dining chain, has notified large swathes of its management and middle‑management staff that their wages will be delayed — except for employees who resign by 23:00 on March 6, whose pay will reportedly be paid in full. Phoenix Technology (凤凰网科技) has obtained the internal notice and interviewed multiple staff; it has been reported that the carve‑out has been widely read internally as an incentive to prompt voluntary departures and thereby reduce severance obligations.

According to the notice seen by Phoenix Technology, the delay covers city managers and nearly all store‑level backbone roles: store managers, service and floor managers, kitchen chiefs and deputy chiefs, delivery managers and other mid‑ and lower‑tier managers. That effectively leaves only the most junior front‑line servers and kitchen helpers outside the deferred‑pay scheme.

Promises, losses and staff squeeze

The move marks a sharp reversal from founder Jia Guolong (贾国龙)’s public pledge in January that “no departing employee would lose a penny.” It comes after Jia warned that Xibei would record cumulative losses exceeding 600 million yuan (roughly US$85 million) from September 2025 through March 2026 and announced plans to shutter 102 outlets — about 30% of the chain. It has been reported that pay reductions for some store leaders began as early as February 1, with some managers asked to sign contracts cutting pay by around 30%.

Front‑line employees face a different set of pressures. Phoenix Technology reports many younger or outsourced staff are being dismissed with little or no compensation, while managers who remain have been told that, if they refuse the company’s terms, the alternative may be long “standby” periods paid at local minimum wage. A leaked “standby notice” reportedly runs from March 3 to August 31 and would pay only statutory minimums in some regions — as low as about 2,540 yuan a month.

Capital support, but not a cure

Xibei recently closed an A‑round citing support from investors including New Rongji founder Zhang Yong (张勇) and former Alibaba partner Hu Xiaoming (胡晓明), and registered a roughly 13% increase in capital. Yet employees and observers say the injection has not resolved immediate cashflow and labor disputes. It has been reported that staff who bought into employee share plans face onerous refund conditions, and that managers are being nudged toward arbitration if they resist company proposals.

For Western readers, this episode illustrates a common tension in China’s post‑pandemic hospitality sector: rapid expansion and subsequent capital infusions can coexist with deep cashflow strain and abrupt cost‑cutting that fall hardest on rank‑and‑file workers. Xibei has not issued a public response to the latest internal notice as of publication. What happens next — arbitration, regulatory scrutiny or further closures — will be a test of how China’s labour and capital markets handle another major consumer‑sector retrenchment.