Meizhou Dongpo is a large catering group in China. On June 6, 1996, the first Meizhou Dongpo Restaurant was opened in Beijing. The enterprise entered the stage of rapid development in 2000, and set up Beijing Meizhou Restaurant Management Co., Ltd. In June 2003 the business mainly covers restaurant management, catering services, food processing and sales, with its headquarters in Beijing including logistics center and central kitchen. By the end of 2013, Meizhou Dongpo Group covered six business types. Meizhou Dongpo Group has annual operating revenue of over RMB 1.8 billion, accumulative consumers of over 20 million persons-times and more than 8,000 employees. This case focuses on the starting-up process of Meizhou Dongpo Group by Wang Gang. Meizhou Dongpo has grown from a small restaurant into one of top 100 catering companies in China. This simple and arduous entrepreneurship story has been happening over the past decade in the highly competitive traditional catering industry. High technology, well-educated talent, employed manager, brand-new business model and financial support from bank or venture capital institutions cannot be found in the entrepreneurship history of Meizhou Dongpo. The case is a good attempt to analyze how did Wang Gang create and rule a catering empire by his unique leadership?

Since the establishment of the first Meizhou Dongpo Restaurant in Beijing in 1996, Wang Gang and his wife Liang Di have opened more than 100 chain restaurants in China and foreign countries, and set up the group headquarters, logistics center, R&D center and central kitchen. Meizhou Dongpo has grown into one of the most stable large catering enterprises in China. The enterprise entered the stage of rapid development in 2000. Meizhou Dongpo Group has annual operating revenue of over RMB 1.8 billion, accumulative consumers of over 20 million persons-times and more than 8,000 employees. Meizhou Dongpo has transformed its small-restaurant operation model at beginning into present operation model of large catering group chain. Wang Gang believed Meizhou Dongpo must take the path of standardization to become a large-scale Chinese cuisine chain enterprise. Standardized management has always been the most important development strategy at Meizhou Dongpo. Wang Gang accelerated the standardized management of Meizhou Dongpo after 2000, realizing production and processing standardization, management standardization and service standardization. The year 2013 was important to Meizhou Dongpo. On December 18, 2013, Meizhou Dongpo Beverly Restaurant in Los Angeles was opened, and "Wangjiadu" series products of Meizhou Dongpo were also sold at various supermarkets in the U.S., marking a step of internationalization taken by Meizhou Dongpo. Regular chain, standardization strategy and international development are priorities of this case.