Jia Guolong, chairman of Inner Mongolia Xibei Catering Group, and his wife, Zhang Liping, have each pledged all of the group equity they hold directly, according to China’s National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System as reported by The Paper. The Paper did not give a specific date for Jia’s pledge, describing the new filing only as recent.
The original report was published by The Paper on November 10, 2026: https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_34446734.
The registered pledges
The publicity system showed one new equity-pledge record for Inner Mongolia Xibei Catering Group Co., Ltd. Jia, the company’s legal representative and chairman, pledged all of his directly held equity to the Beijing branch of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. The registered amount of that pledged equity was 26,604,027 yuan.
Zhang had already pledged the Xibei equity she holds directly. Business-registration information showed that on September 2, 2026, she pledged all of it to the Hohhot Ruyi Development Zone sub-branch of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, with a registered amount of 5,400,005 yuan. The Paper calculated that the couple’s pledged amounts together exceed 32 million yuan.
On the same system’s shareholder and capital-contribution page, Jia’s subscribed contribution is 26,604,027 yuan and Zhang’s is 5,400,005 yuan. Both list a subscription date of October 10, 2017. The Paper did not describe these registered amounts as a market valuation of the shares.
The company and the shareholders
Xibei began in 1988 in Bayannur, Inner Mongolia. Inner Mongolia Xibei Catering Group Co., Ltd. was established on October 10, 2017, with registered capital of about 104 million yuan and Jia as legal representative. Shareholder information lists Jia as chairman and general manager and Zhang as a director.
What the filings do not establish
An unnamed company executive had previously told The Paper that a shareholder pledge is relatively common. Unless an agreement expressly limits it, pledging non-restricted shares the shareholder owns is a statutory right and one way to deal with personal assets, the executive said. The pledge is that shareholder’s own guarantee: the company itself is not responsible for repaying the debt. The executive also said a pledge has no direct causal link to the company’s operating condition and cannot, by itself, be used to conclude that the business has deteriorated.
On motive, the executive said a high pledge ratio usually shows that the shareholder has an urgent personal need for funds. The money might be used to ease short-term cash-flow pressure at the company, repay old personal debts, or improve the shareholder’s living circumstances. It might also go toward a new venture or a strategic investment. Where the person pledging shares is both a shareholder and a member of the founder’s family, the executive said, the law often treats that person as acting in concert with the founder, and the pledge can be a funding arrangement made through that person when a major shareholder does not want to act directly. The Paper did not report a stated reason for the Jia family’s pledges.
Stores since the 2025 controversy
The Paper said the pledge news comes as Xibei continues to adjust its stores and business. Since a public controversy over pre-prepared dishes began in September 2025, operations have been hit hard. In January 2026, Jia confirmed to media that Xibei would close 102 stores nationwide, about 30 percent of its store count at the time.
At the end of September 2026, a store manager told The Paper: “At lunch and dinner, the store often used to have queues. Now it is always empty. Traffic has recovered a little from the worst period, but overall it is still weak.”
Store numbers have also changed. The Paper previously reported that Xibei’s website had shown nearly 400 stores in 62 cities and about 17,000 employees as of 2025. Data from the third-party platform Zhai Men Can Yan (窄门餐眼) showed the store count had fallen to about 200 as of October 12, 2026.
In September 2026, a rumor circulated that Xibei would shut down completely within two or three months. Xibei said then that the claim was not official information, that stores still operating nationwide were running normally, and that it would continue to work on its products and service.
A noodle venture and a new management company
Other catering arrangements have changed as well. In late October 2026, the Tianyancha app showed a registration change at Inner Mongolia Tianbian de Menmian Catering Co., Ltd. Tianbian Brand Management (Beijing) Co., Ltd., a Xibei company that had held 60 percent, withdrew as a shareholder. The noodle company was founded in April 2026, with Qin Yongjun as legal representative and registered capital of 1 million yuan. Its scope includes catering services, food-business management and alcohol sales. Qin now owns it outright. Qin is also linked to Shanghai Xibei Human Resources Technology Co., Ltd. and Inner Mongolia Xibei Vocational Skills Training School Co., Ltd.
Tianbian Claypot Braised Noodles (天边砂锅焖面) is a brand Jia launched in 2026. It is positioned as Xibei folk cuisine and centered on claypot braised noodles. Jia had said Xibei would close some stores and hoped the new brand would take on some of those stores and employees, while core Xibei stores continued. The brand uses its own name and team, although some outlets were converted directly from former Xibei stores.
In September 2026, some Tianbian stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Hohhot and other places closed or suspended operations. Xibei said those steps were planning adjustments at individual stores, that the remaining stores were operating normally, and that the company would keep refining its products and service.
Tianyancha also showed that Shanghai Qianqi Houshan Catering Management Co., Ltd. was established in late October 2026. Lu Haifeng is the legal representative, registered capital is 100,000 yuan, and the business scope is catering management. The shareholders are Inner Mongolia Xibei Catering Group with 60 percent, Zhao Wenhui with 20 percent, Zhou Xin with 10 percent and Lu Haifeng with 10 percent.