Development
Due to the good operation of the first Little Sheep restaurant, founders successfully opened two Little Sheep Hot Pot restaurants in Qingshan District and Donghe District of Baotou City two months later, and the business was equally popular. This allowed the founders of Little Sheep to start the chain-store operation. They started opening more Little Sheep restaurants in other countries as well as of April 2000. In early 2001, the Little Sheep meat product processing base was established.
In May 2001, Shanghai branch of Inner Mongolia Little Sheep Catering Chain Co., Ltd. was established (there are currently 30 direct investment restaurants).
In January 2002, the Beijing branch of Inner Mongolia Little Sheep Catering Chain Co., Ltd. was established (there are currently 15 direct investment restaurants).
In January 2002, Shenzhen branch of Inner Mongolia Little Sheep Catering Chain Co., Ltd. was established (there are currently 18 direct investment restaurants).
In November 2002, Little Sheep Hot pot Store was opened in Chengdu, and entered the most competitive hot pot market in China, therefore challenging Sichuan hot pot brands. It achieved an income record of 170,000 yuan in one day.
In January 2003, the Little Sheep Condiment Base was established.
In November 2003, Little Sheep's first overseas chain store opened in Los Angeles, U.S.
In September 2004, Inner Mongolia Little Sheep Catering Chain Co., Ltd. ranked among the Top 500 Chinese companies.
On November 12, 2004, "LITTLE SHEEP" and its logo were recognized as China's Famous Trade Mark.
On October 12, 2005, the first directly operated store was opened in Toronto, Canada.
In June 2006, it was again selected as "China's 500 Most Valuable Brands" with a brand value of 5.677 billion Yuan.
On June 22, 2007, Little Sheep was selected for the third time as the "China's 500 Most Valuable Brands" and was ranked in 104th place in the Top 500 Chinese companies with a brand value of 5.916 billion Yuan.
On November 11, 2007, at the fourth annual Top 100 Chinese Restaurant Awards in New York, U.S., it won three honours: Chinese Best 100 Local Cuisine, Chinese Best 100 New Restaurant, and Chinese Best 100 Healthy Cuisine.
On June 12, 2008, Inner Mongolia Little Sheep Catering Chain Co., Ltd. was successfully listed in Hong Kong.[8]
Until January 2010, Little Sheep Company had a total of more than 60,000 employees, drove more than 240,000 people in related employment, and increased more than 200,000 farmers and herdsmen's income.[7]
