Zhao Lusi's Chengdu Dessert Shop Draws Long Queues and Debate Over 48-Yuan Noodles

A crowded opening puts Rooosy Time in the spotlight

At Zhao Lusi's Rooosy Time dessert shop in Chengdu, the first batch of breads and pastries was nearly gone within 40 minutes of opening during its trial period. One customer arrived at 10 a.m. and waited about 90 minutes for a light meal. Another took an early train from Luzhou specifically to visit.

The attention has spread beyond the pastry counter. A bowl of Sichuan style cold noodles costs 48 yuan, making a familiar local dish the centre of a debate about what customers should pay at a celebrity restaurant. A cake made without eggs or dairy, priced at 78 yuan, has also attracted strong interest.

Rooosy Time held trial operations from September 21 to 23, with its formal opening scheduled for September 24. Located at Fanmu Flying International Cultural and Creative Park in Chengdu, the shop brings Zhao back into the dessert business in her hometown after an earlier venture in Hengdian closed.

Zhao was not present during the reported trial visits. Customers ordered and paid through QR codes and self service checkout, while fans, nearby university students and office workers filled the dining area.

The opening comes as several restaurant brands associated with celebrities have contracted or closed. Rooosy Time has already demonstrated its ability to attract a crowd. Its next business task is more ordinary: serving food at a price and standard that make people return after the excitement of opening week.

What happened during the trial run?

Visits on September 22 and 23 recorded queues forming soon after business began. A customer identified by the surname Li said she reached the shop at 10 a.m. and waited roughly an hour and a half before eating her light meal set.

Another visitor travelled from Luzhou, about 260 kilometres from Chengdu by road, on an early train. A food reviewer described waiting two hours, suggesting that the time spent in line varied between visits.

The shop manager advised customers to come outside the busiest periods and said supplies would increase for the formal opening. The early sellout concerned the first batch of breads and pastries, rather than every item available across the menu.

The opening sequence was:

• September 21: Rooosy Time began its trial operations.
• September 22: Queues and strong demand were recorded during a visit to the shop.
• September 23: Customers described long waits, and the manager said more products would be supplied for the next day's formal opening.
• September 24: The shop's scheduled formal opening date.

A trial period gives a restaurant an opportunity to adjust production, staffing and service before regular operations begin. At Rooosy Time, the combination of queues and early shortages made the amount of food prepared each day an immediate practical concern.

Why a bowl of noodles costs 48 yuan

Rooosy Time's menu ranges from 26 to 98 yuan per item and extends well beyond desserts. Customers can order coffee, kombucha, sandwiches, brunch platters, baked dishes, cakes and soufflés. A brunch platter costs 78 yuan, the same price as the popular wheat and black sesame cake made without eggs or dairy.

The 48-yuan cold noodles have drawn particular attention because Zhao is known to enjoy the dish. Her father once brought her cold noodles during a concert in Macau, giving the food a personal connection that fans recognise.

Some customers consider the price expensive for a familiar Sichuan dish. Others say spending around 50 yuan per person is reasonable for the shop's location and positioning, and that the ingredients and quality match the bill.

The disagreement is partly about what customers are buying. Someone seeking a simple bowl of noodles may judge the price against an everyday meal. Someone visiting a spacious dessert shop for food, photographs and time with friends may judge the same bill against other cafés.

The menu also shows why a price per item and a spending estimate per person are different measures. A bowl of noodles alone costs 48 yuan. Adding a drink or dessert takes the bill above the roughly 50 yuan that some visitors described as acceptable.

Desserts offer another reason to visit

The 78-yuan wheat and black sesame cake has been among the popular choices during the opening period. Its recipe excludes eggs and dairy, giving customers a specific alternative to more conventional cakes.

Other desserts have received favourable reactions from at least one early reviewer. After describing a wait of two hours, the reviewer praised a caramel banana almond soufflé for its milky flavour, crisp caramel surface and banana cream.

A matcha cake paired with coconut jelly and longan also drew praise for tasting refreshing without being overly sweet. Longan is a small fruit with sweet flesh, while matcha is finely ground green tea that can bring a slightly bitter contrast to desserts.

Those descriptions point to a menu built around contrasting textures and flavours, rather than relying entirely on Zhao's name. They remain individual customer reactions, alongside the price objections expressed by other visitors.

The shop's white walls and natural wood furnishings create a Korean inspired setting. Some early customers compared its atmosphere to Jeju Island. The interior gives visitors another reason to spend time there, although queues and food availability shape the experience just as directly as the décor.

A return to desserts in Zhao's hometown

Zhao, who was born in Chengdu on November 9, 1998, has developed a large young audience through television and film. Opening Rooosy Time links that audience to a physical business in the city where she grew up.

Her previous dessert shop in Hengdian closed following a trademark dispute with a business partner. She later said during a livestream that she would not open another dessert shop. Rooosy Time marks a change from that earlier position.

Zhao's career has also undergone changes. She took a break following health problems in 2024 and returned with a birthday concert in November 2025. In April, she said she planned to start filming a new drama in the summer.

Her drama Love's Ambition brought renewed attention, while a Bangkok concert in May reportedly sold all 12,000 tickets within 38 seconds. She also ended her working relationship with management company Galaxy Cool Entertainment after a public contract dispute.

For the Chengdu business, that audience offers a large pool of potential first visitors. The shop's ownership structure, Zhao's investment and her role in daily management have not been disclosed. Her absence during the trial visits left staff responsible for turning the initial attention into meals served and orders completed.

Celebrity restaurant closures provide a warning

Shang Shang Qian, the hotpot brand associated with singer Xue Zhiqian, closed its final location in May 2026 after about 14 years. Staff said there were no plans to restart the business in another city.

The chain had once reached 28 locations, including eight operated directly and 20 run by franchisees. In a franchise arrangement, another business pays to use a brand and its operating system, rather than the brand owner running every restaurant.

Shang Shang Qian reportedly recorded daily sales of about 1.5 million yuan in 2017 and annual sales of roughly 540 million yuan. By December 2023, it had only two restaurants remaining. It had opened no new locations after 2021.

Xue left the shareholder register of Shanghai Shangqian Catering Management in February 2019. The brand also faced food hygiene problems: tableware at its Nanjing East Road pedestrian street and Changning locations tested positive for coliform bacteria in June and September 2020 respectively. Such bacteria are used as an indicator of hygiene conditions.

The chain's history brings several pressures into view at once: a shrinking network, changes in ownership and failures in basic restaurant standards. Rooosy Time is entering a different category of dining, but it faces the same need to keep service and food dependable after its first burst of publicity.

Huofengxiang shows the pressure on franchisees

Huofengxiang, a hotpot brand once partly owned through a company linked to actor Zheng Kai, has also contracted. Industry data cited for June 2026 counted 18 operating locations, alongside 13 for Xianhezhuang, associated with Chen He, and four for Zaomenkan, associated with Sun Yizhou.

An earlier snapshot from restaurant data platform Narrow Door Restaurant Eye counted 60 Huofengxiang locations, mainly in smaller cities, down from more than 100 less than a year before. Its first Beijing restaurant, near Heshenghui, had closed, leaving the capital without an operating location.

The brand's public activity had also slowed. Its WeChat account was last updated on December 21, 2023, and its Weibo account on September 8, 2023. A company in which Zheng held a stake became a former shareholder in November 2021.

One regional agent described investing more than 5 million yuan in regional rights and a restaurant. The outlet generated annual sales exceeding 13 million yuan but still lost money. Sales are the money customers pay; profit is what remains after ingredients, wages, rent, fees and other expenses.

The agent said regional rights alone cost more than 3 million yuan and required renewal every five years. Regional agents could set fees for other franchisees and earn a margin on supplies bought through the system.

Huofengxiang also faced allegations of copying a Chengdu restaurant's design and issued an apology. Food safety problems exposed in 2021 brought a further response from the brand. Its experience shows how franchise fees, purchasing arrangements and restaurant standards can become as consequential as the celebrity association that first attracts customers.

A difficult market extends beyond famous owners

China's hotpot market provides a measure of the wider competition. Narrow Door Restaurant Eye counted 498,400 hotpot restaurants nationwide as of May 13, 2026. More than 130,000 had opened over the preceding year, yet the total fell by 57,444.

Those figures imply that more than 187,444 outlets left the market during that period: the number of openings plus the net decline. Restaurants were entering in large numbers while an even greater number were closing.

Even a major operator faced pressure on earnings. Haidilao's reported 2025 revenue rose 1.1% to 43.225 billion yuan, while core operating profit fell 13.3% to 5.403 billion yuan and net profit fell 14% to 4.042 billion yuan.

Wen Zhihong, a restaurant chain specialist, has pointed to intense hotpot competition and seasonal differences in demand, including a weaker summer period. His assessment puts product quality, service, customer experience and value at the centre of lasting restaurant operations.

Zhan Junhao, founder of Fujian Huace Brand Positioning Consulting, has identified unstable product quality, weak management and unclear market positioning as recurring risks for celebrity restaurants. Financial commentator Zhang Xuefeng has stressed professional management, purchasing networks, food safety and service.

Rooosy Time sells desserts and meals rather than hotpot, so the market figures describe the environment facing other celebrity brands. The practical connection is straightforward: customers must keep choosing a restaurant often enough for its sales to cover its costs.

Smaller ventures shift the focus to daily operations

Some newer celebrity food businesses are starting with fewer locations. Actor Wen Zhang holds a 59% stake in Bahaoyuan, a Shaanxi noodle restaurant that opened in Shanghai in April. Actor Tan Kai opened a shop selling traditional buns made by hand in Zhangjiakou, while Wu Yanzu's Whatever coffee brand has locations in Chengdu and Hangzhou.

Compared with large franchise networks, a smaller operation gives owners a more limited set of kitchens, employees and customer experiences to manage. It still needs reliable purchasing, safe food preparation and enough repeat customers to pay its bills.

At Rooosy Time, the immediate priorities are already visible. Customers have encountered waits of roughly 90 minutes or longer, the first pastry batch sold quickly, and the manager promised increased supply for the formal opening. Matching preparation to demand could affect both the length of the queue and what remains available when customers reach the counter.

The price debate makes consistency especially relevant. Diners accepting 48 yuan for noodles or 78 yuan for cake will bring expectations about flavour, portion size and service. Fans travelling from another city may give the shop an early advantage; nearby residents, students and office workers provide another potential customer base for ordinary weekdays.

Rooosy Time's opening has brought Zhao's audience into a Chengdu dining room. Whether those first visits become a durable local business will depend on the food and service customers receive each time they return.

Key Points

• Rooosy Time held trial operations in Chengdu from September 21 to 23, ahead of a scheduled September 24 formal opening.
• The first batch of breads and pastries was nearly sold out within 40 minutes, while some visitors waited about 90 minutes or longer.
• Menu items cost 26 to 98 yuan. Cold noodles cost 48 yuan, and both the black sesame cake and brunch platter cost 78 yuan.
• Customers are divided over prices, with some calling them expensive and others accepting them for the setting and quality.
• The launch follows the closure or contraction of several celebrity restaurant brands, including Shang Shang Qian's final closure in May 2026.
• The manager said supplies would increase for the formal opening as the shop worked to meet early demand.