has over 300 restaurant chains in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, the United States, Japan, and Canada.

Yum agreed to buy Little Sheep for $587 million in May 2011 but the deal was delayed for four months by a Chinese Ministry of Commerce antitrust investigation.

[5] Happy Lamb was also a similar hot pot brand founded by the original owner of Little Sheep in 2017.

Another version of the story is that Zhang Gang observed the commercial success of a chain of three hot pot restaurants in Hohhot; convinced of the business potential of the hot pot restaurant format, he purchased hot-pot-based recipes and began to develop Little Sheep.

[7] 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.

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).

[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.

Brands and Little Sheep Group are relatively large, according to the law, this transaction was subject to China's anti-monopoly.

Brands held approximately 93.2% of the shares of Little Sheep, the rest of which were owned by Zhang Gang and other founders.

Little Sheep, as the leader of hot pot restaurant chains, tried to develop its online marketing approach.

[11][12] The goal of Little Sheep Company is to deepen the new food method of “simmering lamb without dipping in complex ingredients”.

[15][16] Instant-boiled mutton, a style of hot pot, has been eaten in China for a long time, but traditionally it's prepared in boiling water and the pieces of meat are dipped in sauce by each diner after cooking.

"Little Sheep" invented a method of "simmering mutton without dipped in ingredients": a pot-base soup made from dozens of condiments.