Chinese restaurant owner gifts new cars to outstanding employees

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Restaurant owner inspired to reward her staff

A Chinese restaurant owner has given new cars to some of her best-performing employees, including a waitress who continued to ride an electric scooter to work in freezing weather.

According to the South China Morning Post, Ma Yanli, who runs a beef hotpot restaurant chain in Jiaozuo, Henan province, China, bought the cars as a reward for her staff.

Each car was worth 300,000 yuan, equivalent to about 4.3 million Pakistani rupees. Ma paid for the vehicles in full nearly two weeks before handing them over to the employees.

One recipient, Li Jie, was astonished by the unexpected gift. She said Ma had only told her, while they were on their way to the showroom, that they were going to receive a “big toy”. On the same day, a new white car was registered in her name.

The idea came to Ma last winter when she saw Li, who had worked at the restaurant for eight years, arriving at work on an electric scooter in bitterly cold weather. The cold wind had left Li’s face red, her ears purple and her hands stiff.

Seeing her employee struggle in the cold, Ma questioned why her staff should endure such harsh conditions when she could travel comfortably in a car herself.

The gesture comes amid growing attention in China to business owners rewarding their employees with substantial gifts and bonuses.

In 2025, Cui Peijun, chairman of Henan Kuangshan Crane Company, distributed bonuses worth a total of 180 million yuan among employees to mark the Chinese New Year.

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