In 1984, Mai Guangfan entered a small restaurant in Zhongshan City. At first, he felt very lucky, because at that time, it was not easy to have a stable job, and he could work with food every day. companion. But the days that followed were not easy. I had to do everything from killing chickens and geese to buying vegetables and washing dishes. The boring work did not dampen Mai Guangfan's fighting spirit. He worked overtime every day for more than ten hours. From production to service to management, he carefully observed and tried to accumulate experience. He even asked himself to get up early every day and go to the vegetable market to see what ingredients could be used to make a new dish. With his smart mind and dedicated diligence in food, Mai Guangfan created many famous dishes and became the best local chef. But he was not satisfied with this, and increasingly felt that he still had many shortcomings. Later, he went to Hong Kong alone to learn cooking skills. Although he didn't stay in Hong Kong for long, it made him feel what real business and service are, and he began to study the essence of Hong Kong-style food culture. After returning to his hometown of Zhongshan City from Hong Kong, Mai Guangfan took the lead in introducing concepts such as "snake and steam" snacks learned in Hong Kong from seafood restaurants to the restaurants that hired him, and began experimenting with high-end cuisine. The business was very popular when it first opened, but then failed due to poor service, staff, quality of dishes, etc. Mai Guangfan concluded: Although he knew some basic cooking skills, he knew nothing about management, so he did a mess. Later, I bought a lot of management books and made a summary after reading them. Mai Guangfan's experience of practical combat and thinking laid the foundation for his success. In 1994, Mai Guangfan founded Zhangjiabian Harbor Restaurant. At that time, Zhangjiabian was a remote suburb of Zhongshan City, and many people thought that Mai Guangfan was doing something stupid. At that time, Mai Guangfan had already considered all the possible reasons for failure. His market positioning was to win with affordable prices. This was supplemented by the success of the Harbor Restaurant, which became a hot topic in Zhongshan's catering industry. At that time, he had become a close disciple of the national abalone king Yang Guanyi, who was known as "Ah Yi Abalone". Yang Guanyi admired Mai Guangfan's persistent pursuit of cooking skills and diligence in learning, and unreservedly transferred his cooking skills to The art was passed down to him, and from then on, Mai Guangfan's name as "Abalone Prince" began to be widely circulated in the industry. Fame brought benefits, and soon Mai Guangfan opened seven or eight chain restaurants in Zhongshan. In 1998, he established "Zhongshan Haigang Catering and Entertainment Management Co., Ltd." and expanded the market to Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, etc. land.

Mai Guangfan’s foresight in brand management. In 1996, Mai Guangfan applied to register the "Haigang" trademark. Later, Haigang developed smoothly and became one of the top 100 catering companies in China. The brand value of the seaport is inseparable from Mai Guangfan's strong awareness of brand protection. As the territory of "Seaport" continues to expand, in addition to operating restaurants, Mai Guangfan also establishes a catering school to provide culturally tasteful catering while comprehensively improving the quality of employees in the catering industry. In May 2002, the "Haigang Restaurant Education Center" jointly established by the Haigang Catering Management Group and Zhongshan Technical High School was officially established. At the same time, the "Food World" magazine was founded, hoping to bring together Haigang's years of accumulated experience to create a magazine that truly belongs to chefs. And spread their own concepts of healthy eating and high-taste eating. The reason why Mai Guangfan is able to have so many new ideas and creativity is inseparable from his persistence in learning and his ability to absorb the strengths of others. In order to learn how to make egg yolk pork, Mai Guangfan once ordered five portions in a restaurant in Taiwan. People around him thought he was crazy. He even took his senior managers to food stalls to learn about certain specialties made by others. Many people are used to picking the bones from the eggs, but he is used to picking some meat from the bones and digesting this meat into his own things. He often emphasizes in front of the managers around him that he must be able to learn. Mai Guangfan is a person who has always been curious about the catering industry. He is always eager to learn and create. He always absorbs the essence of the people around him and then turns it into his own. Gradually, he has regarded food management as an art, and each new restaurant is his laboratory.

Mai Guangfan broke the rule in the catering industry of "teaching the apprentice and starving the master to death" and always imparted the knowledge he mastered to his subordinates without reservation. Therefore, many of his employees were able to work in the kitchen. De Hall, both skilled chefs and professional managers, have quickly taken on the role of leaders in each store.

Mai Guangfan was invited to help plan and manage restaurants across the country. The model is very similar to the world-famous hotel management company Marriott Hotels. Mai Guangfan made full use of the Haigang brand to cooperate with powerful companies. The other party provided funds, and Haigang participated in the management and completed the strategy of transforming the catering concept into a management concept. Since each performs its own duties, does its best, and complements its advantages, investment risks are reduced to the greatest extent and the steady development of the enterprise is ensured. Since the establishment of the first Zhongshan Management Company in August 1998, the group has owned three major catering groups and more than ten well-known Chinese catering brands, such as "Haigang Restaurant", "Chifu Restaurant", "Prince Hotel", "Ming" It has more than 60 wholly-owned and joint-venture restaurants, including "Culinary Kitchen", with a total number of employees of more than 20,000. It also develops rapidly with three large-scale restaurants every year, and its business covers more than ten provinces and cities in China. At the same time, Mai Guangfan also extended his tentacles abroad, opening the Harbor Restaurant in Vancouver, Canada, and the Harbor Restaurant in Los Angeles, the United States. He promoted the true Cantonese cuisine culture by bringing the Harbor brand restaurant chain into the international market. The Prince Group, founded by Mai Guangfan himself, has been listed in the UK, and the British "Times" reported the sensational effect of the listing in a full-page report.