Yun Nans restaurant co-founder dies at 40, company fined $7k in July for mass food poisoning
Daniel Lai
The Straits Times
Sept 19, 2025
Mr Zhao Han, co-founder of Chinese restaurant chain Yun Hai Yao, died on Sept 18 at the age of 40.
His death was made public on Chinese social media platform Weibo on the afternoon of Sept 19.
In a post on the company's official Weibo account at 2pm local time, Yun Hai Yao's co-chief executive and co-founder Zhu Hai Qin said Mr Zhao suffered a heart attack on Sept 18.
"This happened very suddenly. Thank you for all your concern. Like all of you, we are grieving," she wrote.
Yun Hai Yao, better known as Yun Nans in Singapore, specialises in dishes from the south-western mountainous province of Yun Nan in China.
It is China's largest casual restaurant chain with more than 200 outlets, according to its website.
The company was founded in 2009 and opened its first overseas outlet in Jewel Changi Airport in 2019.
Ms Zhu said in the Weibo post that the food and beverage industry has faced many difficulties in the past few years, and Mr Zhao had been under a lot of pressure.
She vowed to work hard to make Yun Hai Yao a success, to fulfil the promise she made with Mr Zhao.
An obituary accompanying the post stated that Mr Zhao died at 2.43pm local time on Sept 18 in Kunming Tongren Hospital. His funeral will be held on Sept 20.
On July 17, the eatery chain was fined $7,000 by the Singapore courts over its role in the ByteDance mass food poisoning case in 2024.
Yun Hai Yao's co-CEO Lu Zhi Tao, who is Mr Zhao's cousin, appeared in court on behalf of the company.
