3 takeaways from my visit to Meituan-Dianping’s headquarters

Jeffrey is a TIA Star Contributor and publishes high-value content that serves the Asian tech community. Read more from TIA Star Contributors here.

I recently got a call asking if I would like to visit the Meituan-Dianping headquarters in Beijing, and I jumped at the chance.

I had been watching Meituan for a long time, but I never really had much information on the company. But with my visit and now with their recent filings for going public, I can finally dig into the company.

In this article, I’ll lay out my three main takeaways from my visit to Meituan.

My observations of the office

Meituan’s headquarters is in one of the new business districts that has sprung up outside of the fourth ring road, northeast of Beijing. When you get off the subway, it is like entering a different Beijing—more like Silicon Valley and Santa Clara than the hustle of Tiananmen Square and Guomao.

At the office complex, I went into their lobby, which was like a museum. They had their signature yellow uniforms and delivery pouches on display. They had also just purchased Mobike, so there was one of those bikes too.

Meituan uniform in their headquarters

Mobike in Meituan headquarters

Interestingly, they also displayed drones and autonomous delivery vehicles that they were prototyping.

Meituan drone

An autonomous delivery vehicle

Takeaways