ZhengXin Chicken Steak built its growth model around operational repeatability: standardized products, a connected supply chain, store-level execution, and a partner network that carries the brand into new cities and countries. As the business expanded across Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Japan, agreements became part of the operating infrastructure behind every new team, store, supplier, and local partnership.
That scale created a practical challenge. Employment offers, labor agreements, confidentiality terms, policy acknowledgements, franchise and cooperation agreements, supplier contracts, regional development documents, and store-opening approvals moved between headquarters, local teams, candidates, partners, and external signatories. Different languages, mobile habits, identity documents, legal entities, approval paths, and time zones made email attachments and paper-based signing difficult to control.
ZhengXin Chicken Steak selected Nota Sign to create one digital agreement workflow for both human resources and commercial partnerships. The result is a mobile-first signing experience connected to internal systems through APIs, supported by eKYC coverage across 240 countries and regions, and backed by consistent signing records for every completed agreement.
The challenge
expansion moved faster than manual agreements
A restaurant network does not scale through store openings alone. Every expansion milestone depends on people and partners completing the right documents in the right order.
For HR teams, the workload includes offer letters, employment agreements, employee information forms, confidentiality agreements, handbook acknowledgements, training commitments, store-manager appointments, transfer documents, and separation records. Many signers work in stores, kitchens, logistics sites, or regional offices and rely on mobile devices rather than corporate laptops.
For international business teams, the agreement set is broader: franchise cooperation agreements, master development agreements, local operating-company documents, supplier and distributor contracts, equipment and service agreements, marketing commitments, brand-standard acknowledgements, and amendments created during negotiation. Each document requires clear ownership, internal approval, verified signers, and a retrievable final record.
The previous process depended on email, local messaging tools, printed documents, scanned copies, and manually maintained trackers. Teams spent time checking whether the correct version had been sent, whether every page had been signed, whether a local representative had authority, and whether the final copy had returned to the right system. A missing attachment or outdated template delayed onboarding, store preparation, purchasing, and partner activation.
The solution
one agreement layer for HR and partner operations
Nota Sign gave ZhengXin Chicken Steak a shared agreement layer without forcing every market into one rigid process. Headquarters controls templates, fields, approval rules, signing order, identity requirements, and completed-document storage. Local teams launch the approved workflow for the relevant country, entity, document type, and signer profile.
The signer experience stays simple. Candidates, employees, franchisees, suppliers, and business partners receive a secure signing link and complete the agreement on a mobile phone or computer. The workflow presents the required authentication step, records signer actions, applies the correct signing sequence, and returns the completed agreement and evidence record to the business.
“Our teams no longer manage agreements as email attachments. Nota Sign turns each HR or partner document into a controlled workflow with a clear owner, verified signer, and complete status.”
— International Business Operations Team, ZhengXin Chicken Steak
This operating model supports two high-volume business areas.
HR onboarding that starts before day one
HR teams generate agreements from approved templates and populate employee information from the source system. Nota Sign routes the document through internal approval, sends it to the candidate or employee, and writes the signing status back through API and webhook events.
The workflow supports employment offers, labor contracts, confidentiality agreements, policy acknowledgements, training documents, role changes, and store-management appointments. Required fields prevent incomplete submissions. Expiration rules and automatic reminders keep time-sensitive offers moving. Completed records are stored with the signer identity, timestamps, document history, and evidence trail.
Mobile signing removes the need for printing, scanning, or visiting an office. This is especially important for frontline employees and store teams who need to complete onboarding from their own device before a shift, training session, or opening date.
Partner agreements that move with the expansion plan
ZhengXin Chicken Steak also uses Nota Sign for cooperation agreements across its international network. A standardized master template becomes a controlled starting point for each franchisee, regional partner, supplier, distributor, or service provider.
The workflow routes agreements according to country, contract value, legal entity, and business owner. Internal stakeholders review and approve before the document reaches external signers. Sequential and parallel signing paths support headquarters, regional entities, local partners, guarantors, and witnesses within one envelope. Amendments and renewals follow the same controlled process, keeping the latest version and full signing history together.
This structure reduces the friction between commercial negotiation and operational launch. Once the agreement is complete, downstream teams receive the status required to continue store setup, training, procurement, logistics, marketing, or payment preparation.
Three decisions that made the workflow scale
1. Standardize the process, localize the signing experience
ZhengXin Chicken Steak separated global control from local execution. Headquarters maintains approved templates and governance rules, while each workflow carries the language, entity details, signer order, authentication level, and communication needed for the market.
This prevents local teams from rebuilding documents or inventing new approval paths. It also gives signers a consistent experience whether they are completing an employment agreement in Indonesia, a cooperation agreement in Japan, or a supplier document in the Philippines.
2. Connect agreements to the systems where work begins
Nota Sign APIs connect digital signing to HR, partner, franchise, procurement, and internal approval workflows. The source system creates an agreement, inserts the required data, assigns recipients, and sends the signing request. Webhooks return viewed, signed, declined, expired, and completed events in real time.
Teams work from the system they already use instead of copying names, addresses, identification details, and agreement status between tools. The completed file and signing evidence remain linked to the employee, partner, store, supplier, or transaction record that initiated the process.
3. Make identity verification part of the workflow
Cross-border agreements require more than a signature image. Nota Sign embeds eKYC into the signing journey and supports identity verification across 240 countries and regions. The workflow captures the required identity result alongside signer consent, authentication activity, timestamps, document events, and completion evidence.
ZhengXin Chicken Steak configures stronger verification for higher-risk partner agreements and streamlined authentication for routine employee acknowledgements. This risk-based model avoids unnecessary friction while giving legal, HR, and business teams a consistent record of who signed, what they signed, and how the workflow verified the signer.
The results
faster onboarding, cleaner partner execution, less follow-up
With Nota Sign, ZhengXin Chicken Steak reduced agreement turnaround by 70% across HR and partner workflows. Eighty-five percent of agreements now complete on the same day, without printing, scanning, courier delivery, or manual file consolidation.
Administrative effort fell by 60% because reminders, status tracking, recipient routing, document packaging, and completed-record delivery run automatically. HR teams spend less time chasing signatures before onboarding deadlines. International business teams see which agreement is waiting for internal approval, external signature, identity verification, or final completion without maintaining separate spreadsheets.
The business also gained stronger consistency. Approved templates and workflow rules reduce version errors. Required fields reduce incomplete documents. API-driven data population reduces rekeying. Central records make completed agreements easier to retrieve for employee service, partner management, internal review, renewal, and dispute handling.
Most importantly, the signing process now matches the pace of the business. A new employee completes documents from a phone. A regional partner signs across time zones. Headquarters keeps governance and visibility. Local teams continue opening stores, onboarding people, and activating commercial relationships without waiting for paper to catch up.
“Nota Sign gives us the control of a centralized agreement program and the speed of a local mobile workflow. That combination keeps people, partners, and expansion plans moving together.”
— Human Resources and International Operations, ZhengXin Chicken Steak
About ZhengXin Chicken Steak
Founded from a food business established in 1995 and developed into the ZhengXin Chicken Steak brand in 2000, Shanghai Zhengxin Food Group has grown into an integrated food enterprise spanning product development, manufacturing, logistics, distribution, and chain-store operations. Its international expansion includes active store and franchise development across Asian markets, with Japan operations supporting local stores and franchise recruitment.
