Mass-market snack sales "double strength" with net profit growth reaching triple digits by 2025, as the industry enters a new stage focused on "improving quality and increasing efficiency."

Ask AI · Significant Growth in Net Profit of Bulk Snacks, What Are the Key Contributions Behind the Improvement in Gross Margin?

Saying goodbye to simple “land grabbing,” the qualitative shift from “expansion” to “profitability” is rewriting the development landscape of bulk snacks. Mingming Busy and Wanchen Group’s financial report data are reflecting the synchronized strategic logic the industry is exhibiting—“improving quality and efficiency.”

Recently, the two listed companies—Mingming Busy and Wanchen Group—that mainly operate bulk snacks business have completed their financial report disclosures. Among them, Mingming Busy achieved operating revenue of 66.170 billion yuan in 2025, up 68.2% year on year; during the same period, Wanchen Group’s operating revenue was 51.459 billion yuan, up 59.17% year on year, and the revenue of its bulk snacks business was 50.857 billion yuan, up 59.98% year on year.

Compared with the double-digit revenue growth rates, the net profits both companies recorded in 2025 show even more prominent triple-digit growth. The financial reports show that Mingming Busy’s net profit was 2.329 billion yuan, up 180.9% year on year; adjusted net profit was 2.692 billion yuan, up 194.9% year on year. In addition, Wanchen Group’s net profit attributable to shareholders was 1.345 billion yuan, up 358.09% year on year, and the net profit of the bulk snacks business for the full year after adding back share-based payment expenses accrued was 2.533 billion yuan.

Improvements on the gross margin side also indicate that companies’ profitability has been further strengthened. According to Mingming Busy’s financial report, the company’s gross margin increased from 7.6% for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 to 9.8% for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025. This increase mainly stemmed from an increase in the gross profit from merchandise sales. The gross profit from merchandise sales rose sharply from 2.868 billion yuan to 6.112 billion yuan. The gross margin on merchandise sales increased from 7.3% to 9.3%, mainly attributable to the scale economy resulting from the expansion of the company’s business scale and strengthened cost-control capabilities.

Wanchen Group, in its financial report, also pointed out that, taking merchandise as an example, the company has continued to deepen its focus on merchandise procurement and category management, establishing broad and close business cooperation relationships with major domestic and international food and beverage brands as well as local specialty brands. Its gross margin performance has continued to improve. In 2025, the gross margin of the bulk snacks business was 12.32%, up 1.46 percentage points year on year.

According to a research report by Everbright Securities, in terms of profitability, how much gross margin can be improved is crucial. From the logic of expanding product lines and net profit space, it is expected that the rising share of “customized products and private label products” with higher gross margins will be the core lever for increasing the overall gross margin.

The core logic of driving toward thicker profitability is aligned with the current theme of bulk snacks—its “quality enhancement and efficiency increase” stage. According to a research report by CICC, during the Bulk Snacks 1.0 stage (the rapid growth period), the industry showed characteristics of regional fragmentation; during the Bulk Snacks 2.0 stage (the competition and integration period) from 2022 to 2024, market integration accelerated, and leading players used advantages in capital, branding, and scale to speed up market consolidation; in the Bulk Snacks 3.0 stage, the industry’s competitive landscape has basically taken shape, entering a development stage focused on optimizing store operations and improving supply chain efficiency. At this juncture, in terms of future outlook, the development trend of bulk snacks will closely follow upgrades and iterations of the single-store model, as well as the layout of private label brands on the supply chain side.

Regarding the status of private label brand building, Hao Xiang Lai also said that since launching its own private label brands in 2025, as of mid-March, it had nearly 40 SKU products under its private label, mainly covering multiple categories such as water drinks, puffed snacks, and daily necessities.

Deconstructing how opportunities empower, Jiashi Consulting’s “2025 Bulk Snacks Industry Brief Analysis Report” states that bulk snacks giants are evolving from “selling others’ goods” to “making their own products.” Traditional private-label products have low margins, but once the brand scale surpasses 10,000 stores, developing private label brands through direct connections with factories and even building its own production lines can effectively improve gross margin. Moreover, private label brands can better control ingredient lists (such as reducing sugar and making products healthier), meeting the mainstream healthy consumption trends in 2026. As for improving supply chain efficiency, the core competitiveness of bulk snacks lies in “streamlining the supply chain.” Through a flat model of “factory—main warehouse—stores,” the overall markup rate is reduced significantly, far lower than traditional KA retail venues. Top companies optimize supply chains through digital technologies, further lowering costs; this not only shares the efficiency gains with consumers, but also provides companies with a “cost advantage.”

Supply chain advantages are also part of the puzzle that more brands are rushing to catch up on. Among them, Snack Preferred announced at the end of February this year that it has reached an all-round and in-depth strategic cooperation with the Hong Kong-listed company Huitongda Network. The two parties will set up a joint venture company as the sole operating entity for the “Snack Preferred” brand chain, fully integrating high-quality resources of both the brand and the platform, and jointly accelerating the expansion and layout of the rapidly growing snack chain and hard-discount market. Relying on Huitongda’s self-developed “Qiancheng Cloud AI,” an industry vertical large model, and related AIAgent applications, the joint venture will quickly deploy advanced digital tools. Huitongda has already successfully commercialized AI in retail chain scenarios. In the future, it will help Snack Preferred’s 2,800 stores achieve end-to-end digitalization from intelligent product selection, warehouse and distribution logistics, to store operations and community marketing.

“Currently, the company is in a stage of scale expansion, while simultaneously continuing to advance upgrades to supply chain resilience, the construction of smart logistics systems, brand mindshare projects, the flattening of organizational structure, and the construction of an all-domain data middle platform.” Wanchen Group’s financial report also explains that in 2025, Wanchen Group added 4,720 new stores, reduced 602 stores, and the number of stores at year-end was 18,314.

Also, according to a notice from Mingming Busy, as of the end of 2025, the total number of stores under Mingming Busy—“Snack Busy” and “Zhao Yiming Snacks”—reached 21,948, covering 30 provinces across the country and all city tiers, with about 60% located in counties and towns.

Despite the increasing density of the store network, considering the challenges the industry may face in the future, the “2025 Bulk Snacks Industry Brief Analysis Report” also states that bulk snacks may face the risk of customer traffic diversion at the same time, from other formats’ community store transformations. For example, bakery shops (new-style baking 50–80 sq m) and current-made tea drinks (community stores in lower-tier areas such as Mixue Bingcheng) are accelerating transformation into community near-field scenarios. By adopting a “small but dense” store layout, these competitors may capture residents’ daily travel routes, and such “scenario overlap” (such as community e-commerce) could still divert its “stock-up at home” customer traffic. In addition, since consumers’ brand recognition still remains at the stage of “buy it cheaper at whichever store,” rather than “a certain brand is non-negotiable,” the high degree of product homogeneity will also lead to a lack of brand loyalty.

Looking ahead to measures to further enhance brand competitiveness, Mingming Busy stated in its financial report that it will systematically upgrade its store network; proactively iterate products around market demand; continuously optimize and upgrade the supply chain system; improve digital capabilities to raise management efficiency; and further increase marketing efforts and strengthen the group’s brand influence.

“The group will adhere to a standardized product selection decision-making mechanism of initial screening, try-eating, try-selling, and promotion, and maintain a pace of launching hundreds of products on average each month. It will further deepen product curation and customization around user needs. By collaborating with manufacturers, it will conduct customized development in terms of flavors, packaging and/or specifications. Together with methods such as small-packaging and loose weighing products, the group will continuously lower the threshold for trial introductions and enhance its ability to provide more differentiated products.” Mingming Busy emphasized in its financial report.

Wanchen Group also said that in 2026, the company will focus on maintaining high-quality development and promoting a steady increase in market share. It will expand the depth and breadth of its supply chain upward; deepen its efforts in store operations downward; and strive to achieve a closed-loop pathway of “insight into demand—co-creation of products—rapid launch.” It will strengthen operational and marketing strategies and resource empowerment for franchise stores, help stores improve business management, and build a sustainable profitability growth model.

It is worth noting that theme stores are one of the paths for Hao Xiang Lai to innovate store marketing. “Hao Xiang Lai focuses on providing consumers with ‘emotional value.’ Whether it’s the earlier Crayon Shin-chan theme stores or the Handan traditional-style theme store this year’s early period, the essence is responding to everyone’s desire for a better shopping experience. In the future, we will continuously focus on this core and bring everyone more interesting shopping experiences.” A relevant person in charge of Hao Xiang Lai said.

From expanding coverage to fighting with resilience, bulk snacks is going through a key leap in “building barriers.” In an environment where the single-line strategy is no longer sufficient, only with diversified hard capabilities—including efficiency and innovation—can companies have a chance to outperform the cycle.

Editors/ Wang Can and Lin Chen

(Comprehensive from Mingming Busy, Wanchen Group, CICC, Everbright Securities, Jiashi Consulting, etc.)