The Battle for Bulk Snack Stores Entering Beijing: The Low-Price Model Faces a Stress Test

A bottle of mineral water costs a little over 1 yuan, a bottle of cola is less than 2 yuan, juice and coffee are placed at the entrance, and shelves inside the store are lined from puffed foods, biscuits, and candies, all the way to marinated snacks, dairy drinks, and self-owned brand small items.

Such stores used to be more common on the main streets of county towns, at township intersections, or community stores in lower-tier cities. But recently, they have begun to appear frequently in Beijing’s subway stations, community entrances, and areas around schools.

Bulk snack stores are accelerating their entry into Beijing.

Compared to previous cautious trials, since this year, Zhao Yiming and Hao Xiang Lai have clearly sped up their expansion in Beijing, Shanghai, and other first-tier cities. The store network is stretching from distant suburbs along subway lines toward the core urban areas, and is starting to appear near community entrances in areas such as Zhongguancun, Chaoyang, and Xicheng.

Behind this is the bulk snack industry’s continued need to find incremental growth. In the past few years, this format relied on large stores, wide storefronts, high display density, and scale procurement in lower-tier markets, turning “cheap” and “fun to browse” into advantages. 

Its underlying logic is low gross margin, high turnover, and high sales per square meter, exchanging fast turnover and short payment cycles for supplier support, then using scale procurement to further drive down prices. 

But Beijing is not simply a scaled-up version of a lower-tier city. It has a dense population and community supply demand, but also higher rents, more fragmented locations, more dispersed customer flow, and stronger instant retail alternatives. 

In such a market, bulk snack brands face fiercer retail competition, and the need to transform becomes more urgent. 

Whether the model proven in lower-tier markets can adapt to Beijing, and whether new evolution can be forced under pressure, remains to be seen.

Beijing Stress Test

In the Beijing market, Hao Xiang Lai under Wantchen Group has been moving faster. 

Based on official mini-programs and incomplete Gaode statistics, Hao Xiang Lai currently has more than 200 stores in Beijing, more than twice the number of Zhao Yiming.

According to the official website, a Hao Xiang Lai standard store uses about 120 square meters as the investment calculation base. But after entering Beijing’s central districts and areas near the subway, its stores are noticeably more cautious in using space and display, with new stores showing a smaller, more community-oriented form.

The reason is easy to understand. In Beijing, where space is precious, every additional square meter means a higher fixed cost.

Bulk snack stores' gross profit margin at the front desk is about 18% to 20%, much lower than milk tea and coffee shops. Their strategy is fast turnover and short payment cycles to obtain supplier support, and continually lower procurement prices through scale purchasing.

In a low gross margin format, sales per square meter is even more sensitive to store costs. If rent passes a certain threshold, the high-turnover bulk snack business will struggle to cover fixed costs.

Long Zhen, founder of Jiameng Data, told Wallstreetcn Allweather Tech that the preferred locations for bulk snack stores in Beijing are at the entrances to residential areas or commercial streets—that is, places “where Mixue Bingcheng and hamburger fried chicken shops open”; if there are schools or community supermarkets nearby, conditions are even better.

He believes bulk snack stores mostly divert business from supermarket snack areas, and in quasi-first- and second-tier cities will also compete with convenience stores.

Long Zhen said rents outside Beijing’s fourth and fifth rings are not much different from cities like Hangzhou and Wuhan: “The business model and store format tested in quasi-first-tier cities can, theoretically, be directly replicated in Beijing.”

But what can be reused is the store format and model parameters, not the consumer scenarios, which may not transfer as easily.

Long Zhen told Allweather Tech there’s a saying in the bulk snack industry: ‘Don’t open stores north of the Huai River.’ The reason is that bulk snack consumption is concentrated in the evening, and the north gets dark earlier, so customer flow is more affected by seasonality.

Beijing also overlays a more complex community structure.

Many residential areas are closed communities with fixed walking routes, and street-facing commerce isn't as continuous as in Shanghai or Guangzhou. Beijing’s long-standing “heavy business district, light community” convenience store pattern indirectly confirms how difficult it is for conventional chain retail to break through these spatial and customer flow structures.

A source close to Hao Xiang Lai told Allweather Tech that instant retail supplements single stores, and is an important reason for Hao Xiang Lai’s rapid expansion in Beijing.

In 2025, as delivery platforms ramp up instant retail, Hao Xiang Lai has also begun to clearly focus on “to-home” scenarios. Wantchen Group disclosed that as of late July 2025, about 5,000 Hao Xiang Lai stores had joined instant retail platforms, expanding their service radius from 1–2 km to 3–5 km.

In August that year, Hao Xiang Lai’s single-month instant retail orders on platforms like Meituan and Taobao Flash Sale surpassed 3.3 million, with new customers accounting for over 90% on Taobao Flash Sale.

This provides new incremental sources for single store operations. In 2025, Hao Xiang Lai’s single store average monthly sales were 382,000 yuan, with 371,000 yuan in the first half of the year and rising to 392,000 yuan in the second half; in January–February 2026, it further increased to 406,000 yuan. 

In the Beijing market, some Hao Xiang Lai stores have joined delivery platforms like Meituan and Taobao Flash Sale, and carry “brand” identifiers; currently Zhao Yiming has not joined delivery platforms.

Repairing the Old Model

From the bulk snack industry’s perspective, moving up to first-tier cities isn't a strategic retargeting—it's more like a continuation of existing expansion inertia.

Yan Zhou, chairman of Ming Ming Very Busy, once proposed that according to the principle of “one store per 10,000 people,” the Chinese market can accommodate 100,000 bulk snack stores, far from saturation.

In 2025, Ming Ming Very Busy’s net increase in stores exceeded 7,500, with an overall growth rate of about 52.5%; among them, store growth in first-tier, new first-tier, and second-tier cities reached 65% and 75%, already outpacing lower-tier markets.

High-tier cities not only bring increments but also amplify the pressures of the original model.

As more stores open, management costs rise; as location competition intensifies, franchisee profit margins are squeezed; and snack consumption itself lacks high-frequency essential goods, so store customer flow isn’t inherently stable.

In the low-margin model, these problems inherently lack error tolerance.

High-cost markets like Beijing and Shanghai just concentrate rent, repeat purchase, and sales per square meter pressures, making the search for new outlets more urgent.

One industry consensus is to broaden categories and tap larger customer groups. From focusing on young people and students, they now strive to cover family consumption.

At present in Beijing, “Hao Xiang Lai Savings Supermarket” and “Hao Xiang Lai Snack Park” coexist, as do “Zhao Yiming Snacks” and “Zhao Yiming Savings Supermarket.” These supermarket formats introduce grains, oils, daily goods, and other livelihood products, set up fresh and low-temperature frozen food sections, and expand store area.

However, top companies already show differences in the pace and path of self-iteration.

Hao Xiang Lai under Wantchen Group has launched two self-owned lines: “Super Value” and “Select.” The former focuses on quality-to-price ratio, the latter emphasizes differentiation and selection, both aiming at improving profit margins and product hierarchy.

Hao Xiang Lai’s Beijing stores intentionally highlight high-margin picks. Shelves near the entrance are stocked with many IP toy products, and the most prominent spot by the entrance is reserved for juices and teas from their own major product lines.

Financially, although Wantchen Group’s overall size is less than Ming Ming Very Busy, its profitability is clearly ahead of competitors.

In 2025, Wantchen’s bulk snack business gross margin was 12.32%, and net margin after adding back share payment expenses was 4.98%, both higher than Ming Ming Very Busy’s 9.8% and 4.1%.

For single store sales, Wantchen’s average monthly sales in 2025 were 382,000 yuan, higher than Ming Ming Very Busy’s about 300,000 yuan in the first half of 2025.

In comparison, Ming Ming Very Busy’s transformation approach is more restrained, emphasizing holding firmly to its “channel provider” role.

Ming Ming Very Busy has also divided its self-owned brands into “Red Label” and “Gold Label” series. But management has made clear that self-owned brands are “temporarily not a strategic priority.”

The reason is that currently 80% of store products do not overlap with traditional retail channels, which is enough for differentiation; if the store were full of their own branded products, “the sense of surprise and variety would disappear.”

A deeper consideration is supply chain relationships.

Bulk snacks essentially help regional brands, factory brands, and white-label products reach consumers through channels. If self-owned brands are promoted too early or too heavily, it may create competition with partner factories, weakening supplier enthusiasm.

Thus, in category expansion, Ming Ming Very Busy focuses more on incremental categories naturally matching snack scenarios—like hot foods such as grilled sausage and egg tart, and frozen/dried fruits like freeze-dried durian or chestnuts—gradually exploring peripheral space.

Ming Ming Very Busy is also exploring independently outside the original format: “Snack Kingdom” targets immersive snack experiences, “A Bit Fresh” is trialing the fresh food track.

Wantchen and Ming Ming Very Busy have placed different bets; the answer as to whose path is closest to the final form of community retail may take a few more years to become clear.

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