On September 26, 2022, Shanghai Ziyan Food Co., Ltd. (stock code: 603057) successfully listed on the main board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. This event marked the entry of Ziyan Food, a leading brand in the marinated chicken category, into the stock market, creating a new competitive landscape alongside the three giants of marinated duck products. Ziyan Food has thus become the fourth significant player in the marinated food industry and the first in the marinated side dish sector, establishing a “four-pillar” dynamic in the market.
Last month, Ziyan Food released its 2023 Halbjahresbericht, recording a revenue of 1.743 billion yuan, an increase of 6.48% Jahr für Jahr, and a net profit of 180 Millionen Yuan, a significant increase of 55.11% Jahr für Jahr. Now, one year after its listing, this 34-year-old brand continues to show strong momentum.
According to the brand’s official introduction, Ziyan Food originated in Sichuan, developed in Jiangsu, and expanded nationwide. In 2000, Ziyan Food entered the Shanghai market, and by the following year, the number of stores exceeded 500, covering the Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai regions. In 2003, Ziyan expanded into the central China market, continually upgrading the brand. By 2008, the number of Ziyan Food stores surpassed 1,000, achieving full cold chain distribution for its products. In 2014, Ziyan Baiwei Chicken opened up for franchising, rapidly expanding the number of stores. Momentan, Ziyan Food has over 6,100 chain stores under the “Ziyan Baiwei Chicken” brand, deckt mehr als ab 200 cities across over 20 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities nationwide, solidifying its position as a leading brand in China’s marinated side dish market.
As a popular category in Chinese cuisine, marinated food’s savory taste makes it irresistible to many consumers. Momentan, marinated food is mainly divided into “side dish” marinated food and “snack” marinated food. The former is positioned as a cold dish for main meals, while the latter serves as a leisure snack.
Compared to “snack” marinated food, “side dish” marinated food shows more vitality with three major advantages. Firstly, it is more essential for consumers, as the demand for “side dish” marinated food is higher and more frequent during daily family lunches and dinners. Secondly, it is used in more scenarios, including family gatherings, dining out, midnight snacks, and travel essentials. Thirdly, it appeals to a broader demographic, including men, women, children, and the elderly.
The entry barrier for the “side dish” marinated food segment is higher than that for “snack” marinated food. The high requirements for craftsmanship, taste, freshness, and supply chain capabilities ensure stable product quality, earning consumer trust.
Ziyan Baiwei Chicken identified this significant market opportunity from the beginning, positioning itself in the “side dish” marinated food segment. This strategic positioning faces less competition and offers greater potential. In the first half of this year, Ziyan continued to innovate and enrich its product line. In addition to enhancing flagship marinated dishes like Fuqi Feipian, Baiwei Chicken, Vine Pepper Chicken, and Ziyan Goose, the company also launched popular new cold dishes such as Sour Soup Fatty Beef, Crisp Pork Feet, Crispy Three Shreds, and Bowl Chicken Dices, consistently earning a good reputation. The capital market’s favor also demonstrates the enormous potential of the “side dish” marinated food consumption market.
As consumer attitudes change, there is a growing emphasis on brand reputation, quality, and product convenience. Ziyan Baiwei Chicken, known for its traditional Leshan-style marinated food from Sichuan, continues to incorporate the essence of classic dishes from various regions, blending flavors from Sichuan, Guangdong, and Hunan. The company focuses on craftsmanship and quality to create high-quality dishes.
Recognizing that young people prefer quick and easy-to-prepare food, Ziyan has actively ventured into the pre-cooked food market. Leveraging its strengths in product development, quality control, supply chain management, sales channels, and information management, Ziyan has its own independent R&D team and central factory. This provides a significant advantage over emerging brands in the pre-cooked food market. Products like Ziyan Kung Pao Chicken, Boiled Pork Slices, Handmade Chicken Fillets, and Peppery Pork Belly Chicken are flavorful, made with real ingredients, and emphasize health and nutrition, becoming popular dishes for family dinners and festive meals.
Aligning with market needs, leading side dish marinated food companies have a natural advantage. Momentan, Ziyan Food has developed a production line of over 100 types of marinated foods, primarily fresh products, supplemented by pre-packaged items. With a comprehensive quality control system throughout the industry chain, Ziyan uses intelligent supply chains to provide high-quality product choices and empower the development of small and medium-sized catering enterprises.
The food industry has entered the digital development era amidst the wave of digital transformation. Leveraging its extensive product line, supply chain control, and infrastructure advantages, Ziyan Food has established a standardized management system to ensure food quality from raw material procurement and traceability, production process control, critical hazard point control, product inspection, to cold chain distribution.
Zusätzlich, Ziyan Food actively promotes digital and intelligent production by introducing smart big data service platforms and multiple modern electronic information management systems. This has led to the creation of an efficient supply chain system and comprehensive intelligent management through logistics and warehousing system integration. The result is a more efficient operation across all channels, propelling the side dish marinated food industry into a new path of intelligence, efficiency, and trust, thereby expanding its market share.
Branding, quality, professionalism, and standardization are the future trends of the marinated food industry. Since opening for franchising in 2014, Ziyan Baiwei Chicken has rapidly grown, now boasting over 6,100 stores nationwide. With nearly ten years of brand operation experience, Ziyan Food continues to innovate and upgrade. Its brand influence, extensive product line, and quality assurance provide a significant competitive edge in the food industry.
Ziyan possesses precise franchise recruitment capabilities, offering comprehensive support to new franchisees, even those with no experience. This includes site evaluation and design, staff training, marketing strategies, promotional activities, operational guidance, unified operations, intelligent training, and business diagnostics, fostering a shared entrepreneurial vision with the team.
For offline stores, Ziyan Food operates multiple standardized factories nationwide, ensuring cold chain delivery of products to stores, guaranteeing taste and safety. The company also strictly manages employee health, hygiene standards, food processing procedures, procurement, storage, processing, utensil disinfection, and environmental sanitation. For online operations, Ziyan leverages major delivery platforms, mini-programs, and community traffic solutions to promote consumption through dual offline and online channels.
Recently, Ziyan Food has also demonstrated its advantage in cross-industry brand cooperation, extending its marketing reach and attracting potential customers while fulfilling social responsibilities. For instance, on March 8th, Women’s Day, Ziyan Baiwei Chicken partnered with Fenghua for a live broadcast, combining convenient dishes like Boiled Fish and Peppery Crisp Pork with Fenghua products, sparking a buying frenzy. In July, Ziyan Baiwei Chicken again teamed up with the youth basketball show “Dunk Youth” Season 3, encouraging and witnessing the growth dreams of young basketball players.
With over 30 years of dedicated effort and three generations of inheritance, as a publicly listed company in the side dish marinated food industry, Ziyan Food expresses gratitude for the public’s trust and recognition of its product quality and brand value. Moving forward, Ziyan will continue to adhere to its original intention, upholding the principle of “good ingredients + good craftsmanship = good products,” while continuously exploring new momentum to drive the food industry’s development and create safe, high-quality, and satisfying flavors for consumers
