QINQIN FOODS, which once became popular across the country with the classic advertisement slogan "Kiss my jelly~", has once again fallen into losses. Recently, QINQIN FOODS issued a profit warning, expecting a net loss of 1 million to 3 million yuan in 2025, turning from profit to loss year-on-year.

Regarding the reasons for the performance turning from profit to loss, QINQIN FOODS stated that it was mainly due to a decrease in sales from traditional sales channels. This decline in revenue was offset by sales growth in the leisure food chain, OEM manufacturing business, and export business. The overall decline in sales also led to a reduction in economies of scale, resulting in a gross profit decrease of approximately 32 million yuan compared to 2024. In addition, the company sold the land use rights and related production facilities of its original production base in Xiantao City, Hubei Province in 2025, obtaining a net income of about 5 million yuan. At the same time, the company decided to stop promoting a construction and development project located in Xiaogan City, Hubei Province, and recognized a one-time impairment loss of approximately 7 million yuan on construction in progress.

Renowned strategic positioning expert and founder of Fujian Huace Brand Positioning Consulting, Zhan Junhao, stated that the simultaneous decline in sales volume and gross profit, along with the halting of projects and asset sales, exposes the operational pressure faced by QINQIN FOODS.

Founded in 1990 in Jinjiang, Fujian, QINQIN FOODS mainly sells jelly, puffed foods, seasoning products, candies, and other products. It owns the "QINQIN" and "QINQIN Story" leisure snack brands as well as the "Xianggelila" seasoning brand, and was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2016.

Financial reports show that QINQIN FOODS has been in a state of loss from 2021 to 2023, with revenues of 860 million yuan, 962 million yuan, and 985 million yuan during this period; net losses were 80.841 million yuan, 1.387 million yuan, and 2 million yuan, respectively. It was not until 2024 that the company returned to profitability, achieving revenue of 996 million yuan, a slight year-on-year increase of 1.52%; net profit was 21.13 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1155.44%. QINQIN FOODS stated that the main reasons for the turnaround in performance were improvements in production management efficiency at the production base, as well as no losses from joint ventures and no losses from non-listed investment funds.

It is worth noting that a closer look at the financial report reveals that the core business of QINQIN FOODS has already shown signs of decline in 2024. In 2024, the sales of the company's core product, jelly, decreased by 6.5% year-on-year to 531 million yuan, while the sales of seasoning products decreased by 6.6% year-on-year to 74 million yuan. The sales of puffed foods increased by 13.7% year-on-year to 312 million yuan, and the sales of candies and other products increased by 31.3% year-on-year to 81 million yuan. Entering the first half of 2025, only one category achieved a slight increase in sales. Among them, the sales of jelly were 316 million yuan, with a year-on-year decline expanding to 6.6%; the sales of puffed foods decreased by 2.9% year-on-year to 149 million yuan; The sales of seasoning products decreased by 17.6% year-on-year to 34 million yuan, with only candy and other products achieving a slight increase, with sales of 30 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.7%.

Regarding the decline in sales of jelly and puffed foods, channel changes have become a key factor mentioned by QINQIN FOODS. "With the rapid growth of emerging Chinese snack brand stores, the sales of our jelly products through distributors to traditional sales channels such as non-chain grocery stores and supermarkets have decreased," the company stated in its financial report. "The slight decline in puffed food sales is mainly due to the weak performance of traditional channels (including non-chain grocery stores, supermarkets, and convenience stores)." In addition, the growth of candy and other products mainly relies on the increased sales of new rice wine products. This segment has grown rapidly, but its proportion of revenue is still less than 9%, making it difficult to support overall performance growth.

Feeling the impact of channel changes, QINQIN FOODS is also trying to expand its channels. The company mentioned in its 2024 financial report plans to expand its manufacturing business and export trade business, and in its 2025 semi-annual report, it noted that the company achieved sales growth in the areas of snack food chains, OEM manufacturing, and export business.

Zhan Junhao stated that the fundamental problem facing QINQIN FOODS is product aging and channel stagnation. The key to breaking through is to focus on the main business, streamline and improve efficiency, and transform quickly. This includes shrinking non-core assets and projects, concentrating resources to strengthen jelly and other advantageous categories, while accelerating entry into emerging channels such as snack wholesale and e-commerce live streaming, and promoting health upgrades and brand rejuvenation to drive overall recovery through single product breakthroughs.

Regarding how to boost core product sales and layout for emerging snack channels, Beijing Business Daily reporters sent an interview request to QINQIN FOODS but had not received a response by the time of publication.

Beijing Business Daily reporters Guo Xiujuan and Wang Yuetong