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Introduction: There have always been hidden secrets of social changes on the Chinese dining table.
Reform and opening up make "eating full" no longer rare. The Internet era makes "eating well" easy to get, but at the moment, pre-made dishes suddenly come out and become a regular visitor to the public opinion field.
Society is changing and the dining table is changing. In this trend, Wei Zhixiang is undoubtedly the one who "stands in the C position".
Photo source: Internet
Zhuangzi turned into a butterfly in his dream, while Xia Jing flew from the vegetable market to the stage of A-shares. Wei Zhixiang was once given the title of "the first stock of pre-made dishes".
However, in just a few years, this former star is now in the triple embarrassment of "increasing revenue but not increasing profits, shrinking channels, and reducing holdings of major shareholders".
Some people say it is a liberation tool for housewives, while others scold it for lowering the bottom line of takeaway; some people make it a hundred billion yuan trend, and some people are worried about buying a 2.0 cooking bag.
Behind these debates, they actually illustrate a reality-the market is no longer a simple era of "one dish, one bowl of white rice" back then.
Source: Xiaohongshu
Is the fragrance of taste still fragrant? We have to see what consumers say.
Small vegetable stalls are on the market counterattack
Xia Jing's semi-finished product legend
The story of Wei Zhixiang is almost a "farmers' market inspirational drama".
Xia Jing, born in Lujiang, Anhui in 1978, worked as a painter and chef in his early years. In the end, he and his wife set up a vegetable stall at the farmers' market in Suzhou.
Xia Jing
At that time, most people only paid attention to the little bit of profit in front of the vegetable stall, but Xia Jing was aiming at the future of semi-finished dishes.
In 2002, he used the hard-earned money he had accumulated from working for many years to open a small frozen food shop at the Suzhou Sanxiang Farmers' Market.
Photo source: Internet
Don't underestimate the small storefront of more than ten square meters. At that time, it was a cheating thing for peers.
At that time, frozen food had just started, and the living standards of residents in Suzhou were high, and the shop quickly became a "treasure stall". However, relying on personal relationships to attract customers, the couple is also busy straight.
In 2008, Xia Jing simply gritted his teeth and founded Suzhou Weizhixiang Food Co., Ltd.
Source: Wei Zhixiang
From the future, the semi-finished vegetable market has been competing for many. Suzhou, Zhejiang and Shanghai have many competitors, and large factories can make hundreds of millions a year.
When Wei Zhixiang started, she had neither support from big capital nor channel advantages, so she could only find another way - to switch to Shanghai, and gradually gained a foothold with the locals' enthusiasm for Su Bangcai.
Source: DT Finance
After that, Wei Zhixiang has launched her killer weapon - the franchise mode.
According to data from industry research institutions, Wei Zhixiang opened more than 40 stores in 2008 and saved 400 franchise stores in 2012.
From the future, more than 100 new stores have been added steadily every year, with sales from tens of millions to billions of dollars.
Photo source: Internet
In 2021, Wei Zhixiang was ringing the bell and the market value of the Shanghai Stock Exchange reached a maximum of 6.5 billion yuan, and was known as the "first stock of pre-made dishes".
Source: Wei Zhixiang
Xia Jing even held more than 54% of the shares, and her value once soared to 3.5 billion yuan.
Source: Oriental Fortune Network
From the farmer's stall to the capital market boss, there are both grassroots inspirational highlights and "cold chain" to bless the times. This script is inspiring enough.
But at this point, it is still just "appetizer". The main course is truly the competition in the market.
Prepainted dishes
Swords and shadows in the trillion-dollar track
The popularity of pre-made dishes is attributed to the rise of the "lazy consumption" culture of Generation Z. The improvement of employment for women has also made home kitchens need more convenient and equally delicious choices.
Source: Cultural and Tourism Research Report
At the same time, the epidemic has changed everyone's expectations for cooking-Pre-made dishes are not "fast food", but "standard ingredients" of semi-finished products, becoming the "sou-chef" outside the kitchen.
With the maturity of new retail and cold chain, buying pre-made vegetables is easier than picking a bunch of raw ingredients in the vegetable market.
Photo source: Internet
Industry data can illustrate the problem. Before the epidemic in 2019, the sales growth rate of pre-made vegetable factories had reached about 20%. By 2022, the track will take off completely and be expected to hit the "trillion mark".
Photo source: Internet
Demand side has solved the contradiction between efficiency and deliciousness; Supply side, China's agricultural and animal husbandry production capacity has long been scale, cold chain logistics has gradually improved, and e-commerce, vegetable markets, and fresh food retail can all be sold.
Capitals were jealous and enterprises flocked in. In just a few years, a pattern of "a hundred schools of thought contend" was formed.
But don't forget that China has a vast territory and huge differences in taste.
Sichuan loves spicy food, Northeast China loves stew, Jiangsu and Zhejiang pay attention to delicious and clear mouth. It is almost impossible to unify the whole country by relying on a pre-made dish.
So there has never been an absolute leader like Coca-Cola in the industry. It is more of a strong regional enterprise, such as Wei Zhixiang in the Yangtze River Delta, Guolian Aquatic Products in South China, and even local chain catering companies that have their own central kitchens, and can make their own semi-finished products, which can truly achieve 1 billion revenue across regions. It is simply rare.
Photo source: Internet
According to statistics, the industry scale in 2024 is 546.6 billion, and it is expected to exceed the 1,000 billion mark by 2026.
Source: Cultural and Tourism Research Report
In addition, pre-made dishes also have obvious shortcomings.
Many people are still worried about ""How much additives can be left after freezing?" "Is it less nutritious than freshly fried". For example, the "trough meat" incident in 2023 directly undermined the industry.
Source: CCTV-2
Consumer's distrust is also like a reef. Amid this doubt, netizens simply joked: Pre-made dishes are like a relationship, they are beautiful at the beginning, but once the trust collapses, it will be difficult to repair.
Source: Xiaohongshu
As the first stock, Wei Zhixiang should have taken advantage of the situation to impact the national market, but the reality is that the industry is too crowded and the competition is too strong, and its "scene position" is not stable.
Wei Zhixiang's specialties and shortcomings
Is pre-made dishes still fragrant?
In the first half of 2025, Wei Zhixiang delivered an answer that made investors frown.
Source: Weizhixiang 2025 semi-annual report
Operating revenue was 343 million yuan, a slight increase of 4.7% year-on-year, which seems to be quite stable. However, the net profit was only 31.94 million yuan, a sharp drop of 24.5% year-on-year;'s net profit excluding non-operating items fell by 38.7%, and the gross profit margin dropped to 20.8%, and the net profit margin was only 9.3%.
What does this mean? The company is trying hard to sell goods, but the more it sells, the less money it makes.
The reason is very direct - the price increase of raw materials. Meat, oil and seasonings are all rising, and the costs are overwhelming for companies.
Source: Xinhua News Agency
At the same time, the company also has to maintain channels and stores, and the costs remain high. The profit margin was squeezed so much that it was only a thin layer.
To make things worse, the number of dealers decreased, channels contracted, and product sales declined.
The problem is that the franchise model that started with Weizhixiang has now become a shackle - the channel is the lifeline of pre-made dishes brands.
Wei Zhixiang relied on franchise in her early years, and the number of stores quickly exceeded 1,000, forming a momentum in the Yangtze River Delta. But over time, the expansion ceiling of franchise stores has appeared, and its expansion speed has gradually slowed down, facing a growth bottleneck. At the same time, due to the large number of franchisees and the increased management difficulty, the service quality is uneven, which affects the overall experience of consumers.
In the first half of 2025, the number of Weizhixiang dealers decreased by 160, from 3077 to 2917, with the largest number of wholesale customers lost, and 85 were missing at once.
Source: Weizhixiang 2025 semi-annual report
So the company focused its firepower on the supermarket.
In the first half of the year, 6 new supermarket customers were added, making the supermarket channel revenue surpassed traditional stores for the first time, reaching 37.75 million yuan.
Source: Frozen Product Headlines
But at the same time, the revenue of direct sales and e-commerce plummeted by 52% and 42% respectively, which was like riding a roller coaster.
You must know that the most convenient thing for young people to buy pre-made dishes is e-commerce and fresh food delivery. If the links are lost online, it is equivalent to missing the main consumer group.
Source: Tmall
Therefore, the attitude of the capital market appears to be more straightforward.
At the end of July, the major shareholder Jin Peanut Management Consulting planned to reduce its holdings by 600,000 shares and cash out about 15 million yuan. The reason is "funding demand", but in the eyes of the outside world, it is nothing more than not that optimistic about the future.
Source: Sina Finance
You should know that from the 44% increase on the first day of listing in 2021, to 12 daily limit increases and then to the high point of the stock price of 90 yuan, it has now fallen to 27 yuan, and its market value has evaporated by more than 70%.
Who dares to say "scent" lightly?
Photo source: Yiniu.com
This semi-annual report is like a cold cut, and no one wants to stretch out his chopsticks on the dining table.
"Ling flat" or "cooking"?
Consumer's dilemma
After all, the fate of pre-made dishes does not depend on the enthusiasm of capital, but on the stomach of consumers.
Some people love it and think it is a "Good news for lazy people: when you get home from get off work, open a bag and put it in a pot, and you can get a table of decent dishes in ten minutes; during festivals, you will lose the embarrassment of cutting vegetables and chopping meat, and you will feel more decent and calm.
Source: Xiaohongshu
Many stores of Weizhixiang have targeted this scenario—the combination of "home-cooked flavor" and "Kuaishou cuisine".
But some people hate it, thinking it is "": it looks full of color, fragrance and taste, but it is actually full of additives; it is convenient to eat, but there is no fireworks.
Discussions on the Internet often trigger emotional confrontation, and some netizens even shouted the slogan "Resolutely resist pre-made dishes entering campuses."
Photo source: Netizen comments
The fragrance of Wei Zhixiang is sandwiched in the middle.
It not only satisfies young white-collar workers who pursue convenience, but also comforts housewives who "pay health"; it not only emphasizes the advantages of standardized production, but also avoids being labeled as "cold factory food".
Source: Xiaohongshu
This is a typical "mental game": if the pre-made vegetable industry wants to truly stand, it must upgrade from "convenience" to "trustworthy".
Source: Cultural and Tourism Research Report
In the first half of 2025, Wei Zhixiang tried to narrow the distance with consumers through new categories and process improvements, such as emphasizing "0 additions" and "home-cooked flavors" to launch more dishes that meet the local characteristics.
Source: Wei Zhixiang
Whether these attempts can impress consumers, it must be left to the market for testing.
But it is certain that if you want to break the circle of pre-made dishes, you must not only solve the problem of "fast or not" but also solve the problem of "good or not".
Photo source: Internet
After all—no matter how "technology" is mentioned in technology, the consumer's tongue is the most accurate evaluation tool.
Written at the end
The story of Wei Zhixiang is like a microcosm of the pre-made vegetable industry: starting from a farmer's stall, to ringing the bell on the market, and then moving forward in the whirlpool of public opinion today.
Source: Wei Zhixiang
It has the background of grassroots counterattack, and also has capitalization ambitions; it has the hard power of channels and craftsmanship, and also has the soft challenges of consumers' minds.
Will pre-made dishes still "flavor" in the future?
Photo source: Internet
The answer may be - the industry still has potential, but brands must save themselves - Food safety must be excellent, product research and development must be closer to the health trend, channels must pay attention to online, and crafts must pursue restoration.
Consumers are no longer satisfied with "faster" and what they want is "tasting better", "rest assured" and "interesting".
Photo source: iMedia Consulting
If Wei Zhixiang wants to return to the top, it is to use the "real fragrance" experience to offset the label controversy of "pre-made dishes" and give beautiful answers to these major questions.
Otherwise, the halo of "the first stock of pre-made dishes" may become a heavy hat.
Source: Wei Zhixiang
In the capital market, whether a company has the final say or not is not the company itself, but a joint vote between consumers and stock prices.
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