---
title: "Can Instant Noodles Beat Food Delivery? Convenience Foods Are Winning Back the Market with Premium Noodles and Luosifen"
description: "Five years ago, the instant noodle industry was seen as doomed, with food delivery platforms delivering a cross-dimensional blow. However, amid consumption upgrades, instant noodles have rebounded since 2017, with 2020 consumption hitting a six-year high, driven by healthier products, social currency appeal, and flavor diversification."
author: "Philip"
publisher: "New Distribution"
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published: "2021-07-24"
language: "en"
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# Can Instant Noodles Beat Food Delivery? Convenience Foods Are Winning Back the Market with Premium Noodles and Luosifen

> Five years ago, the instant noodle industry was seen as doomed, with food delivery platforms delivering a cross-dimensional blow. However, amid consumption upgrades, instant noodles have rebounded since 2017, with 2020 consumption hitting a six-year high, driven by healthier products, social currency appeal, and flavor diversification.

**Click 'Read Original' for details**
Source: Shiqu Research Institute (ID: SocialTouch2020)
Just five years ago, industry sentiment on instant noodles was deeply pessimistic, with a common claim that instant noodles were being dealt a cross-dimensional blow by the food delivery industry, leaving them defenseless.
**This narrative later became a popular marketing theory: what kills you isn't necessarily your direct competitor, but a competitor from another dimension**, just as online video competes with Honor of Kings, and games compete with variety shows.
From a user scenario perspective, the instant food demand fulfilled by instant noodles could be met more healthily by food delivery, and data seemed to support this cross-dimensional competition theory.
Since the 1990s, China's instant noodle revenue grew for 18 consecutive years. According to the World Instant Noodles Association, global consumption reached 97.7 billion servings in 2015, with China consuming 40.43 billion servings, ranking first and equaling the total of the next eight countries combined.
However, starting in 2013, the industry began a multi-year sales decline. Statistics show that from 2013 to 2016, China's instant noodle demand fell continuously, with annual sales dropping from 46.22 billion servings to 38.52 billion, a decline of 16.66%.
Meanwhile, from 2011 to 2016, China's online food delivery market grew from 21.68 billion yuan to 166.24 billion yuan, nearly an eightfold increase in six years.
But against the backdrop of consumption upgrades in recent years, **a dramatic reversal occurred—instant noodles have not only stopped declining but are thriving.**
Since 2017, the domestic instant noodle industry halted its decline and began to recover, with rapid growth in 2018, which was somewhat surprising.
The latest data from the World Instant Noodles Association for 2020 shows global consumption of about 116.6 billion servings, with mainland China and Hong Kong leading at 46.35 billion servings, up 20.3% from 2016, hitting a six-year high.
 _Image from World Instant Noodles Association_
At the same time, financial reports from major instant noodle brands have been impressive, confirming that instant noodles are re-entering user scenarios.
According to 2020 financial reports from Master Kong and Uni-President, Master Kong's instant noodle business revenue was 29.51 billion yuan, up 16.64% year-on-year; Uni-President's instant noodle revenue was 9.055 billion yuan, up 7.2% from the previous year.
**So why is this happening?**
To answer this, we need to look not only from a marketing perspective but also within the broader context of consumption upgrades. **On one hand, food delivery is upgrading; on the other, the instant noodle industry is diversifying its products.**
Let's start with food delivery. In its early stages, the industry was in a subsidy-driven phase, with platforms competing on subsidies, allowing users to experience delivery services at low prices.
Now, the industry structure is set, subsidies have decreased, and delivery products themselves have risen in price due to consumption upgrades. In short, the barrier to experiencing delivery has increased, freeing up some consumption space for instant noodles.
Additionally, the heavy business model of delivery platforms makes it difficult to penetrate lower-tier markets like villages, where instant noodles can maintain their market base.
**On the other hand, the instant noodle category is diversifying, especially with consumption upgrades, enhancing category competitiveness and drawing more users back to instant noodles.**
The iteration of instant noodle products has several distinct characteristics that have regained user favor:
**First, instant noodles are becoming healthier.**
Traditional instant noodles were often criticized for being unhealthy, with rumors about carcinogens and preservatives.
But now, many premium instant noodles use high-quality ingredients and greener production methods, with some seasoning packets rivaling food delivery in preparation. Incidentally, many delivery dishes are actually prepared similarly to instant noodles, using sauce packets.
Behind this health trend is both product quality improvement and a shift in consumer perception, de-demonizing a product long labeled 'unhealthy'.
**Second, instant noodles are gaining social currency.**
Instant noodles are no longer just 'braised beef' or 'pickled cabbage' flavors. Many internet-famous foods have joined the instant noodle ranks, such as the popular luosifen and mixed noodles, with brands like Lamian Shuo, Shirenzu, and Li Ziqi becoming viral.
These viral products generate significant social traffic and appeal to young people, making them great for sharing photos. In fact, stylishly designed and uniquely flavored instant noodles have become a form of social currency, serving as labels of identity and personality.
Using Shiqu's rapid insight engine, we can see that the brand audience profiles for Zihaiguo and Lamian Shuo are concentrated among Generation Z, favored by young people.
(Zihaiguo's audience distribution, with post-95s particularly prominent)
(Lamian Shuo's audience distribution, with post-90s and post-95s prominent)
**Third, there's a significant expansion in flavors, leading to product upgrades.**
The definition of instant noodles is expanding. For example, some new consumer brands offer quick-cook meals in instant noodle form, with raw noodles and seasoning packets, allowing users to easily cook a bowl of noodles at home, simplifying noodle preparation to a level comparable to instant noodles.
Additionally, catering brands like Haidilao have launched self-heating hot pots, joining the convenience food battle, making the industry highly diversified.
With advances in food processing technology and increased consumer purchasing power, more flavors can be incorporated into instant noodles, such as char siu, Japanese, and Sichuan pepper, all well-replicated in instant form. Word frequency analysis of Lamian Shuo via Shiqu's insight engine reveals many new flavor keywords, all beyond traditional instant noodle flavors.
(Lamian Shuo's word cloud, showing numerous flavor-related keywords)
The diversification of flavors and product forms has expanded the audience for instant noodles. Combined with the single-economy trend, instant noodles have unexpectedly become a popular new food category.
Under the new consumption trend, many traditional business mindsets may be overturned, requiring brands to continuously adapt and embrace change. Food delivery beating instant noodles is one example, but it won't be the last.
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