---
title: "From 'Seeding' to 'Tree Planting': Manxiaobao's Path to Sustainable Growth"
description: "At the 7th China FMCG Conference held in Shanghai from August 19-21, Manxiaobao CEO Ms. Zeng Cheng shared insights on sustainable growth, transitioning from 'seeding' (initial product buzz) to 'tree planting' (building a lasting brand). Despite market challenges of rising sales but falling prices, the five-year-old instant food brand achieved 20% year-on-year growth in the first half of 2025, driven by a consumer-centric approach across product, communication, and channels."
author: "曾程"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2025-09-05"
categories: "Brand Marketing, Management & Methods"
language: "en"
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original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/MeZvw_yqrdhn05xAj3UNzA"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E5%93%81%E6%95%88%E9%94%80-%E4%BB%8E-%E7%A7%8D%E8%8D%89-%E5%88%B0-%E7%A7%8D%E6%A0%91-%E6%BB%A1%E5%B0%8F%E9%A5%B1%E7%9A%84%E5%8F%AF%E6%8C%81%E7%BB%AD%E5%A2%9E%E9%95%BF%E4%B9%8B%E8%B7%AF-7008d3af.md"
attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/from-seeding-to-tree-planting-manxiaobao-s-path-to-sustainable-growth-7008d3af/"
citation: "曾程. “From 'Seeding' to 'Tree Planting': Manxiaobao's Path to Sustainable Growth.” New Distribution, 2025-09-05. https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/from-seeding-to-tree-planting-manxiaobao-s-path-to-sustainable-growth-7008d3af/"
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---

# From 'Seeding' to 'Tree Planting': Manxiaobao's Path to Sustainable Growth

> At the 7th China FMCG Conference held in Shanghai from August 19-21, Manxiaobao CEO Ms. Zeng Cheng shared insights on sustainable growth, transitioning from 'seeding' (initial product buzz) to 'tree planting' (building a lasting brand). Despite market challenges of rising sales but falling prices, the five-year-old instant food brand achieved 20% year-on-year growth in the first half of 2025, driven by a consumer-centric approach across product, communication, and channels.

From August 19 to 21, the 7th China FMCG Conference, the 5th China FMCG Retail Innovation Conference, and the 5th China FMCG Distributor Conference, themed 'New Demand, New Supply', grandly opened in Shanghai.

At the 5th China FMCG Retail Innovation Conference held on August 20, Ms. Zeng Cheng, CEO of Manxiaobao, delivered a keynote speech titled 'Product, Effectiveness, Sales: From 'Seeding' to 'Tree Planting' for Sustainable Growth'. New Distribution has compiled her remarks for our readers.

In the current competitive environment where the consumer goods market faces 'volume growth but declining unit prices', Manxiaobao, an instant food brand founded only five years ago, has achieved four consecutive years of healthy growth—with a 20% year-on-year increase in performance in the first half of 2025.

As an instant rice noodle brand focused on the 'single-serve' scenario, Manxiaobao has evolved from its initial 'seeding' phase, marked by its first hit product 'Fatty Broth Rice Noodles' (cumulative sales exceeding 100 million packs and an 81% market share), to a 'tree planting' phase characterized by comprehensive upgrades in product, communication, and channels. This journey has charted a sustainable growth path for emerging FMCG brands.

**First Encounter with Manxiaobao: From a Single Hero Product to Multi-Category Layout, Rooted in the Instant Food Track**

Manxiaobao was born in 2020, focusing on the 'single-serve' scenario and specializing in instant rice noodles. Many consumers first encountered the brand through its initial hero product, 'Fatty Broth Rice Noodles'—a product that not only brought Manxiaobao into the public eye but also achieved cumulative sales of over 100 million packs, capturing an 81% market share in its niche.

Today, Manxiaobao is no longer confined to online platforms like Tmall and Douyin. From snack channels and hard discount channels to modern trade and convenience channels, the brand is gradually penetrating various scenarios in consumers' lives.

On the product front, Manxiaobao has long broken free from the 'single hero product' limitation: in 2024, it launched two new products, Guizhou Sour Soup Rice Noodles and Small Pot Rice Noodles, which achieved cumulative sales exceeding 10 million yuan within 15 days of natural sales, demonstrating the brand's strength in category expansion.

However, behind these impressive results, Manxiaobao continues to monitor industry trends and review its strategy. Although the scale of China's instant food industry and the rice noodle market continues to grow, consumer demands are ever-changing. Notably, 'they crave innovative flavors and seek distinctive brands and tastes', meaning 'innovation' is the core growth driver in the instant food track.

At the same time, the 'upgrade' of instant food is becoming increasingly evident. Traditional 'convenience' no longer suffices; consumers need products that combine convenience with experiential quality. On the supply side, 'intense price competition' has become a common industry challenge. How to operate healthily in such an environment and grow stronger is a key question for Manxiaobao.

**Looking Back at the 'Seeding' Phase: The Limitations to Be Optimized Are the Starting Point for Transformation**

In its five years of entrepreneurship, Manxiaobao initially leveraged hero products and online channels to quickly open the market. However, reviewing the past three years, the brand admits that early growth was more like 'seeding'—explosive but lacking long-term resilience. This was evident in three aspects:

**First, a single product structure.**

Over-reliance on the single hero product 'Fatty Broth Rice Noodles' without forming a 'cluster of hero products'. The risk of this model is that once consumer tastes shift and they no longer favor this product, the brand may face irreversible decline, rather than being impacted by competitor competition.

**Second, a single communication model.**

As a new brand established in 2020, Manxiaobao initially followed the traditional 'Weibo, WeChat, Douyin' communication path, with content focusing on 'novel and unique products', relying on influencer recommendations to drive consumption. This was essentially 'passive seeding', lacking deep value connection with consumers.

**Third, a single delivery channel.**

The brand initially focused on Tmall for channel breakthroughs, only later expanding to Douyin, O2O, LKA, NKA, CVS, and other channels. The early 'online single-channel dependence' model made it difficult for the brand to reach a broader consumer base and lacked flexibility to cope with channel fluctuations.

These limitations prompted Manxiaobao to deeply consider in 2024: What kind of brand has resilience? How to shift from 'seeding' to 'tree planting'—building a brand foundation that can take root in the market and grow sustainably? The answer ultimately points to three core elements: building a product matrix around consumer needs, engaging in diversified communication centered on 'value delivery', and entering consumer life scenarios through omnichannel operations.

**Moving to the 'Tree Planting' Phase: Four Development Cycles, a Transformation from Single to Diverse**

The transition from 'seeding' to 'tree planting' was not achieved overnight. Manxiaobao's development can be clearly divided into four stages, each step moving closer to 'resilience and sustainability':

**1.0 Stage (2020): Online Launch, Focusing on Young Women in First-Tier Cities**

In 2020, Manxiaobao officially launched on Tmall, incurring losses in the first year (the Fatty Broth Rice Noodles had not yet been born). In 2021, with the hero product Fatty Broth Rice Noodles, it broke through the 0-1 stage. At that time, the brand had only one hero product, with relatively single channels and communication models, mainly attracting young female consumers in first-tier cities—these were the brand's 'source users' and the foundation for subsequent growth.

**2.0 Stage: Delivery Upgrade, Reaching Second-Tier Markets**

With the addition of channels such as JD Super, Tmall Supermarket, and O2O, Manxiaobao's delivery efficiency improved from '3-day delivery' to '1-day delivery', even 'half-day' or '1-hour delivery'. Although the main product remained 'Fatty Broth Rice Noodles', the channel expansion allowed the brand to reach consumers in second-tier cities, initially expanding its user base.

**3.0 Stage (before August 2022): Scenario Expansion, Covering More Lower-Tier Cities**

During this stage, Manxiaobao added 'instant Fatty Broth Rice Noodles' and other flavored cup products, further expanding the 'single-serve' usage scenarios. On the channel front, it fully connected with offline channels such as KA, CVS, warehouse clubs, and community fresh supermarkets, partnering with more retailers. The user base expanded significantly: age range extended from 18-25 to 18-35, and geographic coverage reached third- and fourth-tier cities and county towns.

**4.0 Stage (September 2022 to present): Multi-Product Omnichannel, Returning to Consumer Needs**

Entering the 4.0 stage, Manxiaobao has embarked on 'multi-product omnichannel operations'. The brand sincerely expressed that although it has reached a large number of consumers, user needs still require continuous exploration and product delivery to satisfy—for example, how to better reduce consumers' mental, time, and economic costs of purchasing products to create value for consumers; how to improve the visibility and conversion rate of Manxiaobao products within channels; and how to enhance the precision of channel operations to achieve higher per-SKU output and better create value for channels.

To this end, Manxiaobao did one key thing: 'return to consumers'.

By sorting out the 'core needs of target consumers', it reverse-engineered product design (intrinsic value, external concept), communication platform selection, and channel partnership directions. Even in early 2025, the brand spent two months recalibrating its 'target customers': to become a mature consumer goods brand, it must conquer the broader market—fourth-tier cities and above; from a demographic perspective, the core is 'professional women', focusing on 'single-serve / small-group dining' scenarios, and they are adventurous 'foodies' (with young, non-conservative tastes).

**The Core of Rooting: Consumer-Centric, Excelling in Product, Communication, and Channels**

Achieving 'tree planting' growth relies on three pillars: **good products, good communication, and good channels**. The core of all three is always **'consumers'**.

**I. Product: Finding Inspiration from 'Food IQ' and User Pain Points, Setting Standards with Data**

Manxiaobao's product creativity comes from two key sources:

* **60% from internal 'Food IQ' accumulation:** The team believes 'eat enough to make good products', encouraging members to accumulate dining experiences to form a keen judgment of 'deliciousness';
* **40% from user insights:** Through 'user pain point mapping' and 'peak experience analysis', they uncover needs. For example, discovering that 'slow cooking' is a core pain point for instant rice noodles, they optimized product processes accordingly.

Before product launch, Manxiaobao studied Huawei's GTM process, forming a streamlined process suitable for the food and beverage retail industry. Key steps include 'product feasibility testing', 'launch strategy meetings', and 'multiple rounds of user MVP testing'—all decisions revolve around user feedback.

Moreover, the brand has established strict 'listing standards': only when four conditions are met in tests on e-commerce platforms will a product be fully listed: 1. 'Delicious mention rate' in user reviews >40%; 2. 'Viral post rate' of seeding articles >50%; 3. E-commerce purchase conversion rate >80%; 4. Procurement listing willingness >80%.

**II. Communication: Saying Goodbye to Hard Ads, Building Category Mindshare with 'Human Touch'**

'Good wine needs no bush', but Manxiaobao's communication never relies on 'exaggerated advertising'. Instead, it focuses on 'category mindshare'—making consumers form the perception 'when eating rice noodles, choose Manxiaobao', conveying the core value of 'good soup, good ingredients, good taste'.

In social media seeding, the brand emphasizes 'human touch': not creating polished hard ads, but showing 'what it really looks like when cooked', telling consumers 'yours will look like this too', using real scenarios to move users. At the same time, the brand expands its influence through IP collaborations, celebrity partnerships, and variety show appearances, with all content closely tied to scenarios—such as 'cooking rice noodle hotpot for friends' or 'single-serve dinner after work'—making communication closer to consumers' lives.

**III. Channels: Entering Scenes Consumers Favor, Using 'Simple Methods' for Category Education**

Manxiaobao admits its understanding of channels is still insufficient, but it always adheres to one principle: enter channels favored by target consumers. Because the channels consumers choose are those with good experiences and suitable offerings, whether it's display design, EDLP (Every Day Low Price) strategy, or in-channel category education, all are closely related to user needs.

In offline channels, Manxiaobao adopts a 'uphold the orthodox and surprise the enemy' strategy: respecting the experience of mature consumer goods companies while establishing a dedicated team to conduct category education through 'ground promotion and tasting'—a 'simple method'—letting consumers taste the first pack first, then fall in love with the flavor. This direct approach has proven effective: offline promotion conversion rates reach up to 90%, and weekend 'mini promotions' can even boost channel sales by 20% the following month.

**Final Thoughts**

The essence of new supply is to derive from consumer insights and go to consumers' shopping channels.

From a slight loss in 2020 to four consecutive years of healthy growth by 2025, Manxiaobao's journey 'from seeding to tree planting' is essentially a continuous adjustment centered on 'consumers'. The brand knows well: **without understanding customers, you can't do FMCG; without understanding channels, you can't do FMCG; and without making good products, you can't do FMCG.**

As of this writing, we have also learned that Manxiaobao is about to launch three new flavors—savory and fragrant Matsutake Chicken Soup Rice Noodles, spicy and satisfying Spicy Red Oil Rice Noodles, and tangy and spicy Sour Spicy Meat Sauce Rice Noodles. From the product design, these three products not only continue Manxiaobao's core strengths of 'good soup, good ingredients, good taste' but also attack more diverse consumption scenarios and expand to more diverse demographics.

In the future, we believe Manxiaobao, in its focused instant rice noodle track, will continue to optimize its product matrix and channel layout with 'good products, good communication, and good channels' as pillars. Its exploration also confirms a truth: the sustainable growth of emerging FMCG brands lies not in short-term 'seeding' explosiveness, but in long-term 'tree planting' capability.


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## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 曾程
- Published: 2025-09-05
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/from-seeding-to-tree-planting-manxiaobao-s-path-to-sustainable-growth-7008d3af/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/MeZvw_yqrdhn05xAj3UNzA

## Copyright and AI use

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