This summer, which 'assassin' has hurt you again? If last summer ice cream assassins occupied the C-position in convenience store freezers, then this year, yogurt has undoubtedly become a 'price bandit,' emptying young people's wallets in minutes. Now on supermarket shelves, compared to eight-cup fruit yogurt, low-temperature yogurt with no additives and simple ingredient lists commands a higher status, with single cups often priced above 5 yuan; in commercial street shops, freshly made yogurt with added hyaluronic acid, anthocyanins, and other ingredients can cost as much as 30-40 yuan per cup. Why can new-style yogurt sell so expensively? As new tea drinks become increasingly competitive and brands cut prices, will low-temperature yogurt follow the same path? Yogurt as a Snack Today's yogurt market is no longer the era when 'eight cups with a free glass' attracted customers. Low-temperature yogurt has become synonymous with a healthy lifestyle. On one hand, low-temperature yogurt has a shorter shelf life, making the product fresher and closer to the external definition of 'high-end.' On the other hand, in the past, pre-packaged yogurts, especially fruit yogurts, often contained added white sugar, while new-style yogurts emphasize minimalist packaging and ingredient lists, with flavors shifting from sweet to unsweetened or even slightly sour. They are also restrained in sugar additions, using sugar substitutes or no added sucrose, minimizing calories, which is friendly to fitness and anti-sugar consumers. Compared to pre-packaged yogurt, freshly made yogurt has no ingredient list, so brands focus on nutritional additives. Take the emerging yogurt brand Blueglass as an example; several of its signature yogurt drinks include collagen peptides, anthocyanins, and other nutritional components, with avocado and nuts as regular additions. In fact, the popularity of freshly made yogurt can be partly attributed to the spread of social media. On platforms like Xiaohongshu and Weibo, from Blueglass's 'blue sky and white clouds' cup to Mo Yogurt's slogan 'one smoothie equals one avocado,' freshly made yogurt has become a form of social currency and increasingly 'snackified.' Image / Xiaohongshu sharing post Moreover, the low-sugar, low-calorie, less sweet taste, and the clear differentiation and iteration compared to traditional yogurt products give new-style yogurt brands more freedom in pricing. In a supermarket in Langfang, Junlebao's Jianchun brand 230g sugar-free oat grain yogurt sells for 8.9 yuan; Bright Dairy's 135g Rushi plain yogurt sells for 8.9 yuan; Jianai's three-pack 100g yogurt is priced at 12.5 yuan; and the recently controversial 100g Father's Love formula yogurt is priced at 8.8 yuan. Swipe left/right for more images / Yogurt display at a Langfang supermarket The pricing of freshly made yogurt is even more 'crazy.' Blueglass's signature avocado coconut oat molecular popping yogurt is priced at 42 yuan, while the slightly cheaper Mo Yogurt signature Badam avocado yogurt is also 34 yuan, comparable to the high-end positioning of new tea drinks when they first appeared. Image / Products at a Blueglass store in Beijing 'Internet-famous products usually have selling points that move consumers. If the raw materials and craftsmanship are indeed better, the cost is naturally higher. For example, to optimize yogurt texture, some manufacturers add gelatin, while others add whey protein; the latter costs significantly more than the former,' Xing Yan, dairy purchasing director at Benlai Life's product center, told Interface News · Entrepreneurial Frontier. To improve the safety and controllability of milk sources, some manufacturers designate specific pasture milk sources, which also increases costs compared to non-designated sources. 'The price of low-temperature yogurt has been rising in recent years, mainly due to increases in raw material costs, distribution costs, and marketing costs,' Xing Yan added. It is understood that the bacterial strains, a key selling point of pre-packaged yogurt, also affect the price of low-temperature yogurt products. The domestic bacterial strain industry started late. As consumer products demand more diverse strains, yogurt brands relying on high-quality foreign strains can affect prices, while domestic strain research and development is accelerating. The rise of high-quality, high-priced yogurt products seems somewhat familiar. In the past two years, new tea drinks have gradually come down from their high-end pedestal, with intensifying competition. Some believe that the ebb of new tea drinks has accelerated the rise of yogurt products. However, in reality, new tea drinks and yogurt are complementary products, not substitutes. In Xing Yan's view, yogurt and tea drinks have different market entry points; consumers buy yogurt more from a health and safety perspective. For users, yogurt drinks are an alternative to tea drinks and coffee. In the author's view, as yogurt becomes increasingly retail-oriented in leisure scenarios, yogurt drinks will to some extent impact tea drinks and coffee. After all, one stomach can't hold two drinks; the popularity of low-temperature yogurt will inevitably divert some consumers who like to try new things. From this perspective, low-temperature yogurt has the momentum to 'kick over' the 'rice bowl' of new tea drinks, making the beverage market even more competitive. Addition or Subtraction It's not hard to see that in the low-temperature yogurt market, there are many new-style yogurt brands, some even surpassing the low-temperature products of dairy giants in market awareness and marketing buzz. With the upstream milk source market monopolized by several giants, how do new yogurt forces find their entry point? In fact, in the yogurt subcategory, giants are not without achievements—in the room-temperature yogurt market, there has been a behind-the-scenes battle among giants. As early as 2009, Bright Dairy launched Mosilian room-temperature yogurt, dropping a bombshell on the then room-temperature dairy market. Yili and Mengniu, the 'twin stars,' quickly launched similar formulas with Ambrosial and Purezen, and with their channel advantages, quickly dethroned Mosilian. The room-temperature yogurt market has been largely divided among giants, while the segmented low-temperature yogurt market offers new brands a chance to break through—years ago, high-end low-temperature yogurt seemed like a business giants looked down upon. In the past, low-temperature yogurt brands were mostly regional companies because low-temperature yogurt has a short shelf life, requires cold chain distribution, and demands high standards for transportation time and storage temperature. However, the 20% annual growth in refrigerated truck ownership in China has given new brands the foundation to develop low-temperature yogurt. At the same time, both pre-packaged low-temperature yogurt and freshly made yogurt are undoubtedly upgrades over traditional low-temperature yogurt. From affordable yogurt to high-end yogurt, price increases mean higher gross margins, but also require more time to educate the market. Take the freshly made yogurt brand Mo Yogurt as an example. Founded in 2014, Mo Yogurt used yogurt and fresh fruit as ingredients, which was considered an outlier in the beverage circle at the time. Mo Yogurt co-founder Gu Hao once said, 'When Mo Yogurt first came out, it was the era of CoCo and Yidiandian with per-customer spending of over ten yuan; avocado yogurt at 20-30 yuan per cup was daunting.' Similarly, Blueglass was founded in 2012, but it wasn't until recent years, with the rise of healthy lifestyles and cross-brand collaborations with lululemon and others, that it truly entered the public eye and became an internet-famous yogurt brand. Image / BlueglassYogurt Weibo Yogurt has walked a smooth path paved by new tea drinks. Compared to room-temperature yogurt, pre-packaged low-temperature yogurt contains live bacteria, while freshly made yogurt adds various nutrients, so products are priced higher and have higher gross margins. Jiang Liu (pseudonym), a recruitment specialist for K22 Yogurt Strawberry franchise, told Interface News · Entrepreneurial Frontier that K22 strawberry smoothie sells for 18 yuan, with costs around 6 yuan, achieving a gross margin of 70%. According to her, the brand uses liquid nitrogen frozen fruit, which has lower costs and higher gross margins than fresh fruit. According to industry insiders, other brands using fresh fruit to make yogurt also have gross margins of around 60%. Pre-packaged yogurt and freshly made yogurt also differ in consumption scenarios. In Xing Yan's view, packaged yogurt is limited by taste, shelf life, and storage and transportation methods, so flavor options are fewer; freshly made yogurt offers more diverse flavor choices and more imaginative possibilities. 'The main difference between these two types of products lies in application scenarios: packaged yogurt mainly serves family scenarios, while freshly made yogurt mainly serves leisure scenarios,' Xing Yan said. Currently, leading freshly made yogurt brands like Blueglass and Prince Forest have received financing; pre-packaged low-temperature yogurt also has its share of internet-famous brands. Besides the low-temperature product lines of giants like Junlebao and Bright Dairy, brands like Jianai, Lechun, Classy Kiss, Beihai Pasture, and Wudao Greek Yogurt have also launched 0-sugar or even additive-free yogurt products. The low-temperature yogurt market is already lively enough. Yogurt Is Also Getting Competitive From industry financing and market size, yogurt is still a 'small and beautiful' business. It shares many similarities with new tea drinks, but is simpler in production. 'Yogurt drink ingredients are ready-made; for example, K22 Yogurt Strawberry uses Weiquan's yogurt base. A 15-square-meter store with three staff members is enough; you just add fruit and other additives,' Jiang Liu said. Despite being small and beautiful, the yogurt business is already accelerating its 'involution' like new tea drinks did. First, appearance. Blueglass, with its high unit price, claims to be the 'Hermès of yogurt,' using a 'blue sky and white clouds' color scheme and oil-painting-like cup wall design, giving a fresh feeling in midsummer; Lanxiong Fresh Milk emphasizes minimalist style from store to product packaging, with a unique cup design that leaves an impression; Jianai Yogurt takes minimalism to the extreme, with 'Nothing else, that's Jianai' highly matching the brand name... Swipe left/right for more Second, ingredient lists. Mo Yogurt emphasizes 'natural, light, low burden' and claims its yogurt has '9 probiotics, over 2 times milk protein,' paired with seasonal fresh fruit; Blueglass adds functional ingredients like collagen peptides to make you 'more beautiful with every drink'; K22 Yogurt Strawberry also promotes low-sugar, low-fat, low-calorie labels. While freshly made yogurt keeps adding, pre-packaged low-temperature yogurt keeps subtracting. For example, Jianai's ingredient list focuses on purity and no additives: 'fresh milk, sugar, lactic acid bacteria, nothing else.' Bright Dairy's Rushi yogurt uses the slogan 'Naturally given, pure and additive-free,' focusing on plain yogurt with a clean ingredient list. Other emerging yogurt brands targeting low-temperature sugar-free yogurt include Lechun, Classy Kiss, Beihai Pasture, and Wudao. Then, supply chain competition. Blueglass has established a joint venture pasture of 80,000 mu with Zhongdi Dairy, owning 10,000 Holstein cows, and has co-developed patented strains with DuPont Probiotics; Jianai began building an integrated 'factory + pasture' model in 2019, with its self-built factory put into use in January 2021. As the low-temperature high-end yogurt track heats up, dairy giants and new forces are bound to crowd together. In Xing Yan's view, in terms of competition, dairy giants have obvious advantages in milk sources, production, and price, but limited investment in segmented tracks may lead to insufficient innovation. According to the author's observation, compared to dairy giants, new-style yogurt brands have advantages in innovation capability and focus, but they started later, have weaker risk resistance than giants, and their capital investment is relatively unstable. From the franchise moves of many new-style yogurt brands, it's clear that while expanding, brands are also avoiding risks as much as possible. For example, Mo Yogurt currently converts 80% of its franchisees from consumers, differing from traditional franchise models; Lanxiong Fresh Milk only recently began franchising; K22 Yogurt Strawberry focuses on joint operations, with the brand and partners sharing management and risks. But whether for dairy giants or emerging brands, low-temperature high-end yogurt products still face many challenges. Looking at low-temperature yogurts on the market, 0-sugar and 0-additive have gradually become standard, and with prices tightly matched and taste differences minimal, product homogenization is severe, and consumer loyalty to a single brand is low. Moreover, as a snack product, high pricing not only hinders brands from expanding into lower-tier cities but also affects repurchase rates. After all, compared to pure milk, which is a necessity, snack options are numerous. As Wang Weijia, founder of Classy Kiss Yogurt, said, low-temperature yogurt brands still need to strengthen their fundamentals. 'Without factories, process innovation, or quality control, just looking at formulas doesn't make good yogurt. A professional supply chain is crucial. For regional dairy companies to go national, they must build a professional supply chain, including high-quality controllable milk sources, self-owned smart factories, leading research capabilities, and digitalized cold chain logistics.' The road is long, and low-temperature yogurt brands still have much to explore. *Note: The cover image in this article is from Shetu.com, based on VRF authorization.