Click the image above for details During the pandemic, luosifen became a hard currency. Due to difficulties in resuming work, shortages of raw materials and packaging materials, some brands' products were on pre-sale for over 40 days. Countless foodies called for the freedom to "suck noodles," and their cries even made it to the hot search list. Hot topics such as "Luosifen hasn't shipped yet," "How much do Chinese people love luosifen?" and "Show off your delivered luosifen" accumulated over 1 billion reads. Posting a bowl of luosifen on your Moments even became an alternative way to "show off wealth." According to public data, the "Li Ziqi Luosifen" store saw sales of Li Ziqi luosifen (3-pack) exceed 520,000 units in just one day during the pandemic, surpassing the monthly sales of over 40,000 units in December last year. According to Xinhua Net, the annual turnover of the entire Liuzhou luosifen industry has exceeded 10 billion yuan. According to data from the Liuzhou Municipal Commerce Bureau, the average annual growth rate of pre-packaged luosifen sales revenue over the past five years has reached 86.12%, and the average growth rate of supporting and derivative product sales revenue has reached as high as 140.28%. It is no exaggeration to say that the luosifen category has experienced rapid growth in recent years, almost comparable to all fast-moving consumer goods. What is the reason behind luosifen's explosive popularity? Given this growth rate, could it become the next "instant noodles"? -01- The Story Behind Luosifen's Explosive Popularity Luosifen is a local specialty snack from Liuzhou City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, known for its spicy, refreshing, fresh, and sour flavors. After the broadcast of "A Bite of China," luosifen attracted the attention of everyday consumers. In 2014, luosifen appeared in front of consumers in pre-packaged form, became widely known, and then took off. A careful analysis of the reasons behind luosifen's explosive popularity reveals three key aspects. First, the polarized taste gives it a natural hot-search constitution In the current new consumption era, young consumer groups' demand for food is not limited to eating itself but also includes niche, novelty, and curiosity-seeking needs. Due to the taste of pickled bamboo shoots in luosifen, public attitudes toward it have always been polarized. Those who like it find it particularly delicious and even addictive. Those who don't like it turn up their noses at it. It is precisely this differentiated taste that endows luosifen with social characteristics beyond food. Where there is contradiction, there is debate; where there is debate, hot topics naturally emerge. Second, hot searches bring traffic tilt With the rise of diverse social platforms such as short videos and live streaming, a fertile ground has been provided for luosifen's explosive popularity. Social platforms are essentially places for people to interact and communicate, and luosifen's naturally controversial attributes fit perfectly. With hot topics, social platforms naturally tilt traffic. Among these, various luosifen brands can almost skip brand promotion and rely on the category's dividend to mine gold on e-commerce platforms. Consumers who taste the hotly discussed luosifen, whether good or bad, naturally join the hot topics, creating a ripple effect. Eventually, luosifen became a food category of national attention. Third, government support and obvious industrial cluster effects Of course, the sustained popularity of a category cannot be separated from the supply chain behind it. Before its explosive popularity, luosifen was merely a local specialty snack, belonging to the catering industry. In 2014, under the leadership of the Liuzhou municipal government, a group of manufacturers were organized for production and R&D, resulting in high-fidelity pre-packaged luosifen. To promote the branding, standardization, scaling, and industrialization of Liuzhou luosifen, local governments also introduced a series of support plans, increasing support efforts. Priority support is given to the construction of the Liuzhou luosifen production system, technology development, brand building, marketing system, and talent training. This series of policy support quickly clustered related downstream industries, and under the scale effect, promoted the development of the category. In particular, it enabled the large-scale production of pre-packaged luosifen, pushing luosifen out of Liuzhou and selling it to a wider regional market. Seeing this, we have reason to believe that the future of luosifen is not simply limited to being an internet-famous product or a novel-flavored food. It is more likely to become the next 100-billion-yuan market, "snatching food" from instant noodles. -02- More Ingredients and Fuller Flavor: Luosifen vs. Instant Noodles Luosifen is a sub-category of convenience food, while instant noodles, which have a long history in convenience food, have been around for over sixty years. In the first few decades, instant noodles grew "wildly" worldwide at an extremely fast pace. In 2012, global instant noodle sales exceeded 100 billion packs, with mainland China accounting for 44 billion packs. Since then, instant noodles have faced a development crisis. With category capacity peaking and consumer upgrading, the stagnation of instant noodles is evident. But upon closer examination, we can find that instant noodles have not undergone much innovation or change over the years. The simple combination of soup base packets and fried noodle cakes has persisted for many years. When material abundance is great, consumption awareness improves, and diverse needs and differentiated tastes are what young consumers are pursuing. The monotonous instant noodles always seem boring. Compared with instant noodles, luosifen is far superior in both ingredients and taste. A common pack of pre-packaged luosifen contains dozens of seasonings, including pickled bamboo shoots, luosifen soup base, chili oil, peanuts and dried tofu sticks, pickled beans, wood ear mushrooms, dried radish, and vinegar, with extremely rich ingredients. Just comparing the contents of the two, luosifen offers consumers not only a better staple than instant noodles but also a dining experience with abundant ingredients. This is the underlying logic for luosifen's potential to rival instant noodles in the future. Of course, this does not mean that luosifen's development has no obstacles. -03- What Does Luosifen Still Lack to Become the Next Instant Noodles? What is missing? We still need to return to the fundamentals of consumption, with two core points: first, the product itself; second, consumer awareness. 1. The Product Itself To become the second instant noodle category, it is first necessary to fully consider the universality of the product. The differentiated and unique taste has been crucial in the early rise of luosifen. It entered the lives of young consumer groups without almost any category education costs. But taste is also a double-edged sword. If the taste is not improved, or further segmented, it will be difficult to truly reach every household. Of course, "convenience" also needs improvement. Although many manufacturers have developed instant-brewing luosifen and self-heating luosifen, the taste of these products has been criticized by consumers. The experience is far from satisfactory. In terms of process improvement, luosifen still has a long way to go! 2. Consumer Awareness At present, luosifen's explosive popularity is only the first stage of entering the public eye. Many consumers are still in the mindset of trying it out, not yet incorporating it into their daily consumption categories. To become a daily consumption category and a necessity, in addition to continuous dissemination on social platforms to keep luosifen information in the view of young consumer groups, it must truly enter consumers' offline lives. Let luosifen become a basic supporting facility around every consumer's residential area, just like Lanzhou beef noodles and Shaxian snacks. Only then can luosifen truly gain a firm foothold and have the potential to become the next instant noodles. Fortunately, for luosifen, not only brand manufacturers but also local governments and colleges are making efforts. According to Mr. Zhou Chaoyou, e-commerce manager of Liujiang Renjia, in recent years, the Liuzhou Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government have attached great importance to accelerating the industrialization of Liuzhou luosifen, following the basic approach of "government-led, consumption-driven, e-commerce-boosted, brand-building, and standardized development." In addition to multi-channel development, Liuzhou has proposed strategic projects such as "Hundred Cities, Thousand Stores" to encourage luosifen enterprises to vigorously explore domestic and foreign markets. At present, luosifen has spread to first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, with more than 8,000 physical stores nationwide. In 2018, the Liunan District Luosifen Characteristic Town project in Liuzhou was signed, which will build the first cultural characteristic town themed on luosifen in China. In July 2018, "Liuzhou Luosifen" was approved and registered by the Intellectual Property Office of the State Administration for Market Regulation, providing certain protection for the healthy development of the Liuzhou luosifen industry. In May 2020, the first Luosifen Industry College was inaugurated at Liuzhou Vocational and Technical College. The college will offer seven high-level specialty majors, develop curriculum standards and training materials, build a teaching team, and cultivate relevant talents. If we say that before 2014, luosifen was a local specialty snack of Liuzhou, then after 2014, luosifen is gradually moving nationwide. Although the category is still being refined, with demand-side-led industrial development, local policy support, and talent cultivation by colleges, the luosifen category is bound to become the next instant noodle category in the convenience food field.