For all participants in the convenience food sector, the economic order has now been restored, the consumer market is gradually recovering, and offline dining and food delivery have returned to normal. The industry's rigid demand has declined, and taste preferences and product pain points are undergoing new changes.
In 2023, most brands in the convenience food track performed poorly, but there were exceptions, such as A-Kuan Food, an advocate of healthy convenience foods. Its products, including Red Oil Noodles, Mashed Potato Noodles, Fen Haoz, and Little Fresh Noodles, performed particularly well. For example, Mashed Potato Noodles sold over 10 million units in the first month after launch.
At the 2024 Spring Sugar and Wine Fair, in addition to the above bestsellers, A-Kuan Food also brought its pioneering konjac-based convenience food brand, Mo Xiao Bao, to the fair, successfully attracting high attention from the distributor community. What magic do these products possess?
Mashed Potato Noodles Single-channel sales exceeded 10 million in the first month after launch
Since the end of last year, A-Kuan Food's pioneering Mashed Potato Noodles have become a huge hit.
This "Mashed Potato Noodles" product, featuring zero fried noodles and half a bowl of mashed potatoes, attracted consumer attention immediately upon launch. A single short video garnered over 15 million views, the product's live-stream sales link conversion rate exceeded 15%, and sales in a single channel surpassed 10 million in the first month after launch.
Consumers add the noodle block and seasonings to a bowl, pour water to the fill line, wait 6-7 minutes, and it's ready to eat. The brewing method replicates the texture of hand-pulled noodles. When the noodles and mashed potatoes blend, each strand is coated with the sticky, satisfying richness of mashed potatoes.
This unique product presentation not only boosted A-Kuan's brand visibility across all platforms but also accelerated the rapid development of the mashed potato category in the convenience food market.
Sales data from platforms such as Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and Taobao show that this product has become one of the preferred choices for consumers purchasing convenience foods. At this year's Sugar and Wine Fair, numerous imitative products appeared, further proving A-Kuan Food's leading position in setting industry trends.
Jinli Ancient Street Little Fresh Noodles Hot and Sour Noodles Leading hot and sour noodles into the "fresh" noodle era
Hot and sour noodles, originating from the Chengdu region, are rapidly catching up with Luosifen (snail rice noodles) and have the opportunity to take over.
In the hot and sour noodle category, A-Kuan Food has been continuously exploring and innovating in noodle cake technology, pioneering key technology for high-moisture wet noodle preservation, which differentiates it from traditional extruded noodles and crystal noodles, disrupting the industry. This technology is applied to its brand Jinli Ancient Street.
Jinli Ancient Street's wet noodle hot and sour noodle process combines Chengdu's traditional hand-made noodle-dropping techniques, involving multiple steps such as raw material selection, washing, grinding, filtering, sedimentation, starching, and noodle dropping. This has led to the development of a new production process that maximally restores traditional hot and sour noodle craftsmanship, producing products that closely replicate the taste of Chengdu restaurants.
Compared to ordinary instant hot and sour noodles, Jinli Ancient Street's wet noodles are thicker but not hard in the center, offering a smoother, more chewy texture and avoiding clumping issues.
In terms of flavor and texture, Jinli Ancient Street's wet noodle hot and sour noodles taste exactly like those from eateries in Chengdu's streets and alleys. Additionally, this technology has assisted well-known brands such as Ma Liuji, Li Ziqi, and Shu Zhong Tao Zi Jie, helping them achieve differentiated competition in the hot and sour noodle category and achieve significant sales success.
Mo Xiao Bao – Pioneer in the Vertical Segment of Konjac Convenience Foods
As a sub-brand of A-Kuan Food, Mo Xiao Bao is the pioneer in the vertical segment of konjac convenience foods. With its unique product positioning and healthy eating philosophy, it is leading a new trend in the convenience food sector.
It satisfies people's pursuit of deliciousness while also adhering to the concept of healthy eating, perfectly aligning with the current innovation direction of health and nutrition in the convenience food track.
Mo Xiao Bao has also launched the slogan "Enjoy low-fat healthy food anytime, anywhere in 30 seconds," expanding the product into more scenarios. Whether it's outdoor camping, travel, or indoor overtime work, gaming late-night snacks, or friend gatherings, people can enjoy a serving at any time.
Currently, Mo Xiao Bao konjac cold noodles in Sichuan pepper sweet and sour flavor and lime mint flavor, Mo Xiao Bao konjac cold skin noodles in lemon spicy flavor, and Mo Xiao Bao konjac cold noodles in double pepper hot and sour flavor have been launched, receiving unanimous praise from channel partners and consumers.
A-Kuan Food revealed that Mo Xiao Bao konjac white kidney bean cold skin noodles in passion fruit lemon flavor will be launched in May. Subsequently, A-Kuan Food will introduce more local specialty foods in the konjac convenience food track to better meet the taste needs of different consumer groups.
Baijia Fen Haoz Series Breaking the stereotype of convenience foods
A-Kuan Food has also created "Fen Haoz" with a snack-like character. Young people are challenging themselves to finish a whole 45+ cm Fen Haoz in one go. The product is suitable for multiple scenarios such as staying up late watching dramas, dormitory gaming, overtime snacking, and travel camping.
Through interesting eating methods and consumption scenarios, it breaks the stereotype of convenience foods, bringing consumers freshness and differentiation through snackification. This not only proves the product's market potential but also demonstrates A-Kuan Food's strength in innovative R&D and brand promotion.
Increasing Support for Offline Distributors Jointly Exploring the Market
Statistics show that during the hotel exhibition at the Sugar and Wine Fair, A-Kuan Food received over 150 groups of prospective agency distributors, once again confirming that the new era of convenience foods has arrived.
A relevant person in charge of A-Kuan Food stated: "We will increase support for offline distributors, aiming to establish closer cooperative relationships and jointly explore the market. By providing preferential policies and incentive measures, the company hopes to attract more high-quality distributors to join, jointly promoting the rapid distribution and market expansion of A-Kuan Food products."
In addition, A-Kuan Food will strengthen communication and cooperation with distributors, providing comprehensive market support and after-sales service. The company will regularly hold distributor training activities to enhance distributors' sales skills and product knowledge, helping them better promote A-Kuan Food products.
Deepening Regional Cuisine Flavors Leading Healthy Convenience Foods with Innovation
In today's fast-paced life, convenience food products have become the first choice for many consumers. However, many instant food brands in the market often fall into homogeneous competition and lack innovation.
According to iResearch's "China Convenience Food Industry Research Report," the convenience food industry has evolved from a single product in its infancy, through rapid development driven by urbanization dividends and large-scale migrant populations, to adjustments due to competition from food delivery and negative industry publicity, and then to recovery driven by the end of low-price subsidies in food delivery and the transformation and upgrading of convenience foods. Currently, it presents a diversified competitive landscape.
Against this backdrop, as an advocate of healthy convenience foods, A-Kuan Food, after using its non-fried hero product Red Oil Noodles to break into the instant noodle market dominated by Kangshifu and Uni-President, has continued to launch healthy convenience food products through its deep exploration of regional cuisine flavors and strong R&D capabilities, successfully leading industry development.
In addition to exploring regional cuisine flavors, A-Kuan Food also focuses on the health attributes of its products. The company has a professional R&D team that continuously explores new ingredients and processes, striving to improve the nutritional value of products while maintaining taste. From Red Oil Noodles to Mashed Potato Noodles, from Baijia Chen Ji Hot and Sour Noodles to Xiaocheng Gushi Rice Noodles, A-Kuan Food uses various sub-brands to occupy different categories, meeting the consumption needs of different age groups for healthy convenience foods.
Industry insiders believe that A-Kuan Food's success is not accidental. The company's keen insight into market trends and deep understanding of consumer needs enable it to accurately grasp the market pulse, continuously launching products that meet consumer tastes and health needs in four aspects: health and nutrition, unique characteristics, snackification, and high cost-performance.
At the same time, A-Kuan Food also emphasizes cooperation with distributors, jointly exploring the market through preferential policies and incentive measures to achieve win-win outcomes.
Therefore, we have reason to believe that as consumers pay increasing attention to healthy eating and demand more diversified convenience food products, A-Kuan Food will continue to leverage its advantages in exploring regional cuisine flavors and developing healthy convenience food products, continuously launching more innovative products, leading new industry trends, and injecting new vitality into the development of the convenience food industry.