In county-level markets, the snack store war is raging. On an 800-meter street, it's not uncommon to see three or four snack stores clustered together. Compared to small milk tea shops, snack stores starting at 100 square meters and their giant signs are more eye-catching. Since the start of 2024, searches for 'snack discount stores' have increased 393.7% year-on-year, and comments have grown 250%. Are snack stores a 'get-rich' opportunity for franchisees? Can they produce the next Mixue Ice Cream & Tea? Is this a new blue ocean in the county economy, or just another wave of new leeks being cut in a capital game? The Power of Belief From real estate to the internet, today's young people have witnessed numerous wealth-creation myths. They need and believe that there are still thrilling wealth stories in the market. According to the '2022 China Snack Food Industry Report' by Mob Research Institute, the market size of snack foods exceeded 1.5 trillion yuan in 2022, with a compound annual growth rate of over 11% as market penetration increases. Moreover, China's per capita snack consumption is 14 kg, far below the global average of 27 kg, Japan's 42 kg, and the US's 70 kg. The snack sector seems to have vast room for growth, and small towns also hold significant potential. 'Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen account for only about 0.33% of China's area. Adding new first-tier cities, it's still only 3%. On the remaining 97% of land, there are about 300 prefecture-level cities, 3,000 counties, 40,000 towns, and 660,000 villages. About 84% of the population lives and consumes here.' Small towns not only have large populations, but residents there don't carry heavy mortgages, and their spending power is not to be underestimated. This is the breeding ground for the rise of snack stores. Online shopping is not well-developed here, and many people still prefer offline consumption. Additionally, compared to the dazzling array of products and stylish decor in big-city discount supermarkets, convenience stores, and snack shops, the small village shops in towns clearly can't meet diverse customer needs. So these snack companies, as the culmination of urban snack chains, discount supermarkets, import supermarkets, and discount stores, connect directly with factories through franchising, cut out middlemen, and capture the mass snack market with low prices. Jiangxi-based brand Zhao Yiming Snacks, with the slogan 'No tricks, truly cheap; Zhao Yiming has tons of snacks,' has grown rapidly in the past two years. Founded in 2019, Zhao Yiming had only 84 stores in 2021, but by 2023, it exceeded 2,000 stores, expanding at a rate of 100 new stores per month. With promotional ads everywhere on short-video platforms, dense store layouts on streets, 150 million yuan in capital backing, and viral videos claiming 'Zhao Yiming earns 6.4 billion a year,' the snack market in small towns is buzzing. Zhao Yiming is just the tip of the iceberg in the small-town snack market. In 2022, Wanchen Group, which started in the mushroom business, entered the bulk snack industry through acquisitions. In 2023, the industry entered an explosive phase, with major brands expanding across regions and accelerating store openings. In September 2023, Wanchen Group announced the merger of its four snack chain brands—Hao Xiang Lai, Lai You Pin, Lu Xiao Chan, and Ya Di Ya Di—into 'Hao Xiang Lai,' instantly surpassing 3,300 stores nationwide. 2023 Snack Chain Store Count Ranking (compiled by Lianshang.com) According to statistics, in 2023, numerous snack brands including Snacks Very Busy, Hao Xiang Lai, Zhao Yiming Snacks, Snacks You Ming, Love Snacks, Sugar Nest, Snack Premium, etc., each had over 1,000 stores and were fiercely competing. The Franchise Logic of Snack Stores The snack market is undeniably hot, but why can't people open their own stores instead of paying high franchise fees? These snack chains tell a snack story on the surface, but in reality, they attract small-town entrepreneurs with their 'unmatched supply chain advantages.' Snack stores not only carry a large number of traditional big brands but also serve as important offline channels for internet-famous products, slow-moving items, long-tail products, and near-expiry goods. The ability to integrate a vast array of products and precisely grasp user demand is clearly beyond the knowledge of small-town entrepreneurs. At the same time, because snack stores often have numerous outlets and operate on cash transactions, they have bargaining power with suppliers. So, compared to the knockoff Carrefour and Walmart supermarkets in lower-tier markets, their supply chains are shorter. Compared to small-town mom-and-pop shops, which go through several levels of distributors, they are no match for these snack collection stores. The supply chain advantage of snack collection stores is easily demonstrated in small towns. Snack stores starting at 100 square meters can hold more products, with over 1,500 SKUs per store. Brands set up several core warehouses nationwide that deliver directly to stores, enabling fast and convenient product updates—100 new items per month and over 1,000 new snacks per year. Snack stores typically don't have warehouses; the products in the store are the entire inventory. Through reasonable display design, they not only let customers experience a dazzling array of goods, boosting purchase desire, but also make customers spend more without realizing it. In these snack stores, beverages placed in prominent positions are a direct reflection of their supply chain advantage. Nongfu Spring and Ganten, which sell for 2 yuan in supermarkets, can be easily bought here for under 1.5 yuan. Coca-Cola, Beibingyang, Dayao, Mizone, Oriental Leaf... these products whose prices everyone knows are about 0.5 yuan cheaper in snack stores than in supermarkets. These low-priced drinks not only serve as important traffic drivers but also have an 'anchoring' effect on customers. Once customers are convinced of the 'cheapness' through familiar products like water and potato chips, they will spend boldly in the store. These stores use big brands to attract traffic and small brands to make profits. The real profits come from the more than half of the products that are unpackaged and unpriced. The pay-by-weight method prevents customers from knowing the exact price of individual items, and these white-label products also leave room for profit. Besides low prices, another key success factor for snack stores is foot traffic. Because snacks are mostly impulse purchases, these stores are located within a 15-minute walk for customers, mainly in residential areas, near supermarkets, and at intersections. Additionally, the 8.8% discount promotion on the 8th of each month further boosts sales. The snack industry has hardly created any barriers. With high similarity, the brand that opens more stores and leaves a deeper impression on consumers becomes the competitive barrier. In the battle for small-town snack stores, the 'iron barrel formation'—creating a scale, standardized, and dense store layout as solid as an iron barrel—enhances market influence, improves consumer experience, and thereby drives brand effect and sales profit growth. This is the underlying logic behind the 'five steps a post, ten steps a sentry' density of various brand stores in small towns. Additionally, the data accumulated from long-term operations allows brands to better meet customer needs, further consolidating foot traffic. Management is a key factor in chain success, and snack stores have also planned for this. Store surveillance is centrally managed by headquarters, with unannounced store visits. Military-style management: demerits for non-compliance, fines for too many demerits, and even forfeiture of deposits. Under such a tight logic, a group of Mixue-like snack brands seems ready to emerge. But is that really the case? Looks Beautiful from Afar The battlefield for snack collection stores seems to be in small towns, in customer choice, but the real competition among brands is in online public opinion and the apparent prosperity of snack stores. On short-video platforms, franchisees are almost all cheering for their own brands. They divide the country into different war zones, report victories online, and tout their '10,000-store genes'. On online platforms, every brand's snack store appears packed, with checkout lines stretching beyond the frame. Who are these images meant for? Snack buyers or potential franchisees? Franchising a snack store takes only 30 days, and the conditions are similar across brands. Taking Zhao Yiming as an example, the store must be at least 120 square meters, with a storefront width of at least 8 meters, ideally located in a commercial street or shopping mall, in a business district with no less than 50,000 people. Costs: franchise fee 38,000 yuan, deposit 20,000 yuan, annual management fee 9,600 yuan, renovation 80,000-120,000 yuan, fixtures and equipment 70,000-100,000 yuan, initial stock 180,000-250,000 yuan, working capital 30,000-50,000 yuan, plus rent and transfer fees, bringing the total investment per store to about 800,000 yuan. The brand quotes a gross margin of about 20% and a payback period of about 18 months. With rent at 10,000 yuan per month, labor at 20,000 yuan, and utilities at 5,000 yuan, plus franchise fees, management fees, renovation, and equipment costs, to break even in 18 months, daily sales would need to reach 10,000 yuan. In the snack store market blooming across small towns, daily sales of 10,000 yuan is no easy feat. Moreover, to secure high-traffic locations, discount snack brands are even willing to pay an extra 70,000-80,000 yuan in 'tea fees,' and many question whether these costs can be recovered. As people complain about the high prices of weighed and white-label products, sustained consumer enthusiasm seems unlikely. With cases of franchisees losing hundreds of thousands in six months and transferring stores at a loss, more doubts are raised about snack stores. Some even question the supply chain advantage that snack stores pride themselves on. Although snack stores have scale advantages, as newcomers, they can hardly compete head-on with established supermarket chains. Whether their low prices come from supply chain advantages or from subsidizing products with investment money to create false prosperity remains a mystery. Capital entering and brands expanding wildly is not a new scene. Zhong Xue Gao and Daily Dark Chocolate went from meteoric rise to fading dividends in just a few years. Internet-famous brands like Three Squirrels have seen revenues decline year after year. Its market value once hit 36 billion yuan, but now it's joked to be 'only half a squirrel left.' From chain fruit stores, coffee and milk tea franchises, and restaurant chains to today's snack chains, most franchisees lose more than they earn, while the brand owners make risk-free profits. Many netizens say that if snack chains were truly profitable, the brands wouldn't franchise but would quietly make big money. Although this statement is somewhat absolute, in recent years, franchising has left more franchisees at a disadvantage, with few making money. In February 2023, Zhao Yiming opened its first financing round, with Hei Ant Capital and Bestore investing, completing a 150 million yuan Series A. On October 17, Bestore 'cleared out' its stake in Zhao Yiming, netting 60 million yuan. Capital smiled as it completed its mission. Snack stores are different from Mixue, which has a full industry chain, and from international brands that provide comprehensive market research and site selection support to reduce franchisee risk. The capital and supply chain barriers for snack stores are not high. Combined with the hot franchising situation and franchisees' self-determined site selection, the only war in the snack market is almost certainly a brutal scale war. At the end of 2023, 'Snacks Very Busy' and 'Zhao Yiming Snacks' announced a strategic merger, bringing the total store count to over 6,500, making it the absolute leader in the industry. The war in this track seems to have entered a new phase, but the smoke of offline snack stores still lingers. Can anyone in this snack war settle down? Who will truly laugh last? There's no answer yet, but one thing is certain: a large number of stores will be eliminated by the market. 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