Source | Zebra Consumption Xiangpiaopiao milk tea, Weiwei soy milk, and South Black Sesame Paste, these once-famous national brands, are facing a collective crisis. The main reason for declining sales is not from a specific brand, but the common problems of instant products. Originally, soy milk powder, instant milk tea, and black sesame paste were transitional products from an era when market supply was insufficient. When consumers have better and more abundant choices, they naturally abandon these previous-generation products that are neither convenient nor healthy enough. The era abandons instant beverages without even saying goodbye. The Great Retreat of Instant Beverages In the deep impressions of TV advertisements for those born in the 70s and 80s, the touching scene of black sesame paste with "a rich aroma, a wisp of warmth" should be unforgettable. Later, they remembered "Weiwei soy milk, joyful and happy," the instant milk tea industry's "You are my U-love-it, so I can hold you in the palm of my hand," and Xiangpiaopiao's simple and crude "Selling 300 million cups a year, cups lined up to circle the earth once"... The common feature of these brands is that they all belong to instant beverages. As a result, in brand image, warmth has always been one of their most prominent labels. However, in the current consumer market, these brands are being abandoned by the market and consumers. In 2024, Xiangpiaopiao's instant product revenue was 2.271 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 15.42%; in the first half of 2025, the company's revenue declined and losses increased, mainly related to the performance of instant products. Last year, Weiwei Co., Ltd.'s solid instant beverage revenue was 1.909 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 3.02%; Black Sesame's instant series revenue was 854 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 3.90%. In the first quarter of this year, both Weiwei Co., Ltd. and Black Sesame showed a double decline in revenue and profit, closely related to the performance of their core instant products. In fact, the growth crises of Xiangpiaopiao, Weiwei soy milk, and Black Sesame did not just start in recent years but have experienced a long period of ups and downs. South Black Sesame Paste was founded in the 1980s and entered the public eye in 1991 through that classic advertisement, gradually developing into a household national brand. Around 2014, revenue from black sesame paste products was 838 million yuan; then it grew with difficulty, and by 2021, instant beverage product revenue approached 1 billion yuan; however, in recent years it has declined continuously, and in 2024 it was reduced to its original level, with instant series revenue of 854 million yuan. In 1992, Cui Guiliang founded the soy milk brand Weiwei in Xuzhou, gambling all his savings of 100,000 yuan to buy the exclusive broadcast rights for the local TV station's "Aspirations," becoming an instant hit and spreading across the country. Within just a few years, Weiwei soy milk sales exceeded 1 billion yuan, with market share once reaching 70%, becoming a veritable "King of Soy Milk," and its leading position in the niche market has been maintained to this day. Weiwei soy milk rose higher than Black Sesame, but its growth pressure came earlier, at least starting to show a decade ago. In the 1980s, Jiang Jianqi started his business, and in the 1990s founded Laowantong popsicle, accumulating his first pot of gold. In 2004, inspired by milk tea shops, he founded Xiangpiaopiao, creating the instant milk tea category. After more than a decade of development, Xiangpiaopiao's instant products reached their peak in 2020, with sales of 45.5909 million boxes (30 cups/standard box) and revenue of 3.067 billion yuan. By 2024, its instant product sales had dropped to 32.7854 million boxes, compared to the peak period, selling 380 million fewer cups a year, less than one circle around the earth, and annual instant product revenue fell to 2.271 billion yuan. From 2012 to 2024, Xiangpiaopiao ranked first in the cup instant milk tea market share for 13 consecutive years, but its value has significantly declined. As for brands like U-love-it that were once famous, they have long since faded into obscurity after the market contraction. Abandoned by the Era The fundamental reason instant beverages are being abandoned by the market lies in the "instant" aspect. In the usage scenarios of Xiangpiaopiao milk tea, Weiwei soy milk, and black sesame paste, boiling water is necessary, and they cannot be made as cold or iced drinks, which limits consumption scenarios to a certain extent and has obvious seasonality. As the pace of life for contemporary young people accelerates, the lifestyle and consumption trends of instant gratification are deepening, making instant beverages increasingly outdated. In general, instant beverages were transitional products born in an era of underdeveloped materials and limited market supply. At that time, the freshly made tea market was just beginning, the penetration rate of room-temperature milk was insufficient, let alone the fresh milk readily available today, and people's protein intake was relatively inadequate, so they needed Xiangpiaopiao, Weiwei soy milk, and Black Sesame. When new tea drinks experienced a boom, bringing higher-quality raw materials and more innovative categories, the artificial flavor of traditional instant milk tea became unattractive. Ready-to-drink soy milk, soy milk beverages, and other plant protein and dairy drinks gradually replaced soy milk powder. Black sesame paste, which is not a necessity, is even easier to replace. In response to the biggest pain points of instant beverages, these brands have made some adjustments accordingly. For example, Weiwei soy milk has been recreating scenes on Douyin, hoping to attract some nostalgic consumption. Additionally, it provides a cup with the soy milk powder to solve the clumping problem. Xiangpiaopiao, based on traditional instant milk tea, has launched a replica of freshly made tea drinks—original liquid freshly brewed light milk tea and other products—targeting consumers' sensitivity to non-dairy creamer. Black Sesame has successively launched various sugar-free, high-calcium, ginger brown sugar, and multigrain versions, as well as various corn paste, five-black soy milk powder, and other diversified product combinations. However, when a ship discovers a crack and is about to slowly sink, patching it up can only barely maintain it, making it difficult to change the final outcome. With the mentality of "if you can't beat them, join them," instant beverage brands are rushing to join the ready-to-drink and ready-to-eat tracks. Now, Weiwei has far more than just soy milk powder, including soy milk drinks, Weiwei soda, Tianshanxue dairy products, etc. Black Sesame's food business, besides traditional black sesame paste, includes black sesame pills, black sesame cakes, black sesame pastries, black sesame sauce, black sesame series drinks, black sesame milk, five-black eight-treasure porridge, etc. In recent years, it has also launched the only South Black Sesame Paste in China that has obtained the health food label. Xiangpiaopiao has invested the most in the ready-to-drink business, using profits from instant milk tea to incubate ready-to-drink products such as Meco cup fruit tea, Lanfangyuan Hong Kong-style tea drinks, and frozen lemon tea. In Xiangpiaopiao, the seesaw effect between traditional and new businesses is most obvious. In 2024, the company's instant business revenue decreased by 15.42%, while ready-to-drink business increased by 8.00% year-on-year, with Meco fruit tea increasing by 20.69%. Unfortunately, the rise of the ready-to-drink and ready-to-eat businesses of the three companies cannot offset the drag of declining instant products on the overall company. On one hand, transitioning from traditional food to the FMCG sector requires higher capabilities in brand, product, and channel operations; on the other hand, compared to the niche nature of instant business, the ready-to-drink market is too competitive. With giants in new tea drinks, beverages, and plant proteins, Xiangpiaopiao, Weiwei soy milk, and Black Sesame are entering a new red ocean, and the difficulty is imaginable. Difficult Transformation From market performance, not all instant products are failing; there is also the possibility of partial business optimization. For example, coffee. Although the traditional instant coffee market represented by Nestlé and Maxwell has faced significant substitution pressure in recent years, the consumption upgrade of convenient coffee is also happening. New convenient coffees such as drip bags, concentrates, and freeze-dried are gradually replacing traditional non-dairy creamer instant coffee. In the tea bag market, traditional Lipton-style black and green teas are being replaced by new-style tea bags like Chali, which are actually replicas of freshly made tea drinks, with bestsellers including peach oolong tea, green grape jasmine oolong tea, and orange rooibos tea. However, even so, it is still impossible to completely reverse the final fate of instant products. The fundamental reason is that if traditional instant products were innovative products during periods of insufficient supply, then new instant products, whether coffee, tea drinks, or new varieties from Weiwei and Black Sesame, can only ever be substitutes for popular drinks. Their current scenario value cannot be compared to instant products from 20 years ago. People who temporarily cannot buy freshly brewed coffee will choose drip bags, concentrates, or freeze-dried; those who occasionally cannot get freshly made tea drinks will also have a pack of low-cost flavored tea bags. Therefore, traditional instant brands should have already seen these trends. The diversified transformations of Weiwei Co., Ltd. and Black Sesame began many years ago. After listing as the "first soy milk stock," Weiwei Co., Ltd. focused on business diversification, successively trying dairy, coal, liquor, real estate, and pharmaceuticals. In the end, Weiwei Co., Ltd. chose to sink or swim in the liquor industry for over a decade, with liquor revenue accounting for the vast majority of the company at its peak, once becoming one of the 20 listed liquor companies. Unexpectedly, spending nearly 1 billion yuan to acquire Zhijiang Liquor and Guizhou Chun coincided with the major adjustment in the liquor industry in 2013, leading to years of losses in the liquor business, directly dragging Weiwei Co., Ltd. into the mire, forcing it to painfully divest. In contrast, Black Sesame's cross-industry attempts were mostly superficial, trying logistics parks, e-commerce, new energy, and other fields, but after years of tossing, it ultimately returned in defeat. These two unfortunate brothers in the instant beverage industry, after being battered, had to turn to state-owned capital and start over. Starting in 2019, Weiwei Group gradually transferred its shares in Weiwei Co., Ltd. to Xinsheng Holdings under the Xuzhou State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. After the new actual controller took over, it injected grain and oil businesses into Weiwei Co., Ltd., trying to stabilize Weiwei soy milk's basic position. Recently, the controlling shareholder of Black Sesame carried out a share transfer, transferring about 20% of the company's shares to a local state-owned enterprise in Guangxi, resulting in a change of control of the listed company. Besides battling in the ready-to-drink market, Xiangpiaopiao has also opened its own milk tea shops, staying within the milk tea ecosystem, and gradually returning to family management. This difficult journey through the cycle seems to have a sense of lonely bravery.