As the annual “Two Sessions” comes to a close, many new policies and initiatives have been hotly discussed, including the “weight management years” initiative. First launched in 2024, it is a three-year initiative where the government pushes for a healthier lifestyle to prevent weight-related illnesses. This also explains why “new-style Chinese” tea chains are rushing towards healthy and “slimming” products.
Naixue
As early as late February, eagle-eyed shoppers spotted that the Naixue (奈雪的茶, formerly Nayuki) branch had turned into a not-yet-announced café/restaurant, also by the tea chain. The café, called “Green by Naixue” was in a trial opening stage, according to the sign outside. The soft launch was later followed by its grand opening on 12 March.
Green by Naixue is a café that, as its name suggests, offers veggie-rich superfoods and healthy meals. The eatery serves up “energy bowls” with the likes of kimchi beef and Thai lime chicken, as well as vegetarian options such as the “Baby Pumpkin Nut Power Bowl”. The prices of these dishes are around 23.8 RMB (3.29 USD) and 28.8 RMB (3.98 USD), significantly lower than other “light meal” (轻食) brands.
Pundits see the move of opening a restaurant as Naixue’s strategy of “self-rescue” after its 2024 results show the chain had projected revenue between 4.8 billion RMB (663.18 million USD) and 5.1 billion RMB (704.63 million USD), down 1% to 7% year-on-year (YoY), with a loss between 880 million RMB (121.58 million USD) and 970 million RMB (134.02 million USD), with profit down 4,500% to 4,950%. Entering the healthy diet market will allow Naixue to get away from the fierce competition and the price war of attrition in the tea sector while tapping into the healthy lifestyle trend.
This will allow Naixue to get away from the fierce competition while tapping into the healthy lifestyle trend
CHAGEE
Almost a year after HeyTea named German fitness influencer Pamela Reif as its “healthy lifestyle advocate”, CHAGEE recruited Zheng Qinwen as its health ambassador and also named their “global health partner” as actor Dylan Wang Hedi. Wang, one of the top young actors today, is considered a great fit for CHAGEE’s target audience. On Weibo, the topic “CHAGEE global health partner Dylan Wang” (#霸王茶姬全球健康合作伙伴王鹤棣#) gained 330 million views since its announcement earlier this month.
Launched on 6 March, the campaign is based around the return of CHAGEE’s popular “Spring Mountain Awakens” Longjing milk tea from last year (the third “spring mountain tea” that year). This time, the key message is for the teas to be “less burdensome” for your body to absorb. Wang also appears in the promo video, doing a simple workout routine, while inviting viewers to online discussions on social platforms. A new packaging inspired by the Hangzhou leno, whose manufacturing craftsmanship is an intangible cultural heritage (ICH), completes the campaign.
Auntea Jenny
While CHAGEE’s hero product for the healthy drink campaign is still freshly-made tea, just “less burdensome” for the body, Auntea Jenny (沪上阿姨) directly competes with HeyTea in the bottled drink market. Last December, the chain released its first “lively bottle” in a carrot flavour. It advertised the bottle with its “brand liveliness ambassador” Chinese actor Ziqi Wang. Like HeyTea, Auntea Jenny continued to release its lively bottles in different flavours, with the latest being the “dark rose” bottle with five dark-coloured fruits and veg such as grapes and red cabbage. It needs to be pointed out that Green by Naixue also offers healthy tea and bottled drinks in-store, competing with the other chains.
On Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent, the topic “Implementing the 3-year action of weight management years” (#实施体重管理年3年行动#) reached number 4 on the Hot Search list, with 47.22 million views. However, many netizens expressed that the problem with the unhealthy lifestyle stems from long hours at work and “making do” with cheap takeaway meals. With the “anti-involution” initiatives from this year’s Two Sessions, it seems the government is throwing a one-two punch on the matter.
It remains to be seen if HeyTea can really get rid of “involution” and differentiate itself from its rivals
The wellness and healthy lifestyle trend, of course, precedes the government’s effort, which is why the tea chains were already moving in this direction. However, with the government initiative, we might see more participants in this trend, and those tea brands that entered the arena to get away from the competition in that market might find themselves defending their positions. It remains to be seen if HeyTea can really get rid of “involution” and differentiate itself from its rivals.
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