2025 was not the year of breakout economic growth people with a stake in the Chinese economy hoped for. Retail sales rose just 3.7%, and most F&B companies were left competing for existing demand rather than chasing new.
Compiled earnings reports from 2025 gives us a window into how companies are weathering the storm. Those still growing are manufacturing resilience through supply chains, channel strategy, and sharper product positioning. What looks like margin expansion is mostly just companies getting very, very good at being tight with cash. Here’s how the numbers break down.
Food and beverage: In a weak market, healthy supply chains become strategy
Lower raw material costs – from PET plastic to sugar – created a tailwind, but only companies with the infrastructure to capture it actually benefited.
Take Nongfu Spring (农夫山泉) for example. Profit rose 30.9%, supported not just by cheaper inputs, but by years of investment in water sources and expanding product categories. Production capacity, and a digitised supply chain also helped, allowing for reduced logistics loss and cost advantages being locked in quickly.
Scale players followed a similar pattern. Tingyi (Master Kong 康师傅) grew profit 20.5% despite revenue decline, while Uni-President China (统一企业中国) lifted profit 10.9%. Procurement scale and operational efficiency turned small cost reductions into telling margin gains.
So then, a knock-on effect starts to become clear: Companies with efficient supply chains are freeing up resources to invest elsewhere. That could be Nongfu’s tea beverages becoming its largest category, or Weilong (卫龙) pushing konjac snacks into a 60% revenue contributor.
Alcohol: premiumisation is your route to survival
Consumption occasions are shrinking as consumers tighten belts. The industry response has not been to recover that volume, but focus on getting value out of the occasions that remain.
Tsingtao Brewery (青岛啤酒) saw limited revenue growth, but profit rose 5.6% as premium SKUs like Augerta and white beer drove higher unit pricing. Pearl River Beer (珠江啤酒) followed suit, with high-end products approaching 40% of revenue.
More striking is Huiquan Beer (惠泉啤酒). Revenue fell, but profit has grown at over 20% annually for four years, driven by tighter inventory control and higher-margin premium products.
Even in baijiu, the pattern of premium winning out holds fast. Shede Spirits (舍得酒业) outperformed by pushing high-end products to over 80% of revenue.
Dairy: segmentation replaces scale
In this sector old assumptions about scale delivering resilience aren’t holding much water. Mengniu (蒙牛) saw revenue fall but profit surge, driven largely by cost control and reduced impairments. Meanwhile, Bright Dairy (光明乳业) slipped into losses due to structural weaknesses, including overseas exposure.
Growth is instead coming from segmentation. New Hope Dairy (新乳业) lifted profit 36% by focusing on chilled milk and functional yoghurt, aligning with zero-sugar and value-for-money health trends. Milkground (妙可蓝多) pushed even further, turning cheese into 80%+ of its business and delivering 200%+ profit growth.
F&B service: fewer stores, better economics
This industry has shifted from expansion to optimisation. Haidilao (海底捞) closed underperforming stores and leaned into delivery, doubling that segment and stabilising overall revenue despite declining dine-in traffic. Jiumaojiu (九毛九) followed a similar path – revenue down, profit up – after trimming weaker locations.
On the other side is precision expansion. Domino’s China (达美乐中国) saw profit jump 157% by aggressively entering lower-tier cities, where new stores achieved fast payback and delivery penetration exceeded 70%.
Tea and coffee: scale only works in F&B if stores perform
Aggressive expansion continues, but the winners are those pairing scale with operational discipline. Luckin Coffee (瑞幸咖啡) added over 8,000 stores while maintaining profitability, driven by product churn with 140+ launches.
Mixue Bingcheng (蜜雪冰城) scaled even further, opening nearly 60,000 stores, supported by a fully integrated supply chain that keeps margins intact despite low pricing. Guming (古茗) also shows what effective expansion looks like in the current climate: rapid growth into lower-tier markets, rising single-store GMV, and profit doubling alongside revenue.
The Dao view: surviving and thriving in F&B
There are few sudden growth stories in 2025 – only companies that have spent years building systems that are now starting to pay off. In most cases, resilience, not recovery, is doing the work.
Growth is more likely to be found outside China’s tier-1 cities. That’s especially true if you’re opening brick-and-mortar stores. If you’re selling your product on somebody else’s shelves, segmentation and pushing into premium segments will help.
Fair economic weather is still some way off. The old days of mega-growth are likely over, but will strong logistics, sharper product positioning and shrewd spending habits, there’s no reason why money can’t be made.
