Hefu Noodle Looks Toward a Standalone Online Brand

This is an English adaptation of a FoodBud historical article originally published on October 10, 2021.

Hefu Noodle appears to be laying groundwork for a larger online packaged-food business, including a possible standalone online brand.

On October 9, Jiangsu Hefu Catering Management Co., Ltd. added Guangxi Shenshenfu Catering Management Co., Ltd. as a new investment, holding 100% of its equity.

New entities point to online and packaged-food operations

Guangxi Shenshenfu Catering Management Co., Ltd. was established on September 24, 2021, with Zhang Yaqun as legal representative and registered capital of RMB 5 million. Its business scope includes catering management and retail and wholesale of kitchenware, sanitary ware, and daily-use goods.

Jiangsu Hefu Catering Management Co., Ltd. was established in August 2012. At the time of the article, its largest shareholder was Li Yabin, with a 21.6148% stake. The company had 36 external investment entities, including Jiangsu Hefu Food Technology Co., Ltd. and Guangxi Shenshenfu Catering Management Co., Ltd.

On October 8, Hainan Hefu E-commerce Co., Ltd. was established with registered capital of RMB 5 million and Zhang Yaqun as legal representative. Its business scope includes food operations, specifically sales of bulk food, catering management, and online food sales limited to prepackaged food. Shareholder information showed it was wholly owned by Jiangsu Hefu Catering Management Co., Ltd., an affiliate of Hefu Noodle.

Existing online channels

Hefu Noodle had already opened official flagship stores on platforms including Tmall and JD.com, selling instant noodle products in multiple flavors as well as fried rice, braised items, and other products.

Blue Whale Finance reported that Hefu Noodle planned to launch an independent online brand.

Why packaged convenience food fits the asset base

Based on previously available information, Hefu Noodle’s noodle production base had annual capacity of 20,000 metric tons, a leading level in the fresh and wet noodle sector, and enough to support supply for 1,500 stores.

Hefu Noodle expected to reach more than 400 stores by the end of 2021. Given the scale of the production base, the article argued that additional channels would be needed to absorb capacity, making online convenience foods a logical direction.

In the first half of 2021, online sales of convenience-food brands declined sharply, affecting financing progress in the category. Hefu Noodle, however, had completed a new RMB 800 million financing round in July 2021, giving it capital to push further into online convenience foods at that stage.

Note: financing amounts and forward-looking store or brand plans are historical figures from 2021.