On January 28, Hunan Mingming Busy Business Chain Co., Ltd. (Stock Code: 01768.HK, hereinafter referred to as "BusyMing"), a snack giant formed by integrating the two major brands "Snack Busy" and "Zhao Yiming Snacks," officially listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming the first listed company in the港股量贩零食 sector.
BusyMing globally offered 14.1011 million shares at an issue price of HKD 236.6 per share, raising a total of approximately HKD 3.3 billion, with a post-issue market capitalization of about HKD 47.3 billion. The stock opened sharply higher, surging 88% to HKD 445 per share, pushing its market cap to HKD 95.9 billion.
The company is steered by two post-85s founders—Yan Zhou and Zhao Ding. Starting from small street-side stores, they leveraged their insights into lower-tier markets, selling snacks through an innovative bulk-sale model, offering a multi-brand, multi-category, and multi-specification product portfolio, restructuring the supply chain, and focusing on a high value-for-money positioning, ultimately building a retail network of nearly 20,000 stores.
BusyMing's Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) reached RMB 55.5 billion in 2024, making it China's largest leisure food and beverage chain retailer. For the nine months ended September 30, 2025, GMV was RMB 66.1 billion, a 74.5% increase compared to the same period in 2024.
In the first three quarters of 2025, BusyMing achieved revenue of RMB 46.4 billion and an adjusted net profit of RMB 1.8 billion, equivalent to a daily profit exceeding RMB 6.6 million.
Prior to the merger, both Snack Busy and Zhao Yiming Snacks attracted institutional investments individually, and the merged entity, BusyMing, completed a financing round of over RMB 1 billion. Investors before and after the merger included Sequoia China, Black Ant Capital, Gaorong Capital, and strategic investor Haoxiangni Health Food Co.,Ltd. (002582.SZ), among others.
During the IPO, BusyMing also introduced eight cornerstone investors who collectively subscribed to approximately USD 195 million, accounting for nearly 46% of the total funds raised. Among them, Tencent and Temasek each subscribed for USD 45 million, BlackRock for USD 35 million, Fidelity for USD 30 million, and Taikang Life, Bosera International, E Fund, and Springs Capital each subscribed for USD 10 million.
Post-listing, Chairman, Executive Director, and General Manager Yan Zhou directly holds 24.06% of the shares and indirectly controls 13.39% of the voting rights through six employee持股 platforms; Vice Chairman, Executive Director, and Deputy General Manager Zhao Ding holds 21.19% through Yichun Bird Nest. As acting-in-concert parties, the two collectively control 58.64% of the voting rights.
Based on the opening market cap of HKD 95.9 billion, Yan Zhou's paper wealth reached approximately HKD 23.1 billion, while Zhao Ding's reached approximately HKD 20.3 billion.
Post-listing, Sequoia China holds a 6.6% stake, making it the largest institutional shareholder. Haoxiangni, Black Ant Capital, Gaorong Capital, 5Y Capital, and Qicheng Capital hold 5.88%, 3.74%, 2.52%, 1.44%, and 1.17% stakes respectively. Based on the opening market cap of HKD 95.9 billion, the return multiples are 10.04x, 7.14x, 11.64x, 14.28x, 9.85x, and 11.76x respectively.
BusyMing is not a native brand but an industry giant formed by the merger of "Snack Busy" and "Zhao Yiming Snacks" at the end of 2023. Although the founders' backgrounds differed, their entrepreneurial DNA was remarkably similar, both finding a common wealth code in the下沉市场.
Born in 1987 in Changsha, Hunan, Yan Zhou joined a real estate company after university, working in marketing and planning for eight years. This experience gave him a clear understanding of scalable, standardized, and brand-chain strategies, paving the way for Snack Busy's later expansion.
In 2017, as China's real estate market entered an adjustment period, Yan Zhou decided to leave and seek new opportunities. Coincidentally, he noticed that snack prices in supermarkets were generally high, while small corner stores suffered from limited variety and inconsistent quality. Recognizing strong demand for affordable snacks in lower-tier markets, a business idea took shape.
In March of the same year, he and a partner pooled over RMB 100,000 to rent a shop of less than 40 square meters under a bridge in Changsha. The first "Snack Busy" was born, with a simple and direct core model: reduce中间环节, source directly from manufacturers, and drive down prices.
The store was minimally decorated, with shelves custom-made directly from factories. It initially stocked about 800 products, mostly sourced directly from regional manufacturers through connections, priced 20%-30% lower than traditional supermarkets. Daily turnover was promising initially.
Problems soon emerged; due to small purchase volumes, some manufacturers were unwilling to supply consistently. Yan Zhou spent days negotiating with suppliers in wholesale markets, eventually winning over a group with a promise of "cash settlement, no delays," establishing an initial supply network.
Later, Snack Busy stores rapidly expanded across Hunan and nationwide.
Sequoia China was Snack Busy's earliest institutional investor, co-leading the Series A round with Gaorong Capital in April 2021, spearheaded by Sequoia China partners Su Kai and Guo Shanshan, with Su Kai joining the board.
Su Kai recalled that around 2020, a batch of distinctive and popular new consumer brands and formats emerged in China. Around October, while conducting industry research, they learned about Snack Busy.
Su Kai and Yan Zhou first met in a hotel in Changsha. His first impression was that the founder exuded a sense of "crisp efficiency." Su Kai described Yan Zhou as a retail founder with deep consumer insight and "aesthetic sensibility," referring to his profound industry understanding and forward-thinking approach to format innovation.
In Su Kai's memory, every Snack Busy store at the time could continuously engage consumers' emotions through its decor, operations, and product selection, making the shopping experience enjoyable.
By 2022, Snack Busy had over 1,000 stores. By October 2023, the national store count exceeded 4,000.
Zhao Ding, two years younger than Yan Zhou, was born in 1989 in Wuhu, Anhui, known as the "Stir-fried Snack Capital." His grandfather and father both made a living selling stir-fried snacks from stalls. Due to family debt, he was forced to drop out of high school.
At 18, Zhao Ding went to Shanghai alone with dreams of photography. There, he worked as a manual laborer on construction sites and a restaurant waiter by day, apprenticing unpaid at photography studios at night. Using his savings, he opened a small photography studio, but it quickly failed due to poor management and lack of clients.
In 2008, Zhao Ding returned home to learn the stir-fried snack business from his parents and opened a small stall in Jiangxi, earning his first pot of gold—RMB 200,000. Unwilling to give up, he returned to Shanghai in 2010 with this money, rented a larger space, bought equipment, and opened a second studio, but it failed again after just three months.
After two failed photography ventures, the young entrepreneur had to return to his old trade. He went back to Jiangxi, starting from a shop less than 10 square meters with just one large wok, waking up at 3 a.m. daily to stir-fry snacks, building his first customer base with "freshly fried, sold immediately, full weight guaranteed."
In 2015, Zhao Ding opened a snack shop named "Fool's Melon Seeds" in Yichun, Jiangxi, selling not only stir-fried snacks but also small-packaged snacks. The business was exceptionally火爆, with peak daily revenue reaching RMB 50,000.
Seeing the profitability, relatives and fellow villagers wanted to加盟. Zhao Ding opened seven franchise stores within a month, but due to lack of experience, they all incurred losses. A fellow villager accused him of "cutting leeks." During that period, he suffered from insomnia and even considered quitting. Ultimately, persuaded by his father's advice that "doing business starts with being a good person," he compensated the villagers' losses and spent six months visiting over 200 snack shops nationwide to learn.
This experience shaped Zhao Ding's extremely stringent criteria for selecting franchisees later. According to early investor Black Ant Capital, the initial approval rate for Zhao Yiming franchises was only about 2%, requiring potential franchisees to physically visit over 15 stores. "He genuinely wanted franchisees to make money."
In 2018, when Zhao Ding was transforming "Fool's Melon Seeds" into a bulk-sale snack model, he met Yan Zhou, who had already opened over 100 Snack Busy stores in Hunan. The two hit it off immediately, sharing a core philosophy of "providing value to consumers and ensuring franchisees profit."
In 2019, Zhao Ding named the brand after his son "Zhao Yiming" and opened the first "Zhao Yiming Snacks" bulk-sale store on South Yichun Road.
This time, he changed his approach, prioritizing single-store profitability and加盟 quality, adopting a cautious "validate first, expand later" strategy. In 2019, he only opened eight company-owned stores to refine the model, officially opening加盟 only after the model was proven by the end of 2020. This model was ultimately validated—by 2023, Zhao Yiming Snacks had over 1,000 stores, and before the merger, its national store count exceeded 2,500.
After visiting 300 stores across the bulk-sale snack industry, Black Ant Capital found that when Zhao Yiming Snacks had only 200-300 stores, its retail prices were 3%-5% cheaper than the industry leader. "He customized his own shelf molds, printed plastic bags directly from factories, saving every penny," said Xi Yijia, Vice President of Investment at Black Ant Capital, who was deeply involved in the project. This extreme cost control became its core weapon.
Before 2023, Yan Zhou and Zhao Ding led their respective brands in rapid regional expansion: Snack Busy radiated from its Hunan base to Central and Southwest China; Zhao Yiming Snacks started from Jiangxi,深耕华南 and expanded to East China. Their spheres of influence grew, leading to head-to-head competition in southern markets.
In some streets in Hunan, Jiangxi, and Guangxi, competition was so intense that five stores from both brands could appear within one kilometer, sometimes just meters apart. This "close-quarters combat" triggered fierce price wars, reaching levels like "you offer 50% off, I offer 52% off." Beyond prices, they competed extensively on promotions and displays—Snack Busy had "member day buy-one-get-one-free," Zhao Yiming Snacks offered "free laundry detergent with purchases over RMB 68."
Zhao Ding later admitted, "If the fight continued, there would be no winners, only losers."
While the two were battling, a powerful external competitor was rising. In September 2023, Fujian Wanchen Food Group Co.,Ltd. (300972.SZ), originally focused on mushroom products, integrated its four brands—"Lu Xiaohan," "Haoxianglai," "Laiyoupin," and "Yadi Yadi"—to launch the unified bulk-sale snack brand "Haoxianglai." The integrated Haoxianglai quickly surpassed 3,000 stores, posing significant competitive pressure on Snack Busy and Zhao Yiming Snacks.
Faced with a common external threat, merger became an option.
Led by the two founders, all merger details were finalized within two weeks. Shareholders, including Sequoia China and Black Ant Capital, supported the decision based on their understanding of the industry and high trust in the founders.
Su Kai of Sequoia China stated that on major decisions, they stood with the company. When Snack Busy and Zhao Yiming Snacks decided to merge, as a major institutional shareholder, they quickly agreed, casting a crucial vote of confidence that facilitated the smooth merger.
Black Ant Capital once commented, "Mr. Yan excels at systematic management, Mr. Zhao at cost control; they complement each other perfectly." Post-merger, the two maintained a默契的合作关系. In 2024, to inspect markets, they even shared a standard room costing RMB 300, staying in county-level cities for days.
Under the transaction terms, Snack Busy acquired 87.76% of Zhao Yiming's equity, with the remaining 12.24% withdrawn via capital reduction. Zhao Yiming's original shareholders received 39.14% of the merged company's shares. Both teams retained their core members.
The equity change was completed on November 10, 2023. Post-merger, the combined national store count exceeded 6,500, leapfrogging to industry leader, far surpassing the then second-ranked Haoxianglai. Synergies were immediate. Due to high SKU overlap, procurement scale doubled post-merger, directly enhancing bargaining power.
Within one month after the merger, BusyMing raised over RMB 1 billion in financing, with its valuation exceeding RMB 10 billion.
During their independent development phases, both companies had already attracted significant capital interest.
Snack Busy completed a RMB 240 million Series A round in April 2021, with investors including Sequoia China, Gaorong Capital, and Qicheng Capital. In October 2022, it completed a RMB 220 million Series A+ round from existing investors Sequoia China, Gaorong Capital, and Qicheng Capital. In February 2023, 5Y Capital and Qicheng Capital acquired部分老股 for RMB 125 million and RMB 20 million respectively, making 5Y Capital a shareholder.
Han Rui, Partner at Gaorong Capital, which co-led Snack Busy's first round, spoke highly of the company.
He believed the essence of retail lies in "repeating simple actions meticulously," which, when done well, yields compound growth, and "Yan Zhou is someone we've seen who executes this to perfection." He excels at focusing on the big picture while delegating details, identifying simple actions, and patiently, consistently executing them.
In Han Rui's view, if there are two ways to climb a mountain—one focusing on the summit, the other on the next step—Yan Zhou belongs to the latter category, consistently handling immediate tasks, taking each step steadily, simply, and methodically.
Furthermore, Yan Zhou's rare trait of "thoroughly implementing a culture of trust" left a deep impression on Han Rui. He remarked, "In an industry so close to money, Yan Zhou is a rare founder who fully implements a culture of trust with his team and partners."
On the other side, Zhao Yiming Snacks completed a RMB 150 million Series A round in February 2023, led by Black Ant Capital with follow-on investment from Liangpin Shop, of which Black Ant invested RMB 105 million.
Xi Yijia, Vice President of Investment at Black Ant Capital, recalled that the investment was based on two judgments. The first was optimism about the industry itself. "Snack集合店 fundamentally shorten the distribution chain, reducing the traditional markup rate of 40%-50% by about half, genuinely passing savings to county-level consumers; it's an efficiency revolution."
Black Ant Capital initially designated "county economy" as its annual research theme in 2021. Through systematic visits and over 1,600 questionnaires, they identified snack集合店 as an efficient format. They judged that snacks are high-frequency, impulse-driven purchases, and consumers prefer offline multi-category selection, making the model inherently resistant to e-commerce competition.
The second judgment was why Zhao Yiming. "There were already some regional brands in the industry, but we saw Zhao Yiming's differentiation was very clear. Most notably, the founder's extreme control over costs, coupled with preliminary validation of跨区域 expansion capability, having opened stores in Guangdong that far outperformed local peers."
One condition for Black Ant's investment in Zhao Yiming Snacks was relocating the headquarters to Guangdong, as it offered a better consumer base, relatively untapped market potential, and was a better location for attracting brands and talent.
Black Ant Capital played a key role in the 2023 merger. Just before the merger, it acquired Liangpin Shop's entire 3% stake for RMB 105 million. This made Black Ant the sole institutional investor in Zhao Yiming, simplifying the shareholder structure for negotiations with Snack Busy.
After the merger, in December 2023, BusyMing secured a RMB 1.05 billion Series B investment from Haoxiangni Health Food Co.,Ltd. and Yanker Shop Food Co.,Ltd. (002847.SZ). Haoxiangni invested RMB 700 million, Yanker Shop invested RMB 350 million.
Choosing two snack manufacturers instead of distributors was a deliberate move: Haoxiangni (dates, nuts) and Yanker Shop (baked goods, spicy snacks)作为核心供应商 could achieve supply chain synergy with BusyMing's vast retail network, with no channel conflict.
At the end of 2024, Yanker Shop transferred its 3.3175% stake to Hunan Xiaomang for RMB 360 million.
In April 2025, Sequoia China and Black Ant Capital acquired部分股权 from Zhao Ding and other founding team members for RMB 310 million and RMB 21.76 million respectively. This round was priced at RMB 54.39 per share, implying a company valuation of approximately RMB 10.9 billion.
By this point, the major pre-IPO equity adjustments and capitalization activities for BusyMing were largely complete.
Post-listing, Sequoia China holds a 6.6% stake, making it the largest institutional shareholder. Haoxiangni, Black Ant Capital, Gaorong Capital, 5Y Capital, and Qicheng Capital hold 5.88%, 3.74%, 2.52%, 1.44%, and 1.17% stakes respectively. Based on the opening market cap of HKD 95.9 billion (approx. RMB 85.5 billion), the return multiples are 10.04x, 7.14x, 11.64x, 14.28x, 9.85x, and 11.76x respectively.
BusyMing has validated a "hard discount" business model on a large scale. The core of this model is not marketing or branding, but the restructuring of the traditional snack distribution chain and the极致追求 of operational efficiency, embodied in the combination of "thin margins" and "high volume."
First, structural low prices underpin the "thin margins." Traditional snacks pass through multiple distributors and wholesale markets, with markups typically reaching 40%-50%. In下沉市场, traditional channel markups can even reach 1.3-1.4 times.
BusyMing, by connecting directly with over 2,000 manufacturers, eliminates all中间环节, achieving direct supply from factory to store. Leveraging规模化采购 enhances bargaining power, and the cost savings are converted into终端价格优势—its overall average prices are about 25% lower than traditional supermarkets; for example, a 330ml可乐 sells for only RMB 1.8 in its stores.
Its gross margin has long been maintained at an industry-low 7.5% to 7.6%. Although it slightly increased to 9.7% in the first nine months of 2025, it remains below traditional channel levels.
Second,极致效率 driven by "high volume." Under the low-margin model, profitability relies on惊人的周转速度. In the first half of 2025, inventory turnover days were only about 11.7 days, meaning goods sell within two weeks of arrival, far exceeding the capital efficiency of traditional supermarkets. Supporting this speed is a dense warehouse and distribution network enabling 24-hour delivery, with stores typically located within 300 km of regional warehouses.
More importantly, it has a deeply integrated共生体系 with franchisees. Currently, over 99% of its 19,517 stores are franchised, and since 2024,加盟费 and management fees have been fully waived. 99.5% of headquarters revenue comes from商品销售 to franchise stores. This means headquarters and franchisees' interests are deeply aligned. Only if franchisees profit can the headquarters profit.
The company's全流程赋能 for franchisees is key to high store survival rates.
For site selection, digital systems analyze population density, spending power, and competitor distribution, leveraging a database of over 10,000 locations for precise商圈 matching. For supply, 48智能仓储 centers ensure 98% of orders are delivered within 24 hours, with warehousing costs at only 1.7%, well below industry averages. For operations, a smart central platform enables integrated management, supplemented by systematic training, allowing even inexperienced individuals to get up to speed quickly.
This proven model has fueled rapid growth. GMV was RMB 55.5 billion in 2024 and reached RMB 66.1 billion in the first three quarters of 2025.
Company revenue was RMB 39.3 billion in 2024, with a profit of RMB 800 million for the period; in the first three quarters of 2025, revenue reached RMB 46.4 billion, with a net profit of nearly RMB 1.6 billion for the period.
As of September 2025, BusyMing had a total of 19,517 stores, becoming the first company in the industry to reach this scale. Its stores cover 28 provinces and 1,341 counties nationwide, with about 59% located in counties and towns, forming a national network deeply penetrating下沉市场.
The bulk-sale snack赛道 where BusyMing operates still enjoys considerable market红利.
According to a Frost & Sullivan report, between 2019 and 2024, China's leisure food and beverage retail market grew from RMB 2.9 trillion to RMB 3.7 trillion, with a CAGR of 5.5%. The market size is projected to reach RMB 4.9 trillion by 2029, with a CAGR of 5.8% from 2024 to 2029.
However, this market is highly fragmented. In 2024, the top five chain retailers accounted for 6.0% of the market by GMV. BusyMing, as the largest chain retailer, held only a 1.5% market share.
Black Ant Capital estimates, based on mature market density benchmarks, the national industry ceiling is around 80,000-100,000 stores. Currently, many counties have only 2-3 stores, indicating significant room for penetration.
The current competitive focus has shifted from store opening speed to supply chain efficiency, format innovation, and single-store health. Currently, leading companies are converging on two突围路线:
First, developing high-margin自有品牌. Taking BusyMing as an example, it launched自有品牌 products like oolong tea and beef jerky in 2025. The gross margin for such products is significantly higher than its overall business average of 9.7%, and over 10 percentage points higher than普通第三方品牌.
Second, expanding into全品类, transforming into community discount stores. Whether it's BusyMing's pilot "Zhao Yiming Savings Supermarket" or Wanchen Group's "Laiyoupin Savings Supermarket," both are adding categories like daily chemicals, frozen goods, and baked goods beyond snacks, attempting to transition from a snack specialty store to a community retail terminal covering daily needs.
As the喧嚣退去, in an era of rational consumption, high value-for-money remains one of the most fundamental and powerful competitive advantages in retail.
As Sequoia China's Su Kai summarized, as scale increases, BusyMing will transform the dynamic competitive advantage built on speed and innovation into more stable systemic capabilities—including organizational synergy, supply chain efficiency, and the product system itself. The bulk-sale snack industry is entering a phase that tests foundational skills more rigorously; only companies that continuously evolve their core capabilities can walk steadily and far in the long run.
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