A product named "Ginger Scallion White-Cut Chicken Flavored Modified Milk" has recently gained viral popularity online. Despite being dubbed by some netizens as "Cantonese-style dark cuisine," it rapidly sold out amid both praise and controversy, thanks to its bold flavor crossover.
The BUG column found that the first batch, limited to 6,666 cases, is completely sold out across all online platforms, with no stock available in physical stores either. Store staff indicated that the earliest restocking would occur in early February. Due to the supply shortage, remaining inventory of this milk is being scalped on secondary platforms for nearly ten times its original price, with individual boxes originally priced at 5 yuan being resold by sellers for up to 48 yuan.
The mastermind behind this product is Fengxing Dairy, a dairy enterprise deeply rooted in South China for decades. However, beneath the glow of its "century-old brand" status, Fengxing Dairy is facing challenges from both front and rear. Dairy giants like Yili and Mengniu continue to squeeze the living space of regional brands, while fierce competition from local brands also poses significant challenges for Fengxing Dairy.
It is noteworthy that the dairy segment under Fengxing's parent company, Yuexiu Dairy, previously set a target to achieve 10 billion yuan in dairy product revenue by 2025. However, according to data disclosed by the Yuexiu Group, the combined sales revenue of Fengxing Dairy and Huishan Dairy for the first three quarters of 2024 was approximately 2.5 billion yuan, indicating pressure on scale growth and a significant gap remaining from the 10-billion-yuan target.
In mid-January, Fengxing Dairy quietly launched a new product named "Ginger Scallion White-Cut Chicken Flavored Modified Milk." The product specification is 200ml per box, with a single box retail price of about 5 yuan. A case contains 6 boxes, and the initial batch was limited to only 6,666 cases.
According to the ingredient list, the product uses raw cow's milk as a base and adds chicken-flavored compound seasoning. The packaging design incorporates Cantonese copy such as "Is it me again?" and a cartoon white-cut chicken image, giving it distinctive regional cultural characteristics.
Upon its release, the product quickly sparked viral spread on social media platforms, with netizen evaluations showing a polarization. Some consumers jokingly called it "provincial milk paired with provincial chicken," commenting that it represents the "pinnacle of regional innovation" and has a "rich milky flavor with a savory aftertaste of ginger and scallion, offering complex layers." Other consumers directly labeled it "dark cuisine" and "unimaginable," stating that the "taste is very strange."
Whether praised or criticized, the immense topical heat translated into sales performance. According to official information, the first batch of 6,666 cases of the Ginger Scallion Chicken Milk has sold out completely online. The BUG column learned from Fengxing Dairy's store, "Guangzhou Milk Company," that in offline channels, this product was only sold at that specific store, sold out in its second week after launch, with restocking expected only in early February.
Store staff mentioned that after its launch, sales were primarily through online channels, with "online stock quantities being higher than offline." However, product links are currently also delisted on online channels. Customer service staff at the Fengxing Milk Tmall flagship store stated that the product is temporarily out of stock, with no clear timeline for restocking.
The supply-demand gap has created premium pricing space in the secondary market. The BUG column observed that on Xianyu, some sellers have listed high-priced resale links. Milk originally priced at 5 yuan per box is being sold for nearly ten times the price at 48 yuan. Other sellers are charging an extra 100 yuan for a whole case, with product descriptions noting "shipment in early February." Sellers claim the price increase is because "the manufacturer won't be able to restock much in February either."
As the mastermind behind this innovative product, Fengxing Dairy is one of the oldest dairy enterprises in South China, its predecessor traceable to Shengji Milk established in Guangzhou in 1865. In 2019, Fengxing Dairy was incorporated into the state-owned Guangzhou Yuexiu Group, holding a crucial position within Yuexiu Group's dairy segment.
Despite being rooted in the regional market for many years, beneath the "century-old brand" halo, Fengxing Dairy faces an increasingly severe situation of being attacked from both sides. On one hand, national dairy giants like Yili and Mengniu, leveraging strong brand, channel, and capital advantages, continuously penetrate the South China market, squeezing the survival space of local brands.
On the other hand, local Guangdong brands represented by Yantang Dairy, Xiangmanlou, and Chenguang Dairy are also quite competitive. They engage in close-quarters combat with Fengxing in segments like chilled fresh milk, presenting non-trivial challenges to Fengxing's market share.
According to research report data from Debon Securities published in February 2024, in the milk and flavored milk beverage market in 2023, Fengxing Dairy's market share was approximately 0.2%, lower than other local dairy companies like Yantang and Chenguang. In the chilled fresh milk market, Fengxing Dairy's market share showed a declining trend from 2019 to 2022.
Furthermore, for a long time, Fengxing Dairy's product line has primarily consisted of conventional products like pure milk and red date goji berry milk, with a relatively low contribution from high-end products, further constraining its profit margin.
Nielsen IQ data shows that from January to May 2025, national liquid milk sales value decreased by 7.5% year-on-year, with the decline widening further to 9.6% in June. In the fiercely competitive market, alongside rising health consciousness, consumer demand for dairy products has evolved from basic nutritional supply towards functionality, contextualization, and emotional connection.
The recent popularity of the Ginger Scallion White-Cut Chicken Flavored Milk is precisely Fengxing Dairy's active attempt to break through product structure bottlenecks and attract younger consumer groups. Dairy analyst Song Liang pointed out that with the development of logistics and new retail systems, consumer trends have shown significant changes in recent years, with growing demand for limited-quantity products. Fengxing Dairy's launch of new flavors is essentially about leveraging new retail in specific segments to capture traffic and boost sales.
Against the backdrop of intensifying market competition, cross-regional expansion has become an important path for dairy companies to break through growth ceilings.
It is well-known that milk sources are the foundation for dairy enterprise development. Fengxing Dairy's industrial chain layout is concentrated in South China. While this ensures product freshness, it limits the flexibility of capacity expansion, making it difficult to meet cross-regional distribution demands and forming a natural obstacle to national layout.
In this context, Fengxing Dairy's national expansion relies more on the capital strength of the Yuexiu Group, aiming to move beyond South China through acquisitions. In 2016, Fengxing Dairy completed its joint-stock reform and, the following year, took a controlling stake in the longstanding Hebei Zhangjiakou dairy enterprise Great Wall Dairy, successfully entering the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei market.
A more decisive step was taken in 2020 when Yuexiu Group invested approximately 3 billion yuan to participate in and lead the bankruptcy restructuring of the major Northeast dairy company Huishan Dairy, later renaming it Yuexiu Huishan. This move incorporated Northeast milk source bases into its portfolio, filling the gap in the Northern market and providing high-end milk source support for the entire dairy segment. Since then, Yuexiu Dairy has established a national layout pattern described as "Huishan in the North, Great Wall in the Center, Fengxing in the South."
It is noteworthy that in 2021, Yuexiu Dairy proposed a strategic goal to rank among the top ten in the industry by 2025 with a dairy product revenue scale of 10 billion yuan. Its longer-term goal was to impact the capital market; Yuexiu Group had planned to integrate Yuexiu Huishan and Fengxing Dairy and seek A-share listing at an opportune time, 2 to 3 years after the asset restructuring plan was implemented.
However, according to information from Yuexiu Group's bond prospectuses, in 2023, Fengxing Dairy's sales revenue was approximately 1.009 billion yuan. For the first three quarters of 2024, Fengxing Dairy's sales revenue was about 800 million yuan, and Huishan Dairy's sales revenue was 1.709 billion yuan. The combined revenue still shows a considerable gap from the 10-billion-yuan target. Furthermore, the capital plan still lacks a clear timeline.
Song Liang pointed out that the advantage of acquisitions lies in the ability to quickly integrate resources with capital, but the disadvantage is equally evident. If the target enterprise encounters problems, it can lead to a backlash effect, with Huishan Dairy's poor performance impacting Yuexiu Dairy serving as an example.
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