A series of catering sector IPOs on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange have lapsed successively after reaching their validity deadlines.
Most market participants believe that the IPO window for the consumer track on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has never been fully closed, but the width of the window is narrowing
In July 2026, IPOs (Initial Public Offerings) in the technology track of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange continued to be hot, while the consumer track still failed to pick up, and the listing applications of many catering enterprises became invalid again six months after submission.
Recently, the listing applications of six catering enterprises, namely Yuanji Cloud Dumpling, Ba Nu Hot Pot, Laoxiangji, Qian Dama, COMMUNE, and Big Pizza, have become invalid one after another. These enterprises submitted listing applications to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in a cluster at the beginning of the year. As of July 30, 2026, a total of 101 companies have completed their listings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, of which technology companies account for more than half.
While the IPOs of this batch of catering enterprises hit a setback, some food companies successfully went public. On July 9, Qiyunshan Food, which submitted its listing application for the second time, was officially listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with an over-subscription of 1688 times, and its share price surged 225% during the trading session on the first day.
In fact, even for catering enterprises that successfully landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in the earlier round, their share prices in 2026 are still facing considerable pressure. Meet Noodle, which went public in 2025, broke on the first day and fell by 27.84%. Its share price has halved from the issue price of HKD 7.04 so far. After Mixue Group went public, its market value once exceeded HKD 200 billion, but now it has fallen back to below HKD 90 billion. Nayuki, which was listed earlier, fell from the highest HKD 18.98 to around HKD 0.7, with its market value evaporating by more than 96%.
These precedents form a clear picture: even if they successfully cross the threshold of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the situation of catering enterprises in the secondary market is still difficult. This difficulty is being transmitted back to the primary market, making the listing path of subsequent enterprises more rugged.
On the whole, the structural adjustment from red-chip to H-share, the in-depth inquiry of regulatory review and the transmission of secondary market valuation pressure to primary issuance constitute the three major pressures for current catering consumer enterprises to list in Hong Kong. However, most market participants believe that the consumer IPO window on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has never been fully closed, and the width of the window is only narrowing under the three major pressures.
Why have the IPO applications of catering enterprises on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange become invalid one after another
In the listing process of catering enterprises, "submission of listing application" is a frequently mentioned term.
For example, Ba Nu Hot Pot submitted its listing application for the first time on June 16, 2025, which became invalid on December 16, and submitted it for the second time the next day. It became invalid again on June 17, 2026, and submitted its application for the third time on the same day. The listing path of Laoxiangji is longer: from two attempts to hit the A-share market in 2022 to three submissions after switching to the Hong Kong stock market, it has impacted the capital market five times in five years, and its listing status changed to "invalid" again on July 8, 2026.
First of all, it needs to be clarified that the invalidation of the application does not mean the failure of listing. The listing rules of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange make it clear that the prospectus submitted by enterprises is valid for six months. If the hearing procedure is not entered after six months, the application status will automatically become invalid. Enterprises can update their financial data and resubmit the application, which does not mean that they are officially rejected or vetoed.
As the exclusive investor of Laoxiangji, Song Xiangqian, founding partner of Jiahua Capital, explained to *Caijing*: "The invalidation of the prospectus does not mean the failure of issuance. Some enterprises need to adjust their issuance structure from red-chip to H-share, which takes a very long time. The review time of the International Department of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) is relatively long, resulting in a queuing period of one to two years for most enterprises. Some enterprises have basically completed the hearing of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and even the stock sales work has been basically completed in advance. The core reason is that they have not yet obtained the issuance permission from the International Department of the CSRC."
However, some insiders believe that although multiple invalidations of the prospectus do not count as a substantial listing failure, they will reduce the recognition of the capital market on the stability of corporate governance and the certainty of growth of the enterprises.
Behind the repeated submission of applications, there is a more critical problem: why these enterprises have not passed the regulatory review for a long time?
On December 5, 2025, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange jointly issued a joint letter to all IPO sponsors, pointing directly to the quality decline and some non-compliance behaviors in new listing applications. The letter listed three core problems: poor quality of drafting listing documents, failure of sponsors to effectively respond to regulatory inquiries, and disorderly implementation of processes in the prospectus stage. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange made it clear: high-quality enterprises are welcome to list in Hong Kong, but the quality standards for new listing applications will not be compromised.
The joint letter is a signal, and the filing system is also an important checkpoint for Hong Kong Stock Exchange IPOs. In August 2025, the CSRC put forward nine supplementary inquiries on Ba Nu's overseas listing filing, involving equity structure, rationality of dividend distribution, employment compliance, social security payment, data security and so on. The most controversial one is the dividend issue. In January 2025, Ba Nu announced to distribute HKD 70 million in dividends to shareholders. According to Du Zhongbing's family's 83% shareholding ratio, about HKD 58.36 million of the dividends flowed into the pockets of the actual controller's family. At that time, the company's current liabilities reached HKD 717 million. The CSRC required Ba Nu to explain the necessity of listing and financing under the condition of dividend distribution.
Yuanji Cloud Dumpling also faced inquiries from the CSRC. At the end of March 2026, the CSRC issued supplementary material requirements to 11 overseas issuing and listing enterprises including Yuanji Food, involving compliance of equity changes, shareholding on behalf of others, penetrating verification of shareholders, overseas investment filing procedures and food safety rectification.
When Laoxiangji first impacted the A-share market in 2022, the CSRC once raised 45 inquiries to it, involving compliance of the actual controller's historical operation, failure to pay sufficient social security and housing fund for some employees, food safety and so on. The prospectus shows that from 2022 to the first four months of 2025, the gap in social security and housing fund contributions of Laoxiangji accumulated to more than RMB 80 million. At the governance level, the founder Shu Congxuan does not hold shares directly, and his children and daughter-in-law jointly control more than 92% of the voting rights. This highly concentrated family ownership structure is the focus of regulatory attention in both A-share and Hong Kong stock reviews.
"Looking at the catering chain industry, enterprises in this track generally have several prominent pain points: most business models rely heavily on the franchise system to expand operations, there are potential risks in food safety control, and the overall supply chain system construction still has shortcomings and insufficient maturity. In this context, the mainland regulatory authorities and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange have simultaneously raised the listing review threshold for catering enterprises, strictly controlling the listing access standards to promote the standardized development of the capital market ecology of the catering industry and promote the long-term, healthy and orderly growth of the industry," Zhu Danpeng, vice president of Guangdong Food Safety Promotion Association, told *Caijing*.
Even after passing the regulatory review checkpoint, catering enterprises still have to face the pressure transmitted from the secondary market.
The performance of listed catering stocks since 2025 is dismal, which directly affects the issuance expectations of subsequent enterprises. Meet Noodle broke 27.84% on the first day, and its share price has halved from the issue price so far; Shanghai Auntie fell below the issue price five months after listing, and Green Tea Restaurant broke on the first day of listing. Nayuki fell from the highest HKD 18.98 to around HKD 0.7, Xiabu Xiabu's market value fell from HKD 30 billion to more than HKD 300 million, and the valuation center of the entire chain catering sector on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has dropped significantly.
Lin Yankun, chairman of XGROUP who has invested in many chain catering enterprises, told *Caijing*: "The collective invalidation of these six enterprises should not be simply attributed to one reason. At present, the collapse of valuation in the secondary market is directly transmitted to the issuance expectation of the primary market. Under the background of poor performance of catering stocks, large-scale issuance cannot be established at all. If the prospectus is not updated in time after expiration, it usually corresponds to two situations: first, the core compliance issues are still under rectification, and a complete response to the inquiry has not been formed; second, the enterprises hold a wait-and-see attitude towards the current market valuation environment."
"Invalidation is technically just a procedural state, not a listing failure. The real problem is that these enterprises have not formed their own compliance closed loop, and cannot pass the review under the substantive review framework of the filing system. What really determines their fate is whether the enterprises can make up for the compliance gap before the next submission," Lin Yankun emphasized.
The IPO window for the consumer track on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is not closed
While the six catering enterprises suffered setbacks collectively, some enterprises in the consumer track staged a completely different script in the Hong Kong stock market.
Liuliumei was listed on June 15, with a global offering of only 11,464,100 shares, 10% of which for Hong Kong public offering, with an over-subscription of 6586.73 times, and the winning rate for one lot was only 1.5%, but the international placement was only 2.64 times over-subscribed. Qiyunshan Food was listed on July 9, with an offering of 25 million shares, 10% of which for public offering, over-subscribed by 1688 times, the dark market price rose 93.8% at close, and the share price surged 225% during the trading session on the first day.
Liuliumei is the leader in the plum snack segment, and Qiyunshan ranks first in the market share of wild jujube food in South China. They are packaged food enterprises rather than catering chains, have no compliance risks of social security and employment, no control problems of the franchise system, and have naturally higher gross profit margin and standardization degree. This explains why they can pass the regulatory review, but cannot explain why their share prices soared after listing.
Lin Yankun believes that the issuance structure is the key to the surge of these two enterprises. "The public offering of Liuliumei is only 1,146,500 shares, and that of Qiyunshan is only 2.5 million shares. Both have a very small proportion of floating chips and a very low fundraising amount. However, the institutional placement is only 2.64 times over-subscribed, and the retail end is 6586 times over-subscribed. Professional pricers do not recognize this surge. The surge is more like a liquidity phenomenon rather than value discovery. This model can continue as a new share subscription strategy, but as a holding strategy, the price driven up by small floating chips will probably return to the mean after the lock-up period ends and the chips are released."
Listing application invalidation allows resubmission, but for some catering enterprises, the time pressure of listing is far more urgent than imagined.
Ba Nu has an agreement with its angel round and Series A investors that if it fails to complete a qualified listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange before December 1, 2029, the investors have the right to require Ba Nu to repurchase all or part of the shares they hold at an annualized interest rate of 8%.
The performance pressure of Qian Dama is more urgent. With a redemption clause of 15% annual interest rate expiring in January 2027, corresponding to a financial liability of RMB 1.579 billion, the time window left for this community fresh food chain is getting tighter.
The performance clauses of Yuanji Cloud Dumpling are not clearly disclosed in the prospectus, but the Series B+ financing was only one month away from the submission of the listing application, and the valuation rose 40% from RMB 2 billion to RMB 3.5 billion in three months.
"The actual enforceability of the valuation adjustment agreement does not depend on the clause itself, but on the realization ability of the company's assets and the game willingness between the founder and the investors," Lin Yankun analyzed. "If Ba Nu fails to complete a qualified listing before December 1, 2029, investors (Tomato Capital, CITIC series, etc.) can require repurchase at an annualized rate of 8%. There are still three and a half years left, and the interest rate is moderate, making it a relatively relaxed one; Qian Dama only has half a year left for the valuation adjustment agreement, with an interest rate almost at usury level, and the founder has transferred all shares in advance; the book floating profit of old shareholders of Yuanji Cloud Dumpling depends entirely on listing to realize, but it has obtained the filing of the CSRC, so the performance pressure is small."
The artificial intelligence boom and K-type differentiation in recent years are also invisible pressures in the IPO process of the consumer track. For the differentiation and controversy of the market, Song Xiangqian said: "Consumption and technology cannot be opposed in a binary way. There are indeed bubbles in the technology investment boom in recent years. As the basic livelihood sector, consumption is related to the national economy, people's livelihood and employment. Supporting consumption is the basic national policy of the country. The CSRC and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange have no restrictive or discriminatory policies on the consumer service industry."
This article is from the WeChat official account "Du Shu Yi Zhi" (ID: dushuyizhi007), written by Cheng Mengqi, edited by Guo Nan and Lu Ling, and published by 36Kr with authorization.