Xiangpiaopiao has survived the food delivery war.

Author | Xie Yunzi

Editor | Zhang Fan

The food delivery war has indeed pressed the "pause button".

Judging from the financial performance of the second quarter of this year, JD's new business segment (including food delivery) has significantly reduced losses year-on-year, the investment scale of the food delivery business has narrowed noticeably, and the core strategy has shifted from "burning money to grab market share" to "reducing losses and ensuring quality".

Alibaba's financial report also shows that the market share of its Taobao Flash Delivery food delivery business has reached 40%-45%, and the share of high-value orders has jumped to 30% from 20% before the war, making it the biggest pattern changer in this round of competition. So far, the food delivery market has evolved from Meituan's sole dominance to a stable pattern of coexistence of Meituan, Alibaba and JD.

The smoke of war has temporarily cleared, and Xiangpiaopiao also seems to have waited for a chance to catch its breath.

Recently, a personnel change has drawn public attention to this "first listed milk tea stock".

Xiangpiaopiao announced that the board of directors has agreed to elect Jiang Xiaoying, daughter of Jiang Jianqi, the chairman of the company, as vice chairman.

Jiang Xiaoying was born in 1993. Since 2016, she has successively served as General Manager of Xiangpiaopiao Internet Innovation Center and General Manager of Brand Innovation Center. During this period, she led product lines including Meco Juice Tea and Lan Fong Yuen, promoting the ready-to-drink business from scratch.

The "young blood" joining the core management team brings more imagination to the market. This personnel arrangement also comes when Xiangpiaopiao releases its first profitable interim report in seven years.

36Kr produced the chart based on Wind data

In the first half of this year, Xiangpiaopiao achieved operating revenue of 1.277 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 23.31%; the net profit attributable to shareholders was 10.8597 million yuan, turning losses into profits compared with the loss of 97.3909 million yuan in the same period of last year.

As soon as the news came out, the market rebounded slightly.

After all, with the continuous downward penetration of new tea drink brands represented by Heytea and Cha Baidao, this national brand whose main business is "brewed milk tea" has felt obvious "substitution pressure". In the first half of 2022, Xiangpiaopiao suffered its largest loss in history, and the growth of its brewed business was significantly weak.

The real test came in 2025.

Starting from March that year, JD launched the food delivery war, and freshly made tea drinks became the best entry for subsidized traffic. Platforms such as Meituan and JD even had ultra-low prices of "2-3 yuan" per cup of tea drink. This directly impacted the market share of cup-packed brewed milk tea represented by Xiangpiaopiao, which is rooted in low-tier cities and targets price-sensitive consumers.

The picture is excerpted from the movie *The White Storm*, iQIYI APP

Therefore, the market generally regards this turnaround of Xiangpiaopiao from loss to profit as an inflection point of improving performance after years of business adjustment.

Some analysts believe that Xiangpiaopiao's return to profitability this time is mainly due to the 2026 Spring Festival being delayed to February, and the gift-giving demand extended the peak sales season of "brewed products"; coupled with the sorting out of sales channels in 2025, the confidence of distributors has improved.

However, a closer look at this semi-annual report shows that the quality of "profit" is still not optimistic.

From the perspective of earnings quality, Xiangpiaopiao has indeed made substantial improvements.

In the first half of the year, the company's operating cost increased by 13.28% year-on-year, significantly lower than the revenue growth rate, which also drove the gross profit margin to rise from 29.36% to 35.10%. The net cash flow from operating activities was -137 million yuan, a significant improvement compared with -258 million yuan in the same period of last year.

But a set of figures in the financial report cannot be ignored -- government subsidies of 7.193 million yuan, fair value change income of financial assets of 8.922 million yuan, the total non-recurring gains and losses reached 12.339 million yuan, nearly 1.5 million yuan higher than the company's net profit in the first half of the year.

After deducting non-recurring gains and losses, the company's net profit was -1.48 million yuan. Although the year-on-year loss reduction was 98.7%, the main business is still in a loss state.

In other words, Xiangpiaopiao's "profit" is essentially supported by government subsidies and investment income.

The picture is excerpted from the semi-annual report

In addition, what is more worrying is that the company has not got rid of the seasonal revenue fluctuation.

In the first quarter of this year, Xiangpiaopiao's revenue was 878 million yuan, up 51.38% year-on-year; the net profit attributable to shareholders was 93.3893 million yuan, surging 589.47% year-on-year. A simple calculation shows that the net profit attributable to shareholders in the second quarter was about -82.53 million yuan, with a staggering loss. This also shows that Xiangpiaopiao has not yet solved the off-peak season risk that "brewed milk tea only makes money in autumn and winter".

In fact, Xiangpiaopiao is not unaware of the crisis. In recent years, the company has been vigorously developing the ready-to-drink business, hoping to find a new growth curve beyond brewed milk tea.

In 2018, the landmark product Meco Juice Tea was officially launched. After that, Xiangpiaopiao successively launched products such as Lan Fong Yuen Frozen Lemon Tea and bottled ready-to-drink milk tea, trying to build a presence in the ready-to-drink track.

In the first half of 2025, the revenue of Xiangpiaopiao's ready-to-drink business exceeded that of the brewed business for the first time, which was interpreted by the outside world as the handover of old and new businesses. But in the first half of this year, the ready-to-drink business was overtaken by the brewed business again, down 2.11% year-on-year. Among them, the second quarter saw a year-on-year decline of 18.42%. This also reflects that the ready-to-drink business has not yet formed stable growth.

Revenue of Xiangpiaopiao's two major businesses; 36Kr made the table based on Wind data

Picture from official Weibo

From the strategic perspective, the "two-wheel drive" itself is correct. Under the fast-paced lifestyle, the scenario of "brewing" is gradually diluted by people.

But the foundation of Xiangpiaopiao's success has always been the distributor network deeply cultivated in the sinking market. This system once helped the company "sell 1 billion cups a year, and the cups connected can circle the earth three times".

In the first half of this year, the revenue from the distributor channel was 1.021 billion yuan, up 20.96% year-on-year, accounting for 80% of the total revenue.

It should be noted that the channel logic of the ready-to-drink business is completely different from that of the brewed business. The ready-to-drink business requires freezer display, high-frequency replenishment and frequent maintenance by terminal promoters, all of which are heavy capital investments. And these are precisely the shortcomings of Xiangpiaopiao.

During the reporting period, the revenue of Xiangpiaopiao's e-commerce channel was 107 million yuan, with a year-on-year increase of only 1.41%, almost stagnant.

In terms of the performance of new channels, the only highlight is the direct sales business, with revenue of 102 million yuan, up 109.35% year-on-year, which mainly benefits from the expansion of the snack discount store business.

In this process, Xiangpiaopiao's channel adjustment is still ongoing.

A retailer in Changping District, Beijing, told 36Kr that since the beginning of this year, Meco Juice Tea has no longer been sold in its stores. "It's not that we don't want to sell it, but there is no supplier and we can't get the goods."

Wind data also shows that by the end of the second quarter, the number of Xiangpiaopiao distributors was 1700, a year-on-year decrease of 35.

On the expense side, in the first half of this year, the company's sales expenses decreased by 7.26% year-on-year, and R&D expenses also decreased by 25.61% year-on-year. Although these changes have improved the figures in the statements, they have also weakened the ammunition for market expansion.

Finally, in terms of product innovation, Xiangpiaopiao has always wanted to get rid of the unhealthy labels such as "non-dairy creamer" and "trans-fatty acid". In March this year, the company launched a sugar-reduced formula based on the Meco Juice Tea. The financial report said that the trial sales feedback of this product in the second quarter was positive.

However, the new product has not been able to reverse the overall downward trend.

It is a clear fact that Xiangpiaopiao's dilemma is not caused by a single factor, but the superposition of multiple problems such as the fading of category dividends, aging channel structure and solidified brand cognition.

If the main business cannot be truly improved, especially if the ready-to-drink business cannot build sustainable competitiveness in channels and terminals, the first semi-annual profit after seven consecutive years of losses is only a "breath on the books". Xiangpiaopiao can hardly continue to "circle the earth".

*Disclaimer: 

The content of this article only represents the views of the author. 

The market is risky, and investment needs to be cautious. Under no circumstances shall the information or opinions expressed in this article constitute investment advice to anyone. Before deciding to invest, if necessary, investors must consult professionals and make decisions carefully. We have no intention of providing underwriting services or any services that can only be engaged in with specific qualifications or licenses to all trading parties. 

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This article is from the WeChat official account"36Kr Finance", authors: Xie Yunzi Zhang Fan, published by 36Kr with authorization.