36Kr Exclusive | With over 80 stores opened in Hunan, "Pig Commander" completes a 6 million yuan Angel round of financing.

36Kr has learned that the pork fresh food channel brand "Pig Commander" recently announced the completion of a 6 million yuan angel round of financing, invested by Zhuona Capital. This round of funds will be mainly used for digital upgrading, store construction, supply chain optimization, and market channel expansion.

"Pig Commander" mainly deals in fresh pork products. With the core brand concept of "Professional pork, Affordable and high-quality, Safe and guaranteed", it opened its first store in Changsha, Hunan in August 2021. Currently, it has opened more than 80 stores in Changsha, Xiangtan, and Zhuzhou. It is expected to achieve a sales volume of approximately 350 million yuan in 2024.

China is a large country in pork consumption, with a pork output of 57.06 million tons in 2024. On the consumer side, represented by Muyuan and New Hope, the branding of pork is becoming a definite trend. However, when projected to the final end, in the more daily and extensive offline consumption, pork stores in communities and vegetable markets still show obvious characteristics of decentralization, individualization, and no brand.

"Seeking fine operation opportunities in the rough management track" is the route description of Pig Commander. Since 2020, Ning Pengjie, the founder of Pig Commander, began to engage in the online sale of pork by-products, and then cooperated with a slaughterhouse in Hunan to be responsible for the online sales business of the latter's pork.

This experience made Ning Pengjie realize that the fresh food industry, especially pork stores, has the consumption attributes of being necessary and high-frequency, but the penetration of Internet thinking is extremely low - "Most store owners are traditional small businesspeople, rarely taking the initiative. They can only slowly accumulate customer flow and sales volume by relying on a longer business hours, and they do not know how to create a focus for marketing."

Thus, the first store of Pig Commander was born. In the operation of the first store, with the supply advantage of the in-depth cooperation with the above-mentioned slaughterhouse, Pig Commander launched marketing methods such as low prices and discounts, regular discounts, and enlarged focus. At the same time, the daily clearance model was adopted to ensure freshness and quality, and a profit of 60,000 to 70,000 yuan was achieved in the first month.

Price, marketing, quality, and service are regarded by Ning Pengjie as the four dimensions for fresh food brands to gain an advantage in the competition. In 2022, the number of Pig Commander's stores increased to 16; in 2023, the growth momentum further erupted, expanding to more than 80.

The self-owned and joint-venture store model provides a fundamental guarantee for its expansion. Ning Pengjie told 36Kr that the pork fresh food retail itself has a low threshold, and a single store naturally has the possibility of "becoming independent" under the condition of mature operation. Therefore, Pig Commander draws on the model of Pagoda, carrying out self-owned joint-venture - the partner is responsible for the capital investment of the store, Pig Commander is responsible for binding the supply of goods, supplying the store with a price lower than the general wholesale price, giving the store the by-products of pigs every day, and undertaking the store's opening guidance and marketing strategy, and finally sharing the profits with the store.

It is reported that the existing stores of Pig Commander are mainly located in farmers' markets, currently accounting for a 5% sales share in the Changsha pork market. The average investment of a single store is about 150,000 yuan, and the average monthly sales volume is about 200,000 yuan. It is expected to expand to the Guangdong market outside Hunan in 2025, and the number of stores in the Hunan market is expected to increase to about 150.

Investor's View:

Zhuona Capital: As the leading player in the consumer field investment deeply rooted in Hunan, Zhuona Capital has completed the full industrial chain layout from live pigs to the terminal. After this round of investment, Zhuona will help Pig Commander speed up in terms of capital operation, channel resources, and supply chain advantages.