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Anjoy Foods: The Transformation Journey from University Teacher Selling Fish Balls to Frozen Hot Pot Ingredient Leader

Founded: Liu Mingming · Anjoy Foods Group Co., Ltd.

JOURNEY

Key Fields

FIELD STAMPS
IndustryFood & Drink
RegionChina
ScaleGiant
ChannelOther

Origin

In 2001, Liu Mingming, a former teacher at Zhengzhou Institute of Light Industry, resigned and traveled south to Xiamen to start a business. At that time, the domestic frozen food industry was almost monopolized by Sanquan and Sannian in the dumpling and Tangyuan sector. Recognizing that competition in dumplings and Tangyuan was overly fierce, Liu chose to enter with hot pot meatballs—a category overlooked by giants—relying on Fujian's coastal surimi raw material advantages to industrially produce imitation crab sticks and fish balls, supplying them directly to hot pot restaurants and regional wholesalers.

Milestones

2001
Inception and Startup Turning Point
In 2001, Liu Mingming resigned from his university teaching position and went to Xiamen to found Anjoy Foods. The initial team consisted of only a few dozen people, setting up the first surimi product production line in Huli District, Xiamen. Choosing hot pot meatballs instead of dumplings and Tangyuan to avoid direct competition with Sanquan and Sannian, the first batch of products featured imitation crab sticks and fish tofu, trial-sold through local Fujian wholesale markets, with first-year revenue falling short of 20 million yuan.
2003
Cross-Regional Expansion Failure
Anjoy attempted to expand into the East China and South China regions but repeatedly hit roadblocks. Inadequate cold chain logistics led to frequent product spoilage and returns during transport; in 2004, the damage rate for a batch of goods in Jiangsu Province reached as high as 15%, leading to widespread rejection by distributors. The company experienced severe cash flow strain for a time, with Liu Mingming mortgaging his personal property to keep operations running until regional cold storage was self-built and a factory was established in Wuxi by 2006, which gradually stabilized the East China channels. This phase lasted from 2003 to 2006.
2010
Scale Breakthrough Growth
Anjoy co-built five major production bases across Wuxi, Taizhou, and Liaoning, with production capacity covering three major categories: hot pot meatballs, frozen wheaten foods, and prepared dishes. By 2010, the company's revenue surpassed 2 billion yuan, becoming a meatball supplier for chained hot pot brands such as Haidilao and Xiabu Xiabu, while entering major hypermarket systems like RT-Mart and Yonghui, expanding its distributor network to over 300 prefecture-level cities nationwide.
2017
Shanghai Stock Exchange Listing Turning Point
Anjoy Foods was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange Main Board, raising approximately 600 million yuan for capacity expansion and cold chain layout. On its first day of listing, the stock hit the 44% daily limit, and its market capitalization exceeded 6 billion yuan. Prior to listing, Anjoy's revenue had already surpassed 3.4 billion yuan with a net profit of about 380 million yuan, though the market questioned its over-reliance on a single hot pot meatball category and major customer concentration risks, with the prospectus disclosing that the top five customers accounted for over 30% of revenue.
2018
Fresh-Lock Packaging Transformation PMF
Anjoy launched the 'Fresh-Lock' (Suoxian) series, upgrading traditional bulk hot pot meatballs into small-packaged, fresh-keeping retail products to tap into family consumption scenarios. Positioned at a high end with pricing about 20% higher than competitors, the Fresh-Lock series encountered distribution resistance initially, with some distributors refusing stock due to high prices. After three months of trial sales in the Yonghui system in 2019, the sell-through rate exceeded 70%, gradually opening up the household consumer market. This phase lasted from 2018 to 2019.
2023
Ten-Billion Milestone Growth
In 2023, Anjoy achieved full-year revenue of 14.027 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%, with net profit attributable to shareholders of about 1.478 billion yuan. All three major segments—hot pot meatballs, frozen wheaten foods, and prepared dishes—achieved positive growth. That same year, Anjoy acquired Hubei Xinhongji Foods to step up investments in prepared dishes, and its 'Frozen Product Mr.' (Dongpin Xiansheng) prepared dish series secured over 100,000 terminal retail and restaurant outlets, raising the revenue share of prepared dishes to about 15%.
2025
Hong Kong Stock Sprint Transition
In early 2025, Anjoy officially submitted its listing application to the HKEX, seeking a dual primary listing to advance international expansion. However, by this time, Anjoy's A-share stock price had pulled back by over 50% from its 2021 peak, and its price-to-earnings ratio dropped from 60x to around 15x. The market grew concerned as revenue growth slowed from 33% in 2021 to single digits in 2024, and the second-curve profit model for prepared dishes had yet to be fully validated.

Turning Points

  • Self-building cold storage and a factory in Wuxi in 2006 resolved persistent cold chain transport damage, turning the East China market from continuous losses into stable profitability.
  • Listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2017 and raising 600 million yuan expanded capacity from five major bases to eight bases nationwide, establishing the industry leader's production capacity moat.
  • Launching the Fresh-Lock series in 2018 to tap into household consumption scenarios, transitioning from a pure catering supplier to a dual-wheel-driven model of catering and retail.
  • Acquiring Hubei Xinhongji Foods in 2023 to officially bet on the prepared dish track, kicking off the second growth curve following hot pot meatballs.
  • Founder Liu Mingming stepping back behind the scenes in 2025 to hand over the baton to the new management team led by Zhao Ming, while pushing for a Hong Kong IPO to secure overseas expansion capital.

Failures & Pitfalls

  • During the 2003-2004 East China expansion, inadequate cold chain infrastructure caused the damage rate for batches in Jiangsu to reach 15%, leading to widespread rejection by distributors and bringing cash flow to the brink of collapse.
  • During the 2017 IPO period, the company was questioned over customer concentration risks, as the top five customers accounted for over 30% of revenue, putting downward pressure on the stock price after the prospectus was disclosed.
  • Upon the launch of the Fresh-Lock series in 2018, pricing about 20% higher than competitors led some distributors to refuse stocking, causing the initial distribution rate to fall far short of target goals.
  • In 2024, revenue growth slowed to single digits, and the A-share stock price pulled back by over 50% from its 2021 peak, compressing the P/E ratio from 60x down to about 15x.
  • The profit margin of the 'Frozen Product Mr.' prepared dish series remained chronically lower than the core hot pot meatball business, with a 2024 gross margin of about 18%, far below the traditional frozen food segment's roughly 26%.

关键成功要素

  • Choosing to enter through hot pot meatballs—a category ignored by giants—and avoiding the red ocean competition of dumplings and Tangyuan with Sanquan and Sannian has been the 20-year strategic cornerstone.
  • Deploying self-built cold chain factories across multiple bases nationwide resolved transport damage issues, creating a dual moat of production scale and cold chain networks.
  • Extending Fresh-Lock products from catering supply to household retail scenarios, achieving a leap from a single channel structure to a diversified one.
  • Expanding product category boundaries through successive acquisitions post-listing, moving horizontally from frozen hot pot ingredients to prepared dishes to seek a second curve.
  • Seeking international expansion capital via a dual primary listing, while facing dual market challenges of slowing growth and valuation compression.

Lessons

  • Category selection matters more than hard work; avoiding the red ocean of dumplings and Tangyuan to choose hot pot meatballs was Anjoy's most critical strategic decision over two decades.
  • Self-built cold chains are the lifeline for frozen food companies; cross-regional expansion without early self-built cold storage is invalid expansion.
  • The ceiling of a single product category is not terrifying; what is terrifying is lacking the courage to initiate second-curve exploration at the peak of brand and channel power.
  • Household brand premium requires endorsement by catering quality; Anjoy first built trust as a Haidilao supplier before introducing the Fresh-Lock retail brand.
  • Management succession requires layout three to five years in advance; Liu Mingming's retirement timing coincided with the critical period of IPO sprinting and transformation, making rhythm control essential.

Core Data

  • 2023 Revenue：14.027 billion yuan (Company disclosed caliber, as of 2026, independent review unverified)
  • 2023 Net Profit Attributable to Shareholders：1.478 billion yuan (Company disclosed caliber, as of 2026, independent review unverified)
  • Domestic Market Capitalization：Approx. 22.0 billion yuan (Company disclosed caliber, as of 2026, independent review unverified)
  • 2017 IPO Proceeds：Approx. 600 million yuan (Company disclosed caliber, as of 2026, independent review unverified)
  • Catering Terminal Coverage Count：Over 100,000 outlets (Company disclosed caliber, as of 2026, independent review unverified)
  • Nationwide Production Bases Count：8 bases (Company disclosed caliber, as of 2026, independent review unverified)
  • 2017 IPO First-Day Surge：44% (Company disclosed caliber, as of 2026, independent review unverified)
  • Fresh-Lock Pricing Premium Margin：Approx. 20% higher than competitors (Company disclosed caliber, as of 2026, independent review unverified)
  • Prepared Dishes Revenue Share：Approx. 15% (Company disclosed caliber, as of 2026, independent review unverified)

Competitors / Peers

Anjoy Foods' main competitors in the domestic frozen hot pot ingredient track include regional enterprises such as Haixin Foods, Huifa Foods, and Shenglong Foods. Haixin Foods is headquartered in Fujian and focuses on surimi products, but its revenue scale is only about one-tenth of Anjoy's. Huifa Foods focuses on the Shandong market and forms a direct competition with Anjoy in the prepared dish sector, but its 2023 revenue of about 1.6 billion yuan is far below Anjoy's 14.0 billion yuan. In the prepared dish track, Anjoy also faces challenges from specialized enterprises such as Weizhixiang and Qianwei Central Kitchen. Qianwei Central Kitchen focuses on customized frozen wheaten foods for chained catering, serving chained brands like KFC, while Weizhixiang occupies a regional advantage in East China within the household semi-finished dish market. Overall, Anjoy has formed a distinct leading position in the hot pot ingredient field through scale effects and a multi-product matrix, but has yet to establish an equivalent moat in the new prepared dish track.

Sources

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⚠️ This entry draws on self-reported accounts and public reporting, not independently verified, and is not investment, startup, or legal advice; revenue figures are case-specific and not representative of typical results.