植物肉的泡沫破裂 它的供应商还好吗？

This article outlines the development and current status of Shuangta Foods, China's leading domestic pea protein supplier, after the plant-based meat boom faded. Key takeaways are as follows:

1. Transformation experience: Shuangta was originally China's largest Longkou vermicelli producer and went public in 2010. Facing environmental challenges from vermicelli production wastewater, the company developed technology to extract edible pea protein from the waste stream, turning an environmental liability into a high-margin profit driver. Since 2018, pea protein has replaced vermicelli as its core revenue pillar, with a gross profit margin far higher than the traditional vermicelli business.

2. Lessons from the boom-bust cycle: During the 2019-2020 plant-based meat craze, Shuangta expanded downstream into the plant-based meat business. When the boom faded, its performance came under significant pressure. The company is currently pursuing new growth by spinning off low-margin traditional businesses and diversifying its portfolio, but its new core strategic direction remains unclear.

This article provides multi-dimensional actionable insights for brands in the plant protein and plant-based meat sectors:

1. Consumer trend guidance: The plant-based meat boom has ended, consumers have lost their early hype, and market demand has contracted sharply. Brands should avoid blindly chasing hot trends, as all ingredient suppliers that tied their fortunes to plant-based meat have posted performance declines.

2. Business upgrading inspiration: Shuangta's approach of turning production waste into high-value-added products is worth learning from. Unlocking value from industrial byproducts can create an entirely new growth curve; pea protein can deliver gross margins above 60%, far exceeding those of traditional food businesses.

3. Transformation takeaways: Shuangta's underwhelming transition from B2B ingredient supplier to C2C brand shows that cross-sector transformation requires a long-term horizon and cannot be rushed. Companies can spin off and divest low-margin legacy businesses to concentrate resources on high-value-added new tracks.

This article summarizes the current industry landscape, risks, opportunities and actionable insights for sellers in plant protein-related sectors:

1. Risk warning: The plant-based meat sector has clearly cooled, with leading foreign brands exiting China and top domestic players also withdrawing from the market. The demand contraction has significantly impacted upstream ingredient suppliers, and new entrants should avoid overcommitting to plant-based meat.

2. Actionable growth strategy: Shuangta's success in extracting pea protein from vermicelli production wastewater to turn waste into profit and open a new growth curve by unlocking byproduct value is a useful model for all food industry sellers.

3. New opportunity alert: Beyond plant-based meat, pea protein has stable demand in multiple other applications including powdered drinks, energy bars, baked goods and pet food. Sellers can diversify across these tracks to absorb excess capacity. They can also follow Shuangta's example of spinning off low-margin businesses to optimize their portfolio and focus resources on high-profit operations.

This article offers practical insights on production transformation and business expansion for traditional food processing factories:

1. Production-side innovation opportunity: High-concentration organic wastewater from traditional vermicelli production is a common industry challenge. Shuangta developed technology to extract edible pea protein from this wastewater, turning an environmental burden into a high-margin product with a gross margin exceeding 37% — far higher than the ~25% gross margin of the traditional vermicelli business. This "turn waste into wealth" innovation model is highly valuable for traditional factories.

2. Commercial opportunity guidance: Pea protein has a wide range of applications. Beyond the cooling plant-based meat sector, it has stable demand in areas such as powdered drinks, baked goods and pet food. Factories can expand into multiple application scenarios to absorb capacity and unlock new growth.

3. Transformation lessons: Traditional factories can follow Shuangta's example by spinning off low-margin legacy businesses to focus on high-value-added new tracks, while also actively pursuing digital transformation and adopting AI to upgrade production and operations.

This article shares insights on industry trends, client pain points and business opportunities for food supply chain service providers:

1. Industry development trends: Following the plant-based meat bust, most domestic plant protein suppliers have entered a transformation phase, and traditional food factories are also adjusting their business structure by divesting low-margin businesses to focus on high-value-added new tracks. At the same time, a growing number of traditional factories are exploring new directions including global expansion, new agriculture, and digital transformation, putting the entire industry in a period of restructuring and upgrading.

2. Core client pain points: Most plant protein suppliers previously expanded capacity to serve the plant-based meat sector, and now face underutilized capacity and plummeting performance after the boom faded. Traditional food companies face steadily shrinking profit margins in their core businesses, and lack clear direction and resources to upgrade their operations.

3. New business opportunities: Service providers can develop targeted offerings to address these pain points, including multi-sector expansion support, capacity optimization, digital transformation consulting, and global expansion matching services, helping traditional food companies upgrade their businesses and opening up new service markets for providers.

This article provides insights on sector trends, merchant needs and risk mitigation for food-related platform operators:

1. Risk mitigation guidance: The plant-based meat boom has ended. Leading foreign brand Beyond Meat has effectively exited the Chinese market, and top domestic players are also facing operational distress, with consumer enthusiasm fading on the demand side. Platforms should avoid the traffic risk of blindly onboarding plant-based meat brands.

2. Merchant needs and operational priorities: Currently, plant protein suppliers need to develop multi-scenario sales channels outside of plant-based meat, and traditional food companies also need new channels after spinning off low-margin businesses. Platforms can launch targeted recruitment policies and traffic support to match these merchant needs.

3. Operational inspiration for new directions: Many traditional food companies are now exploring new areas such as global expansion, new agriculture including edible fungi, and AI-powered digital transformation. Platforms can adjust their operation and recruitment strategies around these new directions to pre-emptively match merchants' evolving needs.

This article provides a typical research case for food industry researchers studying traditional enterprise transformation and boom-cycle industry dynamics. Key insights are as follows:

1. New industry trends: Traditional food manufacturing companies are increasingly moving away from their original single core business to pursue diversified transformation into high-value-added operations. Many traditional players have started expanding into overseas capacity, new agriculture tracks, and AI-driven digitalization, marking clear new trends in industrial upgrading.

2. Emerging industry challenges: The plant-based meat boom was characterized by a capital-driven cycle of rapid rise and fall. When the boom burst, upstream suppliers that were deeply tied to the trend suffered sharp performance declines. Subsequent diversification to turnaround has created new challenges including increased financial pressure, higher management complexity, and unclear core strategic direction.

3. Business model research value: Shuangta Foods' circular economy-based business model of turning waste into wealth to transform into a pea protein supplier is highly representative. Its process of expanding downstream into branded products and pursuing diversification to overcome crisis also provides a complete observation sample for research on traditional manufacturing enterprise transformation, with high research value.