Dumplings have giants, buns don't: machines can't replicate the hand-pinch feel
Dumplings and glutinous rice balls were scaled by giants like Sifu and Sanquan, but buns require fermented dough and hand-pinched pleats—machines can't achieve that fluffiness—so for a decade, the category has left room for smaller brands.
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Regional dominance becomes a liability when scaling to national competition
The brand built strong word-of-mouth in Shanghai's refrigerated-food market, but when it tried to scale nationally with frozen products, it crashed. Consumers had never heard of the brand and only compared prices; the products felt too sweet, not fluffy enough, not firm enough for national tastes. The supply-chain advantage formed regionally evaporated instantly when competing in the uniform, price-driven national frozen-food category.
— Leng Jia YiVisible filling became the breakthrough product that drove growth
After the national setback, the team stopped trying to recreate classic flavors and made their first genuinely differentiated product: cheese-filled buns with the filling placed on the outside, visible at a glance. This product launched at the moment when Xiaohongshu users wanted ‘see what you get’, and visibility and novelty created organic word-of-mouth. It was the team's first real success after stepping out of their comfort zone.
— Leng Jia YiA hit product spreads in weeks but the original survives when imitations fade
The cheese-filled bun took nine months to develop and optimize, but competitors could replicate it in roughly a month. After the product went viral, over a dozen cheaper knockoffs flooded the market in two years. The team panicked enough to consider switching to cheaper mechanization and lower-cost ingredients, but nothing reproduced the same texture. Eventually, time proved the principle: the imitations disappeared, and consumers kept buying the original.
— Leng Jia YiDead dough scales to giants; live dough stays artisanal because machines can't pinch
Dumplings and glutinous rice balls use unleavened dough that needs no fermentation and was mechanized from the start, which is why Sifu and Sanquan became giants and essentially closed off the space for newcomers. Buns use leavened dough that must ferment and be hand-pinched into a dozen pleats—when a machine does it, the fluffiness that skilled hands create is gone. This is why the bun category has stayed regional and handmade, paradoxically leaving room for new brands.
— Leng Jia YiEven in tier-three cities, consumers will pay extra for quality
While attending Pang Donglai's central kitchen during the height of 9.99-yuan price wars, the sourcing and production standards were remarkably high and the product wasn't cheap, yet consumers still bought in. People in that tier-three city seemed more relaxed and happy than in tier-one cities. This convinced him that the premium for health-conscious choices was sustainable. He returned and told the team not to panic: quality products will be recognized.
— Leng Jia YiBootstrapping stays steady when venture money makes boom-and-bust cycles
The company has never raised capital. Manufacturing heritage made the team extremely cautious about spending; development has been steady but slow. The e-commerce business is still in investment mode, not profitable. Peers who raised and spent aggressively hit ten-billion-yuan scale, then crashed back down to one or two billion. The founder believes in compounding slowly through repeat purchases rather than chasing growth that evaporates when marketing stops.
— Leng Jia YiCategories sealed by unit economics and scale should be avoided entirely
The company deliberately skips dumplings and wontons because those are crushed by scale effects and procurement costs—even with the best supply chain, you'd likely get flattened anyway. It also abandoned baked goods because specialized factories already own the baking equipment and supply chains needed to compete. The team decided it can only build a moat in fermented and leavened pastries, where handwork is hard to mechanize.
— Leng Jia YiBetter doesn't win when the product photographs worse
The team developed white-filling pork buns, believing them more authentic and closer to the original pork taste than the red-filled versions dominating the market. Pricing was not higher, yet consumers showed complete indifference. The root cause, on review, partly traces to white filling looking poor on video for e-commerce—yet small soup dumplings with white filling remain perennial bestsellers. That contradiction, they say, remains unsolved.
— Leng Jia YiIn their own words · checked verbatim
We were always very confident—thought our products tasted great, had excellent consumer word-of-mouth, sold very well in Shanghai. Didn't we think that once we set prices competitively, everyone would flock to carry us? But actually, we suffered a major blow.
我们一直很自信 觉得我们的产品很好吃 消费者口碑很好 在上海卖的很好 这不是只要一上货价就应该大家分支踏来吗 结果我们的其实是遭到了重创
Leng Jia Yi7:02
It's a paradox—it's a paradox—but what's fascinating is that several of our products go through the same experience: after launch, once they hit big, the market gets flooded with them, they're everywhere—but as time passes, a year or two later, they all disappear. Consumers still buy ours. So this journey of emergence and fade is quite fascinating.
这是个悖论 这是个悖论 但是非常有趣的是 我们好几款产品 都有这样一个经历 就是上市以后 一旦大获成功以后 就被市场上劈头盖脑的 都是满大街都是 但是随着时间的推移 一年到两年以后 发现他们都消失不见了 消费者还是在买我们这一款 所以这个新陆历程 也是非常的有趣
Leng Jia Yi16:09
I think the world follows natural law: there's an ecological principle that the stronger the resistance and stability, the weaker the recovery and resilience. A rainforest can withstand almost anything, but once it's destroyed, it's hard to recover.
所以我觉得这个世界 就跟自然规律一样 就有个生态自然规律 就是抵抗力稳定性越强的 恢复力稳定性越弱 就是说你这个 比如说你这个热带雨淋 你经常是你什么都能抵挡 但你一旦被摧毁了以后 你难以恢复了
Leng Jia Yi17:10
And building a brand—actually, when I left Xiaonanoguo, everyone had this: everyone has a brand dream, right? I think people can understand that.
以及做品牌 其实是我离开小南国的时候大家都有 就是每个人都有一个品牌梦吧 这个应该大家也可以理解
Leng Jia Yi19:11
So I'm thinking: this is what life is about. If this is the right path, then everyone should spend a little extra money for our health and eating, and what we get in return is a happy life.
所以我在想 这个才是人生啊 如果这是正确的道路 就是应该 大家都应该 为我们健康和吃 稍微多花那么一点钱 能够换来的是 快乐的生活
Leng Jia Yi34:14
We come from manufacturing, always very conservative on spending—I think everyone understands that—so our development has been quite steady.
我们是制造业出身 总是非常的coso 这个大家也可以理解 所以发展都还是挺稳健
Leng Jia Yi44:24
We spent a lot of time researching the white-filled pork bun. After launch, consumers seemed completely indifferent, but we were thrilled. We thought it was truly innovative, completely different from what's on the market—everyone has red filling, only we have white.
我们这个研究白切肉包 研究了挺久的 白切肉包 白线 白线的那个肉包 也是研究了蛮久的 上市以后就是消费者 好像完全无感 我们自己很兴奋 觉得这个很创新的呀 跟市场上的完全不一样呀 大家都是红线的 只有我们是白线的呀
Leng Jia Yi1:02:34
Figures
| Annual sales | Over 400 million yuan | 2:01 |
| Self-built factories | 5 | 1:00 |
| Time for competitors to copy hit products | About 3 weeks | 14:08 |
| Cheese steamed bun development to mass production | 9 months | 15:08 |
| Time for competitors to replicate hit products | About 1 month | 15:08 |
| Total company workforce | About 600+ people | 42:23 |
| Food cost per breakfast item | Under 10 yuan | 32:14 |
| Weekly breakfast pick-any combo price | 99 yuan for 6 items | 52:28 |
Glossary
- PB (private brand)
- Manufacturing products under a retailer's own brand; the channel owns the brand, the factory owns the supply chain.
How to listen
For consumer-brand founders and investors tracking traditional food categories, curious why buns lack giants, and wanting to understand slow-growth strategies.
Around 51:57, discussion of burgers, lamb skewers, and other industry gossip—low information value, can skip.