A weighing dispute recently erupted at a BUSYMING (HKEX: 01768) franchise store, operating under the Zhao Yiming Snacks brand, in Qing County, Cangzhou, Hebei. A customer who selected four pieces of beef jerky was charged 64.58 yuan based on an electronic scale reading of 0.299 kilograms. A subsequent re-weighing revealed the actual weight was just 0.08 kilograms, valuing the goods at only 17.29 yuan—a staggering 47.25 yuan difference. The consumer didn't stop at that single item, re-weighing all bulk snacks on the entire receipt and discovering that multiple items were overcharged in weight. After reviewing surveillance footage, the store claimed the hardware and scales were functioning properly, suspecting a system abnormality instead. They offered a threefold compensation on the total bill, but the customer rejected the settlement, choosing to alert the police and file a complaint with the 12315 hotline.

In a similar incident, a Fujian Wanchen Food Group Co.,Ltd. (SZSE: 300972) Hao Xiang Lai store in Zhoukou, Henan, faced comparable accuracy issues. A consumer paid 111.35 yuan at checkout but was owed a refund after a manual re-weighing showed the actual cost was only 64.8 yuan. This hefty discrepancy quickly went viral on social media, sparking widespread discussion.

Outrage Over 'Slimming' Scales at Discount Retailers

Following a series of public grievances about shortchanging in bulk snack sales, regulators acted swiftly. On September 4th, the Baotou City Market Supervision Administration in Inner Mongolia announced a special enforcement operation, officially including Zhao Yiming Snacks, Hao Xiang Lai, Qilou Snacks, and Cailiren among the key discount snack stores to be inspected. The investigation targets industry-wide metering issues, focusing on checking for modified or cheating electronic scales, verifying force inspection compliance, and ensuring calibration marks and seals are intact, while also sampling packaged goods to check for net content and labeling irregularities.

After the Baotou campaign, other regions including Xinjiang County in Shanxi, Funing County in Jiangsu, and Yunan County in Guangdong followed suit with their own inspections of major snack retail chains. In Yunan, Guangdong, two scales with expired verification were discovered and are now under official investigation.

Both leading brands responded as the controversy grew. On the evening of September 6th, Hao Xiang Lai, part of Fujian Wanchen Food Group Co.,Ltd., stated in a media interview that it was aware of the weighing disputes, would fully cooperate with market regulators, and maintained a 'zero tolerance' policy for shortchanging. The brand promised serious rectification of any problematic stores and welcomed continued public and media supervision.

The following day, BUSYMING issued a public response about the store weighing issues, apologizing to affected consumers and introducing four corrective measures to quell the uproar. The announcement detailed a special advance compensation fund effective September 7, 2026, upgrading the standard threefold difference compensation to a tenfold payout for any weighing issues found at its stores. On the hardware front, the group now mandates that all stores be equipped with standard weights and calibrate their scales daily before opening. It is also implementing a nationwide scale monitoring system to detect and alert on weighing anomalies in real-time, with faulty scales being immediately disabled for repairs. In terms of traceability and daily oversight, BUSYMING promises that weighing information from all bulk orders will be recorded and transmitted to headquarters, ensuring the data is traceable and tamper-proof for accountability. Additionally, staff assessment mechanisms are being strengthened with monthly cashier compliance checks and regular inspections by headquarters supervisors, holding both store managers and supervisors accountable for lapses in reform implementation.

Industry crisis management expert Zhan Junhao, a partner at Fuzhou Gongsun Ce PR, commented that the persistent issue of shortchanging at discount snack stores isn't an isolated case of individual franchisee misconduct but a systemic risk inherent to a high-speed franchise expansion model. He pointed out that while the brand headquarters focus on expanding territory and profiting from supply chains, terminal oversight falls short. Combined with industry price wars that squeeze single-store profits to the limit, some franchisees are tempted to profit from weighing tricks.

Zhan further noted that the successive controversies over weighing and pricing deceptions directly erode consumer trust in the 'budget snack' concept. This is likely to force a slowdown in industry expansion and accelerate the exit of smaller brands, ultimately pushing the sector from aggressive store development toward a more refined competitive stage centered on terminal compliance and genuine cost-effectiveness.

Hu Chuncai, founder of Shanghai Shangyi Consulting and a veteran retail expert, views the short-weighting problem as an isolated phenomenon, but warns that a large-scale outbreak would severely damage a brand's reputation. He attributes the root cause to some franchisees' tendency to take shortcuts, speculate, and over-leverage brand equity. Therefore, the core of the problem lies in insufficient headquarter control over franchisees, and addressing these management gaps is key to a solution.

A flood of complaints on the Heimao (Black Cat) platform suggests consumer dissatisfaction is not a short-term blip but a long-term accumulation. As of September 7th, Zhao Yiming Snacks had 2,874 cumulative complaints with 2,380 marked as resolved, while Hao Xiang Lai saw 2,771 complaints with 2,511 completed. The grievances span a wide range of issues beyond weighing, including foreign objects in food, spoiled products, poor after-sales service, and pricing disputes. The causes of metering complaints are complex, involving both hardware problems like overdue scale calibration and damaged seals, as well as human errors like staff mistakes and weighing bulk items along with their packaging.

For instance, a consumer complained on September 1st about 'ghost scales' at a Zhao Yiming Snacks store in Qiandong Town, Fuyu Garden. The customer, upon returning home, re-weighed almost all bulk snacks and found nearly all had inflated weights. A pack of 14 Extra chewing gums, for example, was recorded at 108 grams by the store, though the actual net weight was just 41 grams—a 60-gram overcharge. Another item, a pack of Dingniu Vegan Beef Jerky, measured 29.7 grams but was billed at 97 grams, with several other products also showing discrepancies of around 10 grams. The store attributed the errors to a wobbly checkout counter, a rationale the customer found unconvincing.

Another report involved a consumer who purchased Cuishengsheng French fries at a Hao Xiang Lai store on September 2nd, receiving two conflicting weight records for the same product: the online order showed 0.07 kilograms, while the offline paper receipt indicated 0.140 kilograms. The contradictory data from a single purchase of a 3-pack led the consumer to allege scale tampering or backend data manipulation, demanding a refund and compensation for what they saw as price fraud.

Hu Chuncai emphasized that companies must strengthen quality control to offer genuine value and ensure consumers feel they're getting their money's worth. While a consumer might be duped once, they cannot be fooled indefinitely. Through experience and comparison, consumers can clearly discern product quality and calculate real benefits. In the long run, a company's success depends on its product's value and quality to sustain consumer trust.

BUSYMING's public apology, tenfold compensation offer, and comprehensive remediation plan have helped repair its image to some extent in public opinion, but they've also triggered further questions from netizens and industry observers. Many are asking: if current audits can detect weighing inaccuracies, doesn't it imply that similar problems existed in the past? And for those veteran consumers who previously suffered metering discrepancies but chose to remain silent due to small transaction amounts, missing receipts, or high complaint costs, is a compensation policy that only applies from the date of the announcement truly fair?

In reality, bulk snacks are low-value, high-frequency purchases. Most consumers don't re-weigh goods on the spot or keep complete receipts, making it challenging to trace and resolve many historical disputes without evidence. The company's current measures—advance compensation, scale monitoring, and order traceability—are all future-focused system patches, yet they struggle to compensate for losses from past transactions.

A more profound question is whether these policies can truly take root in the daily operations of tens of thousands of franchise stores. The full set of measures involves hardware replacement, daily scale calibration, system upgrades, inspection tours, and franchisee accountability—a lengthy and complex implementation chain with many dispersed execution points. In a franchise model, daily control rests with the franchisees. How well headquarters' policies penetrate to the front line, whether there will be a disconnect between corporate policy and store-level execution, and whether these issues resurface after the crackdown subsides are all watchpoints for the market.

Strong Half-Year Results for the Two Leaders, Institutions Optimistic

This metering controversy places the spotlight squarely on BUSYMING and Fujian Wanchen Food Group Co.,Ltd., the two dominant forces in China's snack retail sector, which continue to consolidate market share through differentiated branding, scaled franchise systems, and advantages in lower-tier markets.

BUSYMING listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on January 28, 2026, becoming the 'first discount snack stock' there. It operates a dual-brand strategy with 'Snacks Busy' and 'Zhao Yiming Snacks', integrating brand, supply chain, and digital systems for standardized operations. Its business primarily involves wholesale supply of leisure snacks and franchise services, covering seven major categories including baked goods, nuts, puffed snacks, confectionery, and beverages, offering a rich SKU selection to meet mass consumer demand.

Fujian Wanchen Food Group Co.,Ltd., listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2021, initially focused on edible fungi before pivoting to the snack retail sector through a series of acquisitions and restructuring. By 2023, it consolidated several strong regional brands like Hao Xiang Lai, Lu Xiaochuan, Laiyoupin, Adi Adi, and Laopo Daren into the unified Hao Xiang Lai flagship brand, creating a single entity for brand, supply chain, and operations. Its current core business is bulk snack retailing, with a negligible presence of its traditional edible fungi business. Its snack offerings span 12 major categories, including both leading domestic and international standard products and regional specialties, giving it a more comprehensive category layout.

A review of both companies' performance over the past three years reveals the rapid expansion trend in the industry's top tier. Revenue has consistently climbed, but growth is decelerating as the sector transitions from aggressive store openings to a phase focused on efficiency and quality. From 2023 to 2025, BUSYMING's revenue was 10.3 billion yuan, 39.34 billion yuan, and 66.17 billion yuan, with year-on-year growth rates of 140.22%, 282.15%, and 68.19% respectively. The initial explosive growth was driven by the dual-brand integration, with momentum moderating as the revenue base expanded. During the same period, Fujian Wanchen Food Group Co.,Ltd.'s revenue was 9.294 billion yuan, 32.33 billion yuan, and 51.46 billion yuan, with growth rates of 1592.03%, 247.86%, and 59.17%. Its entry was marked by a surge from multi-brand acquisitions, with a more pronounced short-term growth burst, though this has settled into a steadier pace over the last two years.

In the first half of 2026, both enterprises continued their upward trend, with key metrics like revenue, profit, and gross margin improving, solidifying their leading positions and economies of scale.

BUSYMING posted strong H1 2026 results with revenue of 44.997 billion yuan, up 60% year-on-year. Gross profit reached 5.187 billion yuan, with a consolidated gross margin of 11.5%, a 2.2 percentage point improvement. Net profit attributable to shareholders surged 155.4% to 2.24 billion yuan, and adjusted net profit climbed 136.7% to 2.448 billion yuan. The profit growth significantly outpaced revenue, showcasing the benefits of scale on profitability.

On the cost side, BUSYMING demonstrated effective control. Cost of sales was 39.81 billion yuan (+56.1% YoY), sales and marketing expenses were 1.58 billion yuan (+54.4%), and administrative expenses were 568 million yuan (+38.89%). All these grew slower than revenue, indicating enhanced operational efficiency.

A research report from Zhongtai Securities on September 1st forecasts BUSYMING's revenue will reach 99.604 billion yuan, 132.869 billion yuan, and 158.743 billion yuan for 2026-2028, with year-on-year growth of 50.5%, 33.4%, and 19.5%. Net profit is projected at 5.067 billion yuan, 6.976 billion yuan, and 8.71 billion yuan, growing 117.6% / 37.7% / 24.9%. The institution believes there is ample room for the company to expand its store count, with a shorter payback period for stores in lower-tier markets. It expects the company to benefit from economies of scale in cost dilution and network densification through its proprietary warehousing and distribution, leading to high certainty in profit delivery. It has given a 'Buy' rating.

Changjiang Securities anticipates BUSYMING will maintain a robust pace of store expansion in H2 2026, with margins likely to improve year-on-year. They forecast net profit of 4.86 billion yuan and 6.956 billion yuan for 2026 and 2027, and adjusted net profit of 5.22 billion yuan and 7.256 billion yuan. Based on current share prices, these projections imply forward P/E ratios of 17x and 12x, respectively. They maintain a 'Buy' rating.

Fujian Wanchen Food Group Co.,Ltd.'s H1 2026 performance also climbed steadily, with revenue reaching 34.836 billion yuan, up 54.26% year-on-year. Its snack retail segment's gross margin was 12.74%, a 1.25 percentage point improvement, slightly ahead of BUSYMING. Net profit attributable to shareholders was 1.21 billion yuan, up 156.58%, with non-GAAP net profit up 153.17% to 1.141 billion yuan, matching its rival's profit growth rate and demonstrating strong profitability resilience. Cash flow quality was also excellent, with net cash from operating activities up 39.5% to 1.811 billion yuan, underscoring the authenticity of its earnings. In terms of expenses, costs were 30.361 billion yuan (+51.76%), selling expenses were 1.032 billion yuan (+48.14%), and administrative expenses were 926 million yuan (+47.71%). Its business structure is highly focused, with bulk snack retail generating 345.21 billion yuan in revenue, accounting for 99.1% of total revenue.

Caixin Securities forecasts Fujian Wanchen Food Group Co.,Ltd.'s 2026-2028 revenue will be 75.2 billion yuan, 90.3 billion yuan, and 99.1 billion yuan, with growth rates of 46.2%, 20.1%, and 9.7%. Net profit is projected at 2.488 billion yuan, 3.212 billion yuan, and 3.582 billion yuan, growing 85% / 29.1% / 11.5%. At current prices, the corresponding P/E ratios are 15x, 11x, and 10x.

Tianfeng Securities, citing the faster-than-expected store openings in H1 2026, raised its earnings estimates for Fujian Wanchen Food Group Co.,Ltd., now expecting revenue of 75.24 billion yuan, 95.19 billion yuan, and 104.66 billion yuan for 2026-2028 (up from previous forecasts of 66.69 billion yuan, 77.8 billion yuan, and 85.92 billion yuan), with year-on-year growth of 46% / 27% / 10%. Net profit is now projected at 2.61 billion yuan, 3.51 billion yuan, and 3.98 billion yuan (vs. earlier 2.32 billion yuan, 3.01 billion yuan, and 3.5 billion yuan), growing 94% / 34% / 13%. EPS is estimated at 13.25 yuan, 17.80 yuan, and 20.18 yuan, corresponding to P/E ratios of 14x, 10x, and 9x. They maintain a 'Buy' rating.

On September 5th, Guotai Haitong Securities said it believes Fujian Wanchen Food Group Co.,Ltd.'s operational quality is improving, and its growth potential remains substantial. The company's franchise system for snack retail stores demonstrates strong resilience and adaptability at the individual store level across various market tiers. As the store network expands, supply chain efficiency is expected to improve, and the continuous enrichment of product categories should support ongoing growth.

The Risk-Reward Mismatch in Franchising During the Stock Era

At their core, both companies share highly similar business models and expansion strategies. They both rely on an 'asset-light, franchise-first, company-owned-second' approach. Their revenue is predominantly driven by wholesale supply of goods to franchisees, with franchise fees and direct retail sales making up a tiny fraction. The financial reports primarily reflect the scale of their supply chain shipments, not the actual C-end consumer sales.

BUSYMING operates an even more extreme franchise model. As of June 30, 2026, it had a total of 26,405 stores, a net increase of 4,457 from 21,948 at the end of 2025. Of these, only 9 are company-owned, meaning a staggering 99.97% are franchised. In H1 2026 alone, it added 4,590 franchise stores and closed 121, maintaining steady net growth. Its channel strategy is deeply rooted in lower-tier markets, with about 60% of stores located in county towns and townships, covering 79% of China's counties across 31 provinces. It leverages a network of over 2,700 partner suppliers to build its low-tier market supply chain. In 2025, its total store GMV reached 93.569 billion yuan, and in H1 2026, it was 63.889 billion yuan, showing continuous expansion of end-consumer volume.

Fujian Wanchen Food Group Co.,Ltd., leveraging its multi-brand integration, has a more balanced regional presence and a solid foundation. By the end of June 2026, it had 23,802 stores, a net addition of 5,488 from the start of the period, having opened 5,814 and closed 326 in H1 2026. While its pace of store openings is slightly ahead of BUSYMING, its closure rate is higher. Geographically, East China serves as its core bastion, with 12,532 stores and nearly 1.93 million square meters of retail space, far exceeding other regions. It has been expanding points across Central China, North China, and Southwest China to form a national network. The company also boasts strong private domain traffic advantage, with cumulative registered members approaching 250 million and 150 million trading members in H1, solidifying its end-consumer base.

The development paths of both BUSYMING and Fujian Wanchen Food Group Co.,Ltd. mirror broader industry trends, sharing distinct commonalities. In the early stages, the competition was defined by 'seizing territory and rapid store expansion.' Both used low prices to capture market share and franchise policies to attract merchants, quickly increasing market presence through store network growth and leveraging bulk purchasing to lower upstream costs, building a competitive advantage through scale.

The financial data clearly shows both companies are heavily dependent on their franchise networks. Headquarters control the supply chain, pricing, and brand assets, profiting from scaled-up supply sales. Franchisees, on the other hand, bear all the costs of rent, labor, and operations. Under the pressure of intensified location competition, rising operating costs, and longer payback periods, some franchisees are tempted to take shortcuts that damage the brand, leading to frequent issues like shortchanging and non-compliant operations.

As such, the duopoly competition between BUSYMING and Fujian Wanchen Food Group Co.,Ltd. has long moved beyond the crude phase of simply racing to open more stores. The competitive battleground has shifted toward comprehensive competence in governance, compliance, and refined operations. In the short term, this public relations crisis tests the companies' ability to manage immediate fallout—confronting terminal metering chaos, cooperating with regulators, and rebuilding consumer trust to repair damaged brand reputation. Looking further ahead, the real challenge lies in breaking down internal barriers and translating the supply chain scale advantages at headquarters into the day-to-day discipline of tens of thousands of physical stores. As franchise networks expand, the shortcoming of 'managing a thousand stores' becomes more pronounced. How effectively both companies can build robust constraints and long-term regulatory oversight for franchisees will define their future trajectory.

Store counts and impressive revenue figures are, ultimately, just numbers on paper. In the second half of the discount snack game, the benefits of scale are fading. More than expansion speed, consumers care about fair scales and the value of every purchased item. The authenticity of compliance governance, the warmth of terminal operations, and the user trust earned through consistent, quality experience over time are the true assets that will carry a company through market cycles and ensure its long-term stability.