Haoxianglai sold an expired drink — manager quoted TV to say 'expired is edible'

Haoxianglai (好想来) is a discount snack chain under Wanchen Group (万辰集团), operating nearly 20,000 stores across China. In 2025, the group posted ¥51.4 billion in revenue (up 59.17% year-on-year) and filed its second Hong Kong IPO application in March 2026, aiming to become the first discount-snack chain listed on HKEX.

On 6 April 2026, a customer at a Haoxianglai store near Chenzhou West Railway Station in Hunan purchased a 500ml Xiaoyangren Miaolian drink and found it was five days past its expiry date (produced 1 August 2025; eight-month shelf life expired 1 April 2026). Store staff initially offered double-compensation.

The situation escalated when the store manager sent the customer a video clip of TV anchor Bai Yansong, quoting his view that 'passing the expiry date doesn't mean the food is inedible' — implying expired products were still safe to consume. The remark outraged the customer and went viral on social media.

On 10 April, Haoxianglai confirmed the matter was resolved with legal compensation and pledged to strengthen franchise management. But the incident landed during Wanchen Group's critical IPO window, highlighting the quality-control challenge of managing nearly 20,000 franchise stores during rapid expansion.

The expired-drink scandal, amplified by the manager's TV-anchor quote, dented brand trust and threatened Wanchen's HKEX IPO, costing ¥51.4 billion in revenue.

Haoxianglai's nearly 20,000 franchise stores outpaced the headquarters' ability to enforce expiry-date checks at every location — expansion speed exceeded quality-control capacity.

The manager's citation of a respected TV anchor to justify selling expired products turned an isolated food-safety failure into a viral PR crisis — authority-laundering amplified public outrage.

The incident struck during Wanchen Group's HKEX IPO process (second filing March 2026), making any brand-reputation event especially damaging at the worst possible time.

Discount snack chains operate on thin margins with high inventory turnover, creating structural pressure on franchisees to cut corners on stock rotation and expiry management.

Twenty thousand franchise stores are only as reliable as the weakest store manager — one bad quote at the wrong time can overshadow a ¥51B revenue story.

Haoxianglai compensated the customer and pledged tighter franchise oversight. Wanchen Group's HKEX IPO process continued, but the incident highlighted systemic quality-control risks in China's fast-growing discount snack sector. The brand had previously faced complaints about inaccurate weighing, suggesting persistent operational gaps.