The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 2022
Qudian spent ¥53.2M marketing pre-cooked meals and booked ¥8.75M of revenue
Campus-loan lender Qudian turned itself into a pre-cooked-meal company, sold ¥250M in one livestream — and wound it down within two months
Qudian (趣店) · 2022
What happened
Qudian — the campus-lending fintech turned e-commerce company — launched a pre-cooked-food brand under founder Luo Min (罗敏) in mid-2022, selling 1-cent fish dishes on Douyin livestreams.
On July 17, 2022 a 19-hour livestream drew 90.98 million views and ¥250 million in sales — 9.56 million meals, plus 1,500 iPhones given away. Luo announced plans for 10,000 stores in 2022, 50,000 in 2023 and 200,000 in 2024, with interest-free loans for franchisees.
Within days the endorsers retreated: celebrities Jia Nailiang (贾乃亮) and Fu Shou'er (傅首尔) publicly apologized for promoting the brand as Luo's campus-loan past resurfaced. On September 6 Qudian's Q2 report said it would shrink the pre-cooked business — dismissing staff, ending supplier deals and clearing inventory.
In Q2 2022 the segment booked ¥8.75 million in revenue against ¥53.2 million in marketing spend — six times its revenue. The hottest food launch of the summer was wound down before autumn.
Why it happened
- The launch sold the founder, not the food: Luo's campus-loan history made the celebrity endorsements a liability the day after the record livestream.
- The store plan was a subsidy promise: 10,000 stores and interest-free loans attracted franchisees, but the economics never existed without the marketing engine.
- Marketing spend ran six times the revenue it produced — the business was a promotion, and promotions end.
- The retreat was total and fast: staff dismissed, suppliers terminated and inventory cleared within roughly two months of the launch.
The lesson
A founder's livestream can sell ¥250 million in one night and still not make a business: the franchise plan ran on subsidies, and collapsed the moment the marketing stopped.
Sources
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