How a Dongguan Snack Maker Turned Candy Into a ¥877 Million Emotion Engine
In the cluttered and cost-cutting world of China’s snack industry, one company decided to stop selling biscuits. Instead, it sells joy. And it’s working.
Back in 2004, 金添动漫股份有限公司 (Jintian Animation Co.) founder 蔡建淳 was running a typical biscuit factory in Dongguan. Margins were wafer thin, competition fierce.
He realized that simply making more biscuits wasn’t going to cut it. According to 36Kr, a ton of cookies might sell for RMB 20,000 and that just wasn’t going anywhere.
That’s when he had a pivot: kids don’t just snack, they collect. The fun is in the packaging, the character, the story. So he launched an ambitious move, combine beloved animation IP with snack products.
His first play: partner with the popular Chinese cartoon Blue Cat (“蓝猫淘气三千问”) and wrap it around biscuits. Kids noticed. Parents paid. The light-bulb moment came.
Then in 2009, he landed a major IP: Japan’s iconic Ultraman. That unlocked a boom. Jintian launched 150 + Ultraman-themed snack SKUs across chocolate, biscuits, candy. At its peak, this line made up about 60 % of the company’s revenue.
Fast forward: in 2011, Jintian Animation formally headquartered in Dongguan and committed fully to “anime + snack” as its brand DNA.
Today the company claims 26 licensed international and domestic IPs, over 600 active SKUs, and distribution in more than 1,700 Chinese counties via 250,000+ retail outlets.
Their strategy? Flip the traditional snack logic of “scale + cost” into “story + experience.” Packaging isn’t just pretty, it hides a collectible toy.
Online promotion isn’t an afterthought, it’s part of a “blind box” or socialshare funnel. In an age when young consumers are chasing emotions not just taste, Jintian caught the wave.
The financials back it up. Revenue went from RMB 596 million in 2022 to RMB 664 million in 2023.
In the first half of 2025 it posted RMB 444 million, putting full year expectations around RMB 877 million.
Gross margins rose from 26.6% up to 34.7%. In a snack sector where margins often contract, that’s rare.
And the overall market is huge. China’s “IP fun snack” segment hit around RMB 35.4 billion in 2023 and is forecast to rise to RMB 84.9 billion by 2029 (CAGR about 18.5%).
Takeaway
Here’s the irony. In a business built on small ticket, impulse buys, Jintian found a way to make “cheap snacks” feel premium by selling not just sugar but identity.
Instead of racing on cost, they raced on culture. The lesson for international entrepreneurs: when even cookie margins cry “me too,” pick the lane where you’re not just producing but narrating.
Chocolate + brand + fandom = a business less about calories and more about resonance. And in China’s manufacturing hubs, that kind of narrative edge may matter more than the factory floor. (All images in this article were AI-generated)
