Yiming Food’s East China franchise network shrinks by 99 stores in first nine months as stock write-off liability draws attention

Yiming Food’s latest operating figures show a franchise network undergoing adjustment alongside falling profits. In the first nine months of 2026, the company recorded a net decline of 99 franchised stores in East China, while revenue from its franchised-store channel also fell. For prospective franchisees considering the Chinese market, these figures highlight why assessing an opportunity requires more than counting new openings: closures and responsibility for day-to-day stock losses also need scrutiny.

East China franchise network falls to 1,466 stores

According to a report published by financial information platform Tonghuashun on 19 October, Yiming Food had 1,466 franchised stores in East China at the end of the third quarter, a net reduction of 99 since the start of the year. During the third quarter, 88 stores opened and 111 closed, producing a net decline of 23.

New stores continued to open, but not quickly enough to offset closures. These figures cover franchised stores in East China and should not be treated as a measure of changes across all the company’s store formats. The report identified franchisees leaving amid mounting operating pressure as one reason for closures, rather than attributing every closure to the same cause.

Franchise-channel revenue declines again

In the first nine months, Yiming Food’s revenue from its core business through franchised stores was RMB665 million, down 3.08% year on year. Revenue in this channel fell 4.93% in 2024, edged up 0.19% in 2025 and returned to decline in the first nine months of 2026.

The company’s overall performance was also under pressure. According to a report published by Foodmate on 15 October, Yiming Food’s third-quarter revenue was approximately RMB689 million, down 7.34% year on year. It recorded a net loss attributable to shareholders of the parent company of RMB5.21 million, compared with a profit of RMB14.20 million a year earlier.

However, a quarterly loss does not mean the company was loss-making over the full nine-month period. Revenue for the first nine months was approximately RMB2.079 billion, with net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company of around RMB33.80 million, down 27.17% year on year. The company attributed the third-quarter profit decline to a combination of lower revenue and the resulting reduction in gross profit, alongside a year-on-year fall in non-operating income.

What does outright purchasing mean for franchisees’ liability?

The report published by Tonghuashun also stated that Yiming Food franchisees must sell only products made or authorised by the company and may not sell products purchased from other sources. The company supplies franchised stores on an outright-purchase basis, with franchisees bearing losses on stock written off.

This means that the difference between the purchase price and the retail price is not the store’s final profit. Stock write-offs, rent, staffing, utilities and other expenses must also be included in financial projections. Equally, a decline in the company’s franchise-channel revenue does not directly establish whether any individual franchise is profitable. The available figures are insufficient to assess the operating results of every store.

Assess the opportunity through store-level accounts

At the company’s first-half results briefing in 2024, management had already noted that franchisees faced significant operating pressure and were becoming more cautious about investment. New openings had slowed moderately, while some established stores had closed in response to pressures including rent and employee social insurance costs.

Practical takeaway: prospective franchisees should check regional opening and closure records, supply restrictions and stock write-off clauses together, and factor stock losses and fixed costs into cash-flow forecasts. Neither the franchisor’s channel revenue nor the number of new openings should be treated as a promise of profit at an individual store.