Sanquan Foods (SZSE: 002216), one of China’s largest frozen-food companies, has formally entered the pet food business by establishing Shanghai Mini Family Pet Food Co., Ltd. as a 100%-owned subsidiary. The company was registered on July 27, 2026 with a registered capital of RMB 3 million (~US$420,000) and a broad business scope spanning pet food and supplies wholesale and retail, biological feed R&D, feed additive sales, and import/export of goods.
The new subsidiary adopts a deliberately light-asset model: locating the entity in Shanghai to attract product planning, brand operations, and e-commerce channel teams in a consumer-facing environment, while keeping the registered capital low to avoid heavy plant investment. The strategy is to use contract manufacturing and small-scale pilots for market validation before committing to dedicated production capacity, with Li Qiang serving as the legal representative.
The move is driven by three consecutive years of revenue contraction at Sanquan, with 2025 revenue of RMB 6.541 billion (-1.38% YoY) and a 2025 net dealer attrition of 606 partners (564 of which came from southern China). The frozen-food and pre-prepared-meal categories are saturated, pushing the company to explore adjacencies where its cold-chain, food-safety, R&D, and channel expertise can be redeployed.
Sanquan joins an accelerating wave of Chinese food industry leaders entering the pet food category in 2024-2026, including Wens Foodstuff (which made a strategic investment in Qingdao Shuang’an Biotechnology and reiterated its pet food commitment on August 4), Shuanghui Development, Delisi, and Sunner Development. The China pet food market reached RMB 167.9 billion in 2025 with 5.9% YoY growth, faster than the overall pet industry’s 4.1% growth, making it the fastest-growing sub-category for food giants seeking second-curve revenue.
For contract manufacturers, ingredient suppliers, brand operators, and equipment vendors, the wave creates a multi-year demand expansion for OEM and ODM services in pet fresh food, toppers, and complete diets, as Chinese food majors test consumer response and brand traction before committing the capex that Western CPG leaders have deployed.
