Erinome: Hello dear friends! Welcome to our podcast. Today, Enceladus and I are going to talk about a big story in China's snack industry. Have you heard of Juewei Food? You know, the "鸭脖 king"! They're in serious trouble lately.  

Enceladus: Oh right! I’ve seen their鸭脖 stores everywhere before. What happened? Did they do something wrong?  

Erinome: Yes! Last month, Juewei got "ST" on the stock market. Do you know what ST means? It’s like a "special treatment" tag—warning investors the company has risks.  

Enceladus: Wow, ST? That sounds bad. Why did that happen? Financial problems?  

Erinome: Exactly! The Hunan Securities Regulatory Bureau said Juewei didn’t report some income correctly from 2017 to 2021. You know, when they opened new franchise stores, the stores needed装修. But Juewei didn’t count that装修 income in their reports.  

Enceladus: Wait, they hid income? Most companies lie about more income, not less! That’s strange.  

Erinome: Haha, right! People call it "reverse fraud". The missed income was 5.48% in 2017, then 3.79%, 2.20%, 2.39%, 1.64% in 2021. Over five years, that’s probably hundreds of millions!  

Enceladus: How did they hide it? Did they put the money under the bed?  

Erinome: No, worse! The former CFO asked employees to use their personal bank accounts. So the装修 money went through these private accounts, not the company’s official books. That’s against the rules!  

Enceladus: Oh no! So the regulators处罚 (chǔfá - punished) them?  

Erinome: Yes! The company got a 4 million yuan fine. The chairman and CEO, Dai Wenjun, got 2 million. The ex-CFO Peng Caigang got 1.5 million, and the ex-board secretary 1 million. Total 8.5 million!  

Enceladus: That’s a lot! But why not delist?  

Erinome: The problem isn’t "super serious" enough for delisting. But the ST tag still hurt. Their stock name changed to "ST Juewei" and became a hot search.  

Enceladus: Did they say sorry?  

Erinome: They apologized in a公告 (gōnggào - announcement) and said they’ll fix the problems, hoping to remove the ST tag soon. But that’s not all—their business is also struggling!  

Enceladus: Oh no, really? How bad?  

Erinome: Let’s look at 2025 first half results. Revenue was 2.82 billion yuan, down 15.57% from last year. Net profit? 175 million yuan, down 40.71%! And "扣非净利润" (kòufēi jìnglìrùn - non-net profit) dropped 52.6%—almost half!  

Enceladus: Wow, that’s a big drop! What about their stores? I thought they had so many.  

Erinome: Sad news here. In June 2024, they had 14,969 stores in China. But by September 2025? Only 10,725 left! Over 4,000 stores closed, mostly this year. 73 are even "paused" now.  

Enceladus: Why are stores closing? Don’t people want鸭脖 anymore?  

Erinome: Maybe the franchise model is broken. In 2024 first half, each store made about 223,100 yuan. That’s way lower than new tea shops, so fewer people want to open Juewei franchises now.  

Enceladus: Oh right! I remember they had a "10 billion revenue dream". Did they reach it?  

Erinome: Hahaha, no. In 2022, they set a goal: 2025 revenue 10.937 billion yuan. But this year, first half only 2.82 billion—less than 30% done. The dream is totally over.  

Enceladus: Why is their business so weak? Is卤味 (lǔwèi - braised food) not popular now?  

Erinome: Competition is fierce! Other brands like Zhou Hei Ya started selling coconut water, and Huang Shang Huang makes freeze-dried food. They’re trying new things. But Juewei? They still only focus on卤味, no big changes.  

Enceladus: So they didn’t keep up with trends? What about监管? Is this why they got ST?  

Erinome: Yes! Regulators are super strict now. Before, they mostly checked companies that "fake more profit". But Juewei did the opposite—hid income! Regulators said, "No! Any lying is bad!" So they gave ST quickly.  

Enceladus: Did investors worry? What did they ask?  

Erinome: Investors asked, "Are your franchise stores collapsing? Will you change your business model?" Juewei said they’ll "focus on卤味, try new scenes and better operations". But…  

Enceladus: But it’s hard, right? With fewer stores and lower income.  

Erinome: Exactly! They spent more on ads—92.31 million yuan in first half, up 14.2 million. But sales still dropped. Their sales cost rate went up to 10%—wasting money!  

Enceladus: Some people say big investors like social security funds bought their stocks. Did that help?  

Erinome: Funny thing! Social security funds bought 10 million shares by June 2025. But the stock still dropped. Maybe even "big players" can’t save them now.  

Enceladus: Hmm… So what’s next for Juewei? Can they fix this?  

Erinome: Hard to say. They need to fix their finances first—redo reports, follow rules for a year to remove ST. But the real problem is their business: fewer stores, low store income, no new ideas

Enceladus: It’s a lesson, right? Companies must be honest with finances and keep up with the market

Erinome: Totally! Regulators won’t let any cheating pass now. And for businesses, just "old products" aren’t enough—you need to change with customers