China's biggest snack retailer quietly tests a Hema/Sam's Club-style fresh-snack store

New concept store in Wuhan looks familiar — but who is behind it?

A new fresh-snack shop called You.Tuijian (有.推荐 / 有点推荐) opened in January in the basement of Wuhan Wushang Dream Times shopping centre, and it looks like a mash-up of Sam's Club, Hema (盒马) and independent fresh-food specialists. Shelves are lined with short‑shelf‑life snack boxes and ready‑to‑eat items — a format that mixes membership/warehouse selection, supermarket fresh counters and the curated, Instagram-friendly presentation younger shoppers chase. Is this a retail play or just another boutique? The format raises the obvious question: who is driving it.

It has been reported that the shop may be tied to snack retail giant MingMing Hen Mang (鸣鸣很忙 / 零食很忙). Public records on Tianyancha show the “You.Tuijian” trademark was registered on September 10, 2025, and two operating companies — Wuhan You.Tuijian Brand Management Co., Ltd and Changsha You.Tuijian Brand Management Co., Ltd — were established in December 2025. But there is no confirmed direct equity link between those companies and MingMing Hen Mang, and company insiders have denied a formal corporate relationship. Reportedly, however, core suppliers to MingMing have told retail-sector outlets that You.Tuijian is a low‑profile pilot within the MingMing ecosystem.

Why big snack chains and supermarkets are racing into fresh snacks

For Western readers: Hema (盒马) is Alibaba’s tech‑driven fresh supermarket concept and Sam’s Club is Walmart’s membership warehouse chain — both have pushed China’s market for fresh and short‑shelf‑life foods. The fresh‑snack (鲜食) segment differs sharply from packaged snacks. Typical fresh items carry 7–15 day shelf lives; some convenience fresh meals last only 24–36 hours. They require central‑kitchen hygiene standards, more hands‑on supply‑chain management and higher labor costs. Pre‑packaged incumbents like Master Kong or Uni-President still dominate long‑shelf snacks, but fresh‑food is comparatively unconsolidated — leaving room for supermarket private brands and agile independents to lead.

There’s a strategic logic to the move. Data from China’s National Brand Network show private‑label supermarket sales exceeded RMB 3.8 trillion in 2025 and penetration is rising; leading chains are using fresh formats to validate upstream supply‑chain capabilities and to shift from being mere channel providers to product owners. Consumers are also “returning” to offline shopping for items that must be seen and handled: freshness, look and taste matter in ways online descriptions cannot convey. In short: fresh snacks are a test of operational muscle, branding and real‑time product innovation — not merely another SKU.

Is You.Tuijian a “little account” to exercise MingMing’s supply chain and probe a valuable new category? It has been reported that suppliers and industry observers see it that way. Whether the experiment scales will depend on whether operators can control spoilage, keep turn rates up, and keep young customers coming back for the fast feedback loop that fresh‑snack success requires — an ecosystem where copycats and rapid iteration are the norm.