On January 11th, in Magdeburg, Germany, Chen Juanjuan from Chenzhou, Hunan discovered a snack from her hometown of Hunan - Jingzai Xiaoyu Gan - at a supermarket here. In China, dried fish is one of Chen Juanjuan's favorite snacks, but after coming to Germany, this habit had to be interrupted.

▲ Jingzai Xiaoyu snacks on the shelves of a supermarket in Magdeburg, Germany (provided by the interviewee)

The EU has implemented strict quarantine standards for food from third countries, especially meat products. Therefore, when she returned to Germany, she did not bring local specialties such as dried fish and cured meat from her hometown. When Chen Juanjuan saw the packaging prominently printed with "Made in Hunan", she was not only excited, but also felt a surge of excitement and pride in her heart.

Later, Chen Juanjuan learned that as early as 2020, Jinzai Food had successfully obtained the registration qualification with the European Union, becoming the first fish snack enterprise in Hunan to register with the European Union.

▲ In Magdeburg, Germany, Chen Juanjuan takes a photo of herself holding a snack of Jingzai fish that she bought at the supermarket (provided by the interviewee)

Foreign supermarkets can buy dried small fish from my hometown

The appearance of dried fish in German supermarkets reflects the continuous development of Hunan's snack industry and the influence of going global beyond Hunan.
As a native of Hunan, I am extremely proud that the products from my hometown can go abroad and enter the international market, "Chen Juanjuan told reporters. 

Nowadays, there are more and more" Chinese style "foods in German supermarkets, including food, snacks, seasonings, vegetables, fruits, beverages, and even crayfish. In addition to consoling the nostalgia of Chinese in Germany, they also opened the eyes of Germans.

Like Chen Juanjuan, Changsha Yazi Xiaodeng, who is studying in Australia, has gradually become accustomed to searching for local flavors in supermarkets abroad. Having a Hunan stomach, snacks must also be the taste of hometown. Eating familiar snacks is really like going home! "Changsha Yazi Xiaodeng, who is studying abroad in Australia, told reporters that he can buy many hometown specialties in supermarkets in Australia. And Xiao Deng not only bought it for himself to taste, but also enthusiastically "sold" it to foreign friends, making the brand of his hometown known to more people.

Jinzai Xiaoyu has sold a total of 11 billion bags worldwide

The dried fish that Chen Juanjuan bought in Germany comes from the well-known leisure snack brand Jinzai in Hunan. The initial prototype of this small fish was a delicacy called "fire baked fish" from the hometown of Zhou Jinsong, the founder of Jinzai.

In 2010, Zhou Jinsong founded Jinzai Food in his hometown Yueyang and named the product "Jinzai" after his own name. After its launch, it became very popular in the market and the business grew bigger and bigger.

▲ Picture: Production line of Jinzai Deep Sea Fish Production Base in Pingjiang, Yueyang, Hunan (provided by respondents)

At present, Jinzai Xiaoyu has been ranked first in the leisure fish products industry for seven consecutive years, supporting half of the company's revenue and selling over 11 billion packs worldwide.

Zhou Jinsong told the Xiaoxiang Morning Post reporter that Jinzai has not only firmly grasped the domestic market, but also made healthy snacks a shining business card in China, exported to many countries around the world, and achieved a leap from a local brand to an international brand.

It is worth mentioning that based on insights into the international market, Jinzai considers aesthetic differences around the world and incorporates more international design elements to launch the overseas brand "Jin's Jinzai".

At present, the "Jin's Jinzai" brand products cover many powerful products, such as deep-sea small fish, quail eggs, dried tofu, konjac, vegetarian steak, etc. In the first three quarters of 2024, overseas self operated export sales increased by over 100% year-on-year. Currently, the products have been exported to about 40 countries and regions around the world, including Germany, the United States, and Japan.

How to conquer the 'international stomach' with Chinese flavor

In recent years, many domestic snack brands have not only responded to competition in the domestic market, but also "going out" to find new growth has become a new choice.

Facing the vast overseas market, Zhou Jinsong believes that for leisure food enterprises, opportunities and challenges coexist in going global.

On the one hand, Chinese culinary culture has a long and rich history. Hunan cuisine, which is the first of the eight major cuisines, has a wide consumer base. The development space of Hunan style snacks that have come down from the dining table is vast, and they are widely popular among overseas Chinese communities. At the same time, they also attract many young international friends to try them out.

On the other hand, exploring localization based on overseas regional culture also provides a way for domestic enterprises to develop products such as mustard and turkey flavors to meet the diverse needs of local people.

Of course, developing overseas markets also puts higher requirements on enterprises, such as product standards, production processes or procedures that meet the relevant requirements or certifications of exporting countries, and ensuring logistics and services in overseas markets. Zhou Jinsong introduced that Changsha Customs and Yueyang Customs actively promote the export of Jinzai Food according to the needs of enterprise development, help the company standardize and improve internal management systems and import and export business processes, and provide targeted optimization suggestions for enterprise management, making Jinzai's two companies the first batch of food private enterprises in Hunan Province to obtain advanced certification. According to data from Yueyang Customs, the export of fish and snack products in Yueyang will experience significant growth in 2024. From January to September 2024, Yueyang exported a total of 6.427 million yuan worth of fish snacks, a year-on-year increase of 111.9%. The products were mainly sold to the United States, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, and Hong Kong, China.

Xiaoxiang Morning Post · Chili Finance Reporter Chen Shixian