Amid sluggish box office, the Chinese conglomerate expand businesses to the tea industry
Chinese Dalian Wanda Group (002739) is moving forward with trademark applications around "Wancha," literally Wan Tea (Chinese: 万茶). The filing covers beers, instant food, and kitchen utensils.
The applications are yet to be reviewed, according to Tianyancha, a business registration information provider.
This is not the first time for the conglomerate to tap into the tea industry. As early as September 2020, Wan Tea shops exceeded 70 across the country, appearing in Wanda Cinemas. Its milk tea is priced at CNY 19 (USD 2.967), while cheese tea and fruit tea cost CNY 26.
"Diversification is the future trend of cinemas. This type of operation can offer more functions and services in a limited space," said Lai Yang, a business expert, on Tuesday. "This can bring new profit opportunities to Wanda Cinemas."
The move came as cinema operators faced dwindling profits. In the first quarter of 2022, China's movie box office was about CNY 14 billion, down 23% from CNY 18.1 billion in the same period of the previous year.
According to Wanda Cinemas' earnings report, the company reported a net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company of CNY 90 million to CNY 130 million in 2021, compared to a loss of CNY 6.67 billion for the listed company in the same period in 2020.
Besides Wanda's efforts, giants across various industries started their offline tea shops, for example, Chinese canned herbal tea brand Wong Lo Kat (Chinese: 王老吉), bottled drink company Wahaha (Chinese: 娃哈哈), China Post and China Railway Guangzhou Group.