China’s Internet Companies Get Cooking (Part 2) – JD's 7Fresh Kitchen
Will robots take over the kitchen?
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Things that caught our attention
Meituan’s acquisition of Dingdong Maicai
Instant retail market consolidation: Meituan acquires Dingdong, a deeper analysis by Ed Sander on his new Substack ‘China Digital Retail Report’.
“Chinese robotics companies only (or mostly) do dancing robots.” Or do they?
Introduction
Last week, we started the exploration of a new trend in food delivery: China’s internet companies setting up centralised kitchens, either self-operated or by various third parties. We learned how Meituan started brand satellite stores, food-collection stores, business-district takeaway aggregation, and, most importantly, ‘Raccoon Canteen’. Meanwhile, in the south of China, front-end warehouse grocery company Pupu Supermarket opened its first Pupu Kitchen.
It’s part of a trend in which food-delivery and instant-retail companies move up the supply chain. On the one hand, this is seen as a new growth path; on the other, it aims to address a pain point in a sector where ‘dark kitchens’ have eroded trust in the quality and safety of delivered meals.
In this second and last part of this report, we will continue with a thorough explanation and assessment of JD’s 7Fresh Kitchen and how it compares to Raccoon Kitchen. The information in these reports is drawn from more than 10 expert interviews and more than 20 articles from Chinese tech and business media.
The first part of this report, which describes the concept of 7Fresh Kitchen and includes video footage I captured, is available to all subscribers. The second half, which includes an assessment of 7Fresh and a comparison with last week’s Raccoon Kitchen, is available to paid subscribers only.
For those who are celebrating it, have a wonderful Spring Festival!
Ed Sander, Tech Research Analyst
P.S. This is my penultimate report for Tech Buzz China. In the future, you can follow me at ‘China Digital Retail Report’. Tech Buzz China will continue to report on China’s internet companies, but I will focus exclusively on retail-related topics and post more frequently and in different formats on China Digital Retail Report.
On with the report …
JD.com’s 7Fresh
In the instant retail sector, JD.com’s focus is on its 7Fresh brand, aiming to compete with Hema (Freshippo). Ironically, Hema was founded by a former JD manager, the now-resigned CEO Hou Yi, after his idea was initially rejected by JD. 7Fresh was later established as JD’s answer to Alibaba’s Hema. But it has never really been able to keep pace with Hema.
Currently, there are 72 7Fresh stores nationwide, including 55 supermarkets and 17 lifestyle stores. 7Fresh opens one to two new stores every three months, with a maximum of eight stores per year. However, of these 72 stores, relatively few are profitable, even without equipment depreciation and R&D expenses. The main purpose of opening new stores is to adjust business strategies and increase the proportion of categories such as catering and alcohol.
7Fresh’s business model comprises self-operated fresh-food supermarkets and, more recently, front-end warehouses. But that’s a topic for another day …
A 7Fresh Supermarket in Wucai Shopping Centre, Beijing (2018)
A new 7Fresh in Shanghai (2024).
7Fresh Kitchen
At a media conference on the evening of June 17 2025, Liu Qiangdong (Richard Liu), founder and chairman of JD, said that JD’s foray into meal delivery was meant to lay the groundwork for its underlying supply chain. “JD.com does all its business around the supply chain. If we can achieve a three-way split in the food delivery market, where restaurants don’t need to choose sides, and no platform has the ability to force them to choose one or the other, then the final competition will still come down to who has better costs, lower prices, and better service quality.”
“Today, what everyone sees is our competition with Meituan in the food delivery market, but the underlying logic is actually the fresh food supply chain. That’s what I truly want. Selling food directly to customers will never make money; I want to make money through the supply chain. (..) In a month, as everyone here today will see, our food delivery service will adopt a completely different business model from Meituan's. I’ll keep you in suspense for now; we’ll meet in a month.” [1]
It soon became clear what he was referring to…
In early 2025, JD entered the food delivery business, which we extensively covered. In July 2025, when a fierce war broke out between Meituan and Taobao/Ele.me, JD.com’s food delivery business faced intensified competition, primarily due to Alibaba’s advantages in capital and market share. To address this challenge, JD adopted a strategy of establishing its own kitchens to attract market attention and provide consumers with new options.
In the early days of its entry into the food delivery market, JD.com attempted to attract high-quality merchants through a conventional platform model but encountered challenges. On the one hand, Meituan’s first-mover advantage made it difficult for high-quality merchants to easily abandon their existing interests on the Meituan platform and switch to JD.com’s food delivery platform. On the other hand, JD.com’s relatively low initial user traffic and market awareness limited its appeal to high-quality merchants. [2]
To address this dilemma, JD.com adopted a different approach and entered the high-quality food delivery market. On 20th July 2025, it opened its first 7Fresh Kitchen (七鲜小厨Qixian Xiaochu) in Beijing. The leader of the 7Fresh Kitchen project, Liu Bin, called it “the biggest supply chain model innovation in the catering takeaway industry in the past 15 years.”
Through the innovative 7Fresh Kitchen model, JD sought to circumvent direct competition with Meituan among existing high-quality merchants on the traditional platform model and instead establish its own high-quality food delivery system. JD hoped to leverage its strong supply chain integration capabilities, financial strength, and strict quality control to create a differentiated, high-quality food delivery service, thereby carving out its own niche in the high-quality food delivery market. [2]
Facing quality issues in the food delivery industry, JD.com is seeking to replicate its product quality-control experience and expertise in this sector. By creating its own high-quality food delivery services, JD.com attempts to reshape the industry’s quality standards. This new approach aims to re-establish a quality benchmark, strengthen JD’s brand recognition among consumers, expand its brand influence, and drive its transformation from an e-commerce giant into a comprehensive lifestyle services platform. [2]
7Fresh Kitchen said it aims to be not only a trustworthy, affordable takeout store but also a community pickup canteen that can withstand the test of time in offline traffic. It aims to solve two problems: [4]
Help consumers solve the food safety problems caused by ‘dark kitchens’ and make them delicious, cheap, clean and hygienic through supply chain innovation, so that low-quality restaurants are completely eliminated from the market.
Help merchants who stick to the quality of their restaurants make money, and work with them to sell their signature dishes across the country to obtain sustained good returns.
The first store's average daily orders exceeded 1,000 within a week of launch, and its three-day repurchase rate was 220% higher than the industry average. [5]
JD’s first 7Fresh Kitchen in Changbao Building (Dongcheng District, Beijing), October 2025.
Dish Partners
On July 22nd, JD.com officially launched its ‘Dish Partner’ recruitment program, announcing a plan to invest over RMB 10 billion over the next three years to build 10,000 7Fresh Kitchens. Furthermore, JD.com said it would invest RMB 1 billion in cash to recruit 1,000 ‘signature dish partners’. [3]
7Fresh Kitchen isn’t a collection of merchant kitchens like Meituan’s Racoon Canteen, which we discussed last week. Instead, it is a self-operated kitchen that prepares dishes in the (subsidised) RMB 10-20 range, developed by third parties. [4] JD positions this new model as a ‘joint quality catering production platform’. JD recruits recipes from catering merchants and brands, and the latter participate in dish development as ‘dish partners’. Chefs and catering chains can provide JD with ‘innovative recipes’, and JD will do the rest. JD is responsible for all aspects of the store’s raw materials, rent, manpower, and other business operations, and both parties share the sales results.
7Fresh Kitchen claims its pioneering ‘dish partnership’ model holds unique appeal. For restaurant brands and chefs, simply providing recipes and participating in R&D, without the burden of operating costs such as opening a restaurant or hiring staff, allows them to share in dish sales. Each dish partner receives a guaranteed minimum share of RMB 1 million, significantly lowering the barrier to entry and encouraging participation from high-quality restaurant operators. This model also enables 7Fresh Kitchen to bring together a wide range of high-quality dishes, enriching its product offerings and satisfying consumers’ diverse tastes. [2]
JD primarily considers influence when selecting chefs or influencers for collaboration. They are willing to provide financial support to influential individuals, such as state-level chefs or well-known internet celebrities. JD may even seek to collaborate with iconic figures such as Huang Laohan from the immensely popular TV Series ‘A Bite of China’. The company doesn’t provide financial support to ordinary or unknown chefs. Funding is primarily used for brand promotion and endorsement partnerships. In this way, JD assesses the potential impact of these collaborations on brand promotion.
While JD claimed that on July 22nd, 7.000 chefs had already signed up to be a partner, the media were sceptical. They questioned if JD wouldn’t run off with the IP of these recipes. However, JD said its goal was to work with outstanding restaurant businesses to regain business from ‘dark kitchens’ that should belong to them. Subsequent dish sales will continue to be shared above the guaranteed RMB 1 million, with no upper limit. [4] Still, with 7,000 applicants, one has to wonder how many dishes 7Fresh Kitchen would offer…
When choosing a location for a store, JD would fully consider the supply situation and locations of their partners nearby and choose more places where ‘dark kitchens’ orders account for a higher proportion instead of partners’ stores and help partners to increase their business instead of snatching existing business. JD also said that, since a meal costs less than RMB 20, the market it was competing in was not the full-service restaurant market with average customer orders of RMB 30-50. [4] This sounded like 7Fresh Kitchen was setting itself up as an alternative to Meituan’s Pinhaofan ‘meal deals’, which would go against JD’s claim of offering ‘high-quality dishes’.
Robot Frying
7Fresh Kitchen uses machine frying to improve efficiency and achieve standardised production, ensuring consistency while preserving each dish’s unique flavours. However, machine frying may have limitations in simulating the cooking techniques and seasoning precision of human chefs. If the flavours of dishes fail to gain widespread consumer acceptance, their market competitiveness will be impacted. Meeting consumers’ demand for diverse, personalised culinary experiences remains a challenge that requires continuous exploration and resolution. [2]
I took the following footage at a 7Fresh Kitchen in Beijing in October 2025.
As all 7Fresh Kitchens have livestreams of their operations, it’s relatively easy to have a look at their operations. I spent some time virtually visiting stores, reviewing different cameras, and came back more concerned than before. A few thoughts:
All the cameras I reviewed, including a store with multiple cameras, are pointed at the cooking robots. But what I’m actually most worried about is the behaviour of the humans, away from the robots.
Some locations I livestreamed did not have the robot cooking anything, even though it was close to lunchtime.
I watched 3 dishes being made, including what appeared to be a relatively simple egg & tomato stir-fry. In the video below, you can see the following:
0:00 – 1:53 – location 1, cleaning after previous dish
1:53 – 6:35 – location 1, preparing dish
6:35 – 7:40 – location 1, cleaning
7:40 – 12:51 – location 2, preparing dish
12:51 – 14:49 – location 2, cleaning
14:49 – 21:52 - location 3, preparing dish
On average, preparing these three stir-fried dishes and a cleaning cycle took more than 7 minutes. This does not include packing for delivery. While one person can operate multiple robots, I wonder how much more efficient this process is, especially when accounting for the robots' costs and maintenance. Based on these estimates, a single robot can complete fewer than 9 dishes per hour. I wonder how many robots one human can operate at a time.
There’s still significant human labour involved, especially during the cleaning cycle.
The cleaning process was the most concerning part. You can see how there is still residue of previous dishes on the robot’s spatulas and how there is spilt food in the area where the trays are put. While a significant amount of water is used to rinse the woks, I wonder how much residue stays behind. I have no doubt that the robots are cleaned more thoroughly during less busy times of the day, but imagine having a serious allergy to an ingredient in the previous dish…
Supply Chain & Quality Control
JD claims to offer all the essential aspects for food delivery: affordability, quality, and safety. The core of 7Fresh Kitchen lies in supply chain restructuring. While restaurant brands or chefs merely provide recipes and participate in R&D, JD manages the entire chain, including site selection, store development, supply chain, and operations. The entire process, from direct sourcing to store pre-processing, is standardized. Combined with transparent kitchens and robotic cooking technology, 7Fresh emphasises live cooking, eliminating pre-prepared dishes. [3]
JD aims to establish a pre-processed vegetable supply chain to address food safety issues and to collaborate with partners to develop standardised dishes better suited to takeout. It aims to reduce the number of times fresh ingredients are handled from farm to restaurant and minimise spoilage through centralised procurement and processing in the central kitchen. [6]
JD.com reports it has a significant advantage in the supply chain. From procurement and transportation to delivery, it will be able to reduce costs across every link in the future. Even if it invests in dish development, food procurement, and hygiene management, it can still offer users very affordable prices. JD claims to have supply-chain scale advantages, and it can provide better food safety. From a user-experience perspective, JD can leverage its supply chain advantages to price its products at very low levels. A high-quality, large-portion rice bowl is priced below RMB 20.
7Fresh Kitchen’s food supply chain is strictly screened, and it selects only major brands and guaranteed suppliers. For condiments, rice, flour, grains, and oil, it leverages JD.com’s existing advantages by partnering with major brands, including COFCO, China Salt, and Wilmar.
JD closely monitors five aspects: supply chain, processing procedures, personnel hygiene, environmental management, and food standards. All supplier information is made public; food ingredients are maintained in a cold chain throughout the process; operators strictly adhere to handwashing and disinfection procedures; and only raw materials that have passed inspection are selected. [7]
For meat and vegetables, supplying factories perform washing, cutting, centralised production, and sealed packaging of ingredients. Compared with the traditional model, 7Fresh Kitchen’s model eliminates in-store washing, cutting, and preparation, reducing the hygiene issues common in traditional restaurants. [4]
JD says its rigorous quality control is embedded in every aspect of 7Fresh Kitchen’s operations. From ingredient sourcing to standardised production processes, 40 high-standard inspections and quarantines throughout the entire process, and regular disinfection inspections in collaboration with professional health management agencies, 7Fresh Kitchen guarantees the quality and safety of its dishes. Furthermore, 7Fresh Kitchen utilises an open kitchen and livestreams from it, allowing consumers to observe the food preparation process (as seen in the video above), strengthening their trust in the quality. [2]
JD chose the open location for the first 7Fresh store intentionally, rather than ‘hiding’ it in a closed residential building. JD was very confident in opening it to everyone for review and inspection. [4] I went there and took some of the photos and videos shared in this report.
In an interview, Liu Bin, head of JD.com’s 7FRESH Kitchen, said, “Innovation is never easy, and this kind of disruptive innovation must have many shortcomings when it first comes out. We are also very willing to accept supervision and suggestions from all walks of life and sincerely hope to work with everyone to do a good job in this matter, so that users can eat better and merchants can earn more.” [4]
Fulfillment
Orders can be placed online for delivery or pickup. Delivery within a 3-kilometre radius will be handled through JD Takeaway, but at launch, JD said it hadn’t ruled out making its service available on competitors’ platforms in the future. [4] This already occurred on October 14th 2025, when 7Fresh Kitchen became available on Meituan Waimai and Taobao Instant Commerce. [8] Indeed, when I visited one of the 7Fresh Kitchen locations in October, there were pickup shelves for all major delivery platforms (red = JD, blue = Ele.me, yellow = Meituan).
Pick-up orders for various delivery platforms (JD, Eleme and Meituan). Note how most orders are for JD Takeout. (October 2025, Beijing)
By October, 7Fresh Kitchen’s Changbao Building store in Beijing had already exceeded 2,000 monthly orders on Taobao Instant Commerce and surpassed 400 monthly orders on Meituan Waimai. Each player has their own reasons for this cooperation. 7Fresh Kitchen needs user traffic; Meituan needs to improve the service quality offered by its merchants; and Taobao Instant Commerce can capitalise on the opportunity to expand its business ecosystem. [8]
7Fresh Kitchen has also become a key entry point for JD’s hotel and tourism business in its ‘AI/Robot + Food + Accommodation’ initiative. Hotel dining areas often experience low space utilisation and limited revenue. JD hopes to improve efficiency and increase revenue by introducing 7Fresh Kitchen into hotels. On September 9th 2025, JD and Jinjiang Hotels reached a strategic partnership, with 7Fresh Kitchen launching in October at select Jinjiang Inn, Magnolia, and 7 Days Inn hotels in Beijing. [9]
In December 2025, it was reported that 7Fresh Kitchen, in conjunction with Longtan Street in Dongcheng District, Beijing, had built a full-chain service of ‘online ordering - offline delivery - financial payment’. Together, they have created a ‘15-minute elderly meal assistance service circle’ to deliver meals to homes or to service nodes such as elderly care stations and smart meal lockers in the street. [10]
Assessment of 7Fresh Kitchen
The assessment of 7Fresh Kitchen below was conducted in July 2025, shortly after its launch, by a former JD 7Fresh Supply Chain Efficiency Operations Expert.
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