This article only represents the author's own views.

Investors gobbled up “stay-at-home” concept companies like Guoquan Food (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. (2517.HK), a supplier of ready-made hotpot ingredients, during the pandemic. But in the current era where people are spending more time outside, such companies are finding themselves with a case of post-pandemic indigestion.

Guoquan served up a view of that indigestion in its maiden annual results released at the end of last month, following its listing in Hong Kong last November. Demand for the company’s do-it-yourself (DIY) ingredients dropped last year as more people returned to restaurant dining, causing Guoquan’s revenue to decline 15% to 6.09 billion yuan ($842 million) from 7.17 billion yuan in 2022. Such shrinkage was a far cry from the 20.4% year-on-year increase in China’s overall food and beverage sales last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, showing the DIY eating market is losing ground to traditional outside dining.