Chinese tea chain GoodMe will soon bring its ready-to-drink beverages into retail channels. Its first launch cities will be Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Wenling, and Hangzhou.

GoodMe launched ready-to-drink beverages in December 2025, though sales were limited to its own stores. It has introduced four products so far: apple juice, kale juice, Thai mandarin orange juice, and seven-ingredient fruit and vegetable juice. All use HPP technology.

HPP, short for high-pressure processing, is a nonthermal preservation method used in juice production. It is designed to preserve a taste closer to freshly squeezed juice without relying on heat treatment. But HPP equipment requires significant upfront investment, and the process requires products to be kept refrigerated at a constant temperature throughout the supply chain. Most HPP juice brands in China rely on third-party contract manufacturers.

A person familiar with the channel told 36Kr that GoodMe’s retail-bound products will be HPP apple juice in a 260-gram format and HPP seven-ingredient fruit and vegetable juice, also in a 260-gram format. Their wholesale procurement costs are RMB 108 (USD 15.9) per case, or RMB 4.5 (USD 0.7) per bottle, and RMB 132 (USD 19.4) per case, or RMB 5.5 (USD 0.8) per bottle, respectively. The final retail prices will be RMB 9.9 (USD 1.5) and RMB 11.9 (USD 1.7) per bottle. Compared with GoodMe’s stores, both products will cost RMB 2 (USD 0.3) more in retail channels.

36Kr has also learned that GoodMe plans to enter channels including Laopo Daren, Yonghui Superstores, and Shizu, spanning snack discount stores, supermarkets, and convenience stores. Like GoodMe, Laopo Daren and Shizu both originated in Zhejiang and have deep roots in the province.

It is not unusual for freshly made tea beverage companies to move into ready-to-drink products. What sets GoodMe apart, according to 36Kr, is that it makes HPP ready-to-drink products and operates its own HPP production line. The ready-to-drink products launched by Heytea and Nayuki are shelf-stable products with longer shelf lives and are made by contract manufacturers rather than on self-built production lines. At present, GoodMe’s HPP juices are produced through both outsourced manufacturing and its own production lines. Its factory is operated by Zhejiang Guoru Food Technology.

HPP products must remain refrigerated throughout the supply chain and have short shelf lives, placing heavy demands on cold chain logistics. For freshly made tea brands, HPP juice is more often used on the business-to-business side as a drink base supplied to stores, serving as an upgrade option for fruit tea and fruit-infused coffee products. Heytea’s seasonal fruit drinks and fruit and vegetable specials, as well as GoodMe’s “big orange Americano” and other fruit-infused coffee products, all use HPP juice bases.

GoodMe is taking a different approach. By launching HPP ready-to-drink products in its stores, it can reuse its in-house cold chain and HPP production capacity, putting the same assets to work across both store operations and packaged retail products. Among freshly made tea companies, GoodMe is also the only one that has made a heavy-asset investment in a self-operated cold chain network, according to 36Kr.

Now that the products are moving into retail channels, GoodMe’s HPP ready-to-drink beverages will shift from an in-store add-on to a standalone retail business.

In terms of end-market pricing, the two HPP ready-to-drink products GoodMe is preparing to launch in retail channels sit in the RMB 9.9–11.9 (USD 1.5–1.7) price band. Compared with HPP products in the same 260-gram format, VCleanse and Per Se are positioned higher, with prices above RMB 14 (USD 2.1). Nongfu Spring and Beibingyang only offer 300-milliliter formats. Converted to a 260-milliliter basis, their prices fall in the RMB 11–13 (USD 1.6–1.9) range, placing them in the mainstream midrange segment.

GoodMe is pricing its HPP apple juice at RMB 9.9, below competing products in distribution channels. The pricing suggests a familiar strategy: just as GoodMe has sought to build a reputation for quality at accessible prices in freshly made drinks, it is applying the same approach to ready-to-drink beverages.

Choosing HPP, a niche category, as its entry point is apparently a strategic move for GoodMe. It allows the company to avoid direct overlap with its peers while using its own factory and cold chain to build a pricing advantage. This may also explain why GoodMe has chosen to launch first through distribution channels in Zhejiang and Guangdong. These are the two regions where its store density is highest and where its cold chain is most developed, lowering marginal costs.

In recent years, GoodMe has moved into new businesses including coffee, bakery products, and ready-to-drink beverages. The company is using its store network and cold chain capability as the foundation for new revenue streams beyond its core milk tea business. As of December 31, 2025, GoodMe had 13,554 stores, according to 36Kr’s estimate.

But stores and retail channels are two different systems. By putting ready-to-drink products into distribution, GoodMe will face a new set of tests: moving from using spare capacity to meeting stable external demand, absorbing higher channel costs, coordinating inventory and supply chains once products leave its stores, managing longer turnover cycles, and controlling product loss for short-shelf-life HPP beverages.

KrASIA features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This article was written by Zhong Yixuan for 36Kr.

Note: RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of RMB 6.80 = USD 1 based on estimates as of July 10, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.