Source | Bohu Finance (bohuFN)
Author | Lynn
On September 12, Luo Yonghao posted on Weibo, “I tried it at the airport. The famous Mr. Savage is very average. Considering the price, it can even be said to be unpalatable. How did it become popular? It feels much more unpalatable than Zhong Xuegao. I miss Zhong Xuegao.”
Based on the painful lessons learned by Jia Guolong and Luo Yonghao, netizens reminded Mr. Savage to “don’t answer.” Mr. Savage listened to the advice, and on September 14th, “Mr. Savage Cold Treatment” topped the list of hot searches on Weibo.
On September 16, Mr. Savage’s official Weibo posted a message thanking everyone for their long-term concern and support for “Mr. Savage”. We will listen carefully to the opinions and suggestions of our customers, strive to do better, and bring more delicious Oriental Gelato to consumers.
Who is Mr. Savage? Why has another public opinion war started in the ice cream market?
01 The Hibernation and Running of Mr. Savage
In 2011, Cui Jianwei opened the first ice cream shop in Wudaokou, Beijing. In 2015, the Italian handmade gelato brand “Savage Farm” was officially launched.
As a traditional Italian handmade ice cream, Gelato is mainly made by hand and is famous for its low fat content and dense taste. This has also been the main feature of the brand since its establishment.
In 2018, when the brand expanded to forty or fifty stores across the country, it began to suffer massive losses due to out-of-control management radius. Cui Jianwei said, “That experience taught us that catering is an operation-focused industry, and blind expansion will only lead to chaos.”
After going through this stage, the brand began to re-examine its chain capabilities, pay more attention to the supply chain, emphasize store operation standards, control the pace of expansion, and establish a training system.
In 2023, the brand will begin to usher in an inflection point. This year, the brand carried out strategic challenges and upgraded from “Savage Mufang” to “Mr. Savage” in 2024, and opened franchises at the same time.
After the transformation, Mr. Savage has developed rapidly. From 2024 to 2025 alone, 1,160 stores will be opened in two years.
According to data from Narrow Door Restaurant, as of September 11, 2026, the number of Mr. Savage stores in operation nationwide has reached 1,712. According to other statistics, Mr. Savage’s expansion rate in the past year ranks first in the ice cream industry.
Behind the rapid development, Mr. Savage’s differentiated positioning, supply chain, and sales model are indispensable.
Mr. Savage adopts the differentiated positioning of “made first on the day and sold at different times”, so that consumers can see the ice cream making process on site.
This current positioning is due to Mr. Savage’s efforts in the supply chain. Among them, the midstream supply chain is the most valuable part of the Mr. Savage brand.
Mr. Savage adopts a model of pre-processing in a central factory and completing terminal production in stores: the factory first makes pasteurized fresh milk into frozen milk syrup, which is distributed through the cold chain; after defrosting in the store, fruits, nuts and other ingredients are added, and then an ice cream machine is used to complete the production.
In other words, Mr. Savage’s approach is to standardize raw materials, formulas, and move complex operations forward to the supply chain, while leaving simple operations to the stores. In this way, unstable raw materials are turned into stable formulas. After all, for a store with hundreds or thousands of stores, the stability of the formula is an indispensable part.
Relevant reports pointed out that it took Mr. Savage 15 years to complete this complete ecosystem of freshly made ice cream, from milk source on the farm to direct fruit harvesting, from equipment research and development to store training.
The innovation and change of the sales model is also the key to Mr. Savage’s successful breakthrough. In the past, industry brands generally displayed more than 20 flavors. Mr. Savage went the opposite direction and sold no more than 6 flavors at the same time, with more than a dozen flavors available throughout the day. The “less but better” strategy not only ensures the freshness of products, but also allows consumers to maintain a fresh experience.
In addition to the brand’s own advantages, the development stage of the market also plays an important role. Before Mr. Savage rises in 2023, Zhong Xuegao and other expensive ice creams are on their way out. Mr. Savage just fills this gap in the market and becomes a new choice for consumers.
Mr. Savage’s mission is to “bring ice cream back to beauty and soothe people’s hearts with ice cream.” However, it may take a long time to verify whether consumers are willing to continue to pay for this mission.
02 “Expensive”, can it stand the test?
Over the years, the ice cream market has undergone many changes, with more and more categories and forms and more diversified prices.
Cui Jianwei previously mentioned, “At that time, no one thought ice cream was an industry that could make a big business, and even many colleagues thought we were too serious.”
Looking at it today, this sincerity has allowed Mr. Savage to travel through multiple economic cycles and become the national brand it is today. But it’s hard to say that Mr. Savage has fully established himself.
In recent years, the ice cream market has shown a common problem: many brands have come to high-end positioning and tried to open up new horizons in the high-end market, but most of them have failed.
Zhong Xuegao is a typical example.
Founded in 2018, Zhong Xuegao once positioned itself as a high-end Chinese ice cream brand. On Double Eleven in 2018, Zhong Xuegao’s “Ecuador Pink Diamond” limited edition ice cream sold out in 15 hours for 66 yuan each. In 2021, Zhong Xuegao’s sales exceeded 1 billion yuan, and his valuation once reached 4 billion yuan.
However, it didn’t take long for Zhong Xuegao to be labeled as the “Ice Cream Assassin”. Since then, Zhong Xuegao has slipped from the peak to the bottom, the founder has been restricted in height, and the brand has withdrawn from the market.
This year, Zhong Xuegao will restart the brand. The first batch of products are expected to be launched in the fourth quarter, priced at 6.9 yuan and 7.9 yuan. Compared with the previous retail price, it has been significantly reduced.
From ice cream assassin to affordable restart, Zhong Xuegao’s experience may also show that consumers may not need too expensive ice cream. According to a March 2025 iiMedia Consulting survey, 93.1% of consumers can only accept ice cream pricing below 20 yuan. What’s interesting is that this time Luo Yonghao cueed Mr. Savage, the reason why onlookers “stopped” Mr. Savage was actually “Mr. Savage’s half price after 21 o’clock”.
After Zhong Xuegao retired, Mr. Savage set off a new wave. In the final analysis, it is still related to “expensive”.
After entering the public eye in 2023, Mr. Savage has also been accompanied by many controversies, among which “expensive” is the main drawback.
Regarding the issue of excessive brand pricing, Cui Jianwei once mentioned that it was the savages who lowered the price of Gelato. Before Savage, it was common in this industry to sell an 80-gram ball for thirty or forty yuan. Savage sells 130 grams of ice cream for 28 yuan. In terms of average price per gram, Savage has significantly lowered the price of Gelato.
However, this is not the same as the outside experience.
According to statistics from Beijing News Shell Finance, Mr. Savage’s per capita consumption is about 26.74 yuan, which is lower than Venchi, Haagen-Dazs and Vola Gelato. In comparison, the per capita consumption of similar products launched by new tea brands such as DQ, Bobi Ice Cream and Heytea, Bawang Tea Ji is 14-26 yuan.
In other words, although Mr. Savage is not the most expensive, he is not close to the people either.
At the same time, Mr. Savage’s production model was controversial. Mr. Savage pre-makes some of the raw materials and emphasizes “freshly made”. This approach is similar to that of Xibei. Last year, Xibei fell into huge public opinion due to the brand’s prefabricated approach. How Mr. Savage does not follow the old path of Xibei is also a question that the brand needs to think deeply about.
From the perspective of market competition, Mr. Savage also faces very real problems. In the past, there were not many consumption options for Gelato, and there was scarcity value.
Today, more and more brands are joining this track to provide consumers with more choices.
According to public reports, at least 12 leading new tea and coffee brands have launched ice cream this year, launching nearly 100 gelato or related products. Heytea, Bawang Chaji, Naixue, Jasmine Milk White, etc. have entered the market one after another, selling similar products for around 20 yuan.
Obviously, as the market demand for gelato becomes more obvious, more and more brands choose to enter the market to get a piece of the pie. iiMedia Consulting data shows that the global Gelato market size increased from US$16.23 billion to US$25.08 billion from 2018 to 2025, and the market size is expected to exceed US$40.48 billion in 2035.
For Mr. Savage, the most direct challenge is whether Mr. Savage’s high prices can still be firmly chosen by consumers when they have more and more choices.
Luo Yonghao’s complaint may be just an accidental public opinion storm, but it has also truly sounded the alarm for Mr. Savage.
When gelato is no longer scarce, why does Mr. Savage sell it more expensive than others? When consumer choices become more and more abundant, how can Mr. Savage stabilize his consumer mind?
At that time, many people were willing to pay for Zhong Xuegao’s high prices, but this did not mean that consumers accepted “high-priced ice cream” unconditionally. As the price and value of goods become unequal, the brand is not far away from overturning.
In the final analysis, concepts and marketing are the icing on the cake. Real product value and experience are the keys for brands to retain consumers and keep pace with the times.
References:
1. Beijing News: Mr. Savage, is it expensive?
2. Upstream news: Luo Yonghao’s “unpalatable” sentence lit a fire for Mr. Savage and Zhong Xuegao at the same time
3. Xinhuanet: Mr. Savage Cui Jianwei: Do one thing well in your life and create the ultimate ice cream
4. Zhongyuan.com: The founder of Mr. Savage responded that “the price is expensive”: A 130-gram serving of our ice cream costs 28 yuan. We can’t just look at how much it sells for, but how much it costs per gram.
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