Tianfu Cola won back its brand after 22 years in a Pepsi venture

Tianfu Cola grew out of Chongqing's Meihua Soda Factory (1936). The cola launched in 1981, became a state-banquet drink in 1985, and at its peak spread across 108 licensed plants, sold over 200,000 tons a year, held 75% of China's cola market for eight straight years, and exported to Britain, France, the US and Japan.

In 1994 the group joint-ventured with Pepsi, which put in US$10.7 million while Tianfu contributed plants, equipment, technology and the brand, valued at US$7.3 million. The contract said at least half of the venture's output would be Tianfu Cola; after year one that share shrank, to under 25% by 1996 and below 1% later, the venture piled up losses, and by 1996 Tianfu had sold all its equity to Pepsi. Production stopped and the brand all but vanished.

Between 2009 and 2013 the company sued its way back: 2010 recovered the recipe, production process and brand; 2013 won back the trademark. In June 2016 the brand formally returned, launching in Beijing and signing a strategic cooperation with Alibaba Sports. Post-return results stayed thin: 2021 revenue was ¥16.5 million with a net loss of ¥18.3 million, and January–May 2022 revenue was ¥9.3 million with a ¥4.1 million loss.

On 29 December 2022, a Chongqing court began liquidating the old group company — an empty shell whose ¥2.65 million of assets sat against ¥33.7 million of debts. The announcement triggered a wave of nostalgic buying before the company clarified that the new operating firm was unaffected, and pledged a 120-mu plant investment in 2023. The brand survives regionally, but a ¥4.5-price 550ml bottle competes against Coke and Pepsi at ¥3–4, and the two multinationals still hold roughly 90% of China's carbonated-drink market.

Court recovered recipe and trademark (2010, 2013); relaunched June 2016 with Beijing launch and Alibaba tie-up, but 2021 sales were ¥16.5M against an ¥18.3M loss.

The 2009–2013 litigation is why the story was even possible: only after recovering trademark, recipe and production know-how from Pepsi could the brand legally return

The relaunch monetized genuinely national memory — a state-banquet icon and 75% market legend — which is why the relaunch and the 2023 bankruptcy-scare buying wave both popped

The revival arrived in a market where Coca-Cola and Pepsi hold roughly 90% of carbonated drinks, with lower prices and stronger distribution, so the economics never recovered

The 2022 liquidation of the old shell shows the JV era's cost; what survived lived under the mixed-ownership operating company, not the legend

A brand shelved in a foreign venture can be revived via litigation and nostalgia, but a market where rivals hold 90% does not guarantee economic success.

After the January 2023 bankruptcy news went viral, consumers stripped shelves, the chairman appeared in a Taobao livestream, and the company insisted it was restructuring rather than dying — then pressed ahead with factory investment. Analysts quoted in the Chinese press kept the verdict simple: with no core competitiveness or price advantage against the two cola giants, nostalgia was never going to be a strategy. Tianfu Cola continues to sell mainly in Chongqing and Sichuan, a beloved regional heritage brand rather than the national champion it once was.