Breaking the Deadlock with Customized Equipment! Yinuo Food Machinery Helps Snack Brands Create Blockbusters of Freeze-Dried Marshmallows

"The cartoon-shaped product sold over 500,000 bags within 30 days of launch and directly entered the TOP 3 of e-commerce sweet snacks. The reason why freeze-dried marshmallows can become the brand's growth engine is that the customized production line of Yinuo Food Machinery is the key driver." Li Ran, founder of "Sweet Fun Workshop", a cutting-edge domestic snack brand, said bluntly at the new product celebration meeting. In 2024, this brand doubled its revenue by virtue of freeze-dried marshmallows, and the core production support behind it is exactly the exclusive freeze-dried marshmallow equipment specially developed by Yinuo Food Machinery for the brand.​

I. Industry Pain Points: Three Major Technical Constraints in Mass Production of Freeze-Dried Marshmallows​

At the beginning of 2024, Sweet Fun Workshop aimed at the "aesthetic economy + healthy snacks" track and promoted the freeze-dried marshmallow formula from the laboratory stage to mass production, but encountered common industry problems:​
● Low Shape Retention Rate: The cooling rate of traditional freeze-drying equipment fluctuates greatly (±2℃/minute). Due to uneven ice crystal formation, the edges of cartoon-shaped marshmallows collapse, resulting in a yield rate of only 58%, which is far lower than the 90%+ required for mass production;​
● Poor Taste Stability: Manual adjustment of vacuum degree leads to polarized product taste—either too crispy and easy to break, or remaining sticky, with a batch qualification rate of less than 70%;​
● High Energy Consumption Cost: During the pilot test phase, the unit energy consumption reached 220kWh/ton, which is 1.8 times that of conventional freeze-dried food, making it difficult for the terminal price to adapt to the mass consumer market.​
● "We have contacted 3 equipment manufacturers, but either they couldn't solve the problem of shape collapse, or the equipment production capacity couldn't keep up with the explosive e-commerce orders," Li Ran admitted. At the Shanghai International Food Processing Technology Exhibition, the "food-grade customized freeze-drying solution" exhibited by Yinuo Food Machinery attracted its attention, and the two parties immediately launched technical docking.​

II. Exclusive Solution: Three Major Technological Breakthroughs of Yinuo Food Machinery​

● In view of the material characteristics of marshmallows—"moisture content over 65% and fluffy porous structure", Yinuo Food Machinery set up a special team composed of 12 senior engineers. Combining 15 years of R&D experience in food freeze-drying equipment, it launched an integrated equipment solution of "precision temperature control + intelligent vacuum + energy efficiency optimization":​
● (1) Gradient Quick-Freezing System: Shape Integrity Rate Increased to 98%​
● Adopting air-source heat pump scroll compressor and PID precision temperature control technology, it realizes gradient cooling from -40℃ to -30℃, and the cooling rate is stably controlled at 0.8℃/minute (error ≤0.1℃). This ensures uniform crystallization of moisture inside the marshmallows and avoids shape deformation caused by ice crystal expansion from the source. The food-grade 304 stainless steel trays supporting the equipment adopt a honeycomb breathable structure, ensuring uniform force when 1,200 cartoon-shaped units are freeze-dried simultaneously. According to third-party testing, the shape integrity rate has jumped from 58% to 98%.​
● (2) Two-Stage Vacuum Regulation System: Taste Qualification Rate Reaches 99%​
● It innovatively developed a frequency-conversion two-stage vacuum pump unit, which automatically adjusts the vacuum degree (stepless adjustment from 10Pa to 30Pa) during the sublimation stage. Cooperated with layered shelf heating technology (temperature difference ≤±1℃), it enables the marshmallows to form a composite taste of "crispy outer layer and slightly loose inner layer". The equipment has built-in more than 120 preset process curves, and optimized exclusive parameters for 8 flavors such as strawberry filling and yogurt coating. This completely solves the problem of taste fluctuation caused by manual temperature control, and the batch qualification rate is stably maintained at 99%.​
● (3) Energy Efficiency Upgrade Design: Unit Cost Reduced by 28%​
● By expanding the heat exchange area of the water catcher by 30% and reforming the waste heat recovery system, the unit energy consumption is reduced to 150kWh/ton, which is 32% lower than that of traditional equipment. This production line with a daily processing capacity of 2 tons adopts full automatic control, and only 3 operators are needed to complete the whole process from feeding, freeze-drying to discharging. The production efficiency is 40% higher than Sweet Fun Workshop's expectation.​
● "The flexibility of the equipment exceeded expectations. When we later developed flower-shaped and filled products, we could put them into production directly by calling the preset parameters in the system without modifying the equipment," Wang Tao adds, production director of Sweet Fun Workshop. The equipment adopts a quick-detachable cleaning structure, which complies with BRC food safety certification standards. The cleaning time per batch is shortened from 90 minutes (of traditional equipment) to 40 minutes, greatly improving the production turnover rate.​

III. Cooperation Results: From Laboratory Formula to 10-Million-Yuan Annual Sales Blockbuster​

● In August 2024, the customized production line of Yinuo Food Machinery was officially put into production, bringing full-link upgrading to Sweet Fun Workshop:​
● Qualitative Change in Product Strength: According to SGS testing, the vitamin retention rate of freeze-dried marshmallows is 27% higher than that of traditional processes, the residual moisture is controlled within 5% (in line with food-grade freeze-drying standards), and no preservatives are needed;​
● Faster Market Response: The cycle from new product R&D to mass production is shortened from 3 months to 45 days, successfully seizing the peak consumption seasons of Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day. The co-branded IP product sold over 100,000 bags within 72 hours;​
● Wider Profit Space: The unit production cost is reduced by 28%, the terminal price is lowered to 12.9 yuan/bag, and the repurchase rate reaches 35% (the industry average is about 18%). In 2024, the revenue of this category exceeded 12 million yuan.​

IV. Industry Extension: Equipment Empowers Multi-Scenario Applications​

● "The success of freeze-dried marshmallows is essentially the accurate matching between food machinery and consumer demand," said Han Weixi, marketing director of Yinuo Food Machinery. At present, this set of equipment has formed a standardized solution, serving 5 snack enterprises and driving the annual sales of related products to exceed 200 million yuan. For extended scenarios such as pet food and baking ingredients, Yinuo Food Machinery is developing modular equipment—for example, optimizing the acid and alkali corrosion resistance of equipment for freeze-dried marshmallow snacks for pets; launching a miniaturized production line (with a daily processing capacity of 500kg) for baking decoration scenarios to meet the needs of small and medium-sized brands.​
● "Next, we will connect the AI visual inspection system to monitor the product shape and color in real time, and control the quality control error within 0.1mm," Han Weixi revealed. From laboratory pilot test to industrial mass production, Yinuo Food Machinery has proved with customized equipment that the technical depth of food machinery directly determines the market competitiveness of snack brands.