HF Foods Group Eyes 2026 Growth, M&A as CEO Flags 2025 Investments and Resilient Demand

Hf Foods Group (NASDAQ:HFFG) executives highlighted a twelvemonth of concern and continued maturation during a league presentation, discussing marketplace conditions, operational initiatives, and their attack to acquisitions arsenic they look toward 2026 and beyond.

CEO Felix Lin said the broader edifice manufacture saw little ft postulation pressure, echoing commentary from larger foodservice distributors. HF Foods was not immune to those conditions, but Lin said the institution inactive delivered maturation successful 2025.

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Lin characterized tariff impacts arsenic “not arsenic large of an impact” for HF Foods during 2025 and said the institution really benefited astatine points by selling done lower-cost inventory successful the 2nd and 3rd quarters. He besides emphasized that the company’s lawsuit base—primarily autarkic “mom-and-pop” restaurants—can execute comparatively good erstwhile consumers commercialized down, citing the worth proposition those restaurants offer.

Within that environment, Lin said HF Foods grew gross successful the “single digits” and that EBITDA accrued by astir 7% twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth successful 2025.

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Asked astir differences betwixt autarkic restaurants and chains, Lin focused connected borderline structure. He said ample concatenation accounts often negociate aggressively and unit distributor margins, which helium suggested is 1 crushed larger distributors person been trying to summation their vulnerability to independents. Lin said autarkic restaurants mostly let for higher margins than chains.

Lin besides addressed the postulation weakness that emerged aboriginal successful 2025, saying trends person “somewhat normalized” arsenic the institution laps that period. Looking to 2026, helium said HF Foods is inactive targeting a “low- to mid-single-digit” maturation opportunity, with expectations that pricing volition play a larger relation amid competitory pressure.

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Lin described 2025 arsenic a important concern twelvemonth and said the company’s absorption is shifting toward leveraging those investments done higher measurement and “higher stock of the wallet,” on with renewed attraction connected M&A.

In the Southeast, Lin said HF Foods opened a caller installation and doubled ambient retention space. He said further cold-storage investment—described arsenic “phase two”—is expected to travel online successful the adjacent fewer months. The added acold retention is intended to alteration cross-selling, since the institution historically had constricted quality to service frozen products successful the region.