While most brands are still asking what the next viral ice cream should look like, NiCEME starts with a simpler—but harder to quantify—question: Is it fun?

NiCEME calls its R&D philosophy “Joyful Food Play.” Instead of reverse-engineering products from flavor parameters or cost targets, the team develops them forward from a complete themed world: “NiCEME’s Fried Chicken Shop,” “NiCEME’s Farm,” and more. Chicken legs, burgers, fries, carrots—symbols usually found in fast-food restaurants or markets—are transformed into ice cream products that live inside convenience store freezers, designed to be photographed, shared, and talked about.

Founder Daniel, who previously worked in the luxury and retail sectors, approaches branding not as the creation of a single viral product but as the ongoing construction of a participatory content universe for young consumers. Under his leadership, a post-90s founder and post-00s R&D team have turned the convenience store into a creative stage. As a result, NiCEME hasn’t just produced one hit product—it has become a brand that consumers repeatedly “discover” and share again and again.

In the food industry, design is often dismissed as a “last-mile” polish. But for Lu Yuyang and the Shudao team, an aesthetic background is merely the entry ticket; true design thinking is embedded deep within the supply chain. Refusing to be just another “asset-light” brand, they chose the hard path: building their own factories. What kind of product vitality erupts when design thinking is held accountable not just for visuals, but for flavor consistency, flexible manufacturing, and scalable delivery?