Lan Yao and his popular "snack box". [Photo: Changjiang Daily]

Lan Yao, a junior at the Wuhan Software Vocational College, has started up his business by selling food through "snack boxes" in college dormitory rooms, earning 1,200 yuan (around $ 180 dollars) per day, reports Changjiang Daily.

The "snack box" is a transparent plastic tub containing drinks, instant noodles, spicy strips and other snacks popular among college students.

Students simply choose what they want from the box, and pay for the food by scanning the QR code printed on the lid.

When the snacks are sold out, the box will be resupplied.

If someone eats the snacks without paying, Lan Yao says he will remove the box from the dorm room. But it seems almost everyone pays honestly.

Only a year into the enterprise, Lan is already expanding.

So far he's installed "snack boxes" in 3,000 dorm rooms at 5 local colleges, and hired 20 college students as part-time workers to resupply snacks.

"I've gotten used to buying food from the 'snack box' in my dorm room, because it's convenient and the price is fair," said one college student.

One food company has even offered Lan Yao an advertising deal worth 120,000 yuan (around $ 18,000 dollars).

"From October, one quarter of the surface of each box lid will be covered with the ad of this food company," said Lan Yao.

As all the snacks are directly supplied by the manufacturers, Lan can sell them at a lower price.

"We now have sales of about 10,000 yuan (around $ 1,500 dollars) per day, and a 20% profit," added Lan.

Lan's startup has won the first prize in the Wuhan College Entrepreneurship Competition.