The 4C marketing mix has widely been recognized and applied in the realm of marketing. However, the way these elements interact to improve marketing performance remains elusive. This study utilized the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method to investigate 33 food companies and identify configurations for high marketing performance. We categorized marketing performance into two dimensions: social media performance and financial performance. The findings are as follows. For social media performance, when the “consumers”, “costs” and “communication” elements of the 4C theory are effectively managed, they can account for the majority of cases where food enterprises exhibit high social media performance. Meanwhile, for food enterprises that lack cost competitiveness, prioritizing consumer communication is essential. And for those with limited budgets and communication competitiveness, focusing on fulfilling consumer needs and providing convenience can also result in high social media performance. For financial performance, two strategies have been identified that food enterprises can employ to enhance their financial performance. First, if enterprises lack in convenience, they can leverage their strength in pricing to potentially achieve high financial performance. Second, for the food enterprises which do not have a competitive edge in pricing or communication, they can still achieve strong financial performance by aligning their products with consumer demand, improving product design based on consumer needs, and offering a high level of convenience throughout the sales process. The study suggests that even if food enterprises do not excel in every essential element of the 4C theory, they can still achieve great marketing performance by fully leveraging certain strengths to compensate for weaknesses, providing practical guidance for the strategic planning of food companies.