A pack of ternary mustard has an annual sales of 1.5 billion, supporting a market value of 10 billion, the reason for its success!
If you want to do it, make it a household name!"
Zhou Binquan, the longest-serving chairman of China's longest-serving local listed company that turned a small business into a listed company, has finally retired.
On December 12, Fuling Juice issued an announcement;
Mr. Zhou Binquan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company, has reached the statutory retirement age and no longer serves as a director, chairman of the Board of Directors and chairman of the Strategy Committee of the Board of Directors, nor does he hold any position in the Company.
23 years ago, as a family in Fuling District, Chongqing"Sell side dishes"The local state-owned joint venture, which was on the verge of bankruptcy, not only miraculously came back to life, but also walked out of an earth-shaking curve and became the only listed company in the pickled vegetable category.
Network map. Pumpkin first strand", with an annual income of more than 2.5 billion, the world's top three pickles"Economic Barometer Index"The name of its Wujiang pumpkin is a household name in China.
In this whole"Mustard King"Behind the creation, Zhou Binquan has been sticking to the position of covering the sky with one hand for 23 years, and after the changes of the times, he has stuck to himself, successfully retreated to the second line, and successfully carried out equity restructuring, worth 1600 million, I can't help but say it's legendary.
Now, Wujiang sweet potatoes are famous all over the world, Zhou Bin is gone, leaving a group that is still fighting for A-shares, under the leadership of the new king, in the face of weak consumption and intensified competition, writing a new story.
Zhou Binquan was born in 1963, at a time when there was a shortage of professionals in all walks of life, so to speak"Financial elite"Wet behind the ears.
In 1997, at the age of 34, he was already the director of the investment banking department, the group director and deputy general manager of Fuling Jiandao, another local ** stock exchange-listed company.
In 2000, Zhou Binquan accepted the organizational arrangement of the critical order, left the original company that was in full swing of restructuring, and transferred to Fuling Squash Group as the general manager.
How difficult is it for Fuling to tighten at this time?
As an ordinary listed pumpkin company, with an annual output of only about 10,000 tons, the product is not competitive, let alone the brand and sales network.
The company has been losing money year after year, becoming insolvent and on the verge of bankruptcy.
Panic within the group is that managers and employees are in a wait-and-see mode, not knowing when it will be their turn to receive the bad news of being laid off.
Vainly. For Zhou Binquan himself, from a promising former director and vice president of a listed company to a hand-in-hand with local enterprises, he has a long road ahead and a long life"Downstream", as if it were one step away.
Zhou Binquan began to think about using all internal and external conditions that were conducive to self-help.
In order to save ourselves, we must reform.
Zhou Binquan studied in detail the industrial status and process level of the mustard industry at that time, focused on the production capacity and process problems that needed to be solved urgently, and gradually clarified the direction of reform
c) From"Slash-and-burn"shifted from industrial production to industrial production.
Industrialization requires a lot of money. For Fuling Group, which is heavily indebted and does not have enough credit to borrow again, where does such a large amount of money come from?
Fortunately, the Three Gorges Project, which was underway at the time, gave 1$400 million in compensation for demolition.
The money arrived at a critical moment and quickly caused discontent and controversy within the organization.
How to use the high demolition costs?
Almost all voices believe that we should use the money in our pockets to completely abandon the declining traditional industries such as the pumpkin industry after paying off the debt, and use the remaining funds to develop high-tech industries and transform them into new industries such as the Internet, mobile phones, and digital products.
Zhou Binquan analyzed the current situation of the group, its advantages and genes in detail, and made a firm decision: continue to play squash.
Network map. The local environment of Fuling is naturally suitable for the growth of pumpkin raw materials, and the naturally formed industrial clusters have unique advantages from raw materials to processing.
Hasty transformation to other fields, lack of industrial environment and talents, is likely to be a chicken and egg fight.
Zhou Binquan is looking for food production machinery manufacturing enterprises at home and abroad, hoping to turn pumpkin production into a modern assembly line, from pickling, cleaning, cutting, desalination, dehydration, mixing, packaging, sterilization, wrapping and other industrialization of all aspects.
He also led tours of soy sauce and kimchi production companies in the United States, Japan, and South Korea, and eventually introduced mechanized and automated production lines from Germany.
After layers of technical research, production tests and continuous adjustments, the first production line costing 50 million yuan was launched, which directly made the output of one factory catch up with the output of more than 20 factories in the past.
In just one year, the sales of Fuling mustard exceeded 100 million, turning losses into profits and being reborn.
At this time, Fuling Squash began to slowly pay off its debts and continue to develop while producing.
Zhou Binquan took advantage of the trend and industrialized all production lines until he had 8 automated production lines with an annual production capacity of 65,000 tons.
But in front of people, Zhou Binquan could only win the battle for survival and began to look for a more ambitious way out for the Fuling Group.
The year 2002 was the eve of a new turning point for Fuling juice.
At present, the annual sales of Fuling mustard group have reached 2200 million, with an annual output of 20,000 tons, and a sales team of 100 people alone, who travel all over the country to promote products.
But difficulties also followed, the market was too big, sometimes the goods were bought but could not be sold, the products returned by the vendors had even expired, and for the entire company, the rhythm of sales, production, and various departments was disrupted.
After repeated scrutiny, Zhou Binquan organized a symposium to find out the problem:
In an unbranded market segment like pumpkin, consumers don't know anything about the product, let alone brand loyalty, and they tend to buy the flavor they want on the shelf.
At this point, the group company has reached the stage where it must build a brand.
In"Millennials"In the era, TV advertising is still in the stage of rapid star-making.
Fast food such as instant noodles and milk can be seen everywhere on CCTV, but no one advertises pumpkins. Zhou Binquan made a bold decision - to be on TV!
In 2004, Zhou Binquan flew to Beijing for the first time to visit CCTV staff and the smash hit at that time"Huang Amma"Zhang Tielin.
For a newly established group, can the huge investment pay off for the use of advertising on ** TV stations, or for a small squash product?
However, at this time, CCTV advertising is actually a golden dividend that the majority of enterprises can eat, and many fledgling brands rely on the well-known CCTV advertising to occupy the market overnight.
Zhou Binquan, who returned from CCTV, boldly pointed out that for the most sought-after advertising period after "News Network", the ** of 7 million per unit is staggering.
From the company to the entire small town of Fuling, it is rumored that the vegetable group intends to enter the CCTV advertisement, and there is a lot of discussion for a while.
In the end, Zhou Bin withstood the pressure and signed a check for 14 million yuan in one go, which was opened for more than two months.
When Zhang Tielin played to the whole country during the ** period"Wujiang sweet potato, my grandfather's grandfather said it was delicious"The brand of Wujiang sweet potato was an instant hit, and the brand image of Wujiang sweet potato was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Network map. At the same time, Fulin Group also shouted out Wujiang pressed vegetables"Three presses"The slogan, so far, Fulin pressed dishes implemented"Three clearing, three washing, three pickling, three pressing"The process is still the benchmark for the entire pressing industry.
With the support of CCTV, the advertising achieved good results, and Wujiang Nangua also became another national food brand overnight.
Although Zhang Tielin's advertising slogan later caused a huge controversy, it did not affect it"Wujiang"Become the No. 1 pumpkin brand.
Since then, Wujiang sweet potatoes have not only entered RT-Mart, Wal-Mart, Carrefour and other large and well-known supermarket chains, but also entered farmers' markets at all levels, urban and rural commissaries and convenience stores.
Fuling pumpkin is on the shelves of almost every store, and it has entered thousands of households along with instant noodles and ham sausages.
In 2010, in Fuling mustard (002507On the last 10th anniversary, Zhou Binquan re-took the helm of the listed company and personally listed the company on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Network map. In"The first strand of mustard"In the year of listing, the operating income of Fuling mustard totaled 54.5 billion yuan, net profit of 55.74 million yuan. In 2022, Fuling's mustard operating income will reach 254.8 billion yuan, net profit of 8$9.9 billion.
From a small company on the verge of bankruptcy to an evergreen tree in A-shares, Fuling Pumpkin has walked out of the best comeback story.
But for Zhou Binquan, it is still necessary to find a curve for the group to continue to grow, so that Fuling Squash Group can open up the future growth pattern.
In 2014, Fuling mustard realized the uniqueness of this type of product, and began to embark on the road of diversification, looking for new growth points, and launched the radish and crushed kelp category.
In 2015, the company also invested $12.9 billion yuan acquired 100% of the share capital of Sichuan Huitong Food Industry Co., Ltd. and entered the kimchi market.
According to upstream reports, Fuling mustard group has been implemented for a long time"Enterprise + base + farmer"The policy of purchasing at a protective price, forming a stable cooperative relationship with farmers, has built a raw material base of 200,000 mu in more than 20 townships and towns in Fuling District, and the per capita income of vegetable farmers has reached more than 2,000 yuan.
At the same time, it has also developed a radish base, established an export raw material base, and actively explored a new industrial development model - professional joint-stock crushing cooperatives.
It has assisted in the creation of 100 sweet potato cooperatives with shareholder participation, which has contributed to the prosperity of 500,000 farmers in the region and the development of related industries in the surrounding areas"。
In 2020, Zhou Bin is all here"Wujiang Squash 2021 New Strategy Kick-off Meeting"Announced:"In the next 3-5 years, Wujiang Squash will achieve sales of 10 billion yuan, becoming the first food enterprise in Chongqing to achieve sales of 10 billion yuan. A food business with sales of 10 billion"。
Network map. However, the hidden concern is beginning to emerge: in the past decade, Fuling pumpkin products accounted for the lowest proportion of revenue, at 8448%, with the lowest percentage of profit at 8548%。
In particular, in 2015, the profit from pumpkin products accounted for 99% of the company's total profit93%, which is impressive. The pickled vegetable business, which has high hopes, has been below 10% for a long time, except for this year's semi-annual report.
At the same time, with the epidemic and the economic environment of rising raw material prices year after year, Wujiang sweet potatoes have also had to start the road of price increases.
Statistics from China Securities Construction Investment show that since 2008, Wujiang sweet potatoes have risen directly or indirectly, by 12 times.
What used to be a bag of ujang pumpkins for a few cents is now about 4.
The most recent price increase was in November 2021, when the ex-factory price of some products increased from 3% to 19%, and even launched a five-year** set of Wujiang Fuling pumpkin (900 grams),* which cost up to 888 yuan.
At that time, there were a lot of consumers who said:"I can't afford pumpkins"。
On the other hand, the sales of Fuling mustard have also declined.
In terms of sales categories, in the first half of this year, pumpkin sales were 580,000 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 12%, and inventories increased by 16% year-on-year in the same period;Turnips sold at 030,000 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 12%;Kimchi sales are 0660,000 tons, an increase of 8% year-on-year;
Sales of other products totalled 180,000 tons, up 6% from the previous year. Among these products, sales of pumpkins, which form the absolute basis of sales, have been declining for more than two years.
Squeezed vegetables and weak consumption are like a lingering dark cloud, covering all the future development space of the pumpkin industry.
Ten billion"The company has a long way to go, and Zhou Binquan has reached the moment of fame and fortune.
On December 12, Fuling Juice issued an announcement that used nearly 1,000 words to praise Zhou Binquan.
Even in the 23 years of entering the tenure cycle, the years of ups and downs, winds and waves, such a high tenure evaluation is rare in listed companies, especially local listed companies.
After Zhou Binquan retreated to the second line, he not only acquired A-shares of local state-owned enterprises, but also successfully completed the company's restructuring, finding the greatest common divisor in the middle of the market and administration, so that a company can participate in market competition more flexibly.
At the time of the announcement, Zhou Binquan held 10.31 million shares of Fuling mustard, worth 1600 million yuan, the fourth largest shareholder.
According to the announcement, Gao Xiang, who was born in 1981, has served as a member and secretary of the Chongqing Fuling Squash Group of the Communist Party of China.
According to public information, Gao Xiang was born in 1981, has a master's degree, has worked in party and government organs, and has served as secretary and director of the party group of the Fuling District Economic and Information Technology Commission.
His successor succeeded his illustrious predecessor in the legendary company, whose mission was to take the group's growth to new heights.
For Fuling pumpkins, whether they can maintain the status of the pumpkin king depends on today.
Come to an end. Author: Xiang Shanbai Xiang Shanbai.
Publisher: yiyimu