Chung responded to the online rumors.
On the evening of March 3, the founder of Nongfu Spring, Zhong Sui, published an article entitled "Two or Three Things with Zonglao" on Nongfu Spring's WeChat official account, saying, "Zonglao has always been an entrepreneur I respect. He and I were mentors and friends, and of course, competitors to each other. ”
Zong Qinghou, founder and chairman of Wahaha Group, died at 10:30 on February 25, 2024 at the age of 79 due to ineffective medical treatment.
Zhong said in the article that the cloth business is the first pot of gold from entrepreneurship, rather than the Internet rumor that "the first entrepreneurial income comes from Wahaha".
According to his article, in 1991, after visiting Zong Qing at the Wahaha headquarters on Qingtai Street, Zhong saw that the production equipment of the canning factory was idle, and remembered the popular canned eight-treasure porridge in Southeast Asia, so he told Zong Qing about this idea, "Zong Lao was very happy and felt that my suggestion had a market, and then invested in research and development and developed and produced the very well-known Wahaha Nutritional Eight-Treasure Porridge, and proposed that I set up Wahaha offices in Guangxi and Hainan to sell Wahaha Children's Nutrition Oral Liquid." I gladly agreed. Unfortunately, at that time, the consumer demand in Hainan and Guangxi markets did not meet expectations, and it was difficult for me to sell products all over the market. Later, several trading companies came to Hainan to ask me to buy goods, and I was able to clear the purchases. ”
Zhong said that many years later, a casual joke at a sales meeting at Nongfu Spring turned out to be a crime of "ingratitude", "I have never received a salary in Wahaha, let alone been fired for rushing goods." ”
Zhong mentioned that after that, Nongfu Spring and Wahaha had lawsuits against each other, but in the end, under the witness of the main leaders of Hangzhou at that time, Zhong and Zong Qinghou shook hands and made peace. Although Zhong still insists on his own views, he stresses, "My respect for the entrepreneurial spirit of the patriarch has never wavered. I have always said on various occasions that Zong Lao is a representative of entrepreneurs that I respect. ”
The two or three things with the elder of the sect, thinking about it today, are not only a small story worth remembering, but also a lot of spiritual wealth. I also hope that while the majority of netizens express their remembrance of the elders, they will not be led by individual self-leaders or big Vs. Zhong wrote.
The following is the full text of Zhong's slight:
Screenshot of Nongfu Spring's WeChat official account.