Tukeng sauerkraut was exposed on 3.15, Master Kong was shot in unison, and White Elephant was bought out as a blessing in disguise -

After the well-known instant noodle brands such as "Tukeng Sauerkraut" and Master Kong Tongyi were exposed at the "March 15" party, Baixiang, the first generation of domestic instant noodles overlord, was shot on the night of March 15th. , replied: There is no cooperation, feel free to eat, and you are not afraid of shadows. He also made it clear that he has never cooperated with the flag vegetable industry exposed at the March 15 party. As a blessing in disguise, sales of its products have soared in the short term. Some products in Taobao's flagship store are out of stock, and most products are in pre-sale status; most of JD's self-operated stores are also out of stock.

The name Baixiang means that it is on the verge of bankruptcy

Baixiang is headquartered in Zhengdong New District, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province. It was originally a local grain processing factory. The old leader of the factory, hoping for a bright future, named it Baixiang after the Chinese character "Xiang" in the abbreviation of Henan Province, which means "Yu".

But the initial development of White Elephant was not smooth. It was a round of state-owned enterprise reform and a large number of workers were laid off. In order to attract talents, many family members were placed in the factory. At that time, White Elephant only had A crude production line.

Since the start of construction in 1989, it has been in a state of loss. It has led to six leadership changes, but it has not been able to change. It has gradually fallen into a quagmire. Not only are its products unsaleable, but it has also incurred huge debts. With a loss of more than 10 million, he is about to go bankrupt. Until Yao Zhongliang appeared.

Key figures took the lead and came back to life

Speaking of Baixiang, we have to mention Yao Zhongliang, the current chairman of Baixiang.

In 1962, Yao Zhongliang was born in an ordinary family in Pingyu, Henan. Because his parents worked in a grain store, he has been working with grain since he was a child.

After graduating from high school, Yao Zhongliang chose to join the army in order to fully train himself. When he was in the army, he was hard-working and diligent. He was highly praised by the leaders and friends of the army.

After retiring from the army, Yao Zhongliang transferred to work in the Grain Bureau. In the process of work, he was dedicated to his job and diligent, which was deeply appreciated by his leaders, and he soon reached the division level.

In 1996, Yao Zhongliangban was assigned to this grain processing factory that was facing bankruptcy. He initially served as a sales manager. In order to be qualified for this job, he conducted in-depth market research.

Long before the invention of instant noodles, there were already similar noodles called "Yi noodles" or "Yifu noodles" in China. The real instant noodles concept was developed in August 1958 by Momofuku Ando, ??the founder of Nissin Foods and a Chinese-Japanese. The production of instant noodles in mainland China is generally considered to have begun in 1964.

After research, Yao Zhongliang found that there is still a large market for instant noodles in China. At that time, instant noodles could be described as a "star product" and once became an exclusive food for wealthy people. The reason why Baixiang's business is poor is mainly because its popularity is too low.

After identifying the problem and prescribing the right remedy, the first task is to open the market. But among the idle people in the factory, almost no one wanted to go out with Yao Zhongliang to run business. So Yao Zhongliang made bold reforms and fired a large number of old employees who were "eating for free". At the same time, he recruited more than 30 college students and led them to ride tricycles to major vegetable markets, family homes, and villages and towns in the city to promote and sell products. Fine sales network. Soon, sales of Baixiang instant noodles increased.

After sales increase, the next step is to solve the production problem. At that time, the country attached great importance to food safety. After learning about Yao Zhongliang's situation, the Henan Provincial Food Department provided him with a lot of help, including a complete set of instant noodle production lines.

Hard work paid off. After Yao Zhongliang’s drastic innovations, White Elephant achieved success in the second year, with sales reaching 100 million. Four years later, White Elephant’s sales soared past the With an investment of 600 million yuan, it became the largest food system manufacturing enterprise in the country in 2000.

After losing power and falling into trouble again, he was reborn for the second time

However, it is easy to conquer a country but difficult to defend it. The developed white elephant soon fell into internal strife, and Yao Zhongliang was excluded from the decision-making level. In 2001, Yao Zhongliang, who was out of power, chose to leave and enter the management major of Renmin University of China.

During this period, instant noodles entered the homes of ordinary people, and the huge profit margins attracted many more competitors to participate. Master Kong, Uni-President, and Jinmailang took advantage of the situation to rise, and Baixiang's market share gradually Being squeezed, there is almost no place to stand. In times of crisis, the leaders of Henan Province welcomed Yao Zhongliang back in exchange for restructuring.

In the next five years, Yao Zhongliang continued to innovate and focused on product research and development. In 2003, after going to Taiwan several times to learn from Master Kong's market experience, Yao Zhongliang went out of his way to cater to consumers' demands for health and nutrition. He combined instant noodles with nourishing bone soup and launched Big Bone Noodles, which shocked the industry. As for red, white elephant used it to make a wonderful turnaround.

In 2004, Baixiang's annual output reached 5 billion packages, sales reached 2.3 billion yuan, and its market share rose to third in the country, second only to Uni-President and Master Kong. By 2007, White Elephant returned to its peak, with annual output reaching 7.43 billion packages and annual sales exceeding 5.2 billion yuan.

Refuse Japanese investment, and lose Jingzhou

As the birthplace of instant noodles, Japan has always been the industry leader in its subsequent development. And relying on its capital and technology advantages, it has acquired instant noodle manufacturing companies everywhere, and has successively taken shares in Master Kong, Uni-President and Jinmailang, and also extended an olive branch to Baixiang. However, in Yao Zhongliang's view, if he accepted it, he could not guarantee the food formula and soup ingredients, and finally rejected the Japanese proposal.

In the days that followed, the other three major instant noodle manufacturers (Tingyi, Tongyi, and Jinmailang) with Japanese capital investment began to encircle and suppress White Elephant and engage in a price war with White Elephant.

During this period, Baixiang was overconfident and made a strategic mistake. He actually raised the price of bagged noodles from 1 yuan to 2.5 yuan. Jinmailang, who was watching eagerly from the sidelines, took the opportunity to return to the mid-range market and put "Da Konye" on the shelves priced at 1.5 yuan. Under the contrast of one increase and one decrease, the white elephant was eventually abandoned by consumers, and a large number of products were backlogged in warehouses.

Since then, White Elephant’s development began to decline. In 2014, White Elephant’s IPO failed and failed to recover. Baixiang has also made other attempts, such as cooperating with Single Food in 2019 to develop products such as Noodles, Pan Noodles, and Rock Giant Ape. However, unfortunately, the sales performance after launch was very dismal.

Today, the domestic instant noodles market has also undergone tremendous changes. Data shows that in 2020, Master Kong, Uni-President, and Jinmailang accounted for the top three sales. Among them, Master Kong’s domestic sales share reached an astonishing 46%, while Baixiang’s share was only 7%. It not only has to face the two giants of Master Kong and Uni-President. At the same time, it was suppressed by food delivery services, and its survival situation became increasingly difficult, and it was gradually forgotten by consumers.

A conscientious enterprise deserves to be treated well

Even though it is now in decline, Baixiang can still be called a conscientious enterprise. For many years, it has been committed to helping disabled people to support themselves. One-third of its employees are disabled. The production workshop has a special automatic alarm system, the factory has special safety passages, and the canteen has special windows to ensure that disabled employees have a safe and comfortable working environment.

When an epidemic broke out in Wuhan in 2020, Baixiang immediately prepared supplies and sent them to Wuhan. In July 2021, there were heavy rains in Henan Province. The office space in the World Trade Center in Zhengzhou City was opened to allow people trapped nearby to take shelter from the rain, the warehouse was evacuated, and hot water, instant noodles, and resting areas were provided at their own expense.

In fact, before Tukeng Pickled Cabbage was exposed, while the Winter Paralympics was being held in full swing, Baixiang had already been on the Weibo hot search list because "one-third of its employees are disabled". On March 9, Tmall Baixiang’s official flagship store issued an announcement stating that due to the recent surge in orders, Baixiang has launched an emergency plan and is fully committed to production and delivery, striving to deliver products to consumers as quickly as possible.

Conclusion

As the saying goes, what goes around comes around. Whether it is Hongxing Erke or Baixiang, even when facing a survival crisis, they still do not forget their original intentions and repay the society. As a netizen said: "I don't like eating instant noodles, but buying Baixiang makes me very happy." A conscientious national enterprise deserves to be treated well!