Can you sell tofu for 700 million a year? That's right.
Starting from a small workshop on Guohe Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai, Shen Jianhua used 120,000 yuan of venture capital to build the largest soybean food enterprise in China in12 years.
Coming to Shanghai from Shangyu, Zhejiang Province, 47-year-old Shen Jianhua found a big stage and interpreted a legend of private economy in Shanghai. He created a miracle in Shanghai with a piece of tofu: from a small workshop with 6 people to a large factory with 8,000 people, and achieved a big deal of 700 million yuan from a small business of 1 yuan.
As the old saying goes, there are three sufferings in the world: punting while the iron is hot and grinding bean curd. Like many Zhejiang entrepreneurs, Shen Jianhua also experienced "hardships" and encountered many difficulties in the process of starting a business. Difficulties are bad, but they are also good. Difficulties will force people to find ways, and difficult environments can train talents.
Before setting up the bean curd workshop, Shen Jianhua had been boating, painting, and opening a building material shop, and had traveled all over the streets of Shanghai. Later, he set up a tofu workshop because he thought that Shanghai has a population of14 million, and if one of 100 people buys his tofu, it is a big business! To this end, he rides a tricycle with five relatives and friends every day. No matter whether it is windy or rainy, it is hot or cold, and the tofu just made in the middle of the night is sent to the urban food market, and even the Spring Festival is not stopped. Hard work pays off, and Shen Jianhua's "beautiful" tofu finally entered the Shanghai vegetable market.
How to promote the brand and expand the market? This is the right question after the product enters the market. Being diligent in thinking, grasping opportunities, innovating independently and improving management, Shen Jianhua quickly solved the problem. Diligent thinking is the rational labor of entrepreneurs; Grasping opportunities well is a necessary condition for expanding the market; Independent innovation is the only way to improve product quality; Improving management is the basic work of developing the cause.
When Shen Jianhua learned about Shanghai's measures to promote the standardized market, he immediately smelled that this was a big business opportunity. He resolutely gave up the wholesale business, and with high-quality products, diligent service and honest business ethics, he set out to run the food market directly, starting from 100, and 200, 300 ... "Qingmei" tofu entered Shanghai 1200 food markets. The company * * * has 86 production lines to ensure quality and hygiene through standardized production. Now, for every two pieces of tofu that Shanghainese buy, one of them is a "beautiful" product.
Entrepreneurial experience:
The phrase "the children of the poor are the masters early" can always find new examples. The only boy and teenager in the family lost his father, and his family was poor ... Shen Jianhua provoked the burden of supporting his family early. He has been on a boat, painted, and opened a building materials wholesale shop, and the streets and alleys of Shanghai have already run all over. In his eyes, the charm of Shanghai lies not in the success and wealth that the city has given him, but in the relatively standardized business environment and the opportunities that are constantly emerging.
"1998, I want to do business after saving some money, and Shanghai is my market." Shen Jianhua recalled the experience of establishing "Qingmei": "Think about it, Shanghai had a population of 1 4 million at that time. If 100 people bought my tofu, wouldn't it be a big business?" Much to his encouragement, it took him only two months to buy equipment, lease a factory, apply for an industrial and commercial license and apply for a food hygiene license. "The department in charge of food hygiene specially sent staff to my small factory to inspect-I have been doing business in Shanghai for a long time, and I feel that all aspects here are norms. As long as you work hard, you will have opportunities."
In this way, starting from a small workshop with an area of 100 square meters on Guohe Road in Yangpu District, Shen Jianhua rides a tricycle with five relatives and friends every day, regardless of wind and rain, hot summer and cold winter, and delivers the tofu just made in the middle of the night to the food market in Shanghai. Diligent, "beautiful" tofu is constantly in stock even during the Spring Festival; Honesty, "beautiful" tofu is genuine-this is Shen Jianhua's simple business experience. He embarked on a road to entrepreneurship with a result completely beyond his initial imagination.
Tofu and the government
Smelly sewage, black smoke from the earthen stove, dirty vats, muddy soybean milk-this is the description of unlicensed tofu workshop in a newspaper in 2002.
Over the years, China people's favorite bean products have continued the traditional production mode of family workshops for two thousand years. Many housewives have been deterred from steaming tofu stalls in recent years because of their worries about hygiene, cutting corners and using inferior raw materials. In Shanghai, the emergence of standardized food markets has changed all this and Shen Jianhua's life.
"At that time, the brand of' Qingmei' was a bit famous in some food markets, but half of our business was tofu wholesale. Shanghai's measures to promote the construction of standardized food markets have made us smell big business opportunities. " Shen Jianhua said that the growth and development of "Qingmei" did not rely on government subsidies and support, but the standardized market environment created by Shanghai gave him the opportunity to put his idea of building a brand for many years into practice.
Shen Jianhua decisively cut off the wholesale business and started direct sales in the vegetable market. 100, 200, 300 ... "Qingmei" tofu has entered Shanghai 1200 food markets, becoming the same famous vegetable basket brand as "Aisen" pork and "Yurun" cooked food.
A year later, the "Qingmei" direct business made up the hole left by cutting off the wholesale business; Two years later, supermarket stores have given the green light to the "Qingmei" counter; Today, the output of "Qingmei" has increased by 10 times. In recent years, Shen Jianhua's tricycle has been replaced by a small Dongfeng truck and a large Dongfeng truck.
"Pure beauty" is fortunate. It has caught up with the rapid growth of China's per capita GDP and the upgrading of residents' consumption. Brand is value, which is now deeply rooted in people's hearts. "In the past, my husband and wife shop in grinding bean curd could only earn 1 10,000 yuan for being greedy early in the year." Shen Jianhua told reporters that "operating the direct chain of' Qingmei' can earn at most 10 times the profit."
Standing in front of a sand table in the "Qingmei" factory, Shen Jianhua pointed to an area and said: "After the completion of the fourth factory, the total number of employees in" Qingmei "will exceed 1 10,000. This new factory mainly makes deep-processed products, including bean products, beverages and leisure bean products. My goal this year is to achieve sales revenue 10 billion yuan. "
Outside the window, there are rows of waiting trucks. Every night, drivers of "Qingmei" logistics pull all kinds of bean products off the production line, and drive to food markets and supermarkets all over Shanghai, and to Suzhou, Hangzhou and Nanjing ...
Case thinking:
The establishment, development and expansion of an enterprise largely depend on the comprehensive quality of the person in charge of the enterprise. We should have the spirit of hard work, the ability to think diligently, the down-to-earth style and the goal of working together. In a word, if we want to have the "four thousand spirit" and the "new four thousand spirit", then the transformation and upgrading of our economy and scientific development will be logical and successful.