First Bucket of Gold
Born into a family of scholars, Zhang Lan graduated from the Business Management Program of the Beijing Business School in 1987 and went to work as a manager in a company. Two years later, she traveled to Canada.
Leaving her home country, she earned money by working as a black laborer and did many jobs. For example, she waited on a Taiwanese family, helped out at a beauty salon, did odd jobs at a restaurant, and even carried a hundred pounds of pork. At that time, making money became the only reason for her to stay abroad. Zhang Lan said with emotion, "The hard work involved is beyond the understanding of ordinary people."
In 1991, Zhang Lan returned to China with 20,000 dollars of hard-earned money. Half a year later, she invested 130,000 yuan to open a Sichuan restaurant in Beijing's Dongsi district, called "Alain Restaurant". "Food is the key to people's success, and there are always opportunities in this industry."
The catering industry is "hard" line, the body should be hard, the mind should also be hard. She ran alone to Pi County, Sichuan, with a group of local bamboo workers to cut bamboo on the mountain, with the train to 13 meters long bowl thick bamboo transported to Beijing. Subsequently, "Alan Restaurant" has become a bamboo building in the south. She paints and decorates the bamboo walls herself, treating the restaurant as an artistic activity. The combination of decoration and cuisine was her first attempt. In the following 9 years, she completed her capital accumulation and accumulated rich experience in restaurant management, and in 2000, she founded the South Beauty Boutique Sichuan Restaurant. In just 3 years, she opened 9 branches in Beijing and 2 branches in Shanghai.
Chain operations
Zhang Lan considers herself a "casual but casual" person. Whenever she goes to a place, whether it's domestic or foreign, a big hotel or a small restaurant, she habitually pays attention to the interior decoration of the store and studies the various dishes. Every time, she is inspired to create a new dish. Selection of materials used in Sichuan traditional raw materials, but in the knife and plate is the European requirements, reflecting the simple and bright colors "Rock Salad" is Zhang Lan's innovation.
At a restaurant in France, a waiter demonstrated making a salad in front of her. Although it is a very simple dish, it can bring spiritual and cultural enjoyment to the guests. At that time, she thought of her good friend, the famous rock star Cui Jian, why not call it "rock salad"? After returning to China, she made her own ingredients and experimented.
Nowadays, if you walk into South Beauty and order a "rock salad", a waiter will come to the table and "rock" the salad like a kaleidoscope.
Zhang Lan has long, curly hair and speaks very quickly. She always likes to say "I think"....... Let people feel the beautiful woman in front of her, do things more decisive than men.
Don't like to recall the past, although she mentioned more than once that "the past experience is the wealth of the present", but her every move, a move, more to show a sense of forward thinking. And the spirit to manage and operate the trick, but also the character and style of the next person can not be imitated.
She said, "My goal is to open the 100th South Beauty store on the day the 2008 Olympic Games open in Beijing."
Life summary
South Beauty Zhang Lan doesn't like to describe herself as a "strong woman". In her eyes, the term "strong woman" gives people the impression that they are "too high up to be cold" and that they are cold and icy. She attributes her success to intuition and sudden inspiration, as well as being "too focused" on what she does. If there is anything else to add, it is the calmness that comes from a woman's non-utilitarianism. Her office is cluttered with plates of pottery, ceramics and glass.
Like a little girl who loves to play "house," she likes to fiddle with all kinds of tableware, trying to create the most ideal combination of colors and shapes. She carries out this seemingly easy but important daily task with a gentle woman's heart. Fashion, leisure and innovation are the eternal themes of South Beauty.
In 2008, South Beauty opened eight new directly-managed stores in first-tier cities, raised RMB 300 million on December 15, and launched a new menu on December 5, introducing more than 300 new dishes.
In August, South Beauty served the Olympic Games as an Olympic catering service provider, receiving more than 80,000 spectators, athletes and Olympic officials from various countries, and serving more than 1,000,000 people in the stadiums, with more than 100,000 people being served in South Beauty outlets during the Olympic Games. In June, South Beauty participated in the "Times China" event held in London, England, serving Chinese cuisine to the guests.
On May 12, 2008, South Beauty joined with One Foundation to donate money to the disaster area in Sichuan, and on May 4, Ms. Zhang Lan, the chairwoman of South Beauty, became an Olympic torchbearer to participate in the Hainan Torch Relay.
On Jan. 15, South Beauty was formally recognized as a "Famous Trademark of China".
On December 8, 2007, SUBU, one of the top fashion concept restaurants established by South Beauty in China, was officially opened. in November, South Beauty was officially recognized as a "China Well-known Trademark", obtaining China's only trademark mark protected by international law on a global scale, and further developing In March, South Beauty officially became the caterer for the 8th largest competition venue of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
On August 28, 2005, Shanghai 881 Clubhouse opened, marking South Beauty's entry into the high-end service market.
On August 29, 2004, South Beauty Zijing Store opened in Chengdu, reflecting South Beauty's continuous study of the source of traditional Sichuan cuisine and its enterprising and innovative spirit of always leading the way.
On January 16, 2002, South Beauty Shanghai Times Square Store opened, marking the beginning of South Beauty's cross-regional operation.
On April 16, 2000, South Beauty opened its first branded restaurant in China World Trade Center, thus formally entering the business dining market.
Venture Capital Controversy
On August 26, 2011, Zhang Lan, chairman of South Beauty Catering Group (hereinafter referred to as South Beauty), said in an interview with the media that the introduction of the investor, CDH, was "the biggest mistake of South Beauty and is meaningless," and that "private entrepreneurs have to pay tuition fees! "The private entrepreneurs are paying tuition fees. She also said that CDH brought nothing to South Beauty, but diluted "such a big share" with very little money. The conflict between venture capitalists and investee companies was once again exposed to the public.
In 2008, South Beauty chose CDH Venture Capital, which injected about 200 million yuan into the company, to take a 10.526% stake in the former, in a competition among several PEs.
In 2011, South Beauty has been sprinting to the A-share market, but the listing was unsuccessful. Due to the betting agreement signed with CDH, after South Beauty's listing was thwarted, CDH asked Zhang Lan to buy back her shares at a high price. For Zhang Lan, listening to CDH Venture Capital's advice, she offered part of her stake to the executives at a low price, but she still couldn't get listed in the country, and she felt that she had lost money herself. In such a situation, both sides have grievances and conflicts surfaced.
Industrial and financial thinking are different. If the ideas are different and there is a conflict of interest, it is easy for the two sides to talk it over.
November 2012, South Beauty chairman Zhang Lan changed her nationality, triggering widespread concern. According to the reporter's understanding, South Beauty had changed its enterprise type from a domestic enterprise to a foreign-invested enterprise in December 2008, whether this move was to enjoy the tax benefits of foreign investment?
The relevant person in charge of South Beauty disclosed that Zhang Lan's nationality had indeed changed, but it was not clear which nationality she had joined. As for the reason why South Beauty changed into a foreign-invested enterprise, the person in charge said that it was not due to the preferential policies as speculated by the outside world, but Zhang Lan's own long-term consideration for South Beauty to be able to base on the world in the future and become an international brand.
Foreigner Zhang Lan runs foreign-invested South Beauty
In November 2012, Zhang Lan, the chairman of South Beauty, sparked concern by "canceling her hukou and joining a foreign country". In response to the question of whether Zhang Lan could continue to serve as a member of the Chaoyang District CPPCC, the person in charge of the Chaoyang District CPPCC said that he was currently learning about the matter and would handle it according to the situation and relevant procedures after verification.
And according to the CCTV investigation, the enterprise type of South Beauty is a joint stock limited company (a joint venture between Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao and the mainland), and the legal representative and person in charge is Zhang Lan. The enterprise was a domestic-funded enterprise before Dec. 19, 2008, and changed on Dec. 19, 2008 to a foreign-invested enterprise.
Zhang Lan's talk of patriotism was trolled by netizens
Zhang Lan once told the media that 21 years ago, with her immigration card in hand, she decided to go back to China to start her own business, and all of them thought that she was crazy to give up a pass to enter the paradise. Some netizens also recalled Zhang Lan's status as a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and a Red Flag Woman of the 38th Five-Year Plan, and questioned Zhang Lan's claim on a TV program that she had "given up emigration and remained loyal to her country forever". This is purely for show.
Imkhan, a netizen, said in his microblogging account, "When I put my hand on my chest, when I was asked to swear eternal loyalty to Canada, I realized that I couldn't do it, and that I could only be loyal to my own country because I am Chinese.
This is a quote I heard a long time ago when I watched "Tiger Talk". The person who said this is none other than Zhang Lan." The netizen nemopostbox also said that Zhang Lan, on Phoenix TV's "One Tiger, One Talk", scolded people who emigrated overseas for being unpatriotic, and said that she refused invitations to emigrate from many countries, and that the "noble spirit of patriotism" she showed at that time won the audience's applause. At that time, she demonstrated a "noble patriotism" and won warm applause from the audience. Now this "patriot" has unknowingly joined a foreign country.
More than that, some netizens questioned whether Zhang Lan ever had the opportunity to obtain an immigration card from the Canadian state. Netizen Canadians have about 2012, said, "Ms. Zhang, Canadian permanent residents 4 years note full 3 years before qualifying to apply for naturalization, but also must apply in person, after reviewing the notification of the examination, the examination can only be naturalized by passing the examination, you live a few years?" Netizen smiled and said, "According to Zhang Lan herself, in 1991 when she lived in Canada extremely difficult, almost every day in a restaurant in the backyard unloading trucks carrying pork, and at night to be a nanny. God knows why the Canadian government would specifically invite such a person to immigrate to Canada?"
South Beauty enjoys the treatment of foreign-invested enterprises A-share listing was rejected
China has implemented tax incentives for foreign-invested enterprises, which mainly include four pieces of content. One is the tax incentives for importing and exporting equipment, software and technology; another is the tax incentives for income tax; and the tax incentives for business tax. According to an analysis on the Internet, the purpose of South Beauty changing from a domestic enterprise to a foreign-invested enterprise in 2008 seems to be to reasonably avoid taxes. South Beauty, on the other hand, said it was for the internationalization of the company.
On the other hand, South Beauty has also been actively planning its A-share listing. It is understood that as early as March 2011, South Beauty has submitted an application for A-share listing to the Securities and Futures Commission, but in January 2012 South Beauty's name appeared in the list of "termination review", and the date of termination review was shown as January 30, 2012. Thus, South Beauty's A-share listing road officially ended.
Media reports said South Beauty will launch its Hong Kong IPO as soon as possible after the summer vacation, but the exact timing will depend on market conditions. Earlier news indicated that South Beauty had passed the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's listing hearing and planned to raise US$100-200 million.
Zhang Lan quits South Beauty board of directors
According to Taiwan media reports, in March 2015, Zhang Lan, the founder of the restaurant group "South Beauty", was rumored to have her assets frozen by the High Court of Hong Kong, and the family business was plunged into a crisis, and at that time, Das said, "The whole family will **** together! The whole family will face it together". Unexpectedly, on July 16, mainland media reported that Zhang Lan had withdrawn from the board of directors of South Beauty, and even withdrew her information from the official website. The media has asked South Beauty to confirm this, but the other party has not denied it.
Zhang Lan denied that she was "kicked out" of South Beauty's board of directors and will sue CVC
On July 17, 2015, Zhang Lan commissioned a lawyer to issue a statement, denying the "out" claim. Subsequently, Zhang Lan accused CVC of pledging her equity without her consent in an interview, and said she would initiate legal action against CVC.