As the new boss of King Yonghe, Chen Juezhong has just been known to the mainlanders in China. In fact, he already has a huge fast food kingdom. His Happy Bee Food Group is one of the most successful enterprises in the Philippines and also a rising star in Asia. Ordinary Filipinos visit Happy Bee Chain Store at least twice a week, and even Philippine President Arroyo claims to be a loyal supporter of Happy Bee.
According to the latest issue of China Economic Weekly, Chen Juezhong made his fortune from a small ice cream shop. His magic weapon is to learn from the enemy and suit his taste. These two weapons enabled him to beat McDonald's in the Philippines, with 1,111 stores worldwide and an annual turnover of nearly 5 billion yuan.
Since last year, Chen Juezhong, a Filipino Chinese businessman, has often flown to Shanghai. He is the new boss of Yonghe King and owns 85% of the shares of this famous Chinese food brand.
52-year-old Chen Juezhong looks very gentle and doesn't even speak loudly. I can't imagine that he has been fighting in the business world for several years, and he has made the Happy Bee brand a household name in the Philippines in just a few decades, occupying 65% of the Philippine fast food market.
"Entering the catering business is completely influenced by my father." Chen Juezhong told China Economic Weekly.
Chen Juezhong's father is from Jinjiang, Fujian. When he was less than 13 years old, he went to Manila, Philippines to work alone. First as a handyman in a restaurant, then as a cook. In the 1961s, Chen Juezhong's father opened a Chinese restaurant. At that time, the hardware condition of the restaurant was not good, and it often leaked rain. However, because of his good craftsmanship and kindness, Dad Chen attracted many guests. Chen Juezhong said: "My father always said that if you are a tailor, you should make good clothes;" If it is catering, the taste must be good. "
Chen Jue often helps his father in restaurants with his younger brother after school, so he is naturally very good at cooking. After growing up, Chen Juezhong sprouted the idea of cooking. In 1975, after graduating from St. Thomas University, he borrowed money from his brother to open an ice cream shop behind a cinema. The business was good and he soon paid off his debts.
Later, a guest suggested to Chen Juezhong: Only one variety of ice cream is too monotonous, can other items be added? After market research, Chen Juezhong added Hamburg to his business projects. Sure enough, it was very popular with the guests. He started to open branches and developed to five branches within two years.
In p>1978, during the economic depression in the Philippines, the business plummeted. The Chen brothers changed five ice cream shops into hamburger shops, specializing in sandwiches and hamburgers, and broke through the predicament and the business revived. Chen Juezhong visited various fast food chain stores in the United States for three months, and learned a lot about the chain industry. After returning to the Philippines, he changed the hamburger restaurant into a fast food chain store, formally established the Happy Bee Company, and founded his own brand-Happy Bee.
"Happy Bee" has gradually occupied a place in the catering industry in the Philippines. In 1981, the number of stores of Happy Bee expanded to 11. This year, McDonald's entered the Philippines. When McDonald's red arch sign appeared in Manila, almost everyone believed that this sign would fill the streets of the Philippines, and many local brands, including Happy Bee, were in jeopardy.
"At that time, many people changed professions and gave up the position of fast food. After careful consideration, my brother and I decided to compete with McDonald's because we felt that we also had our own advantages." Chen Juezhong said. His taste seems to have become his most powerful source of confidence against McDonald's. Although modest in other ways, Chen never doubted that he could cook better food-at least more suitable for Filipinos.
However, Chen Juezhong soon found that the situation was not as optimistic as he thought, the number of customers dropped sharply, and McDonald's diverted a considerable number of customers.
he began to analyze the gap. He visited McDonald's restaurants and found that their management and services were really in place, even the store cleaning was better than that of local brands.
so he adjusted his strategy. Facing the clown logo at the entrance of McDonald's, Chen Juezhong positioned his corporate logo as "a lively and lovely little bee" to highlight the hard-working and happy quality of Filipinos, which won the favor and love of Filipino men, women and children at once, and immediately produced the unique public relations propaganda effect of "to get close to happy bees and eat fast food happily".
"Happy Bee" aims at the Filipino family and provides food more suitable for local people. Happy Bee's fried chicken is crisp and not as spicy as McDonald's. Happy bee's noodles are a little sweet, because the taste of Filipinos is sweet, while McDonald's noodles with tomato sauce are more suitable for American tastes; Happy Bee also sells all kinds of mango products, Philippine rice noodles and honey steak rice, which are not available in McDonald's.
in the 1991s, the powerful offensive of Happy Bee made McDonald's almost irresistible. McDonald's had to choose between quitting the market and imitating the happy bee. McDonald's denied itself and chose the latter. They said that the current reform only made the product taste more suitable for Filipinos, but even so, it still lagged behind Happy Bee. When McDonald's has only about 211 chain stores in the Philippines, Happy Bee has more than 411 chain stores, and another brand of Happy Bee Group has more than 211 chain stores.
after gaining a firm foothold in the domestic fast food market, Chen juezhong pushed into the overseas fast food market, mainly targeting Filipinos living abroad. First, he avoided the edge of McDonald's, and frequently opened fast food restaurants in Brunei and Vietnam. Then I confronted McDonald's head-on, boldly set foot in Guam and Hong Kong, where the fast food industry is developed, and won more diners with my unique taste of fast food. In Indonesia, he introduced coconut milk and rice mixed fast food rice suitable for Southeast Asians. In Hong Kong, he introduced the mushroom chicken rice that Hong Kong and Kowloon people like to eat. These two kinds of fast food, which are tailored to the taste, are more popular with diners than McDonald's hamburgers and fried chicken, which have long been standardized. At present, it has opened 24 branches in 11 countries and regions.
In order to stay in the leading position in fast food chain stores for a long time, Happy Bee acquired Greenwich Pizza in 1994, and in 1996, Happy Bee became the only franchise company of Big Mill in the Philippines.
In p>2111, Chen Juezhong acquired Chaoqun through strategic merger and acquisition, mainly to strengthen the group's leading position in the fast food industry and grasp the market range of oriental fast food service. In 2112, it acquired a Japanese fast food restaurant in California, USA.
Today, Happy Bee has expanded to 421 stores in the Philippines, with more than 41,111 employees, accounting for 65% of the Philippine fast food market, and the company's total assets reach 511 million US dollars. Chen Juezhong already has a huge fast food kingdom. His Happy Bee Food Group has become one of the most successful enterprises in the Philippines and a rising star in Asia. By March of this year, besides 511 "Happy Bee" hamburger fast food chains and 312 "Chaoqun" Chinese fast food chains, the group also has 227 "Greenwich" pizza shops and 32 "Big Mill" French bread fast food chains, the scale of which is unmatched by any foreign fast food including McDonald's and KFC.
Many brands of Happy Bee Group have their own uses in Chen Juezhong's hands. He used Happy Bee to deal with McDonald's, KFC and other hamburger fast food, and used franchise stores of Greenwich, Chaoqun and Big Mill to deal with Pizza Hut. These four brands are aimed at different consumer groups: "Happy Bee" for families with children, "Greenwich" for teenagers, "Chaoqun" for wage earners and "Big Mill" for high-income groups.
in February last year, Chen juezhong bought 85% of the shares of Taiwan-funded fast food chain "Yonghe king" for 22.5 million yuan, becoming the largest shareholder of Yonghe king, and Yonghe king will continue to use his own brand. Letter
Chen Juezhong said: "The reason why we chose King Yonghe is because it is a very powerful brand in China, and it is the first in Chinese fast food, which is one of our great advantages; Secondly, it is because they have a very good team and organizational structure; The third is because China is a very fast-growing market, and we can use this to enter the domestic market. "
"King Yonghe" was once regarded as the legend of Taiwan Province people who made great achievements on a shoestring. It is understood that in the eight years since Yonghe King opened its business, it has grown from 1 to 83 (including 33 in Beijing, 26 in Shanghai, 12 in Shenzhen, 7 in Wuhan and 5 in Hangzhou). This development speed is not optimistic, and it is incomparable with the development speed of foreign fast food in China. Lin Jiao 'ao, former president of Yonghe Dawang Group, said: "In fact, there has been no shortage of funds. What we are interested in is the experience of Happy Bee beating McDonald's, which I think is unique in the world."
by March this year, the number of Yonghe dawang stores had increased to 87. Chen Juezhong plans to expand the number of stores in Yonghe King China to 511 in five years, and to 1,111 in the next eight years, and vows to become the first brand of Chinese fast food in China.