China's hot pot queen. Wall street journal

In the eyes of others:

Some people, God gave them everything except wings; Some people, God only gave them dreams. He Yongzhi belongs to the latter. Xinbao reporter

At the beginning of 2004, He Yongzhi, who has been engaged in the hot pot industry for 22 years, experienced another severe test in his life.

Not long ago CCTV? Weekly quality report? The column is "Hot pot bottom material? Work hard? There is a problem, "the report said. Some manufacturers of hot pot bottom materials in Chongqing added paraffin to the bottom materials. "The illegal behavior of individual merchants has had a serious impact on the whole hot pot industry.

On February 18, 2004, He Yongzhi, president of Chongqing Hot Pot Association, persuaded the initiator of the paraffin incident to visit the CCTV news reception room and correct the name of Chongqing Hot Pot.

For He Yongzhi, her life is inseparable from hot pot. This legendary woman has created a classic example of starting a business from scratch.

Speaking of the reasons why He Yongzhi started his business, we should also start with her marriage.

Someone asked He Yongzhi:? Have you ever thought of becoming a billionaire when you only have three pots? Is it called China? Hot pot queen? 、? China A Xin? He Yongzhi, president of Chongqing Little Swan Group, replied:? Don't say a few hundred million, that is, millions. I didn't even dare to think about it at that time. I thought I'd quit as long as I made 50 thousand yuan! ?

Start with a pot of three.

19 years ago, Chongqing Bayi Road? Delicious street? In fact, a 16 square meter small hot pot restaurant with only three tables, three pots and three wage earners opened. This small shop is run by a couple, the man named Liao Changguang and the woman named He Yongzhi. The two exchanged their family's only 3,000 yuan for this storefront along the street and started a small business. The hostess named the shop. Little swan? .

He Yongzhi ranks seventh in the family. Seven Sisters? I used to be a designer in Chongqing Liuyi Children's Shoes Factory. The husband is an electrician, and their family is not good. When they were still in love, they were worried about their wedding house. In order to make money, He Yongzhi plays at home after work every day? Sea fox fur coat? Liao Changguang, a boyfriend, took it to the market and sold it. In this way, they saved hundreds of dollars and bought a humble private house as a new house. In a blink of an eye, the couple have been married for three years.

One day, Liao Changguang said to his wife. You know, the house we live in can sell for 3000 yuan now. ? For them at that time, this was an astronomical figure. He Yongzhi thought, isn't it killing two birds with one stone to do some small business with this money? So, He Yongzhi and his wife sold the house and used the money to open a hot pot restaurant. When the store opened, He Yongzhi lost dozens of dollars after finishing his first month. They didn't lose heart, worked hard on taste and service, and their business finally got better every day. A few months later, the couple both resigned to specialize in hot pot restaurants. That year, He Yongzhi was 29 years old.

? Little swan? Our business is booming. The original three tables in the store are simply not enough, and adding tables in the store is not enough. Adding tables in the shop is still not enough. The table is gone. Turn the beer box upside down and put a board on it as a table. When it rained, I took an umbrella, and the guests put on raincoats and still ate with relish. He Yongzhi has his own way of hot pot management. The guest said that the service of this boss is very good, and the seasoning is very heavy. Most of her customers are repeat customers.

Hotpot baiwei

Business is booming, and He Yongzhi realizes that he can't do it without expanding the scale and going out. 1990, the couple rented a 2,000-square-meter house in the economic development zone on the outskirts of Chengdu, invested180,000, and opened the first branch outside Chongqing. In order to meet the needs of the market, He Yongzhi specially hired an engineer to study in France for three years, and decorated the three-story building into European, South Asian and national styles respectively, and named it? Chongqing Little Swan Hotpot Hotel. .

At the same time? Eating, singing and dancing? New tricks, trying to inject art and culture into catering. She set up a fashion design studio to make her own national costumes and let the actors arrange various programs. When the restaurant echoed with intoxicating music and the girls danced to it, were the guests there? Little swan? Not only had a good meal, but also got audio-visual enjoyment. This move quickly caused waves in Chengdu. Little swan? Suddenly became popular in Chengdu.

On one occasion, Kong Fansen, a good public servant of the people and then vice mayor of Lhasa, went to Chengdu on business, and the municipal government invited him to the most distinctive? Little swan? Eat hot pot. The next day, the leaders of Chengdu Military Region also invited him? Little swan? Eat hot pot. On the third day, before he left, he and his friends came here again. Kong Marco Lin said? Little swan? There is a sense of mystery. ? Before he left, he invited Bao Yongzhi and his wife to visit Tibet and gave her two precious gifts.

He Yongzhi is a woman who likes innovation and change. Many foreigners come here to try Chongqing hot pot, but it's too spicy to stand. After much deliberation, she came up with a way to split the hot pot in two, so she did it herself and separated the red soup from the clear soup with a board in the pot. At first, this move was not successful. Because the partition is flush with the pot, the red soup cooked for the first time always jumps into the clear soup to smell.

One day, He Yongzhi and Liao Changguang climbed the river and looked from a distance. They saw the Yangtze River and Jialing River meet at Chaotianmen Gate, and the momentum was surging and mighty. Mixing is slow at the intersection of two rivers, but slow at the intersection of rivers. There is a clear waterline in the middle of the river. Suddenly, He Yongzhi had an inspiration: make the partition in the middle of the hot pot into the shape of a pool, half clear soup and half red soup, so that the soup on both sides would not overflow. This is the Yuanyang hot pot that later went to the whole country. Later, He Yongzhi put a small pot in the cauldron. There is clear soup in the small pot and red soup in the big pot. You can eat whatever you want. From clear soup to red soup, but red soup is not easy to mix into clear soup. ? Mother pot? This came out and got it? World designer patent? Title.

Capital concession

1992, Mr. Jing from Tianjin passed through Mianyang, Sichuan. Little swan? What do you want to do with Little Swan Hotpot Restaurant when you see the lively scene of singing and dancing while eating? Little swan? Cooperation. At that time, He Yongzhi and his wife had tens of millions of assets and more than ten enterprises. They were wondering how to turn Chongqing into a city. Little swan? Low-cost expansion, so it was decided? Little swan? People, technology, brands and Han Jingwen Investment Fund jointly operate the store. The two sides hit it off. On June 8th, 1994, Tianjin franchise store officially opened, which became an instant hit. It took only eight months to recover all the investment.

Using this business model, He Yongzhi started at an average rate of one per month? Little swan? Hot pot has joined the chain stores and spread to major cities in China, opening branches or franchise stores in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. 1995, cygnet? It has crossed the ocean and settled in cities such as Shelton and Seattle in the United States, becoming a multinational group with more than 100 enterprises and involving many industries. He Yongzhi was awarded by China Council for the Promotion of International Trade? 50 people who influenced franchising in China? Honorary title.

True feelings return to society

When the enterprise gets bigger and bigger, cygnet? I began to think about how to repay the society. He Yongzhi and his wife invested 1 100 million yuan in Wanzhou for the first phase of resettlement, which was completed as? The first city of the Three Gorges? what's up Swan comprehensive wholesale market? . Over the years, cygnet? Branches around the country donated more than 5 million yuan to social welfare and education, and successively built Little Swan Yucai School and Peng Yongwu Martyrs Exhibition Hall, which helped solve the employment problem of more than 7,000 laid-off and unemployed youth, resettled more than 6,543,800 Three Gorges immigrants and adopted more than 20 poor students.

He Yongzhi, say confidently, Little Swan? Will Chongqing hot pot industry take the road of industrialization, go to the whole country, and make Chongqing hot pot China? McDonald's? .

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