A few years ago, several Fortune 500 food giants sought to form joint ventures with the Dali Group, offering attractive terms, but Xu Shihui, committed to national economic development, remained steadfast in his belief in creating a first-class national brand with a century-long legacy. When a president of one of these companies provocatively asked, "Relying solely on your own strength, have you considered the many competitors?" Xu Shihui cleverly replied, "I don't think about competitors; I only think about how to make my company excellent. If I make my company excellent, no one can compete with me. If I don't, competitors are everywhere."
On November 20, 2015, Dali Group was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The Xu Shihui family's shareholding was valued at HK$72.399 billion, surpassing Lin Xiucheng and his son Lin Zhiqiang of Fujian Sanan Group, making them the new richest family in Fujian. According to financial reports, in the first half of 2015, Dali Group's net profit exceeded RMB 1.5 billion, making it a true giant in China's food industry.
From a small food factory in 1989 to 19 companies, 29 food and beverage production bases, over 39,000 employees, and annual output exceeding RMB 10 billion, Dali Group has become the largest wholly-owned national brand food production enterprise in China. Its brands, including Daliyuan, Haochidian, Kebike, and Heqizheng, are household names. How did Xu Shihui achieve all this?
Starting from a Collective Enterprise
Born in 1958, Xu Shihui began his career in leisure food production in 1980, dedicating most of his life to the food industry.
In 1989, Meili Food was established to produce biscuits. At that time, Meili Food was a small collectively-owned enterprise in Hui'an County, Quanzhou. Xu Shihui, with his extensive experience in leisure food, was elected as the legal representative of Meili Food in 1992. In the same year, under Xu's leadership, Meili Food formed a joint venture with Jiada Co., Ltd., controlled by an independent third party, to establish Fujian Hui'an Dali Food Co., Ltd. with a registered capital of RMB 1.5 million, with Meili Food and Jiada holding 60% and 40% shares respectively.
After its establishment, Fujian Hui'an Dali launched its first "Dali" brand biscuit product. Thanks to Xu Shihui and his management team's deep industry experience and strong execution capabilities, the biscuit business thrived. In 1996, "Dali" grew from a regional brand to a nationally recognized trademark. In February 1997, to implement brand strategy, expand market awareness, and increase market share, Fujian Hui'an Dali was renamed Fujian Dali Food Co., Ltd. In October of the same year, the "Dali" brand was listed as a "China Recognized Famous Brand Product."
As the business expanded, in July 1998, Fujian Dali established its first subsidiary outside Fujian Province, now known as Chengdu Dali Food Co., Ltd. By then, after two rounds of capital increases, Fujian Dali's registered capital had increased to RMB 20 million, with Meili Food and Jiada holding 58% and 42% shares respectively. On March 6, 2005, Meili Food transferred all its shares in Fujian Dali to the Xu family, and the registered capital was increased to RMB 80 million, with the Xu family directly holding shares. Meili Food then exited the stage, disappearing from Dali's shareholding structure, and Fujian Dali was completely privatized by the Xu family.
Diversifying with the "Egg Yolk Pie Model"
Entering the 21st century, Xu Shihui noticed that Quanzhou's food industry was facing a cold snap. In the last century, especially in the 1990s, Quanzhou's food industry had a glorious period, with household workshops producing fruit and vegetable cans, fish skin peanuts, and spiced melon seeds that were popular nationwide. However, traditional Quanzhou foods like candy, canned goods, and preserved fruits were now challenged by the demand for freshness. Due to hygiene concerns, canned products were declining, and traditional preserved fruit production methods were being questioned. As for candy, it was mainly used for Spring Festival and weddings, with strong seasonality and narrow demand.
Xu Shihui realized that the food industry should adapt to consumer trends and seek solutions in product structure. In the decline of traditional foods, he saw a new era: the era of leisure food. In urban populations, many people have leisure snacks on their desks, in their cars, or near their computers, either to satisfy hunger or for entertainment. This phenomenon is common, and the "leisure-ization" of food has become a major trend.
Xu Shihui found his industrial fulcrum in this new trend. Starting in 2001, he proposed a new concept product: Dali Egg Yolk Pie. Technically, "pie" refers to a process that allows filled cakes to have a shelf life of one year without preservatives. Xu expanded this concept, launching not only square cakes but also egg yolk pies, chocolate pies, and fruit pies, creating a "pie" craze in the food industry and becoming the undisputed king of pie foods in China.
Starting with egg yolk pies, Xu Shihui launched a leisure food revolution across the country. After years of development, Dali Group formed a product structure with three major brands: "Daliyuan" pie foods, "Kebike" puffed leisure foods, and "Haochidian" biscuits. How to manage three brands simultaneously and maximize their market value was a common concern in the marketing industry. Xu Shihui, with his unique foresight and acumen, carved out a distinctive path of brand management: three-dimensional integrated marketing.
At the same time, Dali implemented a strategic plan of branch companies driving regional marketing, establishing nine production bases in Fujian, Sichuan, Hubei, Shandong, Jilin, Gansu, and other provinces, and comprehensively entering the national market. Supported by a strong sales network and high logistics efficiency, Dali's three major brands—Daliyuan, Kebike, and Haochidian—advanced together and rapidly rose.
Dali's success drove the repositioning of Quanzhou's entire food industry. "Leisure" has become the mainstream style of Quanzhou's food products. Industry insiders say Dali's annual sales have long exceeded RMB 1 billion, making it the leader of Quanzhou's food industry. Moreover, because Quanzhou food companies found new space in "leisure," they have re-emerged in the domestic market. Following Guangdong and Shandong, Fujian has become China's third major food province. In terms of brands, Fujian food is catching up rapidly.
Three Points and a Line: Entering the Beverage Industry
Xu Shihui always insists that "product innovation determines the vitality of an enterprise," believing that without fresh blood, a company will gradually decline. To this end, he keeps a close eye on international trends, using the three "bests"—"develop the most delicious healthy products, provide the best quality, and create the best brand"—as his competitive strategy, continuously innovating to maintain Dali's leading position.
After owning the three leading food brands—Daliyuan, Kebike, and Haochidian—in 2006, Xu Shihui turned his attention to the beverage industry. He keenly noticed that the domestic beverage market had been growing at an average annual rate of over 20%, making it one of the fastest-growing markets in China's food industry. However, there were few large-scale beverage producers, and there was a lack of enterprises with national influence and high market share. So he decisively invested RMB 800 million, introduced 12 international standard beverage production lines, and launched "Heqizheng" herbal tea, "Youxianru" protein drinks, "Qingmei Lvcha" green tea, and other products across eight categories and more than twenty varieties—unprecedented in the domestic beverage industry.
In the early days of entrepreneurship, Xu Shihui, with the fighting spirit of a Minnan person and unwavering will, overcame numerous difficulties and gradually expanded the enterprise. The group grew from a small processing factory into a large group company with 13 companies nationwide, 22 production bases, covering over 5,000 mu, and employing over 30,000 people. The Dali brand has received honors such as "China Famous Trademark" and "China's 500 Most Valuable Brands." In 2013, Dali's self-developed functional beverage Lehu was successfully launched, becoming a new force in the health functional beverage market.
A Philanthropist with Social Responsibility
Xu Shihui not only personally practices the philosophy of "achieving harmony and benefiting all" by actively engaging in charity, but also makes outstanding contributions to solving local employment, increasing local fiscal revenue, and helping farmers get rich during the company's expansion. As a member of society, Xu Shihui fulfills his dual responsibilities of enterprise development and social welfare.
Gratitude and giving back to society are the most valuable qualities of an entrepreneur. Xu Shihui has achieved this. While making the company bigger and stronger, he never forgets to give back to society, cares about the people, pays attention to the elderly, and strongly supports elderly care. In 2003, he donated RMB 12 million to build the Hui'an County Elderly Activity Center; in 2006, he donated RMB 5 million for education and health in Liangzhou District, Wuwei City, Gansu; in 2007, he donated RMB 5 million for the 6th Farmers' Games; in 2008, he donated goods and money worth RMB 10.35 million to the Sichuan disaster area, and also invested RMB 160 million to establish the "Quanzhou Dali Charity Fund," "Hui'an County Dali Charity Foundation," and "Xu Shihui Education Foundation"; in 2010, he donated another RMB 10 million as elderly respect money for 14 communities in Hui'an county and 2 villages where the group is located...
In January 2011, Xu Shihui invested RMB 100 million to establish an education fund in his hometown Hui'an, for rewarding teaching, learning, and providing financial aid.
In Xu Shihui's view, national brand enterprises must uphold national integrity, put national interests and the national economy first, firmly rely on their own strength, make the enterprise bigger and stronger, provide employees with a good and stable employment environment, create more wealth for society, and pay more taxes to the country. Only such enterprises truly fulfill their social responsibilities.
At the request of many distributor friends, the fourth B-end e-commerce inspection class of this public platform will be held from August 15 to 18 in Nanjing and Hangzhou to inspect Qianmi.com and Alibaba Retail Link. Distributor friends interested in transformation can join us for on-site inspections:
Activity Schedule: Time: August 15-18
August 15-18
Nanjing·Hangzhou 15th: Check in at designated hotel in Nanjing; 16th: On-site inspection of Qianmi.com, then high-speed rail to Hangzhou in the afternoon; 17th: Participate in the "FMCG Distributor B2B Transformation Exchange Summit"; 18th: On-site inspection of Alibaba Retail Link in Hangzhou;
Distributor friends interested in transformation are welcome to join us to learn and inspect on-site:
Organization Format 1. Company visit 2. Actual market case visit 3. On-site explanation 4. One-on-one communication
Participating distributor friends only need to pay a registration fee of 200 yuan. Other expenses are self-covered. Note: This inspection is limited to distributors. Distributor friends interested can register by long-pressing the QR code below. When adding, please note: "Fourth Registration".
Non-participants, please do not disturb
Group Photos of Previous Inspections: Group photo of the 3rd B-end e-commerce inspection, from top to bottom: Yunbaoshangmeng, Weijie City Distribution, Wanshang Yizhan. Group photo of the 2nd B-end e-commerce inspection, from top to bottom: Jinhuobao, Caiba, Yishang. Group photo of the 1st B-end e-commerce inspection, from top to bottom: Piduoduo, Beiquan, Yishang.
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