Click the image for details "Ever since instant noodles came along, I'm not afraid of going hungry during late-night overtime!" Eating a bowl of instant noodles has become a choice for many people when working overtime. Image source: Internet Besides eating instant noodles during overtime, people also eat them when they can't cook or don't want to cook. With instant noodles, do you still worry about going hungry? There are many instant noodle brands in China, but the most famous is "Master Kong." Perhaps you've eaten Master Kong instant noodles, but you may not have heard the story behind Master Kong. 01 Three Failures in the Early Days of Entrepreneurship ▼ Image source: Internet Wei Yingzhou is from Taiwan. When he was young, his family ran an oil processing factory and did some small business, living a relatively affluent life. In 1978, his father passed away, and as the eldest son, Wei Yingzhou took over his father's factory. Due to various reasons, the oil factory became difficult to develop in Taiwan. Wei Yingzhou and his three brothers couldn't think of a way to save it, so they had no choice but to give up their oil business in Taiwan. In the early 1980s, with China's reform and opening up, a wave of entrepreneurship emerged, and a large number of people began their entrepreneurial dreams. Wei Yingzhou and his brothers brought the 150 million Taiwan dollars earned from the family's oil processing business and came to the mainland. Because the family had always been in the oil business, Wei Yingzhou, who had just arrived in the mainland, quickly thought of finding business opportunities in "oil." In 1990, Wei Yingzhou founded his first cooking oil company in Beijing, which was the well-known Dinghao Sesame Oil at the time. To open up the market, Wei Yingzhou invited celebrity Wu Jingxian to do advertisements. As the slogan "With Dinghao Qingxiang Oil, you have face" spread through the streets, Dinghao Sesame Oil became known to everyone. But a good reputation did not bring good sales. Given the consumption level of Chinese people at that time, "having face" was an extremely luxurious thing. Many people were used to cheap sesame oil, while the higher-quality Dinghao Sesame Oil, because of its high price, was difficult to sell. After the first investment failure, Wei Yingzhou invested in products like sesame oil and egg crisp rolls, but suffered successive failures. By the third year of coming to the mainland, he had almost lost all his money. 02 A Bowl of Instant Noodles Creates the Number One Brand ▼ It was at this time that Wei Yingzhou's fourth brother, Wei Yingxing, discovered the business opportunity brought by instant noodles. After a period of investigation, Wei Yingzhou found that the instant noodle market in the mainland at that time presented two extremes. The high-end and low-end markets were already occupied, but the mid-range market still had great room for development. Subsequently, Wei Yingzhou immediately decided to produce instant noodles, not biscuits. After another period of preparation, at the end of August 1992, "Master Kong" braised beef noodles were officially born. Image source: Internet With its delicious taste and affordable price, "Master Kong" quickly became a national favorite as soon as it was launched. Subsequently, "Master Kong" established a series of factories in Tianjin, including noodle factories, seasoning factories, carton factories, and bowl factories, gradually forming a vertical industrial model. As Master Kong instant noodles sold well nationwide, Wei Yingzhou decided to open factories in Wuhan, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Xi'an, and other places to expand into the central China, southern China, southwestern, and northwestern markets. In 1995, Master Kong, which had made its name with instant noodles, had already become a well-known domestic food brand. At this time, Wei Yingzhou made the decision to produce pastries and beverages, forming a diversified corporate management model. So far, besides being the number one in instant noodles, Master Kong's tea beverages and biscuits are also deeply loved by consumers. And "Master Kong" has become a well-deserved national number one brand. 03 Riding the Trend to Create a "Food Empire" ▼ Since Master Kong was listed in Hong Kong in 1996, Wei Yingzhou has accelerated the pace of expansion, aiming to build his own food empire. In the same year that "Master Kong" was listed, Ting Hsin Group acquired Dicos and entered the fast food industry. In China, Dicos is already the third largest fast food product after KFC and McDonald's. In 1997, in order to improve the production and sales model, "Master Kong" established its own chain supermarket "Hymall." By 2011, Tesco Hymall had 93 hypermarkets and 12 convenience stores in China. In 1998, the "Master Kong" group also acquired "Wei Chuan," and the scale of the food industry grew larger and larger. So far, the food empire created by Wei Yingzhou has involved multiple fields, including instant noodles, beverages, grain and oil, fast food chains, supermarkets, and more. Under Wei Yingzhou's leadership, "Master Kong" has gradually grown into a diversified enterprise with all-round development. By 2011, Wei Yingzhou also ranked fourth on the Taiwan rich list with total assets of 5.7 billion. But Wei Yingzhou seems not to be satisfied with this; he has even greater ambitions. With his food empire, he is also preparing to enter the technology field. In 2013, "Master Kong" launched a self-developed smartphone, the INHON G1. 04 What is the Business Strategy? ▼ As we all know, Master Kong's growth has not been smooth sailing; it has also experienced many twists and turns. So how did Wei Yingzhou lead Master Kong through crises and grow stronger? 1 Speed: Seize the Opportunity Shortly after China's reform and opening up policy was implemented, Wei Yingzhou brought his brothers to the mainland to seek business opportunities. It can be said that Wei Yingzhou had a strong sense of foresight. When producing instant noodles, in order to find a breakthrough, Wei Yingzhou decided to first promote braised beef noodles with Taiwanese characteristics. With the hot sales of braised beef noodles, Wei Yingzhou quickly made Master Kong the number one instant noodle brand, and braised beef noodles also became Master Kong's signature instant noodle. 2 Focus on Local Flavors, Many Varieties of Instant Noodles According to incomplete statistics, Master Kong has nearly 200 varieties of instant noodles. Among them are the classic series that everyone likes, such as braised beef noodles and spicy beef noodles, as well as the chicken stewed with mushrooms series that Northeasterners love, and the chili oil series that Southwesterners love, and so on. In order to produce instant noodles that satisfy local tastes, Wei Yingzhou established a research and development department, and after strict screening, found 7 local flavor specialists. At the same time, it was decided to use China's eight major cuisines as the research basis, gradually making the flavors of instant noodles more diverse. 3 Advertising and Celebrity Endorsements In an era when advertising was still conservative, Master Kong took the lead in launching slogans like "Deliciousness you can see" and "More quantity, same price," which were lively and provocative. Then, Master Kong increased its advertising efforts, spending high prices to invite celebrities such as A-Mei, Yu Quan, Luo Zhixiang, and TFBOYS to endorse the brand. Strong advertising not only increased Master Kong's visibility but also made the brand image deeply rooted in people's hearts. 4 Personal Charisma In addition, Wei Yingzhou himself has great leadership skills. Whether a company develops well or not depends on its leader. Wei Yingzhou is low-key and steady, not only daring to innovate but also having the attitude of assessing the situation. In 2014, a movement to boycott Ting Hsin Group broke out in Taiwan. In order to restore Master Kong's image and also for the long-term development of the company, In 2015, Wei Yingzhou announced his resignation as CEO of Master Kong. He was succeeded by Wei Chunxian, the executive director of the food business, who was responsible for Master Kong's overall operations, while Wei Yingzhou focused on the group's development strategy and planning. Since its establishment, Master Kong has become one of the leaders in China's noodle industry with its extremely fast development speed. By 2016, Master Kong still occupied a large share of the noodle market. According to relevant data, Master Kong's revenue in the first half of the year was $4.191 billion, compared with $4.87 billion in the same period last year, Master Kong's revenue has declined this year. However, Master Kong instant noodles occupied 43.0% of the market, becoming the leader in the noodle industry. First Half of 2016 Not only that, in 2016, instant noodle revenue was $1.542 billion, accounting for 36.79% of the group's total revenue. In a year when China's noodle industry was very unstable, Master Kong was still able to maintain a favorable market share. First Quarter of 2017 By 2017, Master Kong's first quarter report showed that the group's total revenue had increased to 14.1976 billion yuan (= $2.10 billion), and instant noodles also increased by 5.76% compared with last year. Wei Yingzhou's entrepreneurial experience constantly reminds people: there is no shortcut to success; only by daring to innovate and reform can you achieve long-term development. About the author: Sister Pomegranate, an in-depth internet observer, focusing on the latest trends in the internet, enterprises, and the workplace. -END-