On March 28, Nongfu Spring announced its full-year 2022 results: revenue of 33.239 billion yuan, up 11.9% year-on-year; net profit of 8.495 billion yuan, up 18.6%. In 2022, no company in the food and beverage industry had it easy. What drove Nongfu Spring's dual growth in revenue and profit? The story of how Nongfu Spring's frontline employees and distributors in Shanghai self-organized and self-operated to ensure normal service during last year's special period may provide the answer. Shanghai During the Special Period Nongfu People Maintaining Normal Service In March 2022, few shops and supermarkets in Shanghai were open, and supplies were tight. Nongfu Spring became the only food and beverage company during that period that had nearly all employees online, striving to maintain normal service. To help supply urgently needed food and water, the Nongfu Spring Shanghai team coordinated with sister companies to provide instant rice and toppings, which became a rare "delicacy" for many Shanghai residents during that time. The Shanghai team noticed that many community workers had sores on their mouths due to vitamin deficiency, so they delivered fruit juice; wherever a makeshift hospital was short of water, Nongfu people appeared. The Nongfu Spring Shanghai team spontaneously organized and opened community group-buying channels: informing, taking orders, delivering, and handing over goods. Employees voluntarily used their personal phone numbers and WeChat as ordering channels. The entire team managed over 100 work groups, constantly adjusting business models and iterating business processes for the special period—sometimes a process set in the morning was found inefficient in practice and changed by the afternoon. Everyone, regardless of location, could quickly come online and respond. Orders poured in, and boxes of products were delivered. Throughout the special period, more than half of Shanghai's residential communities could purchase Nongfu Spring products. (During the Shanghai epidemic, Nongfu Spring employees delivered products to community gates) Many Nongfu Spring Shanghai employees and distributors voluntarily made their homes in warehouses and trucks. Some slept in their vehicles for three days, while others stayed in warehouses for up to 15 days. "At first, with no place to sleep, I slept in the car for two nights. Then, in the distributor's warehouse, I bought two quilts and found some cardboard to make a bed on the floor." Liu Xuan, director of Nongfu Spring's Songjiang office in Shanghai, was one of the frontline employees who made the warehouse their home during that period. During the special period, he also served as a driver, loading over 600 boxes of goods between midnight and 1 a.m., then transporting them from Songjiang to all of Shanghai under the stars. During deliveries, Liu Xuan could only eat instant rice and pre-made toppings in bags. "There was no way to heat them, so I placed the rice and toppings on the engine to warm them, quickly ate, and then rushed to the next destination." Speaking of that food, Liu Xuan remembers it vividly. "I ate like that for over a month." (A piece of cardboard, a quilt, and a pillow became the standard gear for frontline employees who stuck it out during the Shanghai epidemic) "At that time, how much we sold didn't matter; we really weren't doing it for money. It was a spirit." In Baoshan District, Nongfu Spring distributor Ji Yongxin and his wife also held the fort in their warehouse for two months. "Even if there was no road, we had to find a way." The couple recalled those days: "At that time, almost all distributor colleagues in Shanghai had closed, but only Nongfu Spring's goods continued to move through the warehouse. The company also provided us with various conveniences and worked with us to open a new channel—community group buying." During that special period, they ate and lived with Nongfu Spring employees, becoming like family. In contrast to the city's silence, Nongfu Spring's warehouses, trucks, and every employee's phone and WeChat remained bustling. Wang Yuan, then head of the Shanghai region, said: "Throughout the epidemic, our supply chain never broke. At that time, we didn't think about performance or making money; we thought about meeting the needs of customers and consumers. That belief supported us for over two months." An Uninterrupted Logistics Network Nongfu Spring products in Shanghai mainly came from the factory in Qiandao Lake, Zhejiang. Under normal conditions, over 60 trucks departed from the Chayuan factory to Shanghai daily. But as the epidemic worsened, road transport routes were affected, so Nongfu Spring had to divert goods to the Shanghai North Suburb Railway Station. The pressure on the logistics department was unprecedented; if the North Suburb Station also failed, no products could reach Shanghai. Ensuring the smooth flow of this artery became the most pressing issue. Nongfu Spring's logistics department made a decisive move: on one hand, they reassigned trunk-line drivers to the North Suburb warehouse to handle urban distribution and quickly clear arriving rail cars. On the other hand, they actively communicated with the railway department multiple times to open the Taopu Railway Station for combined rail-truck transport, relieving pressure from the North Suburb. Meanwhile, to keep logistics vehicles and drivers moving into Shanghai, Nongfu Spring opened new point-to-point transport routes. Drivers did not need to get off the vehicle; after loading, they were escorted by dedicated personnel back to the highway and headed directly to Shanghai. Nongfu Spring's persistence moved logistics companies. At that time, vehicles entering Shanghai might face a week of quarantine. Many drivers, upon arrival, were immediately sealed with quarantine notices and could not leave their vehicles. At the most difficult time, drivers had to eat and sleep alone in their cabs. Despite this, many drivers resolutely chose to go against the flow, providing a steady supply of Nongfu Spring products to Shanghai. Through these efforts, during the most severe period in March, the Qiandao Lake factory shipped nearly 100,000 tons to Shanghai, not only avoiding shortages but exceeding original plans. From late March to May 11, over 60 vehicles were deployed for point-to-point supply to Shanghai, with more than 500 trips, delivering nearly 20,000 tons of goods. Nongfu Spring's efficient logistics management system ensured that Shanghai never experienced a day of shortage. Countless stories unfolded in the spring of 2022 in Nongfu Spring's Shanghai region. "During the special period, many people had to stay home, so our Shanghai team spontaneously organized this supply guarantee, delivering products to help solve people's daily difficulties. Because of this common goal, everyone was united and without complaint. What Wuhan could do, we could do too," Wang Yuan commented on that experience. From Wuhan to Shanghai Nongfu Spring's Grassroots Always 'Respond to Every Call' In early 2020, facing the Wuhan epidemic, Nongfu Spring announced it would unconditionally open its entire inventory of approximately 6 million bottles in Wuhan to provide drinking water for frontline medical workers and hospital construction personnel until the crisis was resolved. During this period, Nongfu Spring employees and distributors donned red work uniforms, bid farewell to their families, bravely left their homes, and proactively delivered batch after batch of drinking water to major hospitals and makeshift hospitals in Wuhan. (Nongfu Spring employees delivering drinking water to Wuhan Union Hospital) In addition to delivering drinking water directly to the front lines, unmanned sales points also became Nongfu Spring's first-phase supply guarantee method. In early 2020, Nongfu Spring took the lead in setting up over 10,000 unmanned sales service points across the country, using contactless methods to ensure residents' drinking water needs. These points became red landmarks on streets during the special environment. They also served as transfer stations for residents to fight the epidemic together: many citizens placed masks and disinfectant at these points for others to use... (In February 2020, Nongfu Spring employees set up an unmanned sales point) With the Wuhan example, Nongfu Spring's grassroots teams gradually formed a 'spontaneous mechanism'—whenever a special situation arises, without waiting for headquarters instructions, the grassroots can, in the shortest time, creatively adjust business models from the bottom up, spontaneously ensuring that as long as customers and consumers have needs, they will respond. From Xinjiang to Shandong, from Liaoning to Guangdong, throughout 2022, Nongfu Spring teams across the country always found ways to solve problems in difficult situations, and in the process, they did their utmost to help those in need. In August 2022, Nimaduoji, a sales representative from Nongfu Spring's Sichuan-Tibet region, voluntarily joined the ranks of civilian volunteers in Lhasa, continuing to serve Lhasa residents and terminal stores. Every day, Duoji delivered drinking water from the warehouse to various terminal customers in the city, and also voluntarily delivered daily necessities to Lhasa residents for free. By the end of the day, Duoji often drove over 100 kilometers, and on busy days up to 200 kilometers. For over forty days, Duoji did not go home, living alone in the warehouse. When he missed his son, he would go downstairs and have his son stand on the balcony so he could catch a glimpse. "It's not hard, not hard. I'm from Nongfu Spring," Duoji would habitually introduce himself when someone thanked him. Over the years, Nongfu Spring has cultivated a competitive logistics and sales network. Every individual on this network is given great autonomy, encouraged to benefit others, take responsibility, think independently, be creative, and have the ability to solve problems on their own. This may be the best answer to why Nongfu Spring can maintain positive performance growth.