The phrase "household name" is a distant dream for many companies. When you want to eat dumplings or tangyuan during festivals, you should have heard the name "Wan Chai Ferry". Its founder is Zang Jianhe, known as "Sister Zang". She once pushed a small cart alone, selling dumplings through the streets of Wan Chai Ferry in Hong Kong. Twenty years later, she legendarily became a formidable businesswoman, an entrepreneur with assets in the billions. The Art of Dumplings: Delicious and Experience-Oriented From nurse to laborer, from laborer to vendor, on the first day of selling dumplings, she dared not lift her head, awkwardly pushing the cart, her eyes fixed on her toes. The short 20-minute journey from home to Wan Chai Ferry felt like the longest and most arduous road of her life. Yet this road built an empire. From the start of her stall, Zang Jianhe approached her work with rigor and seriousness. She maintained cleanliness of food and utensils following her nursing habits, cleaning her home daily with disinfectant and bleach. She said, "The dumplings I sell to customers should be like those I make for my friends and relatives—hygienic and enjoyable, so they will come back." She paid close attention to customer feedback, often staying up all night to experiment with new wrapping methods. Zang Jianhe carefully studied Hong Kong tastes, and her dumplings became increasingly delicious. Her "Beijing Dumplings" quickly became famous at Wan Chai Ferry. More and more people came to buy them. At this point, someone suggested that "Beijing Dumplings" was too generic and that she should give the dumplings a name. So Zang Jianhe added four characters before "Beijing Dumplings": "Wan Chai Ferry". Selling Well in Hong Kong Due to Quality Although her customers often waited nearly two hours to eat her dumplings, Zang Jianhe was still just a vendor. Opportunity favors the prepared mind. Zang Jianhe seized an important opportunity through the deliciousness of her dumplings and her sincere principles, transforming from a vendor to an entrepreneur. One day in 1982, a Japanese boss held a party, and a friend of Zang Jianhe brought her Beijing dumplings. The Japanese boss's 12-year-old daughter was usually picky and ate little, but at the party, the girl devoured 20 dumplings in one go. The shrewd and business-savvy Japanese boss immediately saw a business opportunity. Soon, the Japanese boss found Zang Jianhe and wanted to cooperate with her. At their first meeting, the Japanese boss asked to visit her factory. She frankly told him she had no factory and was just an unlicensed vendor. This disappointed the Japanese man, who left in a huff. However, the boss's daughter's preference for Wan Chai Ferry dumplings made him unable to give up the profit potential. Early the next morning, the boss met with Zang Jianhe and offered to help her obtain a license, set up a factory, and have her dumplings sold in their department stores. However, the dumplings would need a Japanese name and use their packaging. Although she hoped her dumplings would enter supermarkets, Zang Jianhe firmly rejected the Japanese side's demands, insisting on keeping the "Wan Chai Ferry" brand. She felt she had no capital, only her dumpling skills, and if she transferred them entirely, she couldn't guarantee the Japanese wouldn't kick her out later. The Japanese side made concessions, but then proposed that the packaging not include an address or phone number. Zang Jianhe refused again, saying she must be able to receive customer feedback and communicate with them to improve the dumplings' taste. Zang Jianhe consistently upheld her brand and rights. After much deliberation, the Japanese boss conceded again, but even more unbelievable things were to come. When discussing the price, the Japanese boss asked Zang Jianhe how much she would wholesale the dumplings to them. She said 12.5 yuan, and everyone burst into laughter, because her retail price was 11.5 yuan. Wholesale should be cheaper than retail—that's the general rule of business. After they finished laughing, Zang Jianhe said, "My dumplings were originally sold on the roadside at 11.5 yuan per bowl. Now they'll be placed in mid-to-high-end supermarkets, requiring new packaging and design, and they must be carefully wrapped and neatly arranged in boxes. That increases costs, so 12.5 yuan is entirely reasonable." The Japanese boss had no choice but to accept the price. Later, the boss told Zang Jianhe, "You are the first and last supplier to sell me goods at a wholesale price higher than retail." With full distribution across hundreds of Japanese department store supermarkets, "Wan Chai Ferry" dumplings quickly became the number one frozen food brand in Hong Kong, capturing 100% of the fresh dumpling market and 30% of the frozen dumpling market. Wan Chai Ferry Enters the International Stage In 1997, Zang Jianhe formally formed a joint venture with the American company Pillsbury, investing US$60 million to set up factories in mainland China and expanding sales points to major cities like Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing. In 2001, General Mills acquired its American competitor Pillsbury, taking control of "Wan Chai Ferry", which officially became a brand under General Mills. General Mills is a company with nearly 160 years of history. Its other brands include Green Giant, Bugles, Häagen-Dazs ice cream, Fruit by the Foot candies, and many breakfast cereals (the largest segment by sales). However, Wan Chai Ferry's profit margins may be higher than those of breakfast cereals or other General Mills products. With the completion of several major production bases, "Wan Chai Ferry" now holds half of the southern China frozen food market and over 20% market share in Beijing. It also exports to Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, and other countries. "Wan Chai Ferry" has finally gone global. Zang Jianhe's entrepreneurial journey is celebrated in business circles for three legendary aspects: first, her rapid rise from a female street vendor to a renowned entrepreneur; second, her product became widely known without spending a single cent on promotion; third, she covered Hong Kong's streets and alleys without a sales department. On April 9, 2000, Zang Jianhe received the "Outstanding Professional Woman Entrepreneur of the World" award in Venice, earning praise from outstanding women worldwide. Like a Mother's Care: Using Brand Story to Expand Brand Awareness In brand building, the story of the founder and her dumplings is undoubtedly an inherent connotation and charm of Wan Chai Ferry. Unlike the common practice of building a brand first and then finding resources to enrich its connotation, Wan Chai Ferry's brand marketing uses brand stories to generate brand awareness. In the Chinese market, Wan Chai Ferry consistently uses the unique brand asset of "Sister Zang" to convey the brand concept of "making food with a mother's care" to consumers. With advertising as the mainstay and PR as a supplement, the image of Sister Zang as a loving mother is deeply ingrained in consumers' minds and linked to the Wan Chai Ferry brand image. General Mills (China) not only successfully leveraged and promoted Sister Zang's story to enhance the brand image of Wan Chai Ferry, but also kept the story fresh—from Sister Zang to Aunt Zang, and then to China's "Ah Xin"—elevating a personal story to a spirit. Thus, Wan Chai Ferry has gained advantages that other dumpling brands find hard to match—advantages that directly touch people's emotions and are hard to resist. Of course, Wan Chai Ferry has not rested on its laurels. Instead, it continuously reshapes its brand positioning based on market changes and consumer needs, from emphasizing a mother's love, to high-end quality, to best taste, and then to health. For long-term development, the company has established the brand's vision in the frozen food industry's main competitive market: to become "the expert in frozen food and the preferred healthy quick meal for Chinese families." -END- Content Selection Click on the title below to read directly: [Line Sales Representative Practical Operation Guide (with full PPT download attached) Excellent Product Recommendation: The best domestic FMCG distributor learning platform Focusing on providing professional, practical, and applicable tutorials for enterprises and distributors Committed to helping Chinese FMCG distributors grow rapidly Reply with number 「1」 to view 1067 must-read articles for distributors Including 14 categories and 57 knowledge points From manufacturers to customers/on practical operations and management All practical content If you haven't followed yet, please long-press the QR code below Project Consultation | Promotion Cooperation Please call To join the group, click: Read Original