Wu Wenfu: Food "Big Brother"

Morning Post reporter Weng Yaoxiongwen/Photo

Reasons for concern

At a time when food safety is in turmoil, the exemption from quality inspection is a shot in the arm, giving local food manufacturing brands confidence to rise.

Recently, "Jinguanyuan" condiments were awarded the title of "China Inspection-Free Products". Just the day before Wu Wenfu, the chairman of Golden Crown who grabbed this title, flew to the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to receive the award, the reporter interviewed this "big brother" who is highly respected by people in the Quanzhou food industry.

A: Character Entrepreneurship

Recently, "Jinguanyuan" condiments were awarded the title of "China Inspection-Free Products". Just the day before Wu Wenfu, the chairman of Golden Crown who grabbed this title, flew to the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to receive the award, the reporter interviewed this "big brother" who is highly respected by people in the Quanzhou food industry.

The food industry has been around for 30 years

Wu Wenfu's family is a legendary family in Jinjiang. He has seven brothers, he is the third, and his father is a butcher. In the late 1970s, the Wu Wenfu brothers opened a noodle and noodle processing factory, taking the first step in deep food processing. After this step, they left for nearly 30 years.

Today, in addition to producing "Jinguanyuan" brand soy sauce condiments and "Jinguan" brand confectionery and food, Jinguan Group is also engaged in clothing production and color-printed paper-plastic composite packaging bags. The seven Wu brothers are in charge of various industries.

Someone in the industry commented on Wu Wenfu: He is a very prestigious "leading brother" in promoting the development of Quanzhou's food industry, and even the development of Fujian's food industry.

Sleeping at the train station at night

When most people no longer worry about "eating", Wu Wenfu sees the market prospects of snack foods. In 1982, at the age of 27, he borrowed some money from friends and opened Jinjiang Huge Food Factory, which mainly sells crispy cakes, candies, fish skin peanuts, etc.

"It was very difficult when I first started my business. I not only worked as an operator, a salesman, but also a porter. I changed my role as soon as I changed my clothes." During the interview, Wu Wenfu was filled with emotion when talking about the hardships of starting his own business.

When Huge Food Factory was first established, Wu Wenfu only hired some workers because he had little funds, and adopted a rolling strategy of "producing one batch and selling another batch, and after selling one batch, producing another batch." At that time, in order to save money, when purchasing raw materials, he personally used bicycles or trolleys to pull the raw materials; during production, he worked as an operator together with the workers; during sales, he and his brother ran around carrying a whole bag of samples, and conducted inspections on each product. For a two-kilometer journey, I was reluctant to take a 10-cent bus. When I was promoting outside the province, I would go to one place a day, sell around during the day, and spend the night at the train station. I even saved the cost of staying in a hotel; He became a porter and loader again, loading the goods into the car and then having to unload the goods himself at the destination.

From procurement to production to sales, everything is done personally. During the interview, Wu Wenfu said jokingly: "Just like Sun Wukong, he performed the 'Seventy-two Transformations' and changed his clothes from a boss to a worker."

"I didn't feel any pain at the time. I wasn't afraid of anything. Maybe I was young and tireless. I remember one night when I went to Jiangxi, I met a few gangsters who wanted to rob me. I had some money with me at that time. I saw them leaving with bad intentions. After I came here, I ran away, but these guys were hot on my heels. I ran to the train station and called the police in the waiting room before I could get away. This kind of thing happened a lot back then, and my backpack and pockets were often scratched. , but I never felt scared, I was very motivated, and now I think it’s a bit incredible when I think about it.”

Leading the export of canned food

Over the past few years, brother Wu Wenfu began to accumulate savings, but he still adopted a consistent "rolling strategy" to continuously invest funds into the factory, expand production scale, introduce advanced equipment, technology, talents, and build factories.

In 1985, he expanded the factory for the second time and began to produce cans, and took the lead in finding a successful path of "converting domestic sales to export sales". At that time, there were many canneries in Fujian. Since most entrepreneurs at that time were not familiar with the rules of the international trade game and were afraid of suffering losses abroad, and export licenses were not easy to obtain, the export threshold for canned goods was high, so most companies were selling domestically. However, canned food was still a "luxury product" in China at that time, and the domestic market space was not large, while the market demand for canned food in developed countries was large. Seeing this bright spot in the international market, Wu Wenfu tried every means to export his canned products abroad, creating a bloody road for Fujian canned companies to "domestic sales and then export."

1989 was another special year in Wu Wenfu’s business career. This year's successful planning has given Golden Crown wings to take off. That year, raw material prices plummeted. At that time, Golden Crown already had a certain scale and had relatively strong funds and strength. Wu Wenfu, who has been engaged in deep food processing for many years, once again had a premonition of business opportunities in this, so he began to purchase large quantities of raw materials for canning - mushrooms, fruits, etc. Facts proved his foresight. Just a few months later, the price of raw materials began to rise again, and he made "a lot of money."

After that year's turning point, Golden Crown's strength level has risen to another level. In 1990, Wu Wenfu expanded the factory for the third time and began to operate beverage products, implementing a diversified development strategy. In 1992, he chose the Huge Industrial Zone, built an industrial park covering an area of 6,800 square meters, and invested in the Golden Crown Group.

At this time, Golden Crown decided to focus on the candy industry and began to produce jelly and drinks, while extending its tentacles to clothing and packaging bags.

100 million yuan transformation condiment

In the late 1990s, the European Union banned soy sauce exports from China on the grounds that these exported soy sauces contained the carcinogen trichlorophenol. A large number of media reports allowed Wu Wenfu to capture this information: There were very few truly naturally brewed soy sauces in China at that time, most of the soy sauces were blended, and many soy sauce-producing companies were family workshops. After investigation, he also found that due to the EU's blocking restrictions, many domestic condiment companies began to close down at that time, and there was a large gap in the Chinese condiment market, especially high-end condiments.

At this time, the Golden Crown Group has achieved considerable strength after more than ten years of development. Unsatisfied with the status quo, Wu Wenfu had the ambition to start a business again. Before the European Union banned Chinese soy sauce, he once had the idea of ​​entering real estate. However, after this news came into his sight, he has been worried about it and made a calm analysis and judgment.

At that time, he believed that although the prospects of real estate were "charming", it might be suspected of being a "bubble". In addition, he was a "layman" in real estate, and it was difficult to accurately assess the market prospects. Condiments belonged to the food industry, and he had already I have been working hard in this industry for more than 20 years.

Based on various investigations and analyses, Wu Wenfu decided to make condiments. In 1999, he invested 150 million yuan to build a factory covering an area of 4,500 square meters in Jinjiang Wuli Industrial Park, established the Jinguan Group "Jinguanyuan" soy sauce condiment company, and began to produce high-end pure natural brewed soy sauce and other condiments.

B

  Interview

"Positioning determines future"

Napoleon said: "The ability to make decisions is the most difficult to acquire and therefore the most precious." The Frenchman certainly issued many important orders, such as the invasion of Russia. Today, such an order is called a decision. It was a major and cruel decision: a journey of thousands of miles, with no clothes and no clothes, and facing many hostile local people. Do you understand what Napoleon meant when he said this? Some decisions can make you wear a crown, and some decisions can make you locked up on the island of Elba in your pajamas.

In the development process of Golden Crown for more than 20 years, Wu Wenfu has faced several major decisions, especially the core of decision-making - positioning, for which he has a deep understanding.

Don’t look left and right when making decisions

Reporter (hereinafter referred to as reporter): Nowadays, many people always talk about "positioning". Positioning is easy to say, but not easy to do. Can Director Wu share with readers how to position the company?

Wu Wenfu (hereinafter referred to as Wu): The "positioning" I am talking about includes industry positioning, product positioning and brand positioning. This is the core of entrepreneurial decision-making. There is a saying that "Strategy determines destiny, and details shape the future." Strategy should take priority over details. Details can be postponed, but if the strategy is not in place, enterprise development will be empty talk. What I understand as "positioning" is the first step in strategic decision-making, that is, the entrepreneur decides "what to do" before starting a business.

Reporter: Can you explain the differences between industry positioning, product positioning and brand positioning respectively?

Wu: The first is industry positioning, that is, which industry you decide to do when you start a business. For example, in the late 1990s, when I decided to start a business for the second time, did I choose to do real estate or other industries? In the end, I made condiments. This is the positioning of the industry. We often say: "Men are afraid of choosing the wrong career, and women are afraid of marrying the wrong man." In fact, what we are talking about is the positioning of this industry. This is a direction, and this positioning is determined through careful early market research, analysis and evaluation.

Reporter: Do you regret not choosing to engage in real estate investment back then?

Wu: There is no way to talk about this "regret". Since you have chosen to make condiments, you can only concentrate on it. As a decision-maker, you can't always "look around", let alone be "half-hearted", otherwise the whole company will follow you and be "half-hearted". ", then nothing will be done.

Product positioning is "weighing weight"

Reporter: What is product positioning? How to position the product?

Wu: After deciding to choose this line of work, the first thing we faced was product positioning. It is like a "weight" that determines your future market share. This is the second important positioning after the second market research analysis. For example, when we decided to make soy sauce condiments, we positioned this product as a mid- to high-end product. Such positioning means that raw materials, production equipment, technical processes, etc. must be matched with high-grade materials.

Reporter: Why is it said to be the “weight” of market proportion?

Wu: For example, for our "Golden Crown Garden" soy sauce, we conducted full market research and analysis before deciding to make mid-to-high-end products. At that time, most of China's soy sauce market consisted of low-end blended soy sauce produced by small businesses. However, with the improvement of people's living standards, condiments have gradually developed in the direction of nutrition and health, and the market prospects of mid-to-high-end soy sauce are promising. Based on this analysis and evaluation, we decided to produce high-salt dilute soy sauce. This kind of soy sauce is naturally brewed from soybeans, which requires a long brewing time and a complicated process. At that time, the market share of this soy sauce was expanding day by day, both in the domestic market and in the international market.

Quality is the real brand

Reporter: In terms of brand positioning, what is the "Jinguanyuan" soy sauce condiment?

Wu: For a product or a company, brand is very important. This is a fact that everyone knows. But how to make a famous brand is a question that needs to be studied. At present, many companies are engaged in advertising wars, and they are bombarded with overwhelming advertisements. But I think the most important thing to build a strong brand is to work hard on quality. Quality is the real brand.

Reporter: What is the future development direction of "Jinguanyuan" products and brands?

Wu: In terms of brand, "Jinguanyuan" should be the brand that consumers feel most at ease and trust most. In terms of products, it mainly develops in the direction of nutrition, health, deliciousness, safety, hygiene and so on. We are constantly developing new products, such as children's soy sauce. We will produce products containing zinc, calcium and multivitamins. In terms of varieties, we will develop towards compound convenient soy sauce.

C

Character impression

Cold faced general

Before meeting Wu Wenfu, the reporter interviewed him on the phone. He speaks in a low voice, indifferently, and carefully chooses his words. He is a bit cool, and he has the impression of a successful businessman that makes people feel "at arm's length".

I saw Wu Wenfu in his suite-style office. At that time, he was talking to guests in the inner office. The secretary asked the reporter to sit on the sofa outside and wait for a while. Through the glass door, the reporter saw a middle-aged man wearing a gray suit and glasses sitting behind a huge desk. He thought this must be Wu Wenfu.

At this moment, he also saw the reporter and quickly smiled and nodded outside as a greeting. After a while, the guests left and the reporter began to interview.

A face-to-face conversation with Wu Wenfu seems to have a very different effect than a telephone interview. Not only was he enthusiastic, he was also very talkative. During a two-hour interview, while making tea and talking, Wu Wenfu "revealed" all the little-known entrepreneurial stories of his more than 20 years. His weathered face is like a thick book, and the wrinkles carved by the flying knives of time record his extraordinary journey.

Nearly 30 years of entrepreneurial journey have written a lot of bitterness for him. This is like a marathon race. He has been persistently looking at the goal and rushing forward, and he has also been unable to make decisions at the fork in the road. He has enjoyed the excitement given by opportunities, and has also experienced the pain of missing opportunities.

Wu Wenfu still has deep feelings when it comes to the decision of whether to choose real estate or the traditional food industry for his second entrepreneurial venture. He said: "I don't know whether this choice is right or wrong. If I had invested in real estate at that time, maybe it would be a different situation now. However, it is difficult to say for the condiment industry. It will take longer to develop."

He used a more incisive metaphor to describe it: "It's like stewing beef brisket, it has to be stewed slowly to taste delicious."

Starting from processing noodles, to producing candies, biscuits, and canned food, then switching to candies, jelly, drinks, and finally condiments. In this process, he has made too many attempts and efforts, and has also had too many mistakes. Much brilliance. His company, Golden Crown, has grown from a small workshop to a limited company and then to a group company. He is always learning to surpass and planning how to climb.

Diligence, wisdom, and stability. During the conversation with Wu Wenfu, this impression gradually became deep in the mind of the reporter. One of his managers also commented on him this way: He is a person who dares to fight. Since starting his business, he has not seemed to have a day off for more than 20 years. In addition, when faced with major decisions, he also behaves very calmly and takes action when it is time. Just take action and have the courage of a general.