The cover caption | stills from "Cliffs"
Wen | Feng Ma Niu (WeChat public number: Feng Lun Feng Ma Niu)
"I am Tan Chang'an, the founder of Tan Yutou hot pot, once reached the peak of catering, before we employ tens of thousands of people, factories on hundreds of acres, assets of nearly 10 billion, stores all over the country, is the first layout of Taiwan, Hong Kong mainland catering enterprises, but also the first to bring hot pot out of the country." TanYutou is known by many as 'China HotPot Normal College'. I spent ten years creating a huge restaurant empire, and such a huge system collapsed in just a few years, shocking the entire restaurant industry and myself." Tan Chang'an, the founder of TanYutou Hot Pot, said this on Douyin.
When Tan Yu's head was red all over the country, Haidilao was still a "little brother", but how brilliant it was now. In mid-August 2020, Tan Yutou closed its last store in its base camp, Chengdu. During the May Day holiday this year, 49 trademark rights under Tan Yutou were auctioned for a price of 15.1 million yuan. Tan Chang'an himself has been included in the list of dishonest executors more than 10 times. At this point, Tan Yutou officially ended his era, not only has the company been ruled bankruptcy and liquidation by the court, but even the trademark cannot be saved.
As the founder of Tan Yutou Hot Pot, Tan Chang'an's life can be described as full of legends. Born poor, he once went to the battlefield, and after retiring from the army, he founded one of the most well-known catering enterprises in the country, Tanyutou Hot Pot. At its peak, Tan Chang'an ranked third in the "2007 Hurun Catering Rich List" with a wealth of 2 billion yuan. So, how exactly did he make the company bigger and collapse?
1
"The environment in which I grew up made me and what I experienced." Tan Chang'an said.
Tan Chang'an was born in 1963 to a rural family in Pyeongchang, Sichuan. Tan Chang'an once said, "The Dabashan area is remote, and that poverty is beyond many people's imagination, and I came out of there." Why don't you think I'm tall? Just hungry. I remember when I was in junior high school, I couldn't eat enough, and I didn't have any dishes."
Because he was so poor, Tan Chang'an desperately wanted to get rid of the harsh environment, and at that time, only soldiers and road construction workers in the countryside were the only way out, so in 1980, 17-year-old Tan Chang'an chose to become a soldier.
In an interview, Tan Chang'an once said: As soon as I became a soldier, I began to fight, and I participated in the four major battles of Laoshan, Zhiyinshan, Koulinshan, and Luojiaping Dashan, and because of my bravery in battle, I joined the party in the line of fire. At that time, the Vietnamese had been fighting for decades and had a lot of combat experience. We recruits are inexperienced, but brave. I had a classmate who died in battle after three months as a soldier. Later, I watched my comrades die in a pool of blood, and at that time, I didn't have much feeling of grief and indignation, so I wanted to fight the enemy and look everywhere, and I wasn't afraid of anything. Before going to the battlefield, my comrades-in-arms and I all wrote a desperate letter, resolutely serving the country and willing to sacrifice. We wrote down all the debts we owed and told our families that if we sacrificed, our debts would be repaid by the family. At that time, we went to the battlefield with a large plastic bag, which was our "light coffin". Under the education of the army, I changed a lot, and realized that a good boy should shed blood and sweat to defend the motherland when he came to serve as a soldier.
Because of his heroic performance in participating in the self-defense and counterattack against Vietnam and his many meritorious achievements, in 1988, Tan Chang'an was organized and transferred to the Communications Office of the Yunnan Military Region. During this period, he was sent to the Kunming Branch of Chengdu Institute of Telecommunications Engineering (now University of Electronic Science and Technology of China) to study computer science. Tan Chang'an said, "The experience on the front line has created my hardship and dedication. Later, when I went to Kunming to study computers, due to the poor foundation of English, I took classes during the day every day and went to night school to tutor English at night. This experience taught me that I can only get ahead of others if I put in more effort."
In 1990, Tan Chang'an was transferred from Yunnan to work in the Sichuan office of the Tibet Military Region. Until he transferred from the army in 1997, Tan Chang'an served as a soldier for a total of 18 years.
Later, when talking about his military career, Tan Chang'an concluded: In the past eighteen years of experience, no matter how much money you give me, I will not sell. Of course, even if you give me more money, I will not live these eighteen years again. The army is a big school, which has taught me a lot of things, and also given me a lot of good qualities, laying a solid foundation for me to start TanYuTou.
Tan Chang'an was young
2
"I am a very good person who seizes opportunities, usually love to observe, bold, as long as there is a difference in price I will go to the trouble." 」 Tan Chang'an said.
In an interview with the media in the early years, Tan Chang'an once said that his first business was when he was eleven or twelve years old, and he followed the adults at home to pour tickets. Although sneaky and not much money, I made money after all. Later, he also sold fertilizer, film, postcards, repaired windmills, drove car rental companies and gift companies, and worked in the cold cup (a popular street snack in Chengdu), all of which made some money.
In 1997, Tan Chang'an, who had been transferred from the army, worked for a week at the resettlement unit Sichuan Airlines, and took the initiative to give up the "iron rice bowl" that many people dreamed of at that time, and raised 90,000 yuan to open a "Tan Yutou" hot pot restaurant in Chengdu.
Regarding the origin of "Tan Fish Head", Tan Chang'an once said: At that time, there was a popular fish hot pot in Xinjin (a suburb of Chengdu), but we all ate fish meat, and no one ate the head at all. Once, I invited a friend to dinner, and of course I had to "endure" hospitality. After eating, I felt that I had not eaten enough, and I thought that I wanted another fish and felt that it was too wasteful to eat, so I ate the head of the fish, and I thought it was delicious. At that time, many people did not understand, but this time, I thought the fish head was delicious, and I came up with the idea of making fish head hot pot. In 1997, there was no fish head hot pot, I was the first, I did not expect to be able to become a large catering enterprise later. I tried and tested to develop the recipe for the hot pot base, which was improved many times, and finally only two spices were used, but the taste was really different.
When Tan Chang'an first opened a hot pot restaurant, it was when the media lashed out at the repeated use of hot pot oil in various hot pot shops, and the hot pot was in an extreme depression that no one cared about. In order to change the guests' understanding of traditional hot pot and dispel guests' doubts, in the early stage of entrepreneurship, Tan Changan showed the sword of "health, environmental protection and good taste", putting life and health first, ecological awareness second, and then service characteristics. Tan Yutou adopts a transparent open kitchen strategy, the fish is slaughtered now, and the bottom of the pot is also disposable oil, which absolutely ensures the hygiene safety and freshness of various dishes...
Soon, Tan Fish Head became famous, the business was very hot, customers often queued up to buy a seat number to eat, it is said that a seat number was sold to 30 yuan, eating Tan Fish Head for a time became a new local fashion.
However, in the mouths of Chengdu people who are picky about eating, "Eating, every day is new." In 1998, Tan Yutou, which had been popular for a year, was robbed of most of the customers by Chengdu's hot roast chicken rooster hot pot, and after repeated struggles, Tan Chang'an finally chose to swing north and open the development strategy of chain operation, cutting from the quasi-blank area of Sichuan cuisine to achieve the purpose of rapidly occupying the market.
In June 1998, Tan Chang'an opened Tan Yutou's first out-of-province branch in Dongzhimen, Beijing. In November of the same year, Tan Chang'an took a stake in its intangible assets such as Tan Fish Head brand, technology and management, and successively opened a Chain Store of Tan Fish Head in Taiyuan and Shijiazhuang. Unexpectedly, this crooked beating was straight, and the Tan fish head business was very hot.
In the early years, Tan Changan said in an interview, "I think the most successful thing about me is that on the surface, Tan Yutou is opening a store, but in fact, it is not, we are engaged in capital operations, capitalizing intangible assets." When I opened a shop in Beijing, I didn't pay a penny, I took my watercress and a bunch of peasant dolls to Beijing. I built a franchise model where I could own 35 to 55 percent of the shares without paying a penny. At the same time, in an era of 'taste first', I seized the opportunity."
3
On the road of Tan Chang'an's career development, there is one person who plays a crucial role, that is, Mai Tianshu, a famous reportage writer and former reporter of China Youth Daily. Tan Chang'an called Mai Tianshu a teacher, and his respect and gratitude to him could not be expressed.
In 1998, when Tan Chang'an opened Tan Yutou's first branch in Dongzhimen, Beijing, Mai Tianshu came to the scene, and after that, Tan Chang'an talked with him happily. Tan Chang'an said: Knowing Mr. Mai was a turning point in my business, and many of the things he talked about at that time made me refreshed and benefited a lot.
After that, Tan Chang'an hired Mai Tianshu as his lifelong adviser. Mai Tianshu not only "packaged" Tan Yu's head, but also began to "package" Tan Chang'an, and the "packaging" content involved Tan Chang'an's speech and demeanor, hairstyle and clothing, and reading content.
At that time, what Tan Chang'an presented to everyone was a confident, interesting, affinity, atmosphere, generosity, reliability, seriousness, and attention to detail. He once joked that he was recognized as a good boss by every employee, and a good man recognized by every woman.
Under the packaging of Mai Tianshu, Tan Chang'an gradually changed from a small restaurant boss to a "Confucian businessman". Tan Yutou has also gradually changed from a small workshop to an increasingly standardized, standardized and unified chain catering enterprise.
Tan Chang'an's career development speed is amazing. From 1997 to 2007, in just ten years, Tanyutou has developed into one of the most well-known catering enterprises in The country, with tens of thousands of employees, hundreds of acres of factory buildings and assets of nearly 10 billion yuan at its peak.
In addition to entering the fish head hot pot and catering management companies, in terms of business, Tan Changan's investment company also involves food business, decoration design, real estate, logistics, hotels, car rental, cooking training, gifts, car repair and so on. Tan Changan thought far ahead and planned to build Tan Yutou into a brand and platform, and continue to make profits in the future.
In the "2007 Hurun Restaurant Rich List", Tan Changan ranked third with a wealth of 2 billion yuan. Regarding why "Tan YuTou" can develop and grow rapidly, Tan Changan believes that there are several advantages: first, Tan Yutou hot pot itself has an absolutely unique formula and quality, and the taste is suitable for both north and south; second, the intangible assets are capitalized, and the brand and technology management are capitalized; third, the chain operation model is carried out to "revolutionize" the "life" of the traditional catering industry.
However, Tan Chang'an later added: There are many factors to the success of Tan Yutou, but I think the key is to have courage, that is, an enterprising spirit! I was born as a soldier, went to the front line of the old mountain, and experienced the test of life and death, so when I did many things, once I decided, I would rush forward without hesitation. Sichuan is the country of Tianfu and is rich in products, which makes Sichuan's culture of eating extremely developed, and this tradition continues to this day. On the other hand, due to the closure, it is also difficult for most operators in Sichuan's catering industry to jump out of the basin consciousness of small wealth and security. Sichuan cuisine has good conditions, but there is no good business philosophy, which is why before the 90s of the last century, Sichuan cuisine did not have a huge impact on the country. If I hadn't had the courage to boldly walk out of Chengdu in 1998, I wouldn't have had today's Tan Yu Head. Therefore, I think that ideas determine everything, and courage determines success or failure!
4
"A pot of red, boiling in the world" is Tan Yutou's corporate philosophy.
At the peak of his career, Tan Chang'an once threatened the media, "Tan Fish Head is not only the Tan Fish Head of Sichuan and the Tan Fish Head of China, it is also the Head of the World Tan Fish." We should hit the US market like KFC and McDonald's entering the Chinese market. I have only one purpose in doing so, that is, to turn the traditional family-owned enterprise into a standardized modern enterprise, and eventually go public, which is of great significance to the long-term development of the enterprise."
Tan Chang'an is a very ambitious person, he said that Tan Yutou can become the largest brand enterprise in China's traditional catering industry, and he has always taken the entry into the global catering market as his development goal. As early as 2002, Tan Yutou put a full-page advertisement in the West China Metropolis Daily, shouting out the slogan of "Little Fish Head Turning the Earth", and its ambition and boldness shocked the industry.
In order to achieve this goal, in June 2001, "Tam Fish Head" was registered in Hong Kong to establish "Hong Kong Tam Fish Head Group". Subsequently, the company came forward to open stores in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and plans to expand in Singapore, South Korea, Australia and other countries around the world. At that time, Tan Chang'an said: first open a store, then go public, and the goal of opening a store is to go public. In order to successfully go public, Hong Kong companies have been operating according to the standard structure of listed companies from the beginning, and financial companies have long been involved. We are now fully qualified to market. Once Tanyutou is successfully listed, it will become the first listed company in China with a pure catering concept.
After opening a branch in Hong Kong, Tan Chang'an came up with new concepts such as "digital hot pot" and "digital catering". He spent a huge amount of money to make Tan Yutou the first large-scale catering enterprise in China to carry out large-scale informatization. Tan Changan said: As the enterprise grows, the management must also change. It's not that we want to do it, it's that the market is asking us to do it. At that time, Tan Chang'an also had a dream, "to quantify the spiciness, saltiness and other indicators of Sichuan cuisine, that is to say, to cook Chinese food in a digital way without affecting the taste of Chinese food."
When Tan Chang'an's career was booming, his relatives and friends around him inevitably pinched a handful of sweat for him, but Tan Chang'an was not worried. He said, "I will minimize the risk."
Despite being ready to go public, Tan Chang'an, like a reckless man, still overestimated himself. Since 2014, Tan Yutou has been in a debt crisis, and lawsuits have continued. Finally, due to Tan Yutou's insolvency and inability to operate, the creditors applied for the bankruptcy of Tan Yutou in 2016, and were finally ruled by the court to liquidate. In August 2020, Tan Fish Head closed its last store. In May 2021, Tan Yutou even had its trademark auctioned.
Such a huge catering enterprise collapsed in just a few years, shocking the entire catering industry and shocking Tan Changan himself. Regarding the reasons for the failure, Tan Changan described these points in an interview with Red Star Capital Bureau: one or two backdoor listings have failed, facing high VAM losses, several things are strung together, and the best time for enterprise development has been delayed. Destined not to be listed, it should not be forced. Second, I did gamble, but not as rumored, I gambled with no money. Third, I was too stupid, I didn't care much about money, at that time I felt that making money was not the ultimate goal of people, or I had to make my life easy and happy. Many friends who go to the casino together will take chips from me to gamble, but they will not recognize the account later, and they will not receive money. My staff is branded from head to toe, shirts, suits, shoes, all of which I bought. It costs millions a year to buy clothes.
However, the collapse of Tan Yu's head is ostensibly due to listing, gambling and profligacy, but in fact, it is not, and the problem of Tan Yu's head is related to capital management and comprehensive budget management. In an interview with China Business Daily, Zou Zhiying, a well-known expert in strategic financial management, said, "After the rapid rise of Tanyutou, enterprises have not focused on the intensive cultivation of internal operation management, such as how to improve service quality. How to innovate dishes? How to increase the turnover rate? How to strengthen the control and management of risks? How to accelerate the net cash flow of the business cycle. Companies also don't summarize things like: How to open a profitable restaurant? How do I copy a for-profit restaurant? How to strengthen customer loyalty to the brand? How to build a chain kingdom... Instead, it blindly seeks to expand the scale of investment, hoping to make Tan Yutou bigger, constantly encircle the land and circle money, and eventually go public, but ignore its own capital strength."
As a result, the case of Tan Yutou has sounded an alarm bell for all enterprises. "The lack of a clear and reasonable financial strategy, the blind pursuit of enterprise scale expansion, the lack of attention to strategy-oriented planning and budget management, and the neglect of internal operation management are often the root causes of the outbreak of corporate crises." Zou Zhiying said.
Tan Chang'an
5
After the company fell into a crisis in 2014, Tan Changan left Hong Kong and did not return to Chengdu until after the epidemic in 2020. Tan Chang'an said, "When I lived in Hong Kong, when I was the poorest, I didn't have a single dollar in my pocket." Of course, Tan Chang'an himself has been included in the list of dishonest executors more than 10 times, and the most important way to repay money is to sell fixed assets.
At present, Tan Changan seems to have the idea of making a comeback, on the one hand, he registered a Douyin account and sent some short videos, as if to try to take the Internet celebrity route. On the other hand, Tan Chang'an works as a consultant in Chengdu TanZiyu Catering Management Co., Ltd. For the future, Tan Changan expressed great confidence, "If you do well now, you should do more than before."
In the early years, at the peak of his career, a reporter asked Tan Chang'an: Shopping malls and battlefields, which makes you feel more stressed? Tan Chang'an replied: Mall! There is no choice in the battlefield, whether you want to or not, you have to rush up, dead or alive. And the mall is different... In a person's life, I believe in fate, where to go, there is a trajectory. How to go and which step you can take depends on the efforts of people the day after tomorrow.
At that time, Tan Chang'an also told a moving story, "The first time I wore leather shoes in my life was once when my mother went to the street, and I secretly wore her shoes for a day. Later, I bought a pair of leather shoes in the army, but at that time the soldiers could not wear leather shoes, so I had to wait until everyone else was asleep at night, and I secretly put them on and enjoyed it. Now I have everything, but I don't have that feeling, that taste of enjoyment. I always wanted to go back to the army, and when I went back, I wanted to find a company to give me a bowl, squat on the ground and eat with the soldiers. They told me that this era was long gone, and I always wanted to get back to the feeling of life I used to have. I miss that time, innocence."
Sources
1. How did I collapse the nearly 10 billion assets of Tan Yutou, Red Star Capital Bureau, Yu Yao
2. What destroyed Tan Fish Head? , China Business Daily, Qu Lili
3. Tan Yutou Swims in the Xiangjiang River, Chengdu Daily, Zhang Hui, Yin Tingting, Xie Minggang
4. Tan Chang'an Dalian Digital Fish Head, Sons and Daughters of China (Overseas Version), Leng Jia
5. Tan Chang'an's Fish Head Myth, Operator, Chen Zhinong
6. Tan Fish Head, Cooking Digitally, China Business Times, Su Lichuan
7. Tan Yutou, public relations world, Zhao Qingzhu, which is all over the country
8. Tan Chang'an, opening a store in a place where there is demand in the world, private economic newspaper, Li Hongmei
Image from the web
The author of this article | Wang Tao, chief editor of the army|
Editor| Chen Runjiang Consultant | Wang Shuqi