What is the most shocking revelation of this year's 315? Without a doubt, it is definitely the old altar sauerkraut!
Sauerkraut is directly piled into the pit, workers are barefoot, cigarette butts can be seen everywhere on the work site, and the preservative exceeds the standard by 10 times.
What is even more jaw-dropping is that these sauerkraut workshops are also raw material suppliers for many well-known enterprises such as Domestic Unity and Master Kong.
I think that now 20, 30 years old Chinese, almost all people's youth memories, can not escape Master Kong instant noodles, and as the sales of Master Kong instant noodles, Lao tan sauerkraut instant noodles are well known to everyone, I said that 100 million people have eaten I am afraid that no one will object to it!
In our memory, whether it is in the night of hunger and cold, or on the crowded and noisy green-skinned train, whether it is in the difficult years of life, or in the green and innocent student era, a bowl of jubilant and steaming bubble noodles has accompanied us through the most difficult time.
No complicated process, just gently open the lid of the bowl, sprinkle the seasoning and vegetable packets evenly on the bread, add a bowl of hot water full of anticipation and a few minutes of devotion to enjoy a rare meal.
After 00 and 10 may not be able to imagine, in the 90s when materials were scarce, eating a bowl of rich and unique flavor of instant noodles was a wonderful experience, at that time in rural China, oil, salt, pepper is almost the only three spices, a bowl of white rice with a spoonful of lard is a hearty dinner, the emergence of instant noodles, is simply a dimensional reduction blow to most of the cuisine at that time!
It was an era when there was no high-speed rail and no trains, and the green-skinned train was still the most popular means of transportation at that time, a 20-hour drive from Wuhan to Guangzhou, in addition to the long boredom and boredom, more or the suffering caused by hunger. For most people who were not rich at that time, expensive lunch cart box lunches would not be their choice, earning hundreds of yuan a month, and a box lunch would cost them a day's wages, and they really couldn't afford it! Therefore, many passengers will bring a large bag of dry food before getting on the bus, some with steamed buns, some with steamed buns, some with a few dry flatbread, but they can nibble on dry food that is difficult to swallow, and where is it comparable to a bowl of warm rice?
Master Kong saw this opportunity and invested $8 million to set up a food company in Tianjin on August 21, 1992, which produced the first bowl of braised beef noodles.
Subsequently, Master Kong advertised on TV: "Fragrant, delicious and visible."
In a very short period of time, the convenient and delicious Master Kong instant noodles accompanied by this popular advertising slogan spread all over the country.
Since then, "Master Kong" has become synonymous with China's instant noodles, and has established 114 instant noodle production lines in 13 cities across the country, with a daily output of 250 million bags of instant noodles, an annual sales of 6.5 billion packs of instant noodles, an average of 5 packs per Chinese a year, a market share of 47%, is the "King of Chinese Noodles".
Whether in big cities or small townships, whether it is university students, white-collar workers, workers and farmers, whether it is women and children, or seventy-year-olds, or even well-known entrepreneurs.
When it comes to eating instant noodles, all differences in identity and age are smoothed out by a bowl of delicious hot soup.
During the time when Master Kong was at its hottest, the shelves of the store were often empty, and the outside of Master Kong's factory was lined with trucks waiting to be pulled.
Master Kong was fortunate to encounter the golden age of China's economic take-off after the reform and opening up, and the Chinese at that time were also fortunate to fill in all the fantasies of people about food during the period when everyone's material needs were constantly expanding.
I still remember the scene when I first ate Master Kong's braised beef noodles, it was already at the turn of the century in the late 90s, when I was very young, my family was poor, my mother took me to Singapore to study at my uncle's house to play, that was the first time I ate this bowl of "magical" instant noodles, because of the long time, the impression has been blurred, only vaguely remember, at that time the braised beef noodles were spicy than now, the taste of the soup is more layered, after eating can make people reminisce for a long time, some time ago I missed the taste of childhood, I deliberately went to the supermarket to buy a bowl to taste, and after tasting it, I found that the taste had changed after all, the rich taste of MSG, the faint red oil of chili peppers, and I could no longer eat the feeling of being in full swing.
But then I thought about it again, maybe, it's not just the taste.
After 30 years of rapid development, the whole of China has undergone earth-shaking changes, in 1992 China's per capita GDP was only 2334 yuan, in 2021 China's per capita GDP has exceeded 80,000 yuan, a total increase of nearly 40 times!
With the improvement of people's income, the upgrading of consumption, and the great abundance of materials, people have changed from being not picky at the beginning, eating well and being full, to today's healthy eating habits that pursue nutritional balance.
Master Kong, from the slightly extravagant dietary status of the 90s, has become synonymous with junk food, and people are no longer proud of eating a bowl of instant noodles, and will only think of this "past food" that once fascinated countless people when the economy is tight and time is tight.
Coupled with the collective efforts of takeaway platforms such as Meituan and Ele.me since 2014, Master Kong, who has been growing weakly, has become worse, and profits have fallen for 4 consecutive years, and Master Kong in Taiwan announced its dissolution on January 1, 2017.
At that time, many people directly called this the end of an era, the youth of countless people is coming to an end, and some people lamented that Master Kong's general trend has gone, but at that time I thought that Master Kang would not completely die, although, Chinese average wages, rent costs are rising, people's consumption power has also been qualitatively improved, but China is not only those who earn millions of high-income people, China still has 600 million people with a monthly income of 1,000 yuan, and there are tens of millions of college students in China who have not entered the society. They are reluctant to eat KFC, McDonald's, and can't go to Starbucks, and they can't order takeout for a long time, and instant noodles may be a rare way for them to enjoy food.
Moreover, as the dividends of reform and opening up disappear, the rate of people's income growth will gradually slow down, and when the economy begins to slump, many people will save money on food, and cheap FMCG products such as Master Kong will get the opportunity to rebound against the trend.
The data also confirms my statement that in the whole year of 2019, due to the continuous escalation of the Sino-US trade war, many people's income was affected, master Kong achieved revenue of 61.98 billion yuan, an increase of 2.13% year-on-year, and achieved a net profit of 3.33 billion yuan, an increase of 35.22% year-on-year.
During the 2020 epidemic, instant noodle sales soared by 342%, which stunned everyone! Look at today, affected by the epidemic and the turbulent situation, the global economy is expected to decline, in such an environment, the next few years are likely to be a period of consumption downgrade, originally, this is an important opportunity for Master Kang, whether it can glow the second spring, all depends on whether these years can seize the opportunity of the times.
But who could have imagined that the "soil pit sauerkraut" would suddenly burst out, and once the news was reported, Master Kong's stock market value in Hong Kong plummeted by 14%, and a number of supermarkets and e-commerce platforms announced the removal of "Laotan Sauerkraut" related goods, and Master Kong's reputation suddenly fell to the bottom.
Thinking back to the "old altar sauerkraut", people can't help but sigh, Master Kong is really a sauerkraut, defeat also sauerkraut.
At that time, Master Kong opened the mainland market with a bowl of braised beef noodles, riding the dust in the field of instant noodles, unification can not be compared with it at all, until the unification will be in Sichuan region's popular Laotan sauerkraut noodles listed as a national product for promotion, Master Kang only felt the obvious threat of competition, in order to regain his own market, Master Kang also pushed his own brand of "sauerkraut beef noodles" to the country, which stabilized his dominant position!
But who would have thought that after many years, the star product that saved Master Kong has now become a huge stone that overwhelms Master Kong.
Many people think that there is something wrong with the "Lao Tan Sauerkraut Beef Noodles" commodity? I can continue to buy master Kong's other products! People who think this way ignore the public's tolerance for food safety issues.
In 2008, Sanlu milk powder was detected in the chemical raw material melamine, the chairman was sentenced to life, Sanlu was fined 200 million yuan, Sanlu milk powder reputation completely collapsed, becoming the mouth of inferior food in people's mouths.
In 2014, Master Kong was "verbally criticized" by all walks of life for using inferior lard raw materials such as gutter oil in Taiwan, which directly led to the dissolution of Master Kong in Taiwan in 2017.
Today's "Lao Tan Sauerkraut" incident is the same, it seems to be just a problem with Master Kong's product, but it may trigger the public's comprehensive doubts about Master Kong's brand, once you leave a dirty and unhealthy impression on others, I am afraid it is difficult to have the opportunity to regain the favor of consumers.
More importantly, now is an era of great abundance of materials, the 90s Master Kang dominated the country, consumers have no choice of the era, has gone, now we stand in a variety of supermarkets, no Master Kang, and Jinmalang, as well as Nissin and Nongshim, and even adhere to the national brand, refuse Japanese acquisition, take the initiative to hire disabled people, many times donated to the disaster area of the domestic conscience brand white elephant instant noodles.
I used to say that Master Kong would never die, because as long as there are still a large number of low-income people in China, as long as there are people like us who want to occasionally eat instant noodles for taste, the demand will not disappear, but now I suddenly realize that I am wrong, and I am afraid that it will not be Master Kang who will not fall, but the food of instant noodles.
Just like the words that Ma Yun said 6 years ago, "Education will exist, but New Oriental will not necessarily exist!" ”
Perhaps, many years later, on a hungry and lonely night, we will gently open the bowl lid, sprinkle the spice package and vegetable package evenly on the bread, add a bowl full of anticipation hot water and a few minutes of prayerful waiting, and finally open the bowl lid, let the heat rise in the face, pick up the fork to eat the first bite, let the soup and taste buds have an intimate exchange, when the eyes are closed, the scene of childhood emerges, remembering their most unforgettable time...
However, the food we tasted at that time was no longer called Master Kang.