"Through the e-commerce platform, we have opened up online sales channels, brand awareness has also been improved, some foreign consumers tasted our stinky mandarin fish, and even took the initiative to find us and let us be their suppliers!" Whenever it comes to stinky mandarin fish, Zeng Yu, a post-90s boy in Xiuning County, Huangshan Mountain, Anhui Province, gushes endlessly.
Zeng Yu is the general manager of Huangshan Huikang Food Co., Ltd. Two years ago, under the epidemic, Zeng Yu, who was seeking innovation and change, began to explore online sales channels, and he did not expect to suddenly become the head merchant of the new e-commerce platform Pinduoduo freshwater fish.
Huizhou's unique geographical and cultural environment has created a unique food culture and Hui cuisine, one of the eight major cuisines in China. As a traditional dish with a century-old history of Huizhou cuisine, stinky mandarin fish is a landmark food of Huizhou and a traditional intangible cultural heritage. In the past, stinky mandarin fish has always relied on offline sales, in recent years, riding on the e-commerce "East Wind", stinky mandarin fish has continuously improved the production process, while retaining the traditional taste of the ancient method, catering to consumer tastes, developing multi-category integrated prepared dishes, entering thousands of families across the country, sales are constantly being refreshed.
As a traditional dish of Hui cuisine, stinky mandarin fish is a landmark food of Huizhou and a traditional intangible cultural heritage. Photo by Liu Yucai
The stinky mandarin fish dream of the post-90s gymnastics champion
Born in 1993, Zeng Yu is a native of Tongling, Anhui Province, who practiced gymnastics since childhood, entered the Bayi gymnastics team at the age of 10, and won the championship of the ring project of the National Youth Gymnastics Championships.
In 2017, the documentary "China on the Tip of the Tongue" was all over the country, and one of the programs was dedicated to the stinky mandarin fish. After the show was broadcast, the stinky mandarin fish and the emblem dish immediately stood on the IP outlet.
Zeng Yu, who had retired at this time, keenly seized the business opportunity, and then came to Xiuning County, and Together with Han Kejun, the master of the cooking of the stinky mandarin fish of Huizhou cuisine and the representative inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage project Huizhou stinky mandarin fish making technology, he invested in Xiuning County to open a stinky mandarin fish production factory, specializing in the production and sales of the famous mandarin fish of Huining cuisine.
Han Kejun pickles stinky mandarin fish in the company's production workshop. Photo by Liu Yucai
After the establishment of the company, it slowly got on the right track, and sales continued to rise. However, in 2020, the sudden outbreak of new crown pneumonia has hit enterprises hard.
"At that time, our products were mainly supplied to hotels and restaurants across the country, and during the epidemic, restaurants were not open, which had a great impact on us. As of April of that year, our offline sales were almost zero. Zeng Yu recalled that at that time, sales were broken, but workers' wages, cold storage and other expenses had to be spent at least 100,000 yuan per month. How to open up new sales channels is the biggest problem in front of him.
Zeng Yu set his sights on the line, after consulting some local e-commerce practitioners, in the first half of 2020, Zeng Yu opened his first online store in Pinduoduo to try to "break through" online.
Without understanding the professional knowledge of e-commerce, Zeng Yu followed the invited experts every day while watching and learning. Kung Fu pays off, and more than half a year later, Zeng Yu has made his shop the head of Pinduoduo freshwater fish, and he has also changed from a gymnastics champion to a well-known local e-commerce expert.
"Now, our annual sales on the Pinduoduo platform have reached more than 10 million yuan, accounting for half of the company's total sales." Zeng Yu said that next, he will expand the production line, develop new stinky mandarin fish products, and strive to carry forward the intangible cultural heritage of stinky mandarin fish.
Hui cuisine celebrity chef spent three years to improve the processing technology of stinky mandarin fish
The history of stinky mandarin fish can be traced back to the late Qing Dynasty, when, every year in the winter, fishmongers would transport the Yangtze River mandarin fish to the Huizhou mountains in wooden barrels for sale, in order to prevent deterioration, the use of a layer of fish sprinkled with a layer of salt, often up and down. After being transported to Huizhou, the quality of the fish has not changed, but the skin emits a special smell that seems to be smelly but not smelly, after washing, it is fried in hot oil, not only the smell disappears, but it is more fragrant, and it has become a favorite flavor of local people.
Wu Yongxue, a native of Xiuning County, has been working in Beijing's catering industry for many years and was once a famous Chef of Hui cuisine. In his opinion, although the reputation of the stinky mandarin fish is very large, when it comes to its flavor, many people shake their heads in disbelief.
"The stinky mandarin fish processed and produced in the traditional way has a salty taste, the meat is hard, and the smell is unstable, and many people are not used to eating it. Therefore, even if the stinky mandarin fish is famous, it is difficult to popularize. In 2012, Wu Yongxue returned to his hometown and joined two fellow villagers to establish Huisan Agricultural Products Processing Co., Ltd., focusing on the traditional Huicaitou brand stinky mandarin fish. After starting a business, Wu Yongxue has been trying to improve the traditional stinky mandarin fish production process, he led the company's technical staff, spent 3 years to study and innovate the processing and production methods of stinky mandarin fish, from the selection of raw materials for stinky mandarin fish to the proportion of ingredients, to the pickling, storage and other links, through 3 years of multiple tests, and launched a set of mechanized equipment, while strictly controlling 31 processes, assembly line production of stinky mandarin fish, and finally solved the above problems, processing and producing meat Q bomb, smooth and tender taste, stable quality" Emblem three stinky mandarin fish".
Based on the traditional stinky mandarin fish production process, the "Hui San Stink Mandarin Fish" is improved and produced, and once launched, it will sell well throughout the country. In 2017, the sales of "Hui San Stink Mandarin Fish" exceeded the mark of 100 million yuan.
In order to ensure the quality of the "Hui San Stink Mandarin Fish", Wu Yongxue's company has launched a complete set of mechanized equipment, and the picture shows workers working on the assembly line. Photo by Liu Yucai
In 2020, Wu Yongxue looked at the new situation of online consumption, resolutely recruited talents, formed a professional e-commerce team, and began to try e-commerce sales.
After research, Wu Yongxue found that the Pinduoduo platform was more compatible with their products, and soon opened a store. Unexpectedly, only 14 days after going online, it rushed to the first place in the sales and praise of freshwater fish, and the sales volume of the store exceeded one million yuan in the month.
From a fish to an industry
In 2021, in the case of the shortage of raw materials for mandarin fish, Wu Yongxue's Pinduoduo platform achieved annual sales of 15 million yuan. This year, it is expected to exceed 20 million yuan. Although the momentum of online sales is good, Wu Yongxue knows that he can't just work on one fish.
After repeatedly analyzing and pondering the feedback of consumers on the platform, Wu Yongxue realized that in order to make the stinky mandarin fish business the biggest and stronger, it is necessary to launch more kinds of derivative products around the stinky mandarin fish.
Since last year, Wu Yongxue has found some experts and scholars from scientific research institutes to combine the new habits of online consumption and began to develop new products. Up to now, a variety of souvenirs, casual cooked food, and prepared dishes combined with stinky mandarin fish have been developed, such as Buddha jumping wall stinky mandarin fish, abalone stinky mandarin fish, etc., and even small snacks made of fish bubbles.
"These products will soon be launched on e-commerce platforms such as Pinduoduo, and I believe they will become blockbusters." For the future online sales prospects, Wu Yongxue is full of confidence.
In Wu Yongxue's company, the staff of the e-commerce department live-streamed goods on the e-commerce platform. Photo by Liu Yucai
At the same time, under the leadership of Wu Yongxue, the local standard "Technical Regulations for the Processing of Stinky Mandarin Fish" in Anhui Province was successfully introduced, ensuring the processing quality of stinky mandarin fish from the industry level.
"Stinky mandarin fish originates from Huizhou, which has a deep cultural heritage, with its own IP aura, I believe that with the blessing of the Internet e-commerce platform, it will continue to grow bigger and stronger!" Wu Yongxue said that in the future, he is confident that the "Hui San Stinky Mandarin Fish" brand will be launched and developed into a large-scale industry, and he will fully promote the listing of the stinky mandarin fish industry, and then drive the revitalization of Hui cuisine.
It is understood that in order to enhance the added value and premium capacity of agricultural products, promote the benign development of the industry, promote the stable increase of farmers' income, and help rural revitalization, as the largest uplink platform for agricultural products in China, Pinduoduo launched the "Fresh China - DuoduoHao Agricultural Goods" project, taking the festival as the axis, looking for the freshest seasonal ingredients in the country, introducing "good agricultural goods" to platform users in various places with "early live broadcast", special area promotion, landmark publicity, etc., summarizing and combing the experience of brand building and protection of agricultural products. And choose the opportunity to promote to more agricultural production areas. During the event, Pinduoduo will adhere to the model of "zero commission" and "shopping + direct delivery of origin" of agricultural products, formulate and improve the standard of "good agricultural goods" for different agricultural product categories, and tilt the resources of agricultural products that meet the standards.
"The county's agricultural product network sales are about 200 million, of which the sales of stinky mandarin fish account for more than 20%." In the view of Liao Lixia, deputy director of the Xiuning County Bureau of Commerce, in recent years, driven by e-commerce platforms such as Pinduoduo, the local skunk industry has formed a certain scale, and the future development can be expected.