He relied on a chicken to earn 4.5 billion a year, and with his own efforts, he built the brand into the first fast food in China, and opened more than 1,000 stores across the country.
During the epidemic, he would rather lose 500 million than lay off an employee, and is determined to build a 10 billion catering enterprise in 2023. However, what is surprising is that the company has an annual income of billions but has no chance to go public.
What is the reason behind this? What did he, who is dedicated to being China's "McDonald's", experience when building this first brand? In this issue, Ziya Children's Fun Merchant will take you to understand the story of Shu Congxuan.
Start the road to farming
In 1962, Shu Congxuan was born in an ordinary family in Feixi, Anhui Province. Although he has been particularly fond of learning Xi since he was a child, he left school early due to family circumstances.
Later, in order to find a way out, he chose to join the army. Within two years of arriving in the army, he encountered a major policy change, so in 1982, Shu Congxuan had no choice but to retire from the army and return to his hometown.
After returning to his hometown, Shu Congxuan completed the major events of his life under the arrangement of his parents, and after starting a family, he felt that the burden on his shoulders was a lot heavier, and he had been looking for ways to get rich in order to improve his family conditions.
Soon Shu Congxuan found that with the rapid development of the economy, people's investment in eating and drinking is also increasing. So he decided to try his hand at farming.
In this way, after discussing with his wife, he took the 1,800 yuan given by his parents to buy 1,000 chicken seedlings and started his breeding road.
At that time, 90% of the chickens sold in the market were white-feathered chickens with low cost, high profit and fast growth, but Shu Congxuan still insisted on choosing to breed local chickens. Because the meat quality of local chicken is better than that of white-feathered chicken, it is also more safe to eat.
Shu Congxuan's work for the first time was not very smooth, even though he took care of the 1,000 chicks every day, but after a month, the chicks only grew up a little, and they always looked sick.
Shu Congxuan thought that this would not work, so he went around to learn from the breeding boss. Later, in order to be able to take better care of the chickens, he simply lived in the chicken shed.
It is said that "where there is a will, there is a way", after Shu Congxuan's continuous learning and Xi practice, the state of the chickens has gradually improved, and the size has gradually increased.
When the chicks grow into slaughter, many people also begin to be keen to buy local chickens out of health concerns. So Shu Congxuan suddenly earned about 10,000 yuan from those 1,000 local chickens.
Shu Congxuan, who tasted the sweetness, immediately took the money he earned and went to buy a batch of chicken seedlings, because he already had enough experience, so the second time from breeding to the final slaughter and sale were very smooth.
Later, Shu Congxuan's breeding business developed in full swing, because there were not many people breeding local chickens in the local area at that time, and by 1990, Shu Congxuan became a large local chicken farmer.
After the success of his career, Shu Congxuan also began to carry forward the pioneer spirit of getting rich first and leading the latter to get rich, and began to organize local farmers to raise chickens with him, and then sell them intensively to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.
Stepping into the food and beverage industry
In this way, Shu Congxuan's farm can slaughter more than 600,000 local chickens a month, and the annual profit can reach about 3 million to 5 million.
In the mid-to-late 90s, as more and more people joined the aquaculture industry, the pressure of market competition also increased. In addition, the cost of breeding is increasing and the profit is declining, and the annual revenue of Shu Congxuan farm is gradually showing a negative growth trend.
Shu Congxuan began to feel confused about the future, and after pondering for a long time, he decided to transform as soon as possible. However, he did not find a suitable field for him for a long time, until 1999, when he came across training information for restaurant franchises.
So Shu Congxuan, who had the attitude of learning Xi, went to participate in a three-day training, during which he had a general understanding of the fast food and chain management industry.
After returning home, Shu Congxuan conducted many days of research, and finally decided to switch to the chain fast food industry with great development prospects.
Having dealt with chickens for many years, Shu Congxuan of course refused to give up the old guy who helped him make a fortune, so he decided to build a Chinese fast food chain brand with chicken as the main theme.
So Shu Congxuan began to cross the river by feeling the stones again, and the management manual of the restaurant alone took more than half a year, and then it took nearly 7 months to select the location and decorate the store.
Finally, the store was renovated, and the research and development of the main old hen soup took another two years. In order to make a unique pot of old hen soup, Shu Congxuan has to catch one or two chickens from the chicken shed every day.
During that time, Shu Congxuan's family basically ate chicken, and it wasn't until the 1,000th chicken came out of the pot that he found the taste he wanted.
After more than three years of preparation, in October 2003, Feixi Old Hen Store was officially opened. A few days before the opening, the store was flooded, and almost everyone in the city wanted to try a bowl of Fatty West Old Hen Soup.
The most dramatic thing is that on the fourth day of opening, the cash register was tired and quit work. This made Shu Congxuan very happy, and he immediately began to prepare for the opening of a branch.
However, when the store was open for a month to settle the accounts, Shu Congxuan was directly dumbfounded. Because the store not only did not make the money he imagined, but also showed a state of loss.
Shu Congxuan, who was puzzled, had to spend a lot of money to hire a professional manager to find the reason for himself, and after the manager calculated, he learned that the main reason for the store's loss was that the cost of the dishes was too high, which had reached 70%.
So Shu Congxuan made a series of adjustments to the operation of the store, from quality control to price adjustment to brand promotion, he participated in the whole process.
In the end, the store's business was finally on the right track, and branches were opened in various parts of the province, and in 2011, there were more than 130 branches of Feixi Old Hen.
After the brand was launched in the province, Shu Congxuan began to think about the expansion of the business. After collecting the opinions of many company executives, some people suggested that the name Feixi Old Hen was not very good.
Although Shu Congxuan was a little unhappy in his heart, he still spent more than 4 million yuan to seek help from Trout, who specializes in brand consulting.
In the end, Trout suggested that Shu Congxuan replace the old hen of Feixi with the hometown chicken, although he was reluctant, Shu Congxuan immediately changed the brand name.
The name change undoubtedly caused an uproar in the local area, and the public made bold speculations about the reason behind it. Some people say that the boss is bankrupt and runs away, and some people say that the boss is going to start reducing the quality of leeks when he makes money......
Everyone's doubts were suppressed and Shu Congxuan was a little out of breath, but he knew very well in his heart that facts speak louder than words.
Therefore, after completing the brand change, Shu Congxuan upgraded the service, equipment, and decoration of the store. In this way, the customers who entered the store with a skeptical attitude returned satisfied.
A good boss who cares about his employees
A year after the name change, Shu Congxuan not only earned back the capital of the name change, but also earned twice the income. However, Shu Congxuan did not immediately open a branch in other places as the public thought, but spent five years to make the name of hometown chicken deeply rooted in the hearts of local customers.
In 2016, Lao Xiang Chicken gradually appeared in Wuhan, Nanjing and other cities, and it didn't take long for Lao Xiang Chicken to have more than 800 branches in other places.
In 2018, with the rapid development of the takeaway industry, under the clapping of Shu Congxuan, Laoxiang Chicken Takeaway was officially launched. The early effect was indeed not very good, but a year later, the takeaway turnover of Lao Xiang Chicken reached 1 billion.
Also in 2019, Lao Xiang Chicken became the number one Chinese fast food in the country. Up to now, there are more than 1,000 stores and more than 24,000 staff members across the country.
Since the establishment of Feixi Old Hen in 2003, Shu Congxuan's worth has also increased from several million to the current net worth of 10 billion, and Lao Xiang Chicken can generate 4.5 billion yuan a year.
The reputation of the hometown chicken is very loud, but as the founder, he has always been very low-key. If it weren't for the sudden outbreak of the new crown epidemic at the end of 2019, without the video of him tearing up the joint letter and promising never to lay off employees, everyone still doesn't know who Shu Congxuan is.
After the outbreak of the epidemic, work in all walks of life has come to a standstill. The catering industry was the first to be impacted, and the total loss of the catering industry during the Spring Festival in 2020 reached 320 billion.
Leading catering companies such as Haidilao lost 1.1 billion yuan in two weeks. At that time, Laoxiang Chicken, which had more than 800 stores, lost more than 2.6 million yuan every day when he opened his eyes.
Because they can't open their doors, many F&B brands have no choice but to lay off employees and close their stores. At that time, Lao Xiang Chicken had more than 100 stores in Wuhan, where the epidemic was at its worst, and the employees there immediately fell into a panic of being laid off.
In order to keep their jobs, they jointly signed a letter saying that they could not pay but begged Shu Congxuan not to lay them off.
Shu Congxuan quickly responded to this incident, not only did he directly tear up the joint letter of the employees, but also said that even if he sold his assets, he would pay the employees as usual, let alone lay off anyone.
During the lockdown of Wuhan, many employees were trapped in the middle of the road, and Shu Congxuan not only told everyone to pay attention to their own safety in the work group every day, but also asked everyone to exercise frequently to strengthen their resistance.
In addition, even if the employee is not working, the salary is paid to each employee's account on time every month. Even the money for the staff to stay in the hotel is all covered.
In this way, Shu Congxuan suddenly became a conscientious boss praised by everyone, and the reputation of the countryman chicken became even louder. After the crisis was resolved, Shu Congxuan easily got a loan from the bank.
While the resumption rate of other enterprises is only 20%, the resumption rate of hometown chickens has reached 90%, and no one has lost their jobs due to the epidemic.
However, Shu Congxuan directly lost about 500 million, and even so, Shu Congxuan never said a word of regret. Shu Congxuan once made a grand wish, hoping that Lao Xiang Chicken could become a 10 billion catering enterprise in 2023.
However, everyone can't help but wonder, since the comprehensive strength of Lao Xiang Chicken is so strong, why has it not been listed for a long time? In fact, Shu Congxuan has not worked hard for it, but in the latest policy, Lao Xiang Chicken, which is in the fast food industry, belongs to the yellow light industry with restricted listing.
In response to the policy, Lao Xiang Chicken was temporarily withdrawn from the market. However, as long as Shu Congxuan maintains his original intention, I believe that Lao Xiang Chicken will one day become a listed company.
What do you think after reading Shu Congxuan's entrepreneurial story? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area to discuss and leave your own views.