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Preface
When the melamine scandal broke out in 2008, all dairy products were caught in a storm of public opinion, even toffee.
But there is a brand, but at this time, it broke out that the milk sources are all from Henan and Inner Mongolia, and they have a healthy and safe milk source.
This brand is called Golden Monkey, which was well-known in 2003 because of an advertising slogan, and is deeply loved by the general public because of its affordable price.
Surprisingly, in 2014, the chairman of Golden Monkey sold about 80% of the shares of Golden Monkey to the American Hershey Group for more than 2.6 billion, and after more than a year, the remaining 20% of the shares were sold to Hershey again for more than 200 million.
The golden snub-nosed monkey worth nearly 3 billion has become a foreign company, just when everyone is looking forward to a new breakthrough in the golden monkey, the American Hershey company sold it back to Henan Yuxiang at a price of 270 million, what is going on?
Repair shop transformation into a food factory
When it comes to the brand of toffee, in addition to the white rabbit, the most well-known should be the golden monkey, which can be said to be the childhood memories of many people.
At its peak, the golden monkey toffee recorded an annual sales of as much as 2 billion, and many people don't know that the predecessor of the golden monkey was not to make candy, but to make electrical appliances.
Zhao Qisan, who was born in Shenqiu, Henan Province in 1948, is the founder of the Golden Monkey Food Factory.
Zhao Qisan is a typical scumbag, belonging to people who have a headache when they see books, and at the request of his family, he stumbled through middle school and refused to continue studying.
Due to fate, Zhao Qisan entered a local electrical repair shop and became a repairman.
Zhao Qisan, who has an active personality, can't sit still at all, as long as he has time, he runs out, and over time he has pulled a lot of orders for the factory, which also makes the leader discover his talent for sales.
But at that time, electrical appliances could generally be used for a long time, and the maintenance work became less and less, and when the repair shop was about to go out of business, the leader handed over the repair shop to Zhao Qisan.
Zhao Qisan was only 31 years old that year, and aside from the huge debts owed by the repair shop, it was a very honorable thing to become the director of the factory at a young age.
After taking over the repair shop, Zhao Qisan knew why this factory was treated as a hot potato, the debts owed on the books alone had reached as many as one million, and the salaries of 30 employees had not yet been paid.
Suddenly, this repair shop became a heavy burden on Zhao Qisan's shoulders, and how to make the repair shop come alive became the most arduous task.
At that time, Zhao Qisan was young and vigorous, and he knew that the economic development of the town was limited, and if he wanted to revitalize the factory, he had to see the new world.
After inspecting Shanghai for a while, Zhao Qisan found that the food business is the most profitable, and if you want everyone to make money and pay off the arrears, food is the best way out.
When he returned to Shenqiu, Zhao Qisan announced that he would change the electrical appliance factory into a food factory, and the factory was called Shenqiu Food General Factory.
If you want to change factories, you have to buy new machines and materials, and there is no money in the account, so Zhao Qisan can only borrow money one by one, and the IOUs are thick stacked.
After the finished product was made, because there was no store, Zhao Qisan took the staff to pull the board car, walking the streets and alleys to sell, and after having a certain popularity, everyone came to sign the order, just like that, the food factory under the leadership of Zhao Qisan, the normal operation.
At that time, the projects made by the food factory were very miscellaneous, including pastries, beef non-staple foods, yuba, etc., which could be sold in a short time, but if you wanted to have a brand and characteristics, you needed to specialize in a project.
This project has become Zhao Qisan's biggest headache.
Zhao Qisan is not a person who sits still, he once again embarked on the road to Shanghai.
This time in Shanghai, can Zhao Qisan find business opportunities again?
Discover the business opportunities of toffee to become bigger and stronger
In 1991, Zhao Qisan, who came to Shanghai again, participated in a food exhibition, in which Zhao Qisan saw that the classification of food types was more detailed.
After turning around, he was attracted by the toffee, and after trying one, the rich aroma of the toffee made his eyes shine.
At that time, China's White Rabbit toffee was already very popular, but the price of White Rabbit was too expensive for ordinary people to eat, so Zhao Qisan wanted to create a people-friendly toffee brand.
As soon as he thought of it, Zhao Qisan spent a lot of money to buy the technology and production line for the production of toffee, and brought it back to Shenqiu Food Factory.
After a series of production and testing, the finished toffee was finally created, and Zhao Qisan wanted to make this brand bigger and stronger, and he must not be like before, so he was ready to give him a resounding name.
Because it was the Year of the Monkey that launched the toffee, Zhao Qisan named the brand Golden Monkey, and once the Golden Monkey was launched, it was really loved by the people, and it was in the Year of the Monkey, and the sales directly broke the 10 million mark.
Sales continued to increase, Zhao Qisan began to expand the scale, and established milk source bases in Henan and Inner Mongolia to ensure the health of the milk source.
In order to cater to the taste of the public, it imitates the most popular taste on the market, and strives to meet the preferences of most people.
This kind of imitation made Zhao Qisan taste the sweetness, in order to completely start the brand of the golden monkey, he imitated the white rabbit in the advertising slogan, and played the name of "three golden monkeys, a cup of healthy milk".
This sentence made the golden monkey controversial, but Zhao Qisan didn't care at all, but the more courageous he became, he set his sights on the larger market.
After the melamine incident in 2008, the healthy milk source of the golden monkey became popular again, and the public was more convinced of this brand of toffee, which made the sales of the golden monkey reach as much as 2 billion in 2008.
But this grand occasion did not last long, there are too many brands of toffee, and golden monkey toffee is not the only choice for everyone.
Gradually, the sales of the golden monkey began to decline, which also made Zhao Qisan see the crisis, the reason why the golden monkey opened high and went low, mainly in the innovation and expansion of food.
Golden Monkey started making toffee, first imitating other toffee brands on the market in terms of taste, and later found that it was difficult to break through the sales of toffee, and followed the trend to launch chocolate, soy products, lo-mei and other foods.
These foods are all imitations, never surpassed, and over time, the lack of core products will make it difficult to stir up sparks in the market.
The second reason is that Zhao Qisan's management has been limited, and the pace of development is too large, but there is no strong management team to support, and the management model used has not been developed in line with the times, and it has been slowly eliminated by the market.
The third most important reason is the marketing model of the golden monkey, the lack of innovation, the lack of attractiveness of food, a variety of factors combined with its marketing has been greatly affected, it has become the most critical point to lose customers.
Zhao Qisan, who failed to go public, also seemed to see the decline of the golden monkey, and at this time, he made a jaw-dropping decision.
What exactly?
Sell at a high price and buy back at a low price
The inability to go public became Zhao Qisan's heart disease, and his confidence in becoming bigger and stronger was hit.
It happened that at this time, the American Hershey Group found Zhao Qisan and proposed to acquire the Golden Monkey, and the Hershey Investment Group also took a fancy to the food industry, and the influence of the Golden Monkey in the mid-end market was still relatively large.
If Hershey Group can win the Golden Monkey, it can use the Golden Monkey brand to open the Chinese candy market, so the person in charge of the Hershey Group found Zhao Qisan and proposed the idea of acquisition.
After the news broke out, many Chinese people couldn't accept it, you must know that the golden monkey is a childhood memory for everyone, and it is the pride of domestic products.
The rash sale has a very bad impact on domestic brands.
Zhao Qisan has a different opinion, he understands that the golden monkey is in his hands, there is no greater breakthrough, if he can transform the golden monkey to foreign markets, there may be a different breakthrough.
In 2014, Zhao Qisan proposed an acquisition plan to sell about 80% of the shares at a price of 3 billion, but this plan was only paid 2.6 billion when Hershey officially acquired it in 2016.
In addition, he bid more than 200 million yuan to buy another 20% of the shares, a total price of nearly 3 billion, and Zhao Qisan sold the golden monkey to the American Hershey Group.
Just when everyone thought that the golden monkey would make a big move, in just three years, the golden monkey was acquired again, this time it was Hershey who sold the golden monkey to Henan Yuxiang Group for 270 million.
This thunder blew everyone "scorched on the outside and tender on the inside".
It turned out that after the news of the acquisition of the golden monkey by the Hershey Group, the brand influence of the golden monkey plummeted in the hearts of the Chinese people.
In addition, the taste of this brand is not prominent in the market, and everyone bought it because of the support for domestic products, but now it is sold to the United States and has become a foreign brand, so everyone naturally chooses other domestic brands.
The second reason is that the golden monkey has changed its management model in the hands of the American Hershey Group, which is unacceptable to the old employees inside, the turnover has increased, and the sense of belonging to the brand has declined rapidly.
As a result, the resulting products are even more uneven.
spent 3 billion yuan but could not create the glory of the golden monkey, which made the Hershey Group very frustrated, and in desperation, it could only sell the golden monkey again.
Because the golden monkey belongs to Henan, Henan Yuxiang Group invested 270 million to take the golden monkey, once again in the hands of the Chinese.
But after such a turn, the golden monkey is already seriously injured, and can only make new changes.
Many people lament the decline of the golden monkey, but there are also some people who say the "heavenly opportunity behind it", that is, there is capital operating behind it, so that the brand of golden monkey is hidden for three years, and then sold at a low price.
The influence of the Golden Monkey brand has been greatly reduced, and those foreign capital brands can easily occupy the Chinese market.
Regardless of whether this statement is true or not, but spending 3 billion to hide a brand, and the new brand has to spend more energy to enter the market, is this kind of business a loss or a profit?
epilogue
As a former leader of domestic brands, the golden monkey is now gradually defeating in the torrent of the times.
In addition to the poor business model, it is also the rapid development of the market of the times, more and more new things are introduced, so that more and more things can be accepted by the public.
Stagnant brands can only be forgotten by the market and the people in the end.