The old godmother wants to withdraw from the network completely?
In February 2023, many netizens discovered that many of Lao Gan Ma's official accounts had been suspended for a long time, and a heated discussion was immediately set off on the Internet.
You must know that a few months ago, Tao Huabi, the founder of Lao Gan Ma, was still selling chili sauce in the live broadcast room, and sold 800,000 bottles in just three days.
Tao Huabi
However, what is surprising is that some people soon discovered that this so-called live broadcast is actually just a video patch, not a real person at all.
"Recipe tastes" and "deceive consumers...... All kinds of doubts emerge one after another, and the old godmother, who once sat firmly on the throne of the national hot sauce, fell into a storm of public opinion.
In fact, this is not the first time that Lao Gan Ma has had a word-of-mouth crisis.
In 2014, Tao Huabi faded out of management and handed over the company to her son, but in just a few years, Lao Ganma's development took a sharp turn for the worse.
Tao Huabi
In the end, the 73-year-old Tao Huabi had to come back to the mountain, and her ability is still not inferior compared to that year.
"China's hottest woman", this is the joking name of countless consumers for Tao Huabi, as a female entrepreneur from the countryside, her experience is really wonderful.
Tao Huabi when he was young
In 1947, in a remote mountain village in Zunyi, Guizhou, Tao Huabi was born, as the eighth child in the family, her birth did not attract much attention, and the already poor family added a bit of embarrassment.
Growing up in such an environment, Tao Huabi did not have any good learning opportunities, and dropped out of school after only studying in the third grade of primary school.
Since then, she has been working at home and doing some work to support the family, and in the blink of an eye, she is old enough to get married.
At the age of 20, Tao Huabi married her husband and gave birth to two sons one after another, and her life was busy and happy.
However, this happiness did not last long, and her husband, who worked in the geological team, suffered from severe emphysema and was admitted to the hospital, and the burden of the family was all on Tao Huabi's body.
She thought about it and finally chose to work in Guangzhou, but the life of being away from home was really difficult, especially in terms of food, Tao Huabi, who was from Guizhou, couldn't get used to eating Guangzhou food.
So, she thought of a different idea: mix all kinds of chili peppers at home to make chili sauce, and then eat bibimbap.
Old godmother products
This chili sauce is the original prototype of "Lao Gan Ma".
In 1989, Tao Huabi opened a small food stall near the Guiyang Public Cadre Hospital, and the main dishes are also very simple, that is, cold noodles and cold noodles.
But Tao Huabi's stall business is particularly hot, relying on her exclusive spicy sauce, and the original ordinary cold noodles have a special flavor.
A few years later, Tao Huabi's snack stall has become famous, and the chili sauce she mixes is in short supply.
So, in 1996, Tao Huabi officially set up a chili sauce processing factory, and named it "Lao Gan Ma", and the following year, Lao Gan Ma Company was formally established.
By 2005, Lao Gan Ma's output value had reached 1 billion, with a daily output of more than 600,000 bottles, and the products were even exported to overseas countries.
Image source network
How strong was Lao Gan Ma's national power at her peak?
There is no need for discounts, no advertising, as long as it appears on the shelf, countless consumers take the initiative to pay.
In the hearts of many Chinese people, it is the preferred "artifact for eating", even if it is traveling or studying abroad, they can't help but bring a few bottles.
A hot sauce for a few dollars, but it can be as famous as Kweichow Moutai, and has become another representative brand in Guizhou, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is popular everywhere, until now, Lao Gan Ma is still among the top 100 private enterprises in Guizhou.
And Tao Huabi herself was crowned the "richest man" in Guizhou by Forbes in 2005, which can be said to have ushered in the peak of life.
Tao Huabi
However, some careful people have found that compared with the glorious achievements of the past, in recent years, the revenue of the old godmother is gradually declining, what is going on?
"I do my job, I don't cross the line. ”
"Lao Gan Ma Company will not go public for financing. ”
Although she was born in the countryside, Tao Huabi has her own set of principles, and the old godmother under her management insists on "no advertising, no financing, and no listing".
But the two sons, who are the mother's successors, have their own ideas.
In 2014, Tao Huabi transferred the equity in his hands to his youngest son Li Miaoxing, and he retreated into the background.
Li Miaoxing, who holds 51% of the shares, naturally became the manager of Lao Gan Ma's company, and the "three fires" of the new official took office quickly burned.
In 2015, Li Miaoxing decided to replace the Guizhou pepper he used for a lower-priced Henan pepper.
Image source network
In addition, consumers also found that Lao Gan Ma's recipe seems to have changed, and the content of tempeh in it has also been significantly reduced.
This change in the formula of raw materials has directly affected the taste of Lao Gan Ma, and many people feel that Lao Gan Ma has "changed its taste".
For food, taste and quality are obviously extremely critical, and since then, Lao Gan Ma's performance has continued to decline, and now, Tao Huabi can't sit still, so she can only choose to go out on her own.
Seeing this, everyone is probably very strange, the younger son has caused a problem, what about the eldest son?
Speaking of the eldest son Li Guishan, it is also emotional.
In fact, he joined the company at the beginning of the "old godmother", and was the first general manager, who had reformed the production process of hot sauce, and he was not an ordinary person with the remaining 49% of the shares.
And that's exactly what happened.
Li Guishan and his mother's ideas are different, in his opinion, Lao Gan Ma ranks first in the hot sauce market and has developed to the peak, if you want to go further, you must accept capital, and you should also develop in multiple fields.
Li Guishan
But whenever he put forward these ideas, Tao Huabi resolutely opposed them, and specially publicly stated that Lao Gan Ma would never go public or raise funds.
Seeing that he couldn't convince his mother, Li Guishan simply decided to break out of the world by himself, and this change made him finally fall into the quagmire.
In the following years, Li Guishan has been looking for business opportunities in many fields such as pharmaceuticals, real estate, and hotels, and has invested more than 200 million yuan in more than a dozen companies, but obviously, he underestimated the complexity of capital.
These investments not only did not succeed, but also caused Li Guishan a lot of trouble, and one of the real estate projects ended in "unfinished", and he became a "bad guy" because of this.
Li Guishan's investment failure not only damaged his reputation, but also affected the old godmother, Tao Huabi had to stand up and respond, and naturally there was no way to rely on this eldest son.
Therefore, when Lao Gan Ma's revenue continued to decline, Tao Huabi, who was 73 years old, re-emerged from the mountain, changed the pepper back to the original variety, and readjusted the recipe.
Tao Huabi
Relying on this move and her influence in the hearts of consumers, Lao Gan Ma successfully ushered in a wave of sales boom, and the sales of that year directly exceeded 5 billion, creating a new historical record.
However, the "withdrawal from the network" turmoil in 2023 announced that Lao Gan Ma's live broadcast sales model was forced to come to an end, and this well-known hot sauce brand seems to be fading its aura of feelings little by little.
Thinking back then, the confident Tao Huabi once imagined "to do the great cause of the ancestors for generations, based on the great cause of thousands of years", at that time, she probably never imagined that it was easy to fight the country by herself, but it was difficult to find someone who guarded the country.
Tao Huabi
Of course, the strength of the old godmother is still strong, and there are many loyal old customers, if the manager can cherish the feathers, keep in mind what Tao Huabi said back then, "there is quality, there is a market", the future is further, and it is still expected!