Can Coca-Cola surpass it? Genki Forest wants to give it a try

On October 26, Yuanqi Forest announced that the strategy of "5 super city clusters + self-built factories" has been preliminarily completed.

Li Bingqian, general manager of Yuanqi Forest Production Center, said that most of the domestic carbonated beverage production lines are controlled by international giants, and without their own supply chains, it is impossible to straighten their waists.

Industry insiders said that the landing of the self-built factory strategy means that Yuanqi Forest has embarked on a heavy asset development route, compared with the light asset model, although the capital chain requirements are lower, but its response to the beverage market is also slower, and the Yuanqi Forest self-construction project can quickly respond to the market and complete a complete set of processes of supply, delivery and sale. At the same time, in the field of carbonated beverage supply chain, Yuanqi Forest has broken through the "Iron Curtain" of international giants and achieved basic independence in the supply chain field.

Supply chain problem solving Self-built factories to issue scale

Under the strong attack of traditional beverage giants, a number of domestic brands with quality and personality have emerged in recent years, and new consumer brands represented by Yuanqi Forest have begun to realize the importance of supply chains, and accelerating the construction of their own factories has become the choice of brand parties.

Li Bingqian recalled that at the beginning of the development of the supply chain was still full of emotions, when the Yuanqi Forest was still very weak, no one paid attention at all. But when it developed, it was found that the game behind the supply chain was everywhere. ”

It is understood that Yuanqi Forest had to sell a batch of products in early March 2019, according to the agreement at that time, the foundry arranged the delivery date on March 21, because Yuanqi Forest had no right to speak in the supply chain at that time, so it could only wait, but until March 21, but received the news that the products were not available, and as a result, the batch of products was postponed to April, and the market also appeared a one-month gap period.

Subject to people, Yuanqi Forest began to truly feel the fierce game behind the supply chain, and the road of "from light to heavy" began in this context. In Li Bingqian's view, without its own supply chain, it is impossible to straighten the waist, Yuanqi Forest must have its own factory, and self-built factories are the most basic sincerity of food and beverage companies.

Yuanqi Forest's self-built factory is from 2019, and the latest fourth Hubei Xianning factory has officially entered the equipment installation and commissioning stage on October 6, mainly for central China, and is expected to be put into operation at the end of this year at the earliest. On September 30, the fifth yuanqi forest plant also broke ground in Dujiangyan, Sichuan Province, and is expected to be put into operation next spring. In the previous year, Yuanqi Forest's Chuzhou, Tianjin Xiqing and Guangdong Zhaoqing factories were all completed and put into operation.

At present, the factory covers 5 major urban clusters in North China, East China, South China, Central China and Southwest China, focusing on the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Sichuan-Chongqing, Two Lakes Central and Southern Region and other markets, directly covering 700 million people.

It is worth noting that the five major factories of Yuanqi Forest plan a total investment of 5.5 billion yuan, with a total area of more than 1,000 mu, and a total production capacity of more than 5 billion bottles after all put into operation, and the product development and supply chain of Yuanqi Forest are also more geographically targeted because of the construction of its own factories, as well as the flexibility and response ability to quickly adapt to market changes.

By building its own factory to get rid of the situation of being "stuck in the neck" in production, Yuanqi Forest further broke through the blockade of giants, which is a key step to cope with future competition. In addition, self-built factories can enhance and expand production capacity, strengthen quality control, reduce costs, more effectively complete new product testing, under the support of the supply chain, while strengthening the layout of offline sales channels, to achieve a perfect closed loop from product development to production and sales.

Industry competition is intensifying Explosive strategy has become the DNA of enterprises

In the sparkling water market, since 2021, traditional giants such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi Cola, Nongfu Spring, and Wahaha have successively launched sparkling water products, such as: Coca-Cola launched AHHA sparkling water, and Pepsi Cola launched bubly sparkling water.

Following the detonation of the 0 sugar sparkling water track with erythritol sugar substitutes, Yuanqi Forest has once again made waves in the carbonated beverage industry, aiming at "0 preservatives". On October 26, Yuanqi Forest also officially released the "three 0 factories" strategy, announcing that its full line of sparkling water products will no longer add preservatives such as sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate.

Li Bingqian said that the ideal beverage factory in Yuanqi Forest is that there are fewer non-essential additives, higher sterility requirements, and more environmental friendly. In order to eliminate the addition of preservatives such as sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate, the investment in Yuanqi Forest is very huge, but it is very worthwhile, and we will continue to make efforts to promote "0 preservatives" in the future.

Among the three factories currently under construction, Yuanqi Forest has put into operation 8 sterile carbonic acid production lines, and it is expected to put into operation next year to reach 24, and the number of similar production lines in the world is only 30. This means that Yuanqi Forest will become the enterprise with the largest number of sterile production lines in the world next year, and it will be at the forefront of the world in the "0 preservatives" plan.

In the past 12 months, Yuanqi Forest has added more than 30 kinds of beverage flavors, and the product development cycle averages 5.5 months. As of September this year, the company's R& D costs increased by 350% year-on-year, and the total R& D expenses accounted for the highest proportion of beverage companies of the same size. Due to the steady improvement of user reputation, Yuanqi Forest has won the first place in beverage sales in the Tmall 618 Shopping Festival and Tmall Double 11 Shopping Festival for two consecutive years.

It is understood that the "0 pollution" and "0 carbon" targets are also the key points in the "three 0 factories" strategy. In the pursuit of "0 pollution", in terms of sewage, Yuanqi Forest Factory has improved the utilization rate of water resources through RO concentrated water recovery, water-saving management at key water use points, reclaimed water utilization of sewage treatment, and upgrading of oxygen-consuming sewage treatment processes. Through the high standard of water treatment technology, the treated reclaimed water can also be used for urban municipal greening to achieve water recycling; in terms of solid waste discharge, the factory will move towards "0 landfill" to protect soil health and reduce environmental impact.

Yuanqi Forest revealed that since the first day of the company's establishment, Yuanqi Forest has not used a PVC label, from bottles to packaging all using PET environmentally friendly materials. Yuanqi Forest's self-built factory is equipped with a rooftop solar photovoltaic system as standard, and renewable and clean energy such as photovoltaics are used in energy supply.

Industry experts believe that different from the "asset-light" thinking of Internet red brands in recent years, Yuanqi Forest takes the initiative to shift from the FOUNDG model to self-built factories, and the clear strategic layout, product positioning and in-depth control of the supply chain will become the key to the continuous breakthrough of Yuanqi Forest in the future.