In the face of the "black swan", China's catering industry has been greatly impacted, but according to the "2021 China Catering Industry Annual Report", in the second half of last year, China's catering industry has been picked up. However, there is one enterprise, not only did not slow down, but also at the end of last year, it was listed by the court as an executor, and the amount of execution exceeded 1.27 million yuan, and this enterprise is Pretty Jiangnan.
Pretty Jiangnan is a well-known catering brand in China, and once a leader in the industry, how did it become like this today? Zhang Lan, the founder of Pretty Jiangnan, after three "big bets", lost in the bet with capital, and finally left the brand he had created, and regretted it.
Three times gambling, from a migrant girl to a female entrepreneur
Zhang Lan's personality always has a "good bet" nature that is not afraid of losing. Zhang Lan was born in 1958, the early growth experience is very tortuous, at the age of 31, she suddenly decided to study in Canada, this kind of "abandonment of husband" behavior is tantamount to a gamble. Living in Canada is not easy, and a lot of her time is occupied by restaurant work. In 1991, she returned home with $20,000 she had saved.
After returning to China, Zhang Lan saw the huge difference between the catering industry at home and abroad, and she decided to seize the opportunity to give all the money she had accumulated in Canada and before to "give it a fight", and she opened a restaurant named "Alan Restaurant". Although it has gone through many hardships, under the careful management of Zhang Lan, the "Alan Restaurant" has a sound and colorful operation.
In 2000, Zhang Lan made another move that no one around him could understand - to transfer the "Alan Restaurant". Zhang Lan once again poured out all his savings, founded the "Pretty Jiangnan" company, and once again "gambled" on his own wealth. In order to make a name for herself, Zhang Lan decided to choose the first store in Guomao. In order to package and package the catering brand "Pretty Jiangnan", Zhang Yin spent hundreds of millions of yuan.
In 2008, "Pretty Jiangnan" became the only Chinese food service provider for the Beijing Olympic Games. In 2009, Zhang Lan ranked Third in the list of restaurant riches with a net worth of 2.5 billion yuan, and his company's turnover exceeded 1 billion yuan.
Nine out of ten? "Bet" failed
After experiencing these three "gambles" that ordinary people are difficult to make choices, Zhang Lan became a hot female rich man at that time. But Zhang Lan's character in her bones made her unable to be stable, in order to expand her territory and make her career a step further, while opening chain stores across the country, Zhang Lan made another decision - to let "Pretty Jiangnan" go public. 、
In order to achieve her wish to go public as soon as possible, Zhang Lan signed a VAM agreement with CDH Capital in 2008. According to insiders, Zhang Lan used his own share mortgage in exchange for 200 million yuan of CDH Capital's investment, but if Zhang Lan failed to successfully go public in 2012, he would have to spend 400 million yuan to "redeem" his shares.
Just as the so-called "Cheng ye Xiao He defeated Xiao He", this time Zhang Lan paid a corresponding price for his choice.
Zhang Lan made a lot of efforts to go public, and even changed his nationality to an unknown small country, which also triggered a hot discussion at the time. However, this time, the heavens did not take care of her, and in 2012, for various reasons, "Pretty Jiangnan" failed to be successfully listed.
According to the agreement of the bet, Zhang Lan needs to spend 400 million yuan to redeem her shares. However, Zhang Lan, who failed the bet, did not have so much money to redeem his shares. Unable to get back his shares, it means that he cannot have the control of "Pretty Jiangnan" and cannot obtain more funds, so zhang lan has reached an impasse.
"Pretty Jiangnan" changed hands
Since then, the downhill road of the south of the pretty river has begun. Later, Hong Kong Capital CVC set its sights on "Pretty Jiangnan" and occupied a large amount of shares in "Pretty Jiangnan" through capital operations. In 2014, the Hong Kong CVC even reached 82.7%, becoming the majority shareholder of "Pretty Jiangnan", and Zhang Lan completely lost control of Pretty Jiangnan. Zhang Lan only has 13.8% of the shares left, and it is said that even this part of the shares has been mortgaged by CVC.
In this contest with capital, Zhang Lan "gambled" this time and lost. Zhang Lan also tried to regain his shares through a lawsuit, but in the end it did not help. Helpless, she had to leave the board and transfer her remaining shares to her son Wang Xiaofei. Since then, Zhang Lan has no practical relationship with the brand he single-handedly built.
As a founder, if Zhang Lan had not chosen to go public at that time, he might not have been squeezed out of the board of directors in the end. But the previous three "big bets" have made her successful all the way, and it is also doomed that she will not refuse any opportunity to gamble, just as the so-called character determines fate, all of which seems inevitable.
Zhang Lan, who completely bid farewell to the beautiful Jiangnan, is no longer engaged in the catering industry, but has joined the live broadcast industry. In the live broadcast, she occasionally interacts with her son and daughter-in-law, and also receives a lot of attention. Recently, in a live broadcast, he jokingly said that he set himself a "small goal" of earning 100 million yuan first. Do you think Zhang Lan, now 63 years old, still has a chance to make a comeback?