China’s “Little Sheep” is steadily moving towards the big world

Inner Mongolia’s Little Sheep Catering Chain Company has become an international benchmark for national catering companies

In July this year, more than 20 foreign investment banks After nearly a year of competition, Europe's largest investment institutions 3i Group and Pukai Fund won and became the largest strategic investors of Inner Mongolia Little Sheep Restaurant Chain Company, investing US$25 million

. Out of its optimism about the prospects of China's catering industry, 3i Group regards taking a stake in "Little Sheep" as a long-term investment. As the first ethnic catering company to successfully introduce international capital and prepare to go public, "Little Sheep" has once again become the focus of the industry.

Since 2001, Inner Mongolia Little Sheep Catering Chain Co., Ltd. has ranked second among the top 100 catering companies in China for four consecutive years, second only to Yum! (China), which has a long history and owns famous brands such as KFC and Pizza Hut. ) INVESTMENTS LIMITED. In 2005, "Little Sheep" achieved sales revenue of 4.57 billion yuan. The brilliant achievements make people very curious: how did "Little Sheep" stand out from the Chinese food industry where consumers have many choices when it started its business? After becoming the leader, how will "Little Sheep" stay ahead?

The road to successful positioning and becoming a legend

Like many companies, "Little Sheep" is constantly moving forward in growth and growing in progress. On August 8, 1999, "Little Sheep Hotel", the predecessor of "Inner Mongolia Little Sheep Catering Chain Co., Ltd.", was born in Baotou City, Inner Mongolia. Although the opening of Little Sheep Hotel did not attract much attention, it was such a little-known hot pot restaurant that interpreted its legendary development history of all-powerful and rapid expansion in the future.

Since its opening, the Little Sheep Hotel has positioned its own business characteristics, that is, "cooking the fat sheep without dipping it in small ingredients." The so-called "no dipping of small ingredients" means that the small ingredients with complicated ingredients that have occupied the dining table for thousands of years disappear from people's sight, and are replaced by more perfect soup base. Little Sheep Soup contains dozens of nourishing condiments such as longan, grass fruit, wolfberry, and Codonopsis pilosula. Longan nourishes the heart and spleen, nourishes blood and calms the nerves, produces body fluids, and moisturizes the five internal organs. Wolfberry improves eyesight, moisturizes skin, blackens hair and beautifies the face. Codonopsis pilosula reduces gastric acid secretion, protects the gastric mucosa, can resist gastric ulcers, and is helpful in anti-aging. The grass fruit tastes pungent, warm and non-toxic. It can treat abdominal pain, relieve vomiting and nourish the stomach, reduce qi and eliminate alcohol poisoning. ... Various tonics complement each other and have excellent nourishing effects on the body. Facts have proven that the Little Sheep hot pot soup, which is a combination of various tonics and is carefully prepared in proportions, has a variety of nourishing effects when consumed over a long period of time. Moreover, when the mutton is boiled, the fishy and muttony smell of the mutton is removed, while the delicious taste is retained. Combining color, aroma, taste and nourishment, this method of eating is more convenient, scientific, delicious and nutritious than the traditional method of boiling mutton with small ingredients. This consumption concept is completely suitable for the fashionable catering concept pursued by modern people, and it has become popular in the catering industry. In October 1999, the first chain store of "Little Sheep" was opened, and a logistics and distribution company of "Little Sheep" was established at the same time. "Little Sheep" quickly became popular across the country like a spark.

Standardized kitchens ensure uniform taste

When running a chain store, uniform taste is very important. In order to ensure the taste of Little Sheep hot pot soup, Little Sheep Company has strict requirements on raw materials to ensure the consistent quality of hot pot soup: the length of onion segments must be consistent, the quality of the origin of pepper must be guaranteed, the same variety of garlic must be used, and The garlic cloves in the pot should be uniform in size and should not have quality defects. Caoguo, longan, wolfberry, etc. are required to have uniform particles and high quality. Even the red dates that are put into the pot are required to be of the same size and are not allowed to be shoddy. Ingredients that do not meet the requirements are never allowed to be used.

The mutton of "Little Sheep" comes from the Xilin Gol Prairie in the international ecological environment protection circle. The protected area is also the main natural grassland of Inner Mongolia grassland.

The types of plants here are very rich, the sky here is so refreshing that there is no trace of haze, the water here is so pure that no dust can be filtered out, the grass here is so green that there is no trace of variegation... Lambs growing up in such an environment, The deliciousness of the meat can be imagined! Moreover, the mutton used in "Little Sheep" only uses the well-known mutton breed "Ujimqin Lamb", which is only six-month-old lamb. Its characteristics are that the meat is fresh and tender, not fishy and not smelly. When selecting the meat, only Selected parts of the sheep are used, so that only about ten kilograms of meat from one sheep is used. There are extremely strict standards for the production of "Little Sheep" meat rolls. If any link is not done properly, it will not pass the final inspection.

"Little Sheep" relies on its characteristics of "shabu-shabu fat sheep without dipping in small ingredients", "the meat is fresh and tender, spicy and delicious, with a long aftertaste, the soup is not bland and the meat is not old after being cooked for a long time" and the working class The price positioning won the recognition of consumers from the beginning, and the good reputation spread like wildfire among consumers. In "Little Sheep" branches across the country, waiting for a table is an inevitable scene every day. In this way, every table in the "Little Sheep" store was constantly turned over, turned over, and turned over again... At this point, the Little Sheep brand began to enter thousands of households and into the hearts of consumers.

Integrate brand development and move towards internationalization

In just 7 years, "Little Sheep" has become popular all over the country and has begun to expand overseas, but it has also attracted many fake and shoddy "Little Sheep" ” flooded the market and became a major concern for consumers.

Before the revision of the Trademark Law in 2001, the Trademark Office rejected the trademark registration application of “Little Sheep”. This has seriously affected the brand maintenance of "Little Sheep". The rampant use of fake "sheep" has seriously disrupted the business order of Little Sheep and infringed on the rights and interests of consumers. Since the store name "Little Sheep" is not protected by trademark law, it is impossible to fight against counterfeiting. The revised Trademark Law was promulgated on February 1, 2001. Based on the new principles of the Trademark Law and the actual situation of "Little Sheep", the Trademark Law Review Committee believes that the evidence on record has proved that the "Little Sheep" trademark has been actually used commercially by Inner Mongolia Little Sheep Company and has produced distinctive facts, which complies with the provisions of the Trademark Law. After "there are laws to follow", "Little Sheep" began a comprehensive brand integration.

In the brand integration, "Little Sheep" takes the "sheep culture" of integrity, peace and friendliness as a major feature, unifying its concept, image and service. In more than 700 chain stores across the country, whether it is the base camp in Inner Mongolia or branches in various places, customers will see a cute lamb on the store smiling to welcome guests. Any one of its stores embodies the "three unification principles": unified standards for soup and mutton, unified service management, and unified visual image. The improvement of consumers' correct understanding of the "Little Sheep" brand will not only help "Little Sheep" clean up counterfeiters in the market to a certain extent, but also help "Little Sheep" continue to develop healthily.

Now, "Little Sheep" has formed more than 700 chain stores with its headquarters in Baotou as the center and radiating across the country. It has 3 wholly-owned subsidiaries, 5 branches, and 1 logistics distribution center. , 6 provincial general agents (acting for 8 provinces), 6 municipal agents, and applied for registration of the "Little Sheep" trademark in more than 60 countries including the United States, Japan, and Australia. In 2004, "Little Sheep" entered Hong Kong, and its unique taste also fascinated Hong Kong people. Four branches were opened in a short period of time. This year, the first branches opened in Macau and Taiwan also achieved gratifying success. At present, "Little Sheep" has selected Hong Kong as its listing location and is expected to complete the listing in the first half of 2008.

The reason why "Little Sheep" has successfully gone global is not only because "Little Sheep" has given full play to its own characteristics and based on its resource advantages, but also because of "Little Sheep" people's ambition to be the first in the world. While the century-old and decades-old stores across the country are still operating steadily and serving as the local "flag", "Little Sheep" has planted its "flag" all over the country and to the world in a very short period of time.

Memorial events of "Little Sheep"

●In August 1999, the Little Sheep Hotel was established and opened.

●In October 1999, the first Little Sheep chain store opened.

●In October 1999, Little Sheep Logistics and Distribution Company was established.

●In January 2002, the Shenzhen branch of Inner Mongolia Little Sheep Catering Chain Co., Ltd. was established.

●In March 2002, it won the “Second Place among the Top 100 Catering Enterprises in China” and the “31st Place among the Top 100 Chinese Restaurant Chains”.

●In August 2002, Little Sheep Company passed ISO9001:2000 international quality management system certification and national green food certification.

●In January 2003, the R&D and processing base for Little Sheep condiments was established.

●In November 2003, Little Sheep’s first overseas chain store opened in Los Angeles, USA.

●In January 2004, Little Sheep's head office and flagship store and model store - Little Sheep Building were completed and opened.

●In January 2004, Little Sheep Hong Kong Holdings Co., Ltd. was established.

●In May 2004, it was selected into the top 20 private enterprises in Baotou, ranking first.

●In June 2004, Little Sheep Causeway Bay store opened in Hong Kong. So far, all 32 provinces (municipalities) and regions across the country have "Little Sheep".

●In September 2004, as the only catering company in the country, it ranked among the top 500 Chinese companies, ranking 451st.

●On November 12, 2004, "LIT?TLE-SHEEP and its pictures" were recognized as China's well-known trademarks.

●In December 2004, Little Sheep’s family-packed hot pot soup products were officially launched, marking the Little Sheep condiment series entering the field of fast-moving consumer goods circulation.