Original title: Did the fire at the Laoganma Chili Factory burn out a secret that had been hidden for many years?

At around 10 a.m. on August 6, a fire broke out in the production workshop on the fourth floor of the "Laoganma" factory in Nanming District, Guiyang City, Guizhou Province. According to media reports, the fire on the roof of the Laoganma factory produced a large amount of thick smoke and a pungent burning smell that stretched for two to three hundred meters. There were no casualties in the whole process. It is understood that the cause of the fire was the burning of chili waste in the fried chicken and lean meat workshop, which triggered a series of explosions at the bottom of the stove.

After the incident was exposed, netizens started the fun mode again!

Some people joked: "Are you planning to increase the price?" "Barbeque-flavored chili sauce will be available in the second half of the year!" "You can eat two bowls of rice with the smell of smoke from the downwind vent!"

Some people pretended to be angry: "Tell you not to go public" and "Check your fire protection every day"

Some people lamented: "To be honest, the taste of Lao Ganma nowadays is obviously not as good as before, and the chili slices are always dull." Teeth! I don’t know what kind of chili is used!” Many people responded: “I haven’t eaten it for a long time!”

Why is the taste of Lao Gan Ma so popular around the world? ? As a well-known trademark in China with annual revenue of billions, why does she insist not to go public?

In-depth revelations

This is not the first time that people say that Lao Gan Ma’s taste is not as good as before. Very early on, some loyal fans of Lao Gan Ma were suspicious because they felt that its taste had changed. Laoganma’s raw materials or processes have changed. No, some netizens revealed the secret in the picture below! In fact, as early as 2015, the financial magazine "Business World" revealed the reason, confirming what netizens said: Laoganma's most important raw material-Guiyang pepper was replaced by Henan pepper!

As we all know, Guizhou’s chili peppers not only have many varieties, but are also famous for their spicy and moderate spiciness, which is probably one of the important natural factors that contribute to the invincible flavor of Laoganma chili sauce. But since Guizhou peppers are so good and Lao Ganma is in Guizhou, why do we have to abandon them?

Guizhou peppers are indeed good, but the price is also expensive. One pound is about 12-13 yuan, and later it rose to 15-16 yuan/jin. In comparison, Henan peppers are much cheaper, only about 7 yuan per pound. Lao Gan Ma uses 13,000 tons of peppers a year. According to this calculation, Lao Gan Ma spends 360 million yuan on buying Guizhou peppers a year. She saves 150 million yuan by buying Henan peppers. For Lao Gan Ma, whose profit is only 8 cents per bottle, this is indeed a large number.

As a business, what you consider is profit, but as a consumer, what you consider is simple and crude: is it delicious? In the past two years, there have been rumors that Laoganma is declining. However, since Laoganma is not a listed company and there is no annual report financial data for reference, we dare not draw a conclusion. Statistics show that in 1998, when it was founded, the brand value of Laoganma was only 50.14 million yuan; in 1999, its output value reached 126 million yuan; in 2006, it reached 1.28 billion yuan; in 2014, sales revenue reached 4 billion yuan. Sales exceeded 4.5 billion yuan. In 2017, Laoganma’s sales dropped to 4 billion yuan. It seems that the decline is a bit exaggerated, but at least the phenomenon of weak growth and declining sales does exist.

Lao Ganma is very persistent about not going public, just like Ren Zhengfei. In August 2018, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange sent personnel to Guizhou to conduct research and provide listing training for three companies, including the national goddess Lao Ganma. But Liu Tao, secretary of the Board of Directors, responded afterwards, "Shenzhen Stock Exchange just came to take a look. Lao Ganma will not be listed, and there are no plans to go public in the future." It seems that even if the Shenzhen Stock Exchange takes the initiative to come to the door, it will not be able to convince the stubborn Lao Ganma.

Lao Ganma is well-known for her "four no's" principles for business operations - no loans, no equity participation, no financing, and no listing. Some people say this is because Lao Gan Ma is uneducated and does not understand capital operations. But in Lao Ganma's view, going public is cheating people of their money, and the result of going public is likely to result in bankruptcy. As a result, Lao Gan Ma's equity has always been firmly in the hands of her family, and there has never been a problem with cash flow.

But as a consumer, what I hope more is that Laoganma can also use this persistence in the lean production of products. If the core raw materials are expensive, the price can be adjusted appropriately, and an announcement will be posted to inform consumers of the reason. .

In today's era of constantly upgrading consumption, it is most valuable for a brand that has been able to inherit the classic taste for 20 years and remain consistent. A slight increase in price will never have an impact on consumption, not to mention the American hot sauce that regards Laoganma as a work-class hot sauce. It’s here!

Headhunter Analysis

The factory fire incident has once again made Lao Gan Ma "popular", but we don't know whether it can continue to be popular. What we know is that Lao Gan Ma changed the origin of raw materials and did not hide it from consumers. This move is tantamount to taking away Lao Gan Ma’s soul. The soulless Lao Gan Ma, although it saves temporary costs, is likely to lose the favor of consumers for twenty years.

In this regard, Weishilan Human Capital Operation Director Ji Zong, a veteran in the headhunting industry, believes that users are always the focus of enterprises, and any strategy that sacrifices consumer experience is unwise. Guardian Blue Human Capital has been working with thousands of large and medium-sized well-known enterprises for more than 20 years