Guiyang Nanming Laoganma Flavor Food Co., Ltd. issued a price adjustment official letter. The official letter showed that “due to the rising trend of raw material costs, labor costs, freight, etc. every year, the company decided to start from March 1, 2022 Starting from now, it is confirmed that the sales prices of some products will be readjusted. "Although Laoganma did not specify the extent of the price increase, the author found in the supermarket that the price increase this time was around 5-15%, and not only Laoganma's sauces. , as well as side dishes, fermented bean curd, hot pot base, etc. have quietly increased in price. Laoganma's price increase logic is the same as that of other condiment companies, and it still stems from the pressure of rising costs.

Laoganma mentioned in the "Official Letter of Price Adjustment" that the price increase is due to the fact that the cost of raw materials, labor costs, freight, etc. are rising every year. The rising costs have already affected some of the company's products. Production and stocking have been severely affected.

With the price increase, the discussion about Lao Ganma immediately returned to our field of vision. These years Lao Ganma was born and grew stronger day by day. At this time, some netizens discovered that Lao Ganma was also struggling. , in order to prevent copycats, Guiyang Nanming Laoganma Flavor Food Co., Ltd. has applied for multiple "Laoganma", "Laoganma", "Maganlao", "Laoaunt", "Ganma" and "Tao Huabi" from January 2021 Trademarks such as "Tao Lao Ganba" are internationally classified into advertising sales, catering and accommodation, construction repairs, etc. The current trademark status is "trademark application pending". As of February this year, "Laoganma" Company and its foreign investment enterprises and branches have registered 193 trademarks, of which the largest number of registered trademarks was 66 in 2008. In addition to the core trademark "Laoganma", Laoganma Company "Godmother" has been registered in all categories, and also registered "old godmother", "godson and daughter", "godson", "old godfather", "old godmother", "old godfather", "old godmother" and other series of old godfather's family members. Lao Gan Ma Company also carefully registered defensive trademarks with similar words such as "Lao Qian Ma" and "Lao Yu Ma".

Lao Gan Ma has always been popular among the people. Since ancient times, the Internet has been evaluating talents. One netizen said: Lao Gan Ma has been working for 37 years, but she can’t compare to Wei Ya who has been working for 2 years. Lao Gan Ma has been working for 37 years. Mom made many people employed, and Wei Ya made many people unemployed.

Some experts have commented that Lao Gan Ma is successful because of its taste. Its advantages also include pricing: First of all, Lao Gan Ma cannot be sold if its price is higher than Lao Gan Ma, and it loses money if it is lower than it. , it can be said that management has been pushed to the limit.

With so many reviews following suit, let’s take a look at how much ups and downs Laoganma, a domestic brand, has to go through before it can defend its crown.

No matter how great a company is, it will have its darkest moments. In fact, Laoganma Company has been going through a very difficult time in recent years.

Not long ago, Tao Bihua responded to her eldest son’s investment in real estate: It is a personal behavior and has nothing to do with Lao Ganma Company. Before that, the secret recipe was stolen and then misreported by Tencent. Laoganma Company was also a firefighter.

And these are just the beginning of troubled times.

In 2012, Tao Bihua’s eldest son Li Guishan invested 29.4 million yuan and partnered with his friends to invest in a real estate company in Kunming, Kunming Guishan Tianyang Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. The company spent more than 400 million yuan to acquire Panlong in Kunming City. A piece of land in the district, this real estate called "Yunrun Tianyang" was originally planned to be handed over around mid-2015, but a large number of sold commercial houses have not yet been inspected and handed over, and dozens of owners have had to "force" move in. Because of this unfinished building, Li Guishan was included in the list of dishonest people and became a bad guy. He had an agreement with Lao Ganma's company, so this matter could not affect Lao Ganma.

And such a promise seems to be a slap in the left cheek, then the right cheek.

After Tao Bihua’s younger son took over, Laoganma Company’s performance began to decline in 2014. In 2016, its sales reached 4.5 billion yuan. Two years later, it dropped to 43. billion.

Such a resolution came about in 2014. Tao Huabi decided to slowly transfer her company to her second son Li Miaoxing. So far, Li Miaoxing has controlled 51% of the company's shares.

In less than a year, topics related to the changes in the taste of Laoganma hot sauce appeared on the Internet. After investigation, it was discovered that Li Miaoxing was the one who made more profits from it. The Guizhou pepper that Lao Gan Ma has always used was replaced by Henan pepper.

Due to its good quality, Guizhou peppers are relatively more expensive. The price per pound is between 12 yuan and 13 yuan, while Henan peppers are 7 yuan, which is equivalent to Guizhou peppers are at least 5 yuan cheaper, which means you can save 5 yuan per kilogram, 10,000 yuan per ton, and 400 million yuan a year.

This decision caused Laoganma Hot Sauce to lose a large number of fans, and the sales of Laoganma Hot Sauce also fell off a cliff.

Faced with this situation, 73-year-old Tao Huabi had to personally save the company's situation. Not only did she sincerely apologize to consumers, replace the peppers with Guizhou peppers, but she also personally checked every item. Process, with Tao Huabi's efforts, the company has ushered in new development.

In 2019, Lao Gan Ma’s sales reached about 5.023 billion yuan. Tao Huabi reversed the company’s declining performance, and Lao Gan Ma began to slowly get on the right track.

What is sad is how much hardship a woman has shouldered on her shoulders. Until now, she still has to turn the tide on her own.

In 1989, founder Tao Huabi originally opened a snack bar specializing in jelly and cold noodles. In order to win the love of customers, Tao Huabi did not just prepare some pepper, soy sauce, green onions and other ingredients like her peers. Instead, we specially developed an original spicy sauce, and this spicy sauce is the predecessor of the current Laoganma chili sauce. Later, after continuous improvement, the flavor of the spicy sauce became more unique. Some customers even spent money to buy the spicy sauce separately. Sauce.

This allowed Tao Huabi to see business opportunities. In 1996, Tao Huabi borrowed two small workshops and hired 40 workers to start a business, specializing in the production of chili sauce. The sales locations of these chili sauces also expanded from a few small restaurants to various grain and oil stores and workplace canteens. Soon Laoganma chili sauce became famous in the Guizhou area.

In August 1997, Tao Huabi established "Guiyang Nanming Laoganma Flavor Food Co., Ltd.". After 22 years of hard work, in 2019, Laoganma's annual sales revenue reached 5.40009 billion yuan, setting a new record high, firmly occupying the top spot among domestic chili sauce companies.

In the United States, the luxury e-commerce company Gilt regards Lao Gan Ma as a noble condiment. It once promoted two bottles at a limited time sale price of US$11.95. Such a price can really be regarded as "from China’s imported luxury goods”.

Tao Huabi once said in an interview that every chili and every piece of beef in Laoganma chili sauce is genuine and will never be adulterated or shoddy.

In addition to careful attention to raw materials, Lao Gan Ma’s insistence on quality is also reflected in the “clumsy” production process. Lao Gan Ma has always used traditional manual mixing methods to maintain the taste of Lao Gan Ma It has not changed even after more than ten years.

Although a bottle of Laoganma sells for only about 8 yuan, it has successfully stood out in the hot sauce market with its good taste and low price. On average, it can sell more than 1.3 million bottles every day. The annual use of chili peppers reached 13,000 tons, and soybeans reached 17,000 tons. Its annual sales reached 4.5 billion yuan. From 1998 to 2013, in just fifteen years, its output value increased from 50 million yuan to about 3.8 billion yuan, equivalent to a 74-fold increase.

However, does Tao Huabi’s old age mean that Laoganma Company is old? If Tao cannot solve the successor problem, whether to choose meritocracy or nepotism, does it mean that Laoganma Company cannot develop rapidly? If Lao Ganma wants to overcome the founder cycle problem, does she have to break away from her own traditional thinking?

At a time when Lao Gan Ma was experiencing internal and external troubles, competitors did not miss every opportunity to overtake, and foreign brands even pretended to be domestic brands, such as American chili sauce McCormick "lurking" in China 30 In 2017, its revenue was 7 times that of Lao Gan Ma, and it has been mistaken for a domestic product. Lao Gan Ma’s annual revenue reached 5 billion, while the revenue of American hot sauce McCormick was as high as 33.7 billion. It belongs to Lao Gan Ma 7 times, and has already been listed, with a market value of 172.3 billion.

Some people pointed out: It is a pity that Lao Gan Ma is not listed. Now it is worth 6 billion a year. If Lao Gan Ma is listed, the market value may reach 100 billion, or even exceed The market value of Haidilao is 10 billion, even if the Tao Bihua family only holds 10% of the shares.

However, some people retorted: These are only paper values. The reason why Laoganma is not listed is because Tao Bihua feels that this is "making money", and it is better to run the company in a down-to-earth manner. Making good products is the way to do business.

Of course, the main reason why Lao Gan Ma insists on not going public is because Tao Bihua feels that there is no shortage of money and there is no need to raise funds. However, the market is ever-changing. Nowadays, there are endless hot sauce brands like "Lao Gan Dad" on the market. Maybe Lao Gan Ma will be replaced by other brands that day. It’s still the same sentence: There are no permanent victors in the market. Only continuous innovation can maintain competitiveness. I hope Lao Gan Ma will not forget its original intention and not let loyal fans feel that "Lao Gan Ma is not as delicious as before."

Tao Huabi from Laoganma once said: "I don't know the tricks of going public and financing. I just do what I know how to do."

But for real entrepreneurs, Going public is just a step to a higher stage, not the stage itself.

Listing helps companies improve their financing capabilities. This is obvious. After going public, the credibility and visibility of companies will increase. In the context where it is difficult for private companies to obtain loans, the endorsement of the government and capital market is too great. Importantly, the last thing is that society often regards going public as a sign of an entrepreneur's success, so many entrepreneurs are extremely enthusiastic about going public.

But not everyone thinks so. When Boss Appliances goes on the market, FOTILE will not be on the market; when ZTE is on the market, Huawei will not be on the market; when Haitian is on the market, Laoganma will not be on the market; and Haidilao will be on the market. , Xibei instead shouted the slogan never to go public.

The so-called non-listing remarks may be the message Laoganma wants you to receive. This is also a marketing tool. Entrepreneurs such as Lei Jun of Xiaomi and Zong Qinghou of Wahaha initially clamored not to go public, but in the end they actively requested to go public.

The former Laoganma Company adhered to the principle of "no fundraising, no listing, no loans" and relied on the quality of its products to carve out a niche for itself. However, the reason why Lao Gan Ma became the Lao Gan Ma today was not by marketing and spending money, but by excellent quality. However, the product quality crisis caused by the successor issue has also made Lao Gan Ma questionable. It is speculated from this that perhaps Laoganma believes that the time for listing has not yet come.

So, how does Laoganma, who claims not to be listed, survive the market cycle? Is it to develop products in multiple matrices, or to continue to delve into taste? Or continue to cultivate new people through the new marketing of national fashion packaging.

Seeing that the pie in the hot sauce market is getting bigger and bigger, many new hot sauce competing products have been launched in the market. In 2016, Lin Yilun created his own hot sauce brand-Fanye. The selling price of each bottle It is between 25 and 40 yuan, mainly targeting young consumers. In just three months since its debut, the brand's financing scale has reached 83 million yuan.

Also in this year, Yue Yunpeng also launched his own hot sauce brand, selling 18,600 bottles in less than 30 days. It is difficult for anyone to answer whether Lao Gan Ma will be replaced. Compared with what we have witnessed Many companies thought they were a century old, but they couldn't survive the ups and downs of 30 years.

But Xu Xiaonian believes that Laoganma is a company that does very good innovation. Laoganma is a company that uses a traditional model to make chili sauce. It does not talk about fashionable concepts such as cloud computing and big data. However, it is able to sell its products all over the world, so that wherever there are Chinese people, there is Laoganma chili sauce. . In Xu Xiaonian's view, Laoganma's innovation lies in its ability to build a global sales network.

Xu Xiaonian concluded: "So, innovation is not a trend, it is not a new trend, it is not necessarily the most avant-garde and pioneering technology at the moment, but it is to do something that you and others have not done before, and it is to bring this The world is bringing new products, new technologies, new business models, new ideas and new services to the market to achieve differentiated competition. "Therefore, everyone is crowded into the same outlet, but it is not innovation, but competition. Imitation is precisely not the differentiated competition that innovation should promote.

The author believes that if your company can be everlasting through a strong point that is accepted by customers, and has the cultural attributes of a country, which is a cultural business card, it is a very powerful thing. For example, Coca-Cola has also changed The taste has been improved and the market has been catered to, but there is still a group of loyal fans who will happily buy as long as Coca-Cola produces products. Simply because Coca-Cola represents the taste and culture they identify with.

In fact, we hope that Laoganma can last forever. After all, this is the taste and culture of the times and China. As time goes by, when Lao Gan Ma hot sauce becomes a dowry for a married daughter and becomes a cultural label of China in the world, it is enough for Lao Gan Ma to continue to be herself. Of course, this phenomenon already exists. International students buy Laoganma hot sauce at high prices in foreign supermarkets and enjoy the "taste of hometown" from the aroma of black beans and chili peppers. Some foreign netizens said, "When you marry a Chinese woman, you are marrying two women: your fiancée and Tao Huabi."

As for whether to use national fashion packaging, this is not too important, just because Lao Ganma should tell the story of China in the simplest way.