Old yogurt was born in Qinghai more than 800 years ago, but traveling far and wide to see the world only happened two years ago. To this end, he specially designed an imitation blue and white porcelain gown for himself, with the "Qinghai Old Yoghurt" sign printed on it. He wandered all the way east from the plateau and finally entered Beijing, the capital of the motherland.
What made him depressed was that he originally thought he was the "proud man of heaven", but within a few days of entering Beijing, he found that the streets were full of "old yogurts" wearing coats like him. They The origins include Northeast China, Inner Mongolia and Shandong, and even Anhui and Hubei. At this time, Qinghai Old Yoghurt was a little confused. Starting from the Beijing Temple Fair at the beginning of this year, Qinghai old yogurt officially entered the Beijing market and spread by word of mouth among young consumer groups. For a time, there was a situation where "Luoyang paper is expensive". When summer arrives, mail order and purchasing agents are in full swing on online forums, and the amplification effect of the Internet makes old yogurt a fashionable consumer product. Currently, it is sold in street shops and large supermarkets in Beijing. The consumption trend of stopping on the street to buy a drink has given rise to the "buying a cup of old yogurt".
The hot sales of new products have attracted many big-name manufacturers to crowd in, including well-known companies such as Mengniu and Wandashan. The flags they pulled out spread from Qinghai to Northeast China, Shandong, Inner Mongolia and even Hubei. The large number of companies entering has also set off a public opinion war, with all parties claiming that they are the authentic ones.
“It is recorded in history books that this eating method of Qinghai herdsmen has a history of 800 years. We were the first to industrialize this production method.” General Manager of Qinghai Xiaoxiniu Biological Dairy Co., Ltd. Wang Weisheng insists that they are the source of the Qinghai old yogurt that is currently hot on the market. In some previous interviews, companies in Inner Mongolia and Northeast China claimed that there was a local tradition of eating old yogurt, so they were the orthodox ones. Behind the divergent opinions, who is the story of Qinghai Old Yoghurt? The story of Qinghai Old Yoghurt is this: One night 800 years ago, a serf couple grazed cattle for their master. They walked a long way and encountered a snowstorm. They hurriedly avoided and accidentally accidentally A jug of boiled milk was left outside the tent. The next day, after the milk solidified and fermented, it turned into yogurt that was shaped like tofu and needed to be chewed. They relied on this bucket of yogurt to support them back home. Okay, I admit, this may just be a beautiful fabrication. In fact, history books only record that herdsmen began to eat old yogurt 800 years ago. To this day, herders in various parts of Qinghai still eat this traditional yogurt. They use bowls to hold the milk and scoop it out with small spoons. Due to the unique production process of this yogurt, many tourists who have visited Qinghai are attracted to it. The reason why it can enter modern cities on a large scale as a commodity is that its production method has broken away from traditional handicrafts and achieved large-scale mass production.
“We have already applied for the trademark of Qinghai Old Yoghurt to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce through the Qinghai Industry and Commerce Bureau, and it has now entered the publicity period.” Wang Weisheng emphasized that because trademarks with regional indications are difficult to obtain from relevant departments Approval often has to be related to history, culture and tradition, and if the final application can be approved, then the dispute over "orthodoxy" will be self-evident. According to reports, the reason for the popularity of old yogurt is not only the realization of mass production, but also the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.
“If we observe carefully, we can find that the areas along the train to Tibet can start the market, and on the return train, this kind of old yogurt is often regarded as a specialty of Tibetan areas.” An industry insider He said that consumption surveys show that many consumers seek purchase channels through multiple channels after eating it once, which has also created the unique sales model of Qinghai old yogurt.
“Distributors in the milk industry did not even bother to represent our products before. Distributors in Shanghai, Wuhan, Changsha and other places were originally tourists.” According to Wang Weisheng, because the origin of its products is concentrated in In Xining, long-distance low-temperature transportation is very difficult. In the early days, dealers had to solve the problem themselves.
“We have been doing this for more than ten years. Because Qinghai is relatively geographically restricted, it has not been able to go out. After the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was completed, people who visited along the railway line often bought Take a lot back.
"Wang Weisheng said that they only started to expand the market two years ago. When they promoted local markets across the country last year, although the sales channels were not comparable to other large dairy manufacturers, the advancement speed exceeded expectations.
" It sold for 80 million yuan last year, and it should reach 200 million yuan this year. "
"During the melamine incident, Qinghai was a pure land and not a single dairy factory had any problems, which gave us great confidence. Qinghai is one of the four major pastoral areas in the country, but it does not have a dairy brand that goes global. This is a lack. "Wang Weisheng said. In fact, the industry's concerns have already emerged. Public information shows that from May to June this year, Jilin's industrial and commercial department conducted random inspections of food in Changchun and Jilin, and Wandashan brand Northeastern old yogurt was detected The manufacturer of the unqualified product is Heilongjiang Longxing Dairy Co., Ltd.
“This is easy to understand. After a new product comes out, big brands rely on small processing factories to OEM it. For example, there are several small factories around Beijing, and I have visited them all. "Wang Weisheng said that in order to reduce costs, the most common operating method of these small factories is to use "sugar substitutes" (the use of white sugar is stipulated). This is why Wang Weisheng insists on producing in Qinghai and then spends very high freight to ship the products to various places.
“I can also find a small factory near Beijing to do OEM work, but isn’t that just fraud? You said you are Qinghai old yogurt, but it turns out it is produced near Beijing. "Wang Weisheng said that the retail price of Xiaoxi Niu products is generally 5 yuan/bowl, while many other brands sell for more than 3 yuan. He can't even think about such a low price.
" We never thought about surpassing anyone, but since we have such a product, we strive to occupy a place in the national market. "Perhaps, if many companies feel that the lessons learned from melamine are not big enough, then Wang Weisheng's words can cool down the dairy industry that is caught in collective fanaticism. "Imitation in the market is indeed serious, but we don't have the strength of Mengniu and Yili to stop imitation, and we don't have the strength to stop imitation. No need to stop. "Wang Weisheng said: "Old yogurt produced in various places just has the same outer packaging as ours, which doesn't make sense. Because we rely on Qinghai’s resources and subsequent product development, we can’t imitate these, right? "
In his opinion, the source of milk is the most important, and Qinghai is a plateau, and the pasture is absolutely pollution-free. "It would be strange if this was the same as those places below. ”
According to reports, ordinary yogurt is fermented first and then filled, while old yogurt is a solidified type and must use fresh milk as raw material. The semi-finished products are filled into small plastic bowls separately and sealed for 72 hours. Refrigerated fermentation requires a long production time and a relatively short shelf life. However, other companies cannot replicate Qinghai's unique milk sources and geographical conditions. The taste of the old yogurt they produce will be different from that of most old yogurt currently sold in Qinghai. The price is about 4 yuan/bowl, more than twice that of ordinary yogurt, while the retail price of Xiaoxi Niu brand Qinghai old yogurt is 5 yuan/bowl to 5.5 yuan/bowl.
Many companies are competing to produce this new product. products, but what worries people in the industry is that the food industry is very fragile, and a mixed product can easily overdraw consumer confidence. An industry expert said that in the old yogurt market, it is not ruled out that some unknown brands will take advantage of the opportunity and pursue. Immediate short-term benefits. In this case, any emergency will have a devastating blow to this emerging industry.
Wang Weisheng said that many large manufacturers will rent a new product immediately after seeing it. Small factory OEMs rely on mature channels to push outwards. "You can earn as much as you want, and you can also impact new companies entering this market. Why not?" If the social trust of this product is gone and the market is dead, they will just turn around and do something else. ”