The first pot of gold
Zhang Lan came from a scholarly family. In 1987, after graduating from the business management major of Beijing Business School, she worked in a company as a manager. Two years later, he left for Canada.
After leaving her hometown, she earned money by working illegally and did many jobs. For example, I served a Taiwanese family, helped in a beauty salon, worked in a restaurant, and even carried a hundred pounds of pork. At that time, making money became her only reason to stay abroad. Zhang Lan said with emotion: "Ordinary people cannot understand the hard work involved."
In 1991, Zhang Lan returned to China with US$20,000 in hard-earned money. Six months later, she invested 130,000 yuan and opened a Sichuan restaurant called "Alan Restaurant" in Dongsi District, Beijing. "Food is the first priority for the people, and there are always opportunities in this industry."
The catering industry is a "diligence" business, which requires diligence both physically and mentally. She went to Pixian County, Sichuan alone, brought a group of local bamboo workers up the mountain to cut bamboo, and transported the 13-meter-long bamboo to Beijing by train. Later, "Alan Restaurant" became the Bamboo House in the South. She painted and decorated the bamboo walls with her own hands, as if opening a restaurant was an art activity. It was her first time trying the combination of decoration and food. In the next nine years, she completed capital accumulation and accumulated rich experience in catering management. In 2000, she founded South Beauty, a boutique Sichuan restaurant. In just 3 years, she has opened 9 branches in Beijing and 2 branches in Shanghai.
Chain Operations
Zhang Lan considers herself to be a person who is “unconscious and careless”. Everywhere she goes, whether it is domestic or foreign, a large hotel or a small restaurant, she will habitually pay attention to the decoration of the store and study various dishes. Every time, inspiration strikes and I create a new dish. The ingredients used are traditional Sichuan ingredients, but the knife skills and dialing are European requirements. The "rock salad" with simple and bright colors is Zhang Lan's innovation.
In a French restaurant, the waiter demonstrated how to make a salad in front of her. Although it is a very simple dish, it can bring guests spiritual and cultural enjoyment. At that time, she suddenly thought of her good friend Cui Jian, the famous rock star, why not call it "rock salad"? After returning to China, she made her own ingredients and conducted experiments.
Nowadays, as long as you walk into South Beauty and order a "rock salad" at will, a waiter will come to the table and "rock" the delicious and sweet salad like a kaleidoscope. .
Zhang Lan always has long curly hair and speaks very fast. She always likes to say "I think"... It makes people feel that the beautiful woman in front of them is more decisive and capable than men.
She doesn't like to recall the past. Although she mentioned more than once that "past experience is the wealth of the present," her every move and move shows more forward thinking. And the unique skill of relying on spirituality to manage and operate is a character and style that others cannot imitate.
She said: "My goal is that the 100th 'Beauty Jiangnan' store will be opened on the day when the 2008 Olympic Games opens in Beijing."
Life summary
Qiao Zhanglan of South Beauty doesn’t like to use “strong woman” to describe herself. In her eyes, "strong women" give people the feeling of being "cold" and cold. She attributes her success to intuition and sudden inspiration as well as being "too focused" on doing things. If there is anything else to add, it would probably be the peace of mind brought about by women's lack of utility. Her office is littered with pottery, porcelain and glass dishes.
Like a little girl who loves to play "playing house", she likes to play with all kinds of tableware, trying to create the most ideal color and shape combination. She carries out this seemingly easy but important daily work with a gentle woman's heart. Fashion, leisure and innovation are the eternal themes of South Beauty.
In 2008, South Beauty opened 8 new directly-operated stores in first-tier cities. On December 15, South Beauty raised 300 million yuan in financing. On December 5, South Beauty’s new menu was released, with more than 300 new dishes launched.
In August, South Beauty served as an Olympic catering service provider for the Olympic Games. It received more than 80,000 spectators every day, including athletes and Olympic officials from various countries. It is estimated that the number of people served in the venue exceeded 1 million during the Olympic Games. The stores in South Beauty have received more than 100,000 customers in total. In June, Beauty Jiangnan participated in the "Times China" event held in London, England, and provided Chinese food to the guests at the scene.
On May 12, 2008, as soon as the earthquake disaster occurred, South Beauty United One Foundation donated money to the disaster-stricken areas in Sichuan. On May 4, Ms. Zhang Lan, Chairman of South Beauty, became the Olympic torch bearer to participate in the Hainan Torch Relay. On January 15, South Beauty was officially recognized as a "China Famous Trademark".
On December 8, 2007, SUBU, a top fashion concept brand restaurant established by South Beauty in China, officially opened. In November, South Beauty was officially recognized as a "China's Well-known Trademark". It was China's only trademark protected by international laws around the world, and further opened up the development space of South Beauty in overseas markets. In March, South Beauty officially became the eighth largest catering service provider for competition venues in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
On August 28, 2005, Shanghai 881 Club opened, marking South Beauty's entry into the high-end service market.
On August 29, 2004, South Beauty's Chengdu Bauhinia store opened, reflecting South Beauty's continuous learning of the source of traditional Sichuan cuisine and its enterprising and innovative spirit of always leading fashion.
On January 16, 2002, South Beauty Shanghai Times Square store opened, marking the beginning of South Beauty's cross-regional operations.
On April 16, 2000, South Beauty's first brand restaurant opened in Guomao, officially entering the business dinner market.
The battle over venture capital
On August 26, 2011, Zhang Lan, chairman of South Beauty Catering Group (hereinafter referred to as South Beauty), said in an interview with the media that the investor Dinghui was introduced by "South Beauty" The biggest mistake is meaningless”, “Private entrepreneurs pay tuition”. She also said that CDH brought nothing to South Beauty, but used very little money to dilute "such a large shareholding." For a time, the contradiction between venture capitalists and invested companies was once again exposed to the public.
In 2008, South Beauty chose CDH Ventures among multiple PEs. The latter invested about 200 million yuan in capital and held 10.526 shares of the former.
In 2011, South Beauty has been sprinting for A-share listing, but failed to go public. After the listing of South Beauty was frustrated due to the gambling agreement signed with CDH, CDH asked Zhang Lan to repurchase the shares at a high price. For Zhang Lan, she listened to CDH Venture Capital's advice and sold part of her equity to senior executives at a low price, but she still couldn't list it domestically. She felt that she had also suffered a loss. Under such circumstances, both parties are dissatisfied and conflicts surface.
Those who do business and those who do finance have different ideas. If the concepts are different and there is a conflict of interest, it is easy for the two parties to break up.
The change of nationality of South Beauty Chairman Zhang Lan in November 2012 attracted widespread attention from the outside world. According to the reporter's understanding, South Beauty changed its enterprise type from a domestic-funded enterprise to a foreign-invested enterprise in December 2008. Is this move to enjoy tax benefits for foreign investment?
The relevant person in charge of South Beauty revealed that Zhang Lan’s nationality has indeed changed, but it is not clear which nationality she has joined. As for the reason why South Beauty transformed into a foreign-invested enterprise, the person in charge said that it was not due to preferential policies as speculated by the outside world, but Zhang Lan's own long-term commitment to the company's ability to be based in the world and become an international brand in the future. consider.
Foreigner Zhang Lan runs the foreign-invested enterprise South Beauty
In November 2012, Zhang Lan, chairman of South Beauty, attracted attention because she had "cancelled her household registration and acquired foreign nationality". Regarding the issue of whether Zhang Lan can continue to serve as a member of the Chaoyang District CPPCC, the relevant person in charge of the Chaoyang District CPPCC said that they are currently understanding the matter and will handle it according to the situation and relevant procedures after verification.
According to CCTV’s investigation, the company type of South Beauty is a joint-stock company (a joint venture between Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao and China), and its legal representative and person in charge is Zhang Lan.
The enterprise was a domestic-invested enterprise before December 19, 2008, and was changed to a foreign-invested enterprise on December 19, 2008.
Zhang Lan talked about patriotism and was criticized by netizens
Zhang Lan once told the media that 21 years ago, with an immigration certificate in hand, she decided to return to China to start a business, and everyone thought she was crazy. , giving up a pass to heaven. Some netizens also recalled Zhang Lan's previous status as a "Member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference" and "March 8th Red Flag Bearer", and even questioned that Zhang Lan's claim on a satellite TV program to "give up immigration and always be loyal to the motherland" was purely for show.
Netizen Imkhan said on Weibo: "When I put my hand on my chest, when I was asked to swear to be loyal to Canada forever, I found that I couldn't do it. I could only be loyal to myself. Country, because I am Chinese.
This is a very profound sentence that I heard from "One Tiger, One Talk" a long time ago. "The person who said this was Zhang Lan." Netizen nemopostbox said this. He also said that when Zhang Lan was on Phoenix TV's "One Tiger One Talk", she cursed people who immigrated overseas as being unpatriotic, saying that she had rejected invitations to immigrate from many countries. The "noble patriotism" she showed at that time won the audience. The audience applauded warmly. Now this "patriot" has unknowingly acquired a foreign nationality.
Some netizens questioned whether Zhang Lan ever had the opportunity to obtain an immigration certificate from Canada. Netizen Jiaren Youyue said in 2012, "Ms. Zhang, Canadian permanent residents can only apply for naturalization after completing 3 years of 4 years. You must also apply in person. After review, you will be notified of the exam. Only if you pass the exam can you be naturalized. How many years have you lived here? "A netizen smiled and said, "According to Zhang Lan, she lived in extreme poverty in Canada in 1991. She had to unload trucks and carry pork in the backyard of a restaurant almost every day, and she had to work as a nanny at night. God knows why the Canadian government did this. Why would you specifically invite such a person to immigrate to Canada?”
Beautiful Jiangnan enjoys the treatment of foreign-invested enterprises but was rejected for its A-share listing
my country has implemented preferential tax policies for foreign-invested enterprises, which mainly include four block content. One is preferential tax policies for importing and exporting equipment, software, technology, etc.; the other is preferential tax policies for income tax; and there are also preferential tax policies for business tax. Some online analysts said that the purpose of South Beauty changing from a domestic-funded enterprise to a foreign-invested enterprise in 2008 seemed to be to avoid taxes reasonably. South Beauty claims that it is for the internationalization of the company.
On the other hand, South Beauty has also actively planned the listing of A-shares. It is understood that as early as March 2011, South Beauty had submitted an A-share listing application to the China Securities Regulatory Commission. However, in January 2012, South Beauty's name appeared on the "termination of review" list, and the date of termination of review was shown as 2012. January 30th. At this point, South Beauty’s A-share listing journey has officially come to an end.
Media reports indicate that South Beauty will launch its Hong Kong listing after the summer vacation at the earliest, but the specific time still depends on market conditions. Earlier news pointed out that South Beauty has passed the Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing hearing and plans to raise US$100-200 million.
Zhang Lan withdrew from the board of directors of South Beauty
According to Taiwanese media reports, in March 2015, Zhang Lan, the founder of the catering group "South Beauty", reported that her assets had been frozen by the Hong Kong High Court, and the family business was in crisis. , at that time, Big S said that "the whole family will face it together." Unexpectedly, on July 16, mainland media reported that Zhang Lan had quit the board of directors of South Beauty, and her information was even removed from the official website. Some media asked South Beauty to confirm, but the other party did not directly deny it.
Zhang Lan denies being "kicked out" of South Beauty's board of directors and will sue CVC
On July 17, 2015, Zhang Lan entrusted a lawyer to issue a statement, fully denying the idea of ??being "kicked out". Later, in an interview, Zhang Lan accused CVC of pledging her equity without her consent and stated that she would initiate legal action against CVC.