Shaxian flat meat. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Lin Shanchuan
has changed from a small workshop to a large factory, from carrying baskets and selling goods to chain operations, from entering towns to going abroad, snacks seem small, but they can also become a big industry of tens of billions.
In China, each region has its own special snacks, and there are many famous nationwide, but not many have formed brands in the minds of consumers, and even fewer have become a big industry of 10 billion. Shaxian snacks, Liuzhou snail noodles are among the best. How did they go to the whole country and to the world?
snacks include Daminsheng
"Eat all directions with big mouths, but it still smells good here." Walking on the streets and alleys of the city, you will find that the sign of each Shaxian snack has a cartoon image of "Pac-Man" with a big mouth open - this is the unified logo of Shaxian snack stores. How common is the
logo?
"There is this image on the signs of Shaxian snack stores around the world." Zhang Xin, deputy director of the Shaxian snack industry development management committee, told reporters.
This sentence is circulated among the people of Shaxian: "Flat meat is bricks, noodles are steel, and the skyscrapers in Shaxian have been built." Behind this is a huge industry with more than 300,000 employees and an annual turnover of 55 billion yuan. From the initial shoulder-to-carrying handheld and roadside stalls that were fighting alone to the unified logo store that now has a finger-shaking fist, Shaxian snacks have become a big industry for enriching the people. Mixed noodles, flat meat (wontons), etc. are not uncommon among local snacks. Why is the only brand in Shaxian so famous?
"In the 1990s, under the tide of reform and opening up, a large number of laborers flocked to coastal provinces such as Fujian and Guangdong. Shaxian snacks, with the slogan of "one yuan to enter the store, two yuan to eat full, and five yuan to eat well" are convenient, fast, and good, which is just in line with the needs of the times. This is the key to its success." Zhang Xin said.
"A small delicacy of rice, a big soul for snacks. The noodles are good for living the day and moon, and the snails are small to compete with the world." The sour, refreshing, fresh, spicy and hot Liuzhou snail noodles have been very well-known in recent years. Its popularity was driven by the east wind of the Internet economy and the "home economy".
" Liuzhou firmly grasps the wave of e-commerce development in snail noodle marketing, uses Internet thinking, and makes it a prominent and become a well-known Internet celebrity product." Ou Haoxuan, general manager of the Overseas Business Department of Guangxi Luobawang Brand Management Co., Ltd., said, "Liuzhou has always used steel, automobile and machinery manufacturing as its pillar industries and has a deep industrial gene. Since 2014, Liuzhou has applied industrial thinking to snail noodle production, which has bid farewell to workshop-style production and completed the turn from 'street snacks' to 'bag fast food'."
pre-packaged snail noodle has just emerged, and many businesses have entered this industry, but lacking the iconic brand. Luobawang was established in this context. "After several years of precipitation, Luobawang has become one of the leading enterprises in the industry, and the production plant has also expanded from the original 700 square meters to 7,000 square meters." Ou Haoxuan said, "After the first and second phases of Luobawang Luowei snail noodle industrial park are completed, the daily production capacity can reach 1.5 million bags."
A small bag of noodles hides the people's livelihood. "The raw materials of snail noodles include snails, bamboo shoots, beans, rice, fungus, and other ingredients. A bowl of noodles forms a chain of rural wealth, bringing great benefits for win-win results from all parties." said Tang Jiwen, president of Liuzhou Snail Noodle Association.
At present, there are 127 certified snail noodle manufacturers in Liuzhou, and more than 300 independent brands of enterprises. In 2021, Liuzhou's bagged snail noodles sales revenue reached 15.197 billion yuan, and the sales revenue of the entire snail noodles industry chain reached 50.16 billion yuan, directly creating more than 300,000 jobs.
uses standardization to empower the brand
on Tianxiang Road, Changdong Industrial Zone, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, Shaxian Snacks No. 136 Nanchang chain store opened not long ago. With uniform dress and neat tables and chairs, the "post-80s" store manager Yan Jiahe and the clerk welcomed the customers with a smile.
Yan Jiahe is from Yangbang Village, Xiamao Town, Shaxian District, Sanming City, Fujian Province. He has followed his family to run a snack business for many years. Get up at 6 a.m. and close the stall at 1 a.m. It is normal to open for nearly 20 hours a day.
In the 1990s, Shaxian snacks opened up the market with their economic benefits, but with the improvement of living standards and changes in the market environment, the "husband and wife store" model of fighting alone seemed a little overwhelmed. "The quality of the stores is uneven, the dishes cannot be guaranteed to be stable and updated, and some stores are also unpleasant. Although the overall size is not small, there is still a big gap compared with brand fast food in terms of quality, standards, R&D and innovation, and business management." Recalling the ups and downs of Shaxian snacks, Zhang Xin sighed.
"It is very hard for snack owners to open a store, but sometimes they can't figure out the way, don't understand the treatment of ingredients, and their business management is even more bleak." Yan Fahui, who has been engaged in the catering industry for more than 20 years, has a deep understanding.
If you don’t advance, you will retreat; if you don’t change, you will die. Shaxian snacks have reached a crossroads of development.
Transformation and upgrading from local government to practitioners has become a consensus. Opening a snack chain franchise store to promote the corporate operation, standardized implementation, and chain operation of Shaxian snacks. A branding transformation from food supply to menu matching to business management has opened up a new world for practitioners.
This year, Yan Jiahe approached the trend of snack transformation and upgrading and decided to join the Shaxian Snack Group chain store. "The upgraded and renovated stores are no longer the original 'old, broken, and small', and the ordering and service models have also changed a lot," he said.
Nowadays, the raw materials such as steamed willow leaf dumplings, semi-finished large steaks, condiments and other raw materials in Yanjiahe’s store are all delivered from the Shaxian headquarters, and the labor costs have also been reduced. "I earn more than 4,000 yuan a day, and I have plenty of time. I can spend more time with my family!" Yan Jiahe was very happy.
Yan Fahui founded Zuiyoucai Food Technology Co., Ltd. during exploration, focusing on the research and development and production of snack compound sauces, and also regularly provide free training for snack owners to promote the transformation and upgrading of Shaxian snacks. "Sauce is the soul of snacks. With a good supply of sauces, snack owners can be lightly equipped. Our goal is to enable operators to achieve a 'moving-in' type of business." Yan Fahui used an image metaphor.
The bagged snail noodles that have walked from the assembly line have industrial genes.
"The standard system for the entire industrial chain of Liuzhou snail noodles is gradually established, covering 564 standards in 6 subsystems of the entire industrial chain. The construction of standards in related industrial fields is constantly accelerating, realizing the standardization of breeding, processing, packaging, distribution, physical store construction and other links." Tang Jiwen said. Will
be automated and standardized, and will the snack flavor be lost?
"Inheriting food culture, there is no need to avoid 'standardization'. The two complement each other in the current environment. Only by setting standard requirements can practitioners continue to innovate on this basis and make snacks last forever." Zhang Xin said.
"Strict standardization and standardization of production have solved the problem that snail noodle manufacturers are fighting each other and inconsistent industry standards, ensure product quality and safety, and consolidated the foundation for the development of the snail noodle industry." Ou Haoxuan said, "Standardization is conducive to building a brand and bringing greater space to the golden signboard of snail noodle."
Yan Fahui said: "Zuiyoucai currently uses semi-automatic production methods, and some production links still retain manual operations, with the purpose of allowing the product to retain more ' pot gas '."
sends more foreign dining tables
2
While going to the country, local specialty snacks have also gone abroad and won the favor of a large number of consumers overseas.
, the first Shaxian snack shop in the United States, was opened in less than 3 hours and sold all the ingredients for one day. The first Shaxian snack shop in Tokyo, Japan, opened in 5 hours and sold more than 10,000 yuan in sales. A video introducing Shaxian noodles received 260,000 views and tens of thousands of likes on overseas websites...
Shaxian snacks are popular overseas and are praised as "very creative" and "unique". Flat meat is still a classic on the menu, but the taste is as local as the customs. In Spain, fried flat meat is very popular; in France, chicken flat meat is the hottest. Many Chinese people overseas sighed: "You can really eat this bowl of flat meat everywhere!"
snail noodles also have many "fans" overseas. According to statistics, Liuzhou snail noodles have been exported to more than 20 countries and regions around the world, with exports of US$8.24 million in 2021, an increase of 89.86% year-on-year.
"Luobawang has logged into 12 cross-border e-commerce platforms and has become a leading export company in the industry." Ou Haoxuan said. He shared a story with reporters: In April 2019, when Luobawang visited overseas businessmen, he found that some criminals had stolen their product names and similar packaging, selling counterfeit and shoddy products, misleading consumers. "I was very angry and reported it to the relevant departments immediately, but this also indirectly reflects the popularity of our products."
In recent years, snail noodles have frequently become "hot" products at the exhibition at the China- ASEAN Expo. On various short video platforms, there are more and more foreign "Internet celebrities" focusing on snail noodles. The popular national food overseas has not only become a window for spreading Chinese catering culture, but also builds a bridge for Sino-foreign cooperation.
Liuzhou City Vocational College Chinese students and international students from Laos and Indonesia formed an entrepreneurial team. On the basis of adhering to the authentic flavor, they developed snail noodles for ASEAN consumers. Sometimes they have to "swallow" 10 bowls of noodles a day. After several months of hard work, the snail noodles with Tom Yum Gong Soup were born. It has a faint coconut fragrance and is well received by the target consumer group.
"Snail noodles are very distinctive, with high taste restoration and high recognition in overseas markets, so the product competitiveness is strong. We have targeted changes in R&D strategies, transform production lines and supply chains according to the standards and market preferences of different countries and regions, and have improved the popularity and market share of Liuzhou snail noodles overseas." Ou Haoxuan said, "The feedback from the overseas market is very good. We are confident that we will expand the promotion of local specialty snacks in China and give more foreigners tables ."
Zhang Xin believes that thanks to the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" initiative and industrialization development, the space for national snacks to go overseas is very broad. It is inevitable to change the taste of snacks "going overseas", "but traditional craftsmanship cannot be lost, and the taste and shape of the dishes must be inherited and maintained."
"It is precisely because of inclusiveness and diversity that the rich appearance of Shaxian snacks today is achieved. This should also be the cultural basis for Shaxian snacks to go to the sea." Zhang Xin said that Shaxian snacks to go to the sea will also accelerate their pace. (Reporter Kang Pu)
Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition
