He turned the tide, overcame all difficulties and founded the civilian tea brand Mi Xue Bing Cheng. Under his leadership, Mixue Ice City now has more than 10000 stores worldwide, covering more than 30 cities in China alone. According to relevant media reports, the market financing valuation reached 20 billion yuan.
In this issue, Ziya Tongqu merchants will introduce to you the story of how Zhang Hongchao, who was born in an ordinary family, developed a local cold drink shop from grassroots to become the darling of capital and realized the counterattack of life.
1977, Zhang Hongchao was born in an ordinary family in Shangqiu, Henan. After graduating from junior high school, in order to make a living, Zhang Hongchao began to drop out of school and do some small business with his grandfather.
In order to make money, he raised rabbits and pigeons and worked as a motorcycle repair student. Zhang Hongchao, who came out to work early, was proficient in the world since he was a child, and learned some business skills from dealing with people, which laid the foundation for his later entrepreneurship.
1996, 19-year-old Zhang Hongchao tried to be a salesman, but he repeatedly hit a wall when he went to Zhengzhou for an interview, and was rejected by many employers on the grounds of low academic qualifications and lack of experience.
This made Zhang Hongchao realize that education is also very important if he wants to have a better development, so he made up his mind to be admitted to the public relations and secretarial major of adult education in henan university of economics and law. In the next few years, I will work part-time while going to school.
In the process of working, Zhang Hongchao found a shaved ice shop that he had never seen before. This kind of shop is very common in my hometown. In summer, slice large chunks of ice, pour syrup on them, and add some snacks such as hawthorn strips, raisins and broken flowers.
According to the needs of customers, different fruits can be added to make different flavors, which are very popular among local people. This gave Zhang Hongchao the idea of opening a shaved ice shop in Zhengzhou, so he started.
Zhang Hongchao has always been a very mobile person. During his graduation internship, he often went to the shaved ice shop in Shangqiu, his hometown to observe and study, and worked as a waiter in the shop for free, just to learn professional formula and production technology.
After graduation, Zhang Hongchao intends to open a shop, but with experience, there is no initial capital.
Grandma learned that in order to support her grandchildren, she had saved 3000 yuan for Zhang Hongchao for many years.
In this way, he went to Zhengzhou alone to start a business. After returning to Zhengzhou, Zhang Hongchao opened a shaved ice shop in front of the rental house in the village, named "Cold Wave shaved ice".
This is the predecessor of Honey Snow Ice City. The equipment in the store is simple, only a second-hand freezer worth 800 yuan, two folding tables and several benches.
In order to save costs, he assembled a small ceiling fan and a speaker used to attract business, as well as an ice shaver, bought a cutter head, a turntable and a motor and assembled it himself.
Later, recalling this period of time, Zhang Hongchao said that although it seems very hard now and everything needs to be done by himself, it was not hard at that time, but it was full of longing and hope for the future.
Because the shaved ice shop has a small area and few customers, it can only earn a little money. In more than a year, Zhang Hongchao opened three stores.
The first one opened in a village in the city. Although there is a large flow of people, not many people will buy it often because of their limited spending power.
Later, I changed my shop and closed the second shop soon after I built the road. The third store is run in partnership with a friend, who is responsible for the finance of the sales partner.
Although the business is booming, the partners are unwilling to share the money because of the bad business, and the contradiction is getting bigger and bigger. Finally, the two sides parted ways.
Despite many failures, this has not shaken Zhang Hongchao's determination to continue to develop in the field of tea. Instead, he saw the great potential of this market. And the difficulties you encounter can be solved.
1999, another cold drink shop was opened in Zhang Hongchao, and its name was changed to "Honey Snow Ice City".
Snowflake-shaped broken ice is covered with sweet jam, which tastes like sweet snow. I hope customers can enjoy happiness, so I named it Honey Snow Ice City.
This time, I opened a shop in the university town, with an accurate audience and high popularity among students. Business is booming, but the good times are not long, and difficulties follow.
This time, Zhang Hongchao competed with the demolition team and demolished four stores in four years. Every time he looks at the bricks that have been torn down all over the floor, as well as all kinds of IOUs from relatives and friends.
Want to cry, a series of blows did not let Zhang Hongchao give up. He became more depressed and brave, saying that he would either climb over or turn over in the face of difficulties.
In these four years, Zhang Hongchao has been looking for the next store. Before the demolition team finished, the next store had to start planning.
Try to get initial results.
In August 2003, many things happened. Zhang Hongchao found an abandoned aluminum factory for rent. The location is good and the quality is good, but it has been abandoned for a long time and the house is old.
Zhang Hongchao immediately decided that it was here, and then began to plan decoration, pricing and sales. Zhang Hongchao borrowed100000 yuan and rented 1500 square meters in one breath.
Construction started, determined to give consideration to home cooking except cold drinks. 1500 square meters can accommodate more than 200 people, with cheap goods and experienced sales.
Once the store was opened, the business was booming. The Mi Xue Ice City team finally ended its guerrilla life with the demolition captain for four years, and Zhang Hongchao could finally relax.
During this time, high-intensity work and nervous spirit made him faint at home twice because of overwork.
With the stability of Honey Snow Ice City, Zhang Hongchao began to learn from the operating experience of major outstanding enterprises, and constantly learned about the market environment and customer needs.
Positioning the products in the general public, the pricing is also in line with the consumption level of ordinary people, and the cost is reduced under the condition of excellent quality.
With this step-by-step planning, Zhang Hongchao has established the second and third stores, and more and more stores have started to build.
In 2006, Zhang Hongchao focused on the research and development of new products, and a rainbow hat ice cream caused a sensation.
This is an ice cream cone imported from Japan. The ice cream above is cold and delicious, and the ice cream cone below is crisp and crisp, which complement each other.
Torch ice cream, which used to cost 50 cents, can now be sold in 20 yuan. He smells business opportunities, why not develop his own formula?
So he immediately bought a second-hand soft ice cream machine, found a familiar supplier of egg cones, paid a high price for the formula and finally made it.
This autumn, this torch ice cream was sold in Mi Xue Ice City, the price was 2 yuan, and a coupon of 1 yuan was given. The high cost performance makes ice cream in short supply.
Many customers go to Michelle Ice City just to eat ice cream. Later, Zhang Hongchao opened a special ice cream branch, constantly optimizing the technology, and the unit cost of ice cream was controlled within one yuan.
In 2008, due to family management, the company had serious differences. Zhang Hongchao introduced professional managers, reformed company management and split team establishment. According to the business lines, the general manager has five functional departments: investment promotion, operation, planning, finance and distribution.
Let Honey Snow Ice City develop with modern management mode, adapt to the trend of the new era, clarify the corporate culture and development route, and inject new blood into the enterprise.
In 20 14, the total number of stores in Mixue Ice City exceeded 1000, and the company's performance soared dozens of times in several years.
Today, the number of global stores in Mixue Ice City has exceeded 10000, covering more than 30 cities in China alone, making it a leader in the field of tea drinking.
Many people think that Zhang Hongchao is a grassroots counterattack. Actually, it doesn't matter what his original background is. The road ahead is ever changing. Many people have many ideas, but few people put them into action.
Like Zhang Hongchao, we should take the first step bravely and don't give up easily when encountering difficulties. The road to success must be full of difficulties and obstacles.
From the success of Zhang Hongchao, we can see that apart from courage, we have the ability of continuous innovation, and we can overcome all kinds of obstacles from self-study to entrepreneurship. All this stems from his deep desire for knowledge and skills.
End—
Xiaomiao