Original link: https://www.latepost.com/news/dj_detail?id=1636
Du Zhongbing, the founder of Banu Maodu Hot Pot, is one of the very few CEOs who are still willing to talk about their mistakes after a long period of time. Because he thinks his mission is to build a good brand, not just run a company.
Du Zhongbing, a native of Handan, Hebei, went to the south to do business in his early years, earning one million yuan by selling coke and pig iron. He had no shortage of wealth, but he thought he had not earned the respect that his heart wished. In the three industries of catering, clothing and electrical appliances that directly face customers, he chose “eating”. In 2001, Du Zhongbing stepped into the hot pot industry and founded the Banu Maodu hot pot brand. Relying on frequent challenges with Haidilao, repeatedly speaking out in the industry, and relying on consumers’ choices, the reputation of Banu Maodu Hot Pot has doubled, and at the same time it has been controversial.
The latest controversy is about 5 slices of potatoes.
In February this year, a customer took a picture of 5 slices of potatoes while eating at Banu Maodu hot pot and posted it on the Internet, claiming that Banu sells 18 yuan for 5 slices of “sky-high priced potatoes”. The day of the hot search was an ordinary working day. Du Zhongbing asked the store employees to check themselves. But in order to respond as soon as possible, Banu admitted his mistake, saying that the staff had mistakenly put the whole share in half. In fact, a serving of potatoes in Banu should be 240 grams, about 12 pieces, and the price is 22 yuan in first-tier cities, and 18 yuan in other cities.
Most of the controversy about Banu is related to its self-proclaimed “challenger to Haidilao”. It is not difficult to feel that a large part of it was initiated by Du Zhongbing. By criticizing Haidilao’s over-service and bluntly saying that the quality of its dishes is not as good as its own, Banu let itself be known by more people.
Banu has opened up a high-end hot pot market with higher food standards. Reflected in the price, it is more expensive. He told “LatePost” that last year, the average order price of Banu’s stores in second- and third-tier cities was about 140 yuan per person, and in Beijing this figure could reach 180 yuan per person. This is nearly 40 yuan more than the per capita unit price disclosed in Haidilao’s 2022 financial report.
Du Zhongbing is good at telling food stories. Starting from abandoning the old oil and caustic soda method (soaking seafood with industrial caustic soda and hydrogen peroxide to make it swollen and watery was a common practice in the hot pot industry back then), Du Zhongbing turned Banu Maodu hot pot into a rebellious industry challenger. I become a gourmet hunter and a paranoid food manager. For example, no one has ever boiled celery in a hot pot, so he found a farmer, harvested the ungrown celery seedlings, and turned them into boiled vegetables; he heard from experts that high-protein active gluten flour can improve the physical fitness of the Chinese people, so he asked someone Developed noodle skin made of gluten, and made it taste like meat; Haidilao said that fresh duck blood is prone to bacteria exceeding the standard, so they only sell blood, but Du Zhongbing wants to develop controllable fresh duck blood. , also applied for the national standard. If Du Zhongbing saw the bean sprouts brought by the waiter in the store with different heights, he would immediately call the quality control and teach him a lesson for half an hour. He even stipulated the number of chopped green onions in the mushroom soup – 15 is the best.
When Qing Yong, an investor of Tomato Capital, visited Banu in Zhengzhou in 2016, he was surprised by its good business conditions: the number of stores in Zhengzhou has exceeded that of Haidilao, and the turnover rate has exceeded 4%. He randomly asked a store manager of Banu Maodu Hot Pot Restaurant, who had a thorough understanding of the company’s strategy, dish characteristics, and store operating data. “This is rare in the service industry.” After research, he spent a lot of effort to persuade Du Zhongbing to accept the investment, even though the other party was not short of money.
Du Zhongbing requires his employees to bring out a new, “touching” hot pot dish every year. His requirements for food are unusual, not only “delicious” is enough – let’s talk about potatoes, Liu Jie, who is known as “Dr. Potatoes”, sent him more than a dozen samples of potatoes, some of which taste better than ordinary potatoes There are red potatoes with red skin and red core, and black potatoes with black skin and black core. The visual impact is in place, but Du Zhongbing still thinks it is almost interesting.
“I like the content, not the form,” he said.
Liu Jie finally found selenium-enriched potatoes for Du Zhongbing. A high-nutrition potato that is grown under specific soil conditions and enriched in selenium into the rhizome. In November 2021, 85 stores of Banu Maodu Hot Pot launched this potato dish and advertised, “Cooperated with Potato Doctor Liu Jie, the selenium content reaches 0.09mg/kg.”
There are at least a dozen dishes similar to the research and development process in Banu, and they are all displayed on the wall of the hot pot restaurant, introduced with exquisite pictures and texts, including rational nutritional parameters and emotional humanistic stories. In order to meet the daily supply, Banu has so far invested more than 300 million yuan in the supply chain, including 4 central kitchens and 1 base material processing plant. Du Zhongbing asked the central chef to go to the store to do daily distribution, and the ingredients that can be chilled and fresh should not be frozen.
He once said, “What Banu wants to do is a different kind of hot pot, a higher-end and higher-quality hot pot.” Out of brand protection, Banu hardly discounts. Its discounted packages on Dianping cross out the original price and put the same number on it.
Nearly a month after the “sky-high priced potatoes” incident fermented, on March 15, the consumer rights day, Banu officially removed selenium-enriched potatoes from its shelves. Because of this dish that was put on the shelves in November 2021, in the results of the latest batch of potatoes submitted for inspection on March 8 this year, the selenium content did not meet the standard.
However, Du Zhongbing thought about it and felt that it was wrong. He had to be in awe of the dissatisfied voices of consumers, but he was so nervous that it would not be right to completely deny it. “Am I a liar?” In April, he restocked potatoes. “The hot pot restaurant doesn’t sell potatoes. It’s outrageous.” The selenium element is difficult to meet the original standard, but he thinks the quality of the potatoes is good enough, so he changed the name of the place of origin and provided it to consumers.
Du Zhongbing, who is 50 years old this year, does not look much different from the photo he took when he was young. The photo of him holding a plate of Maodu with a smile on his face hangs at the door of every Banu Maodu Hot Pot, and sometimes appears On the huge advertisement on the facade of the mall. Du Zhongbing himself is the spokesperson of Banu. In his more than two decades in the restaurant industry, he has worked to create a brand that people talk about, but not in the negative way of late. He has lofty goals, and his idol is Jobs, who can achieve “the whole world follows him, instead of him compromising the world.”
During the interview, Du Zhongbing started his own explanation without asking any questions. He even welcomes sharp questions and does not take them as offenses. It is also because he is willing to communicate with his consumers, if that is what consumers care about. , Du Zhongbing must answer.
The following is an interview with Du Zhongbing from “LatePost”:
Potatoes
“Later”: What was your reaction when you saw the hot search?
Du Zhongbing: There are at least a dozen slices of potatoes in our 18 yuan. How come there are 5 slices of potatoes? The first reaction was planned. Of course, if you can’t grasp this thing, you should find it from the inside. But our store manager reported that there is no problem, and I can guarantee that there is no mistake.
“Later”: So you feel wronged?
Du Zhongbing: I think for an enterprise, how can this be called grievance? This itself is your job, and you should also accept this kind of supervision. You should face all kinds of problems and complicated things. Not to mention that we now have hundreds of stores, but when the first store opened, my partners and I said that we should not be afraid of too many things when we open for catering.
If you really magnify that grievance, then you will have grievances everywhere.
“Later”: What lessons have you learned from the Tudou incident?
Du Zhongbing: I was forced this time, and I felt my brain was wide open. Next, I’m going to serve the “sky-high priced potatoes” set meal, because customers are saying that we are expensive, so, staggering the peak meal time, and having a relatively cheap set meal when you are free, this is great, it’s the best of both worlds. When you order this set, you will get a potato, and maybe a few dishes-the sky-high price potato set.
I think a lot this time. Aren’t our potatoes thick slices now? I think we need to add another potato, thin slices, and blanch for 3 seconds.
Anyway, I have a lot of potatoes in my mind recently, so I have to thank the customer for this.
“Later”: Is it your decision to re-launch potato chips and change its name to Wulanchabu? Why?
Du Zhongbing: I was so nervous that I made everything one size fits all. I think this is abnormal. Our intention is to find better ingredients for customers, and this will never change. In our life, when we do this, there will always be various environmental changes, and potatoes are also a change. When the first batch of potatoes were put on the shelves in 2021, the selenium content reached 0.09 mg/kg. The supplier also confidently said that our products will be good. Suppliers submit inspections every year, and we also submit inspections ourselves. According to the national indicators for potato raw materials, all of them can be achieved, but we did not expect that the batch on March 8th, after we sent the processed ones, found that they could not meet the requirements. At this time, I was dumbfounded, and quickly dropped it. Am I a liar? Our legal judgment is to take it off the shelves. I don’t feel right, the customer wants to order a potato and there is no more.
The selenium content is not up to standard, but it is still a good potato, the price (re-launched) is still the same price, the potato is still the same potato, and the quality has not changed.
“Later”: Have you ever thought about the selenium content of potatoes?
Du Zhongbing: I still ignore the dining table thinking, and just think about things from the perspective of raw materials. The selenium content of the potatoes just dug out complies with the regulations, but I don’t think about the selenium content on the customer’s table, which leads to problems. Now we are strengthening the dining table thinking. The necessary parameter detection can not only be detected in the background raw materials, but should be turned into the finished product detection in the store, which has been done now.
“Later”: How was the price of selenium-enriched potatoes determined in the first place?
Du Zhongbing: According to the cost, we combined the past pricing. The original potatoes cost about 14 yuan in Zhengzhou. After replacing them with selenium-enriched potatoes, the cost is higher.
“Later”: Why is the hairy belly of papain technology so expensive?
Du Zhongbing: Maodu really became popular after 2013. We sold Maodu for more than ten years before it became popular. Now the cost price has roughly doubled. After this dish became popular, the number of clicks also increased. Its proportion in cattle is very small. In fact, as long as the papain technology is used, the cost will not be much cheaper than that of Banu, which is the case in the whole industry.
“Later”: Now there are other hot pot restaurants that use papain technology. Where are the barriers in your supply chain?
Du Zhongbing: The difficulty is not the high cost, but the difficulty of management. The first time our noodles arrived in the store, they got moldy and were thrown away before they were sold. The same is true of the small parsley we sell. At the beginning, they were of different lengths and thicknesses, and they were all eaten by our partners and workers. This ability is accumulated over the years. Your delivery habits and delivery capabilities support your individual needs.
“Later”: What is the average order price of Banu now?
Du Zhongbing: It’s 180 yuan in Beijing, and the overall price is about 140 yuan per person.
“Later”: How many hot pot dishes are left that can be upgraded? After all, today has been rolled on the potatoes.
Du Zhongbing: You can’t take the development of new products as your goal. It doesn’t mean that how many new products you develop is OK. This is a wrong orientation.
“Later”: Is there a KPI for R&D?
Du Zhongbing: Our KPI is to have several new products that impress people a year. Can achieve particularly ideal, two. Not bad, at least six of them. The new one is the last one every month, that is, twelve.
“Later”: Are potatoes a new product that can impress people? How did you develop it?
Du Zhongbing: The potatoes were served in the past, and they were counted in that year. Potatoes are a new addition to my charge.
A few years ago, Liu Jie, a potato doctor, we took a class on the agricultural sector, and found that he was a potato maker. After studying potatoes for nearly 20 years, I found that he is indeed a talent. Later, he brought all the samples of his potatoes, black-core potatoes, red-core potatoes, this potato and that potato, in the end I thought it was nothing. We actually sold red-core potatoes a long time ago, which doesn’t make much sense. What does light change into a color? I like the content, not the form.
It also has a potato that is delicious, but that potato has nothing to say, it’s just that the weather (in the place of origin) is relatively dry, what’s wrong with the soil, the potatoes in this place are relatively glutinous, but if it’s delicious, I don’t know what to do Communicate (with customers).
“Later”: Have you ever tried a product that you thought would sell better, but people didn’t like it that much?
Du Zhongbing: The sales volume of fresh mustard in Fuling is not satisfactory. I think that after this dish is posted, the click-through rate will be at least 10 to 20 points, and I heard that it is only a single digit. Maybe it’s still a matter of the name, why do you have mustard mustard in the hot pot—the name must be changed, “Fuling mustard mustard and fresh radish”? This is roughly what it means.
And our spicy tomato base. I think this thing is very good, pepper, tomato, two very good things, together, hot and sour, and it is the sourness of tomato itself. What a beautiful thing, healthy and delicious, and it turned out to be no hits. Has been taken down.
It is very painful to choose what dishes to serve, how many products to serve, how many pots to serve, and whether many good things will be served. These things are still quite tangled, how delicious it is.
The value of a hot pot
“Later”: How did you develop your aesthetic appreciation for food step by step?
Du Zhongbing: There is still the talent part. When several of our catering bosses chatted together, some bosses admitted that they couldn’t do it. I really can’t eat, who can? Fortunately, no one in Lao Du’s circle said that I don’t know how to eat.
“Later”: What do you think is the standard of good food?
Du Zhongbing: Good things are good to see, taste good, taste good, and have a good aftertaste. Another good is the good of rationality. Let me tell you how good this food is and how good it is for the human body. For example, our rolled noodles are not carbohydrates in the traditional sense. Its calories are much lower than carbohydrates, because it is gluten protein extracted from flour after all. You have no burden in your heart, you dare to eat, its taste is indeed unique, gluten and tasty, especially suitable for hot pot.
“Later”: Do you go to the kitchen by yourself? Are you a good cook yourself?
Du Zhongbing: Cooking is one of my hobbies. I know how to make any ingredients, this is a talent, and I have never learned it. And I especially hope that the things I make are absolutely unique, not just making something ordinary. The dishes made by my hands can be seen as my characteristics.
“Later”: Why didn’t you open a Chinese restaurant back then, but a hot pot restaurant?
Du Zhongbing: One is that people around me like to eat hot pot. Another thing is hot pot. I found that it is really addictive, and as long as people are infected, they can’t live without it. He will eat it repeatedly and frequently, so I also see that it is something that can be done, and it can be done well. big. At that time, I found that some hot pot dishes were served with mud on the table, but they were still very popular.
I have the same motivation to run a hotpot restaurant as I cook in the kitchen. I hope that what I make can be praised by my friends. Because I have money and have not been recognized, I think I have that kind of thought. You are just rich, you are an upstart, you just know how to make money, but what else do you do? So when I opened a hot pot restaurant, they were surprised and thought that you are of a high level, so my enjoyment is here.
I used to be in a high-end business on the surface, and everywhere I went, I was always surrounded by people, like a big boss, but I was inferior in my heart. I made money by begging for help and accompanying people to eat every day, but your heart is Nothing, to put it bluntly, has no value in itself. Therefore, at that time, it was very urgent to change and find something that could express myself and reflect my value.
“Later”: You have been in the catering industry for more than 20 years now, have you obtained the dignity you want?
Du Zhongbing: Later, there was no such need, and my face was on the ground.
For example, in the earliest days, we wanted to use fresh products to replace the yellow throat made by the caustic-soda method. At that time, they were all dry products, and there was no fresh product in the market. We went to the meat joint factory, and they paid tens of thousands of catties a day. If it costs dozens of catties, can people care about you? After repeated begging, people finally agree, and finally you have to give money, and you don’t know where to give the money.
Today I told catering entrepreneurs, when you came out to do this, the people in front of you did a good job, what did you change? Banu’s experience is that we changed others when we came out, we should have a reason to exist, and the past should be eliminated. This is what we are very confident in.
“Later”: You have a point of view that over-service is wrong. Is this for Haidilao?
Du Zhongbing: If you start a catering business without starting from the product, it is wrong. There is no problem with the service itself, but the separation of the service from the product is a problem.
I think that the two companies in the world that have the most transparent services, the first company is Amway, and the second is Apple. On the contrary, we now regard those services that are not services as services, thinking hard to pay out of your pocket to end, with a good mood and a good state. If this is a service, is there any reason?
“Later”: I recently went to a stewed goose in an iron pot, and the clerk sang and danced.
Du Zhongbing: Seven or eight years ago, dancing became popular. This is a very interesting topic, for example, are you sure the food on this table is delicious? (points to the bread on the table)
“Later”: It can be speculated that they are probably delicious, after all, they are carefully prepared by your employees.
Du Zhongbing: You can only speculate, you don’t even know if it’s really delicious or not. If I bypass the food, are you sure I’ll be there next time? So Haidilao is desperately trying to train everyone to be like this. At least I don’t think you will trust their products, and you still don’t feel at ease, because people subconsciously think that you are dancing and doing something, and the products must not be excellent. This is human nature.
Banu’s slogan for pulling noodles is “good noodles without dancing, natural zero additives”, why are you talking about this thing? It’s not that Haidilao has met me, or that I have met Haidilao.
“Later”: Does noodle dancing itself disrespect food?
Du Zhongbing: No, I don’t care about the form. If it is purely a dance mask, it will bring happiness to everyone, there is no problem, but I want to ask, what is the dance mask? The dance is an additive, and the dance is a gluten enhancer. Have you seen any wheat that can be pulled to this level (Du Zhongbing’s hand gestures to draw a length)?
“Later”: Do you agree that in Haidilao’s price range, they have already provided good products?
Du Zhongbing: It’s hard to say, only customers can answer.
“Later”: In this industry, what do you think is common sense, but what is common sense that others don’t?
Du Zhongbing: I think the starting point of everything should come from product thinking. I extremely think that as small as a person, an individual, as large as an enterprise, or an organization, it must have its distinctive product characteristics. When it comes to a profession, what are your characteristics? To put it bluntly, it is what your work is and what you can produce. This is also product thinking.
When everything starts from the product, the logic of all decision-making and organization becomes very simple. When a person can start from the product, the planning of life will also become simple.
“My foot is always on the brake”
“Later”: It is said that when you cleared the dining table back then, you found a pile of Moutai covers, which confirmed that Banu’s customers were rich. Can you see some new rules in Banu’s ordering rules today?
Du Zhongbing: Our “half portion” order rate is higher than in the past, which I am particularly happy about. I think customers are out of economy. You may mistakenly think that it is a decline in consumption. No, I think society is progressing and the level of civilization is gradually improving.
“Later”: In recent years, high-end dining and cheap dining are better than 100-150 yuan restaurants. What is Banu’s positioning?
Du Zhongbing: Banu is really not in the middle. If you look at the unit price per customer, the entire catering industry is in the middle, but Banu is the highest in spicy hot pot. The consumption power of most of our customers is still very strong. The quality of the dishes cannot be lowered, the cost cannot be lowered, and the price cannot be lowered. I will remind customers to order half a portion more.
“Later”: When McDonald’s entered China, it was a high-end restaurant, but they haven’t raised their prices for decades, and today they are already a very cheap thing, because the times are changing, but they have not changed. How will Banu control prices in the future, and even lower prices?
Du Zhongbing: As the supply chain changes, it will change your entire cost structure. It is still difficult to think about the structure of the changes in China’s overall food chain in the future. It can only be said that in the current state, I still hope that our value of products cannot be changed. McDonald’s has grown in size, and I will not lose my original intention for the sake of being big.
“Later”: Has there been any cash flow problem in the past three years?
Du Zhongbing: Basically none. There have been psychological pressures, no practical difficulties. I was more restrained before, so not all the money we earned went to open a store. The supply chain is also money, which can be mortgaged immediately.
My thinking is still very traditional. Next to Zhengzhou, there is a Kangwan million manor, which is the business culture of Henan. There is a plaque in his house, which is said to be a family heirloom, with two characters written on it, “Liu Yu”.
“Later”: What is your current view on financing in the catering industry? Has there been any change?
Du Zhongbing: You have to have an external shareholder. The psychology of external consulting companies and external shareholders is different. External shareholders are real. When they have opinions on you, they really want to tell you with a straight face. Consulting firms make your money. Money is not the most important thing.
“Later”: What does it mean for Banu to go public?
Du Zhongbing: My partner has been with you for several years, but you don’t know how much the stock you hold is worth. Stocks have a socially fair value. He follows you to do this business, and he is affirmed in stages. Listing is an internal demand, allowing partners to have a channel to realize.
“Later”: What is the next store opening plan?
Du Zhongbing: There is no specific goal. I always focus on word-of-mouth and the quality of the development. There will be a budget, but my foot is forever on the brake.
“Later”: Under what circumstances would you choose to step on the “brake”?
Du Zhongbing: The overall ability of the employees supports all the standards in your store. For example, I have to check whether there is any problem with your stool. If there is a problem with your stool, it means that there is a problem with the line of your project. You can’t say that I operate to make up for it. We must use the short board standard of wooden barrels to measure whether we can do (this store).
In my memory, only one store was closed, and the others were considered adjustments. That company really doesn’t make money, so it can’t be closed. The rest of the closed stores are due to aging, that place is not suitable for opening, and moved to the nearby shopping mall.
There is only one store, and there is a problem with the location-blame me. When I was in Changzhou at the earliest, I had a deep connection with Changzhou South Street, where every inch of land is expensive and the flow of people is very large. I probably left Changzhou in 2000, and returned to Changzhou to open a store after more than ten years. I still have the complex of South Street, so I opened a store there. But this street is not what it used to be.
“Later”: How did Banu open a store to attract new customers?
Du Zhongbing: I don’t quite agree with using the term recruiting to describe our marketing. The catering industry is called new store marketing, which is originally a short-term behavior. Can we think about it in reverse, when your store is not open, is there anyone waiting to eat there? If you don’t have this, don’t open a store.
“Later”: China’s economy is going through a stable or even downward cycle. What preparations have you made for this?
Du Zhongbing: In the short term, we are not on such a large scale now, and I don’t think we will be affected. If we really start from the brand point of view, what Banu should look like in the market cannot be changed arbitrarily, it must have its place where it should exist.
“Later”: Have you considered joining? Do you think HEYTEA made the right or wrong decision to join the franchise?
Du Zhongbing: The complexity of our business model requires strong execution and strong standards. HEYTEA is not, the standard of HEYTEA is very easy to control.
tackle the elephant in front of you
“Later”: As a brand, what is the gap between Banu and your goal at this stage?
Du Zhongbing: The gap is still quite large. I achieved 80 points, assuming that customers only know 20 or 30 points at most.
“Later”: How to solve this gap? The term “productism” is more like a term for the industry than a way of communicating with consumers.
Du Zhongbing: In 2021, the 20th anniversary of Banu, I have been thinking about this question for basically a year. What should the Banu brand offer customers in the next ten or twenty years. In the past, we wanted to be prosperous, get together, have strength, convey an upward spirit, and our productism. This brand is actually quite messy.
Thinking about dreams at night, I suddenly realized that customers just think that your food is good, what is behind it? I have always followed one thing: health. But these two words are too general. Suddenly, our graphic designer wrote “Naturally Delicious” on a bag, which touched me. This is the brand core of Banu.
The core is the core, and the reason for consumption is the reason for consumption. After the two things run through, your brand will be very powerful. All of a sudden, I figured it out. I knew how to decorate next. I knew what my napkins should look like, what my utensils should look like, and what my staff’s clothes should look like.
“Later”: I didn’t find a consulting company, so I thought about it alone?
Du Zhongbing: No. Think hard.
“Later”: When will “Pengci Haidilao” stop? Your current advertising slogan is still the phrase “not overserved”, which is displayed on the front of every store.
Du Zhongbing: Many people will link this matter to “self-confidence”, and if they are not confident enough, they will contact and touch others. But I have to express my true thoughts. I respect the market, I respect customers, if I want to respect myself, I will not do it.
When I do that, I actually feel uncomfortable. Customers are like this, and customers will always associate your home with Haidilao. If I were a little more selfish, wouldn’t I just open a hot pot restaurant to make money? Marketing itself is also a customer demand. If you tell the whole story and tell it in place, it is also a customer demand.
Our first store in Zhengzhou is on Jingqi Road, and Haidilao’s first store in Zhengzhou is on Jingba Road. My biggest feeling at that time was that after three years of operation, the unit price per customer was not high, the income was not high, and the salaries of partners were not high.
I asked myself, are you willing to do this? I am the boss. I am their boss, and I have the responsibility to lead my team to realize and solve the elephant in front of us. Wherever Haidilao opened its stores back then, all the hot pot restaurants had to be closed down, and I was considered one of the lucky ones to survive. Not only at the market level, even when I challenged Haidilao, our partners were very happy, you can understand.
“Later”: Do you understand Haidilao’s attitude towards Banu doing this?
Du Zhongbing: They actually hate what Banu did. I also sent them a message: As entrepreneurs, we should put aside our personal feelings. Is there any harm to the industry if we do so. I think the best thing about the catering industry is that the competition is so fierce, and everyone can sit at the same table to eat. It may be because this industry is too difficult, and everyone needs to learn.
“Later”: If you could ask Zhang Yong of Haidilao a question, what would you ask?
Du Zhongbing: Forget it, let’s not ask. He won’t answer any questions directly, he must be bypassing me.
“Later”: Back then, Banu learned from Haidilao. Who is Banu studying today?
Du Zhongbing: When there was no epidemic, we planned to go to Japan every year to study at the director level, learn the organization, standards, learn the brand and learn from the Americans, learn from the skills of the barbarians to control the barbarians, how do they use hamburgers, cola, and coffee to educate Ours, we should educate them on how to use Maodu hotpot. Apple is a very typical example, including Starbucks, and we can see the founder alive, see his behavior and statements. The most powerful thing about Jobs is to let the whole world follow him, rather than him compromising the whole world. Including us internally, I also have this kind of pressure. Often everyone thinks that your own standards are too high, and your request is too evil.
“Later”: You are 50 years old this year, what is your next goal in life?
Du Zhongbing: The first goal, let alone the others, if I live past the age of 56, I will celebrate for myself. Jobs had a great influence on me. I know how hard the road to pursuing products is, and I am very tired and exhausted. The body is a hard condition.
“Later”: What is the most important thing in life for you?
Du Zhongbing: From my personal point of view, I want to be an influential brand in this society. When it comes to it, people recognize and respect it from the bottom of their hearts. This is what I am most willing to devote myself to.
“Later”: Your son is also making a string of hot pot. Is there any difference in your eyes when starting a business in their generation?
Du Zhongbing: I think the difference between one generation and another is not that big in essence. In fact, our post-70s are also changing, although deep down we worry that we have no money and are poor.
“Later”: Do you think there are any unmet needs of Chinese people in food?
Du Zhongbing: I think the charm of Chinese food is very misleading at this stage. The ability of China’s supply chain, plus culinary skills, can be comprehensively displayed and standardized, which is not enough, and there is still a lot of room for it. We go to eat at Xinrongji, which is still very expensive today. Will more people be able to afford this standard in the future?
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