Farm houses: Selling vegetables to the rich

This is the sixth year of the farm of the organic agricultural base in Dorian. In the first three years, the farm in Nanhui, located in the outskirts of Shanghai, was zero income for the organic agricultural conversion period. Founder Zhang Tonggui embarrassed to say to do agriculture, said he was in the "Golden Field Investment Co., Ltd." investment project; four years, his first batch of organic vegetables harvest, the vegetable seller gave only a few cents a catty price, In a rage he decided not to sell any more, and to smash it all up as green manure. But this seemingly confused time did not hinder the benefit of the farm to the real profitability of the rapid road ahead; in the year five, Zhang Tonggui quickly established a member direct sales model, to get the total amount of Tsing venture investment of 70 million yuan, the number of members soared and achieve more than tens of thousands of yuan net profit; In the year Six, He is ready to take the base of Chongming Island and Beijing Pinggu District and continue to government the land.

When entrepreneurs in organic farming are trapped in a base that is hard to find, with very little capacity and few members to stop, the 1750 MU base and 5,000 members of the farm have almost created myths. More importantly, in the team that overcame the difficulties of organic agriculture, only one of the Zhang Tonggui has a resume with agriculture, and general manager Guo and Sales director Mao Liang are his younger brother at Ceibs International Business School. What kind of entrepreneurial secret does this outsider-born team have?

Layman Combination

In the Dorian Farm, there is a wide range of fields and greenhouses for growing crops, the office area is small, with a restaurant, accommodation, a Canadian-style reception area, and an exhibition hall for planting some plants that are strict in humidity and temperature, usually difficult to see, including intelligent sprinkler irrigation and temperature control systems. Now Zhang Tonggui bubble in the farm time is not much, in the cultivation of almost like a Shang, occasionally came to the farm, that is, in the meeting area to discuss cooperation, financing, occasionally in the gap came to the showroom, to see the spring vegetable growing.

Zhang Tonggui graduated from the "Sichuan Agricultural University", after having been engaged in mineral resources, warehousing, logistics and catering, but did not dabble in agriculture before entering Ceibs. If no one is reminded, the team will hardly be able to figure out that they are "unprofessional". To this, Guo find it very interesting, "we are a bunch of laymen doing agriculture." and Zhang Tonggui concluded that "doing well in agriculture is not a task for farmers, but entrepreneurs, or capitalists." ”

Borrow a word, "thinking determines the way out." From the point of view, Zhang Tonggui never follow the traditional way of farming. In June 2010, the multi-profit farm had just passed the organic conversion period, Zhang Tonggui intends to introduce Guo and Mao Liang, at this time the farm looks lush, in fact, the sales link neither experience nor too much planning, in the profit model is still a semi-finished, but intuitively, he would rather find a few have never planted vegetables, bought vegetables MBA alumni together to start a business.

And after two of his younger brother quickly was moved by his agricultural dream, Zhang Tonggui appointed Guo from the consumer electronics industry to be responsible for planting and selling, and the Mao Liang of the communications industry was responsible for the market and sales. For more than half a year at the ranch, they resorted to a number of tricks that did not seem to have much to do with farming. For example, Zhang Tonggui intuition that the multi-profit farm can not be a supermarket for sales channels, but the choice of the Membership System direct marketing, they decisively will be the gift of the model transplant, the use of business-to-business sales linkage, in a short period of time to support the sales; After setting up high-end positioning, Mao Liang, who is good at PR campaign marketing, began to find luxury joint activities, after working with Ferrari and Mercedes, the plan is to find a Porsche this year, "look at Zhang's total change of car, think about who to work with," which is very important for Dolly's farm to find the people who can pay for organic agriculture.

Maybe it's just lucky. Amateur start, good at beat, the business of the farm from the base of agriculture began, but at the right time to graft a lot of gift marketing models and fast-moving consumer goods business.

A very heavy business model

In 2005, Zhang Tonggui a team leader at Ceibs International Business School, and as a graduate assignment, their business plan for the development of organic agriculture was first submitted. At that time, Zhang Tonggui with a number of industry investment accumulated capital strength, but he has studied the agricultural plant often miss, in line with the market-oriented thinking, taking into account the Chinese eat hundred dishes, to face a variety of food safety problems, it is recognized that organic agriculture is the future trend.

In a land tender meeting, his business plan also successfully touched the Shanghai municipal government, easy to get Nanhui a piece of 1750 acres of land. This brings Zhang Tonggui pressure, because the base needs to carry out soil transformation and construction planning. The former is trapped in the three-year conversion period of organic agriculture, the latter is not only a farm owner to show the performance of personal style, or business success is an important part of the car will take a few hours to complete the full pocket of the land, the farm in the end is to become what kind of cultivation, will affect the entire business model.

The location of Zhang Tonggui Farm is urban agriculture, with the middle and high-end crowd in the city as the target customers for the production and marketing of organic vegetables. The Farm experience agriculture was part of his plan, so the plan included a Japanese courtyard-style showroom, a German-style container hotel, and a blend of wind, geothermal and state-of-the-art ideas for solar energy. As for the improvement of soil and water quality, as the water system of the original land was not complete, they dug up nearly 20 metres wide to separate the dolly farm from the surrounding land, and used water pumps as the independent drainage systems to irrigate the houses and then to take the dropper and sprinkler irrigation. This makes Dolly farm almost into a cluster, becoming like a small ecological group, because the river itself form a belt, soil organic matter to some extent inhibit microorganisms, the land of fewer eggs can easily weed.

"The area of the Dorian Farm is amazing. "In the city of Daxing District in Beijing, stay private green Garden Vegetable Co., Ltd. is a village as a unit of organic agricultural enterprises, product sales channels mainly for boutique supermarkets, general manager Li has been concerned about the development of other organic agricultural enterprises, although the Government to promote the process of green agriculture has never stopped, but most of the hundreds of Mu as a unit, The large area of Dolly's farm and 5,000 members made him very envious, "organic agricultural government rent, facilities investment, labor, means of production, certification fees, facilities maintenance, spending money everywhere." But these are not finished, this piece of land is the key: the biological fertilizer effect of organic agriculture is much worse than ordinary fertilizer, the harvest, easy to make entrepreneurs a sense of frustration. ”

Facing the thorny problem of capacity, Zhang Tonggui began to pull "foreign aid". He set up a four-part talent pool: Please go to Shanghai Jiaotong University, Nanjing Agricultural University, Taiwan's organic planting and bio-fertilizer experts as the Advisory Group, the Chinese People's college senior expert Professor Wen also deliberately brought a project team, lived in the farm for one months to visit and guide The company is responsible for the production of staff from the Shanghai Jiaotong University, Nanjing Agricultural College and other agriculture institutions of undergraduate and graduate students, but also deliberately set up to introduce new varieties and how to use Low-carbon way to grow the Department of Research and Development.

Grass-roots farmers are the most Zhang Tonggui to worry about, the farmers in the suburbs are mostly unwilling to continue farming, and finally he gave a salary of about 2000 yuan. If the organic agricultural level, a farmer is responsible for more than 3 acres of land area, it is difficult to ensure quality, while the more than the time of the 200 people, more time to add temporary workers more than 400 people, the most powerful workers, a person on average down species 1.5~2 acres.

Together with the previous invitation to the three-year conversion period to increase organic matter into the soil mechanism, the removal of pesticides, chemical residue of Taiwan experts, formed an expert advisory services, executive management of total production, middle-level staff management farmers and pest control, grass-roots farmers to do planting situation. And due diligence advisers will continue to make recommendations on land and water improvement.

Back and forth into more than 200 million, income is almost zero situation is not generally acceptable to entrepreneurs, Zhang Tonggui also believe that they are strong enough, did not invest in money when the change of business model. Survived the conversion period, Zhang Tonggui began to recruit, Guo, Mao Liang and other colleagues are after visiting the farm is decided to join. Mao Liang that the model of the multi-profit farm seems to be a bit like the farm music, "but not the music, but the agricultural, although High-tech content, but can see the founder do not want to make too commercial, or around the main planting." ”

Guo even feel that at this time to join a lot of benefits farm quite "take advantage of", "the business enlarged look, do organic food important barrier Zhang has all passed, our arrival is like in his set up on the platform to continue to act in an opera." Do organic agriculture can not use the Internet thinking, this is not the idea of a rapid realization can win the business, its threshold in front of the first is the scale, the second is the early capital investment, the third is the time cost. This business model, even if completely told who, the other side is not necessarily able to do. ”

How to solve the problem of "can't sell out"?

Vegetables is actually a "industrialized" work, a crop of vegetables from the year to the end of the harvest, see vegetables ready to go, Zhang Tonggui products will be sold to where there is no specific plan. But Zhang Tonggui also admits that the consumer of organic farming is still a high-end home. Although the target population of the multi-profit farm is to spend about 10000 yuan a year on the vegetable purchase, the 4,000-odd membership card is a week to distribute vegetables once, but take out thousands of yuan to order dishes, for many people still some psychological difficulties.

"In general, the fundamental problem with organic farming is three words: it won't sell." "The high price of organic products is a source of persecution," Li said. "The main channels of conventional vegetables are supermarkets, vegetable farms and so on, the high cost of organic vegetables, expensive, if you let the supermarket giant in the product to pick up a layer of skin, want to sell it is not easy." This makes Zhang Tonggui very resolute, never choose to cooperate with the supermarket.

Zhang Tonggui First will complete the organic improvement of 306 mu of land vegetables are sent to relatives and friends to eat, holding "good wine is not afraid of alley deep" idea, he vaguely felt that direct marketing is a market, time urged him to make a choice as soon as possible.

The good news is that the trio of "selling vegetables" has a congenital advantage. Graduating from Ceibs, they themselves took enough high-end resources to quickly pick up areas of resources such as banks, securities, high-end training institutions and medical institutions, starting with gift-buying. At this time, the big business in Shanghai is going to give up the tacky swallow fin, choose healthier, personalized gifts. At the end of July to join the Guo Farm soon found that on the eve of the Mid-Autumn festival, from 200 yuan to 500 yuan of organic vegetables gift box coupons trend is quite good, it seems this part of the crowd is willing to buy.

At the same time as the first round of group buying, Mao Liang began to build a team that tracked the guests who exchanged gifts coupons. After a round of phone calls, he found that about 8% percentage of customers would then opt to become a member of a membership card, and some also directly brought in other companies as new group-buying customers. After the sale of the multi-profit farm into Business-to-business and the stage of mutual transformation, using the Mid-Autumn Festival and the stalls between the Lunar New Year to do business, the Spring Festival Eve, and found that the membership card sales have a significant increase, people are no longer satisfied with the purchase of coupons. Immediately thereafter, they will the membership card price fixed in 1000 yuan ~4000 yuan's interval, hoped that lets the consumer feel whether buys delivers the person or oneself uses is very good.

Guo summed up the doorway: business-to-business to be effective, able to pass out, at the same time to have a comprehensive promotion. This requires the support of marketing campaigns. Mao Liang formed the company's "nutritionist" team, they will participate in nutrition training as a dolly farm, and promote the company's organic food through roadshow and various units of activities. On the other hand, Zhang Tonggui's eco-agriculture role, with a small number of members and interested consumers coming to the Dolly Farm restaurant, They were impressed by the increasing chance of converting to membership in addition to a patch of vegetable and shed, chicken soup hotpot shabu Organic vegetables and a "low-key high-end" style of architecture.

Although only half a year to try, but they have summed up the "first half selling coupons, the second half of the selling card" experience. This also reveals a problem: What really matters is consumers rather than corporate clients, which is the most important difference between a gift marketing company and the marketing of gift-grafting gifts. "It is a big misunderstanding that organic food is a simple gift, and I am worried that it will be bad for the organic industry," Guohai Qingchu business-to-business is only a short-term boom, "the gift market is not a new industry, in Shanghai can be called the name of at least twenty or thirty home." To be organic, the most important thing is to use it as a normal, lifestyle. From coupons to cards, is the real transformation. "And according to its investment in Tsing Capital point of view, gift marketing seems very difficult to get out of the" platform "of the circle, the profit is difficult to break through.

In fact, in the final analysis, to impress consumers is actually the pursuit of organic health. "Selling vegetables," after the fruitful, Zhang Tonggui began to declare openly, now is a business more and more fashionable era. In view of this, Zhang Tonggui in the brochure title of the important place to write a sentence: Farmers two of land: a piece of produce vegetables used to sell to the market, a piece of the supply of their own consumption. He seeks to call for more people's health crisis.

The sale of Dolly's farm has evolved into a more fixed model, with Business-to-business group buying, personal purchases and E-commerce comparisons 4:4:2. Li, a private general manager, most admired Dolly's farm, they have been able to use a relatively "strong" posture to sell vegetables, "what the farm plant, what consumers eat, and we go to the Super channel, see what best-selling, and then in the domestic search for new organic base production, the whole process has been elongated." "Guo think the best situation is to have a flexible combination of membership number and capacity," the future to develop to 15,000 members, if the capacity has not reached, a big deal for the time being not to develop members, the rhythm of our own grasp. ”

Distribution is a big problem.

After "planting vegetables" and "selling vegetables", the problem that the Dorian farm needs to continue to conquer is "send food". Symbol of healthy living and return to nature in the organic agriculture field, entrepreneurs are not a few, but for many business models have been emerging from the company, logistics and distribution is an invisible killer-like link, when a single distribution far more than the cost, the more the food sold, but the more the more the more the more the more

"Organic farming has a big feature, at least in my Beijing," Li said. "Customers are very dispersed, and within five rings, even in a community." This makes the distribution cost of each individual single very high. Sometimes the 20% or even 40% of gross profit is not the same as the monthly cost of distribution. How to achieve a profit and cost the best combination of points, how to achieve profitability, very troublesome. So do B's business general distribution volume can make money, some people will use this part of the profit to compensate for the loss of the distribution to C. ”

In 2009, Zhang Tonggui advocated "food delivery" time, the multi-Li farm began to build cold chain logistics, in the distribution vehicle reached 5, but found insufficient capacity, and it is difficult to cover outside the Shanghai outer ring area. Every car about 300,000 yuan per month, the words of petrol is also more than 5,000 yuan, and distribution often change, must seek professional cooperation. Because vegetables must be refrigerated distribution, Guo spent a good period of time looking for a special cold chain distribution company, and finally just entered the Shanghai market, the Japanese black Cat Jamado home Urgent logistics cooperation.

Initially the other mentioned that if you want all distribution, an average of 70 yuan, if overweight will continue to increase. In order to grind down the price of each other, Dorian Farm finally adopted a combination of self-built logistics and outsourcing way, currently own 10 vehicles, and some other distribution to Jamado. As Dolly's more stable orders were sorted out and handed over to Jamado, he was responsible for some of the more decentralized orders that allowed Jamado to easily introduce the distribution of the Dolly's farm into the distribution radius of each vehicle, thereby reducing the cost of delivery and the offer.

In Shanghai, this part of the consumer more inside the ring. The free distribution route of Dolly's farm is changed from outer ring to outer ring. Dolly Farm is still trying to reduce the distribution cost, remove less than 100 yuan of distribution products, so that more distribution of more than a few in 1000 yuan, reduce operating costs, in order to reduce the cost per single distribution to 20 Yuan. As the cold chain and has been sorted, three kg of vegetables home, edible parts can reach almost 100%, Guo revealed, "The distribution cost probably accounted for the entire income between the 15%~18%, there is no other channel, the profit is guaranteed." ”

However, in China's organic industry, like Dolly Farm, there are not many entrepreneurs dragging a very "heavy" asset model, and there are some differences between the brands such as "Le Live City" and "Hai ke le". Guo believes that the first shop after the risk of doing the base in the back, "organic this industry, some from the back end of the former end, to do the sales, to find a base to OEM; We are from the back end, first production and then sales. If it were in the United States, both models would be successful because the supply was already adequate. But in China, the real organic products in this market is relatively scarce, only to do planting is difficult to make money, we all first to do the front, the store opened too quickly beyond the ability to "buy sell", easy to problem. ”