The sky is unlimited for birds to fly at ease, as the ocean is boundless for fish to leap at will. On September 14th, the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets welcomed the "first stock of fish flavored snacks", and Huawen Food Co., Ltd. made its debut on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's SME board, officially competing in the A-share capital market. Huawen Food has become the third leisure food listed company in Hunan after Juewei Food and Yanjinpuzi.

Recently, a reporter from Securities Daily drove to Pingjiang County, Yueyang to interview Zhou Jinsong, the chairman of Huawen Food, to understand his passion for serving the country with modern industries and high-quality products after 30 years of deep cultivation of leisure food. They also learned about how he actively responded to the call of "fellow villagers returning to their hometowns, fellow villagers building their hometowns" and how he gave back to Pingjiang, a revolutionary base area, with his fists and love.

Thirty years of arduous journey, guarding the right track surprisingly

As the founder of Huawen Food, Zhou Jinsong has been deeply involved in the field of flavored snacks for thirty years, implementing the principle of "upholding integrity and serving the country through industry" in every production process and management link.

In 1990, Zhou Jinsong established a Pingjiang dried soy sauce handmade workshop. From soaking beans, grinding, boiling, braising, shaping, braising, air drying to packaging and sales, Zhou Jinsong not only personally participated in the entire process, but also innovated through learning and reference, introducing sesame and chili as auxiliary materials and launching new products that received high praise from customers. The continuous positive feedback from customers gave him the confidence and determination to step out of the Pingjiang Mountains and make a big impact. In 1994, relying on the abundant soybean resources, convenient transportation conditions, and vast consumer market in Luoyang, Zhou Jinsong achieved a production value of over one million yuan in three years. About 100000 fellow villagers in Pingjiang County followed in his footsteps and established various leisure food processing factories across the country. According to the statistics of the China Food Industry Association, the annual output value of the leisure food processing industry engaged by Pingjiang villagers has exceeded 100 billion yuan.

Seeing the vast blue ocean of leisure food, Zhou Jinsong's heart was ignited with the passion of "seize the day and night, time waits for no one". He decided to break free from the constraints of traditional handicraft workshops and establish a modern enterprise with "product branding, production automation, process standardization, scientific management, and professional team".

Adhering to the right path of serving the country through industry, and breaking away from the traditional framework with ingenious techniques, has opened up a new situation for the development of enterprises. Zhou Jinsong introduced to a reporter from Securities Daily, "In 2016, we signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Jiawo Group, a subsidiary of Lenovo Holdings, taking a new step in our journey. We built two intelligent manufacturing factories in Pingjiang and Yueyang, Hunan, respectively, selecting fresh anchovy from pure sea areas, using modern production technology, and launching automated vacuum packaging. I personally led a team to conduct research and combined big data to study taste preferences in various regions, launching five classic flavors: 'Nanlu', 'Beijiang', 'Dongxiang', 'Xima', and 'Zhongla'. The five classic flavors quickly became popular throughout the country, and the market share of 'Jinzai' small fish has been breaking records

In 2016, Huawen Food's "Jinzai Brand Bean Products" and "Jinzai Brand Flavored Fish Products" were selected as "Hunan Famous Brands" by the Hunan Provincial Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau. In 2017, the "Jinzai" brand was selected for the "CCTV China Brand List". In 2019, the "Jinzai" deep-sea fish sold over 1.2 billion packages, achieving an annual sales revenue of nearly 900 million yuan. At present, Chinese food products have been exported to nearly 30 countries around the world, including Canada and Australia.

In recent years, Huawen Food has continuously improved its smart supply chain system and actively promoted the construction of a food traceability system through self built raw material bases, full process cold chain transportation, refined warehousing, intelligent production, and global marketing, ensuring food safety and quality. At present, there are more than 1000 offline cooperative distributors of Chinese food, and stable cooperative relations have been reached with many well-known chain stores such as Carrefour, Wal Mart and CR Vanguard.

From 2017 to 2019, Huawen Food achieved operating revenues of 767 million yuan, 805 million yuan, and 895 million yuan respectively, with net profits attributable to shareholders of 75.6619 million yuan, 115 million yuan, and 118 million yuan, respectively. In the first half of 2020, despite the impact of the COVID-19, Chinese food still achieved positive growth in both revenue and net profit, with operating revenue of 450 million yuan, up 2.55% year on year, and net profit attributable to the parent company of 63.893 million yuan, up 5.05% year on year.

Those who give back to society and love others must love them

Those who love others will love them. In operation, Zhou Jinsong is well aware that Pingjiang County, as a revolutionary old area and a national poverty-stricken county (now removed from the hat), has insufficient innate conditions and is full of challenges for entrepreneurship. When he mobilized his fellow villagers to start businesses, he not only provided technical guidance and shared insights, but also strongly supported their business operations, winning widespread praise from them.

In April 2015, the Pingjiang County government implemented the precise poverty alleviation measures of "attracting fellow villagers and building hometown". Upon learning of this, Zhou Jinsong immediately communicated his desire to build his hometown with the leaders of relevant government departments, and received a positive response and strong support.

Zhou Jinsong told a reporter from Securities Daily, "I convinced all shareholders that if we have money, technology, and products in our hands, we must return to our hometown, build our hometown, and give back to our hometown. Everyone supports my viewpoint very much. After building a factory in my hometown, I will give priority to hiring local poor farmers and laid-off workers

The staff of Pingjiang County Poverty Alleviation Office introduced to the Securities Daily reporter: "As of June 2020, Huawen Food has cumulatively driven farmers to increase their income by more than 300 million yuan through providing employment opportunities, providing order support, direct assistance, and other means. The number of farmers has exceeded 10000, and the average household income has increased by more than 30000 yuan. Among them, Huawen Food has helped more than 1000 impoverished households, and 166 households have been registered as impoverished

For local farmers, Chinese food is not only taught to fish, but also to fish. Since 2015, Huawen Food has provided skills training for newly hired farmers and employees, with a total of over 15000 people trained and over 1000 hours of training. The training cost has been nearly 1 million yuan, and the training content includes multiple knowledge systems such as research and development, initial processing, production, and distribution. Since 2017, the annual salary of employees at Huawen Food has been about 10% higher than the average salary of on-the-job employees in Yueyang City. In 2019, the average annual salary of employees at Huawen Food has reached 83500 yuan.

Zhou Jinsong calculated to a reporter from Securities Daily: "Based on our internal calculations, a 'Jinzai' fish that costs 10 yuan can generate a 100 yuan driving effect in various links of the industry chain. The growth of terminal consumption has a promoting effect on fishing, transportation, quarantine, production, packaging, logistics, advertising, e-commerce, supermarkets, live streaming, training, education and other industries. Therefore, when consumers purchase 'Jinzai' fish, it is equivalent to supporting our entire industry chain to win the battle against poverty

On the body of "Jinzai" Xiaoyu, not only does it embody Zhou Jinsong's 30-year passion for serving the country through industry, but it also carries his boxing and love to repay society and support revolutionary old areas, and embodies his ambitious goal of reaching the world level comparable to Europe and America. For future development, Zhou Jinsong holds a positive and optimistic attitude. In his heart, today's "Jinzai" fish has entered thousands of households on the land of China, and tomorrow's "Jinzai" fish will also go abroad, bringing the "Chinese flavor on the tongue" to countries around the world.