China News Service, Haikou, August 21st. Title: Private enterprises strive for free trade port: a cup of old salt and fresh fruit drinks brews the "hundred-year dream" of Hainan tea drinks
Author Fu Yuqun Wang Ziyi
In midsummer, when the sea breeze carries the heat wave, a glass of cool and refreshing old salt yellow skin water or refreshing and refreshing old salt lemonade has become the standard summer drink for Hainanese people to cool down and the exclusive flavor for countless tourists visiting the island.
"The repurchase rate of our products is our confidence, and we want to bring the taste of Hainan out." Zhang Dongfeng, founder of the Hainan Laoyanji Tea Drinks chain brand, was full of confidence in a recent interview with a reporter from China News Service. "Enterprises never blindly pursue quick traffic, but only strive to cultivate deeply and long-term to forge a century-old brand."
The picture shows Zhang Dongfeng, founder of Hainan Laoyanji Tea Drinks chain brand, introducing corporate culture. Photo by China News Service reporter Fu Yuqun
Entering the world of entrepreneurship at a young age
In 2013, Zhang Dongfeng came to Hainan from Yingtan, Jiangxi Province. When he first entered the island, he plunged into the baking industry, but he was burdened with a huge debt of 2 million yuan due to blind expansion.
Relying on a borrowed start-up capital of 30,000 yuan, Zhang Dongfeng and his wife opened the predecessor store of Laoyanji in Jinjiang, Chengmai in 2016, "Looking for Tea", crossing the border of tea drinks and starting a second entrepreneurial journey.
In the early days of starting their business, the couple stayed at the store for 16 hours a day, personally managing the store and polishing the products; they abandoned the industry's quick-fix routines and insisted on using real materials and freshly made products. With its unique taste that is sweet and relieves greasiness, "Zhaocha" quickly opened up the county market, and the daily turnover of a single store exceeded 9,000 yuan in just three months after opening.
After tasting the sweetness, Zhang Dongfeng overcame his lover's concerns and spent tens of thousands of yuan to register a trademark and polish the brand's visual space design. Combined with the track direction of focusing on Hainan fresh fruit drinks and rotating fresh fruits throughout the year, "Old Salt Season" was finally launched.
The picture shows Zhang Dongfeng, founder of the Hainan Laoyanji tea drink chain brand, introducing the old salt drying technique to Hong Kong and Macao university students. Photo by China News Service reporter Fu Yuqun
Digging deeply into intangible cultural heritage to find new ways
Cross-border tea drinking is no accident. Zhang Dongfeng said that after the failure of the baking industry, 2016-2020 was the period of explosive growth for the domestic tea beverage industry, with new tea beverages emerging rapidly and a large number of celebrity-endorsed franchise brands blooming everywhere.
Therefore, Zhang Dongfeng set his sights on the low-threshold beverage industry. After many years of hard work, the company has always adhered to the original intention of "pure fresh fruits, real hand-made, old salt soul", and created a unique healthy old salt and fresh fruit tea track.
The core password for the brand's breakthrough is the old salt complex engraved in the bones of Hainanese people. Zhang Dongfeng said that old salt is a good folk product passed down from generation to generation in Hainan. Many local people drink old salt water when they experience throat discomfort or dehydration.
The eating habit of Hainanese people eating fruits dipped in salt gave him inspiration for product development. "Watermelons dipped in salt are sweeter, green mangos are paired with chili salt, and tropical fruits are naturally compatible with sea salt." The "Old Salt Season" has locked the track - intangible cultural heritage old salt + fresh tropical fruits from Hainan to create a cup of healthy fruit tea with natural electrolytes.
In order to fully understand the sea salt culture behind the old salt, Zhang Dongfeng made a special trip to Ledong to apprentice with three generations of old salt craftsmen from the Yinggehai Salt Field. It took him 5 years to become the representative inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of the Yinggehai sea salt drying technique in Ledong.
"Old salt is the soul of our brand. Sea salt costs two yuan per pound, while old salt costs 30 yuan per pound. Even if the cost is more than ten times higher, we will never lower our standards and use sea salt to replace old salt." Zhang Dongfeng said.
In September 2022, "Lao Salt Season" reached an in-depth strategic cooperation with Yinggehai Salt Field, Hainan's leading salt company, and became its core partner. Relying on the exclusive raw material advantages of intangible cultural heritage old salt, "Old Salt Season" breaks out of the dilemma of homogenization of sea salt tea drinks and builds exclusive core competitiveness.
"When we make tea, we just want to make a cup of healthy fresh fruit tea that the elderly and children can drink with confidence, and pass on Hainan's local old salt context and food culture." Zhang Dongfeng said that the brand has anchored differentiated positioning since its birth, upgrading the original niche folk old salt water into a specialty tea that adapts to modern healthy consumption trends, laying a solid product and cultural foundation for the brand's long-term development.
The picture shows college students from Hong Kong and Macao interning at the Hainan Laoyanji brand this summer to learn the production process of Laoyan drinks. Photo by China News Service reporter Fu Yuqun
Customs closure provides opportunity to build brand
With the steady advancement of the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port, the continuously optimized business environment, continuously released industrial policies, and all-round open development platform have provided fertile ground for growth in the local "old salt season" and promoted the brand's leapfrog transformation from single-product export to brand empowerment.
In 2023, the development of "Old Salt Season" achieved a new leap, establishing a complete system integrating product research and development, supply chain management, store operations, and brand promotion, and won the China Beverage Innovation Beverage Award and the China Beverage Popular Beverage Award at the China Tea Beverage Sustainable Development Summit Forum.
Today, "Laoyanji" has more than 200 stores in Hainan Province. With strict quality control, ultimate taste, and healthy attributes, the repurchase rate of brand consumers is as high as 92%.
Embracing the young consumer group, "Old Salt Season" innovatively builds the island's first "Handmade Fresh Fruit Tea Theme Store" to reshape the emotional value and consumer experience of the product, making the traditional Hainanese flavor fit into the new era of consumer trends.
"The tea industry is fiercely involved, and products are always the cornerstone. Repeat purchases are the best foundation for the brand." Zhang Dongfeng and his wife divide their labors and collaborate. His wife Shi Wei is in charge of product research and development. They keep up with the seasonal rhythm of Hainan's fresh fruits and launch popular items every season.
"A fresh fruit usually develops three product lines, a popular product, a topical niche product, and a basic fruit tea." Shi Wei said that the store usually focuses on old salt and yellow skin drinks from May to August. After the yellow skin is out of the market, the old salt and red heart guava will be replaced by new products. In winter, the old salt custard apple is a hot product limited to the Spring Festival.
According to reports, in September this year, "Old Salt Season" will launch the new Fushan coffee series, launch special fruit coffees such as Old Salt Ice American, and integrate Hainan coffee into the product matrix.
The construction of Hainan Free Trade Port has opened a window for local brands to link to the outside world. At present, relying on the Hainan Free Trade Port's geographical advantages in connecting Southeast Asia, overseas Chinese resources and opening-up advantages, the "Old Salt Season" has officially launched the market layout in Guangdong, Guangxi and Southeast Asia.
"Relying on the new social class association platform in Haikou City, we have frequent discussions and exchanges with overseas Chinese, and get opportunities for roadshows with overseas Chinese businessmen in Southeast Asia." Zhang Dongfeng revealed that he is in-depth discussions with relevant corporate teams on strategic cooperation, and plans to join the Sanya Brand Matrix Alliance to lay a solid foundation for overseas development; he plans to link Southeast Asian Internet celebrity IP and overseas overseas Chinese businessmen resources to promote the brand's overseas development.
"With the policy advantages of Hainan Free Trade Port's zero import tariff and tax-free processing of value-added products, the 'Old Salt Season' will continue to optimize the procurement channels for imported fresh fruit raw materials such as passion fruit from Southeast Asia, effectively reducing raw material costs and improving product quality." Zhang Dongfeng said that next year, it will lay out a new track for bottled drinks, focusing on the development of portable fast-moving consumer goods such as Old Salt Coconut Water, Old Salt Lemon Tea, and opening up multiple channels such as supermarkets, new retail, and cultural travel souvenirs, so that the flavor of Hainan Old Salt can go out of the island and spread around the world.
Faced with the market environment of rapid iteration and fleeting trends in the tea beverage industry, Zhang Dongfeng's original intention is as follows: not to become famous overnight, but to become a century-old enterprise rooted in Hainan, stable and long-term, and to bring the taste of Hainan's old salt out of the island. "Let a cup of Hainan fresh fruit tea become a unique business card for the free trade port to showcase the vitality of local industries and the charm of humanity." (over)
