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Yili: A Brand for Its Time

When a company sets up in a neighbourhood and is warmly welcomed by local residents, the company, no doubt, may be regarded a success: the Beijing Yili Food Company is just such a highly regarded company in Beijing.

Beijing Yili is a Zhonghua Laozihao (China Time Honoured Brand); it was so highly regarded that the street where it was based before its 2005 move to Daxing District was named after it, the “yi” in Guangyi Jie.

Today, the Yili wafer chocolate, Yili fruit bread and Yili animal-shape biscuits remain as sweet longings for many Beijingers that hearken to the days of innocent childhoods, warm relations and carefree lives of the elderly and the young. Yili fruit bread is still one of the most popular foods on local supermarket shelves.

Still, the more than 100-year-old Yili did not begin its business legacy in Beijing; neither did it begin as a Chinese brand. In 1906, a Scottish businessman, James Neil, came to Shanghai. He set up a stall near the Hall & Holtz Corporation, also a British company, to sell home-made western pastries and bread, which were welcomed by the westerners in the Shanghai International Settlement. Hall & Holtz discovered the talented Neil and employed him to manage its food department. Years later, the entrepreneurial Neil left Hall & Holtz and opened his own company named James Neil & Company Limited, with YILI as its Chinese name, meaning “righteousness comes first and then the benefit,” a concept of Confucianism. Since their inception, Yili’s bread, pastries, biscuit and chocolate have been popular. In 1939, Neil died, and his son inherited the company and continued it until the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. The company was then transferred to a Jewish man named "Vick" (transliteration). But not long after, the Japanese army invaded Shanghai, arrested the new owner and took over James Neil & Company Limited. In 1945, Vick got out jail but was frustrated by the damage to the company. In 1946, he sold the company to a group of Chinese businessmen. Ni Jiaxi became the executive board chairman and the James Neil & Company Limited was changed into Yili Food Company. But the operation of the Yili Food Company was not so smooth. First came the civil war; many foreigners then fled China. A shrinking market and competition from companies with access to foreign capital put the Yili Food Company into a tough situation. Then, in 1950, the Yili Food Company was invited to move to Beijing, where it became a State-owned company.

The opening of Beijing Yili Food Company brought a fresh food concept to the Beijingers. Beijing Yili Food Company became the leading company in the western-style food industry. Yili insisted on continuing its product line, but it also created new products and varieties. With its bread, for instance, they made them with the kernel of walnut and flour, and mixed with some fruits such as apple pulp and currant. In this way, the bread had a pleasing soft texture that was also sweet, and Beijingers accepted this exotic bread that was entirely different from the Chinese steamed bread.

In 1970s and 80s, Beijing Yili Food Company again encountered difficulties. The enterprise had to take on more social responsibilities. Under price controls, the company had to retain is pricing despite higher prices for flour and sugar. Profits shrank, and the company found itself in the red. At the same time, Yili had to care for its retired employees by retaining their pensions and health insurance (a system that has changed in today’s China with social insurance system reform). The reform and opening up of China brought some opportunities to Yili, but after its transformation in the 1990s from a State-owned company to a State-holding company, Yili again found itself in debt, by nearly 300 million yuan (US$43.27 million).

Beijing Yili Food Company sold part of its land in urban Beijing for cash to establish a new factory with. At the same time, it began a cooperation with Nabisco International Incorporation to promote its biscuit lines.

But the cooperation with Nabisco ended in 2005.

“One reason was a difference in marketing concepts; another involved an issue of protecting our independent intellectual property rights and rights to our own brand,” said Fu Changlong, the general manager of Beijing Yili Food Company.

Fu said an international company is inclined to seek market penetration first and to worry about profits second. But he said the Beijing Yili Food Company could not afford to play this game.

Gradually, the company’s local managers lost their influence on the company’s shareholders, but they stood their ground.

“To protect and maintain the 100-year-long brand was also our responsibility,” Fu said. “You can lose your own brand while doing business if you’re not careful and blindly follow others.”

Now, with a new foreign partner, the company is following a forward-looking win-win strategy. The Beijing Yili Food Company was never opposed to the reasonable use of foreign funds, but is now in a much more competitive financial position, operating as a Sino-foreign joint venture enterprise under Beijing Yili Food Company, which is earning more than 10 million yuan (US$ 1.44 million) in net profits per year. The sales volume of the company’s products ranks at the top in Beijing’s supermarkets. Relying on this profitable company, Yili has paid off all of its debts.

The company also has a broad and stable sales network. Yili’s products can be found on the shelves of nearly every supermarket in Beijing, and it also has more than a hundred outlets.

“We like this sales model more, as our sales staff working at the counters can introduce our products more effectively and correctly, and at the same time, they can report suggestions of the customers to the company quickly. On the other hand, the capital can circulate more quickly.” As he knows, the open market has brought many international brands to the shelves of Beijing’s supermarkets, and an old company has found a new life in these modern times.

Address: No. 2 Guangyang Dajie, Daxing Industrial Development Area, Beijing 102600

北京大兴工业开发区广阳大街2号

Tel: +86 10 6024 1457

Fax: +86 10 6024 1463

WWW: www.ylsp.cn

北京义利食品公司：先“义”后“利”铸造百年辉煌

文/薛京晶

百年征程，百年辉煌

1906年，英国人詹姆斯·尼尔在上海南京路开设了一家食品店，利用自己擅长制作苏格兰风味的西点和面包的技艺，自制自销西点、面包和巧克力糖果，他引用中国优秀传统文化中的“先义后利”的儒家思想，为其取名“义利洋行”。在20世纪20年代的时候，义利洋行已经成为江南地区著名的食品企业。1946年，义利洋行更名为义利食品公司。1951年，义利公司迁至北京，逐步发展成为中国食品工业骨干企业之一。

1949年中国的成立使义利得以迅速崛起。义利抓住历史机遇，以它所承载的江南气息、独到的口味和历经40余年磨练形成的西式洋味的花色品种，使其在京城食品行业中独占鳌头。年产各类食品2万多吨，实现利润700多万元，但是产品在北京市场占有率达60％以上。另外，义利还担负着对苏联、蒙古及东欧社会主义国家和东南亚诸国及香港地区的出口任务，担当重大国宴特供食品的特殊任务。

建立多元化的投资结构

20世纪80年代中期，义利从意大利、德国、瑞士等过引进9条生产线，实现了巧克力的现代化生产。1984年，义利引进香港快餐设备，建立起中西式快餐厅。1985年，义利率先与美国纳贝斯克国际公司合资成立义利—纳贝斯克饼干食品有限公司，并与其合资成立了北京纳贝斯克食品有限公司，发展成为中国著名的饼干生产商。到20世纪末期，义利已经发展成为年销售收入达5个亿的综合性食品集团。

2001年，义利设立了以巧克力食品为主体的现代企业——北京义利食品有限公司，投资建立了现代化的巧克力生产基地。主要生产线均从意大利、德国、瑞士等国引进，设备技术属国内同行业先进水平，年生产能力达5000多吨，以软夹心纯巧克力、高尔夫果仁巧克力、纯巧克力、无糖巧克力等为代表产品。糖果类的代表产品主要有酸三色、话梅糖、黄油球、龙虾酥等。

义利还素有“面包王”之称，其传统产品维生素面包、大果子面包、乳白面包几十年畅销不衰。2001年，义利与美国、新加坡等国家的5个法人机构共同设立了北京义利面包食品有限公司，使义利的传统面包产业得到进一步发展。新开发出的汤种面包和切片面包、法式、蛋糕系列更符合年轻人消费习惯。

凭借独到的口味、优良的品质，义利连获殊荣。1915年，义利“星牌”巧克力在巴拿马国际博览会上荣获金奖。1937年，在上海家庭日用工业品展览会上再获金奖，人称“金奖巧克力”。尤其是自1970年以来，义利先后有77种产品分别获国家轻工业部金、银质奖和北京市优质产品奖。

如今，义利巧克力糖果已经在中国26个省市自治区有固定销售渠道，设有3000个销售网点，并与北京的300多家大中型超市签订了购销协议，在30家大商场设立了义利销售专柜。义利饼屋也已经在北京20多家大型超市连锁经营，年销售额达到1亿元。

“先义后利”的百年宗旨

民以食为天，食以民为本。义利造食百年，情寄市井，先义后利，历代相承，追求的正是口福百姓。如今，提起“义利”，京城大人小孩无人不知，无人不晓，因为“我们是吃义利食品长大的。”义利何来如此百姓情缘，其根本原因就在于对百姓消费者的真情和奉献。

义利以百姓之需为己任，不断创新，不仅研制开发出各种巧克力产品、具有中国特色的各类面包产品、酥糖产品，更是创造了多个“中国第一”——首次将欧洲巧克力生产引入中国，制造出中国自己的第一块巧克力；首创中国第一台维夫巧克力挂酱机，开发出维夫巧克力；首次实现中国巧克力生产现代化；首创中国第一台酥糖成型机和第一台酥糖包装机；厖义利给京城百姓带来了西式饮食文化，更带来了时尚，成为人们的享受，勾起人们甜美的回忆，并且在百姓心中颇具影响。

1988年，义利荣获“北京市优秀食品老字号”称号；自1994年，义利牌面包、巧克力、糖果连续4届被评为“北京市名牌产品”；“义利”商标连续5届被评为“北京市著名商标”。2006年，“义利”被国家商务部评为首批“中华老字号”。

经过几代“义利人”的不懈努力和拼搏，如今的义利已经发展成为拥有合资公司、子公司、联营企业等多种体制多元化经营的集团化企业。形成了巧克力、糖果、饼干、面包、快餐和糕点6大系列，千余个品种的产品体系，总资产达到3亿多元，年总销售收入超过亿元。同时，针对目前市场上产品同质化、竞争激烈和自身多而不精的产品体系的现状，义利采取差异化战略措施，组织技术部门反复试验最终研制成功无糖纯巧克力系列共12个品种，一经推向市场便受到消费者的广泛好评，成为市场上首家推出无糖巧克力的企业。这种百年锤炼出来的经营理念，不仅是企业宝贵的财富，更将成为今后发展的强大动力。