Liuzhou snail powder.
Information picture
Above: A corner of the workshop of a bagged Liuzhou snail powder production enterprise.
Photo by Li Hanchi
Below: The staff of Liuzhou snail powder quality inspection center are testing the snail powder products.
Photo by Jiang Hongkun
Located in Wangmei Village, Baisha Town, Yufeng District, Liuzhou City, Liuzhou snail powder raw material standardization production demonstration base overlooks.
Yan Lizheng photo
introduction
In 2014, Liuzhou City, Guangxi Province issued the first production license for bagged snail powder. In just six years, millet flour has become a big industry: in 2020, Liuzhou will realize the sales income of bagged snail powder of 11 billion yuan, the sales income of supporting and derivative industries of 13 billion yuan, and the sales income of physical stores of 11.8 billion yuan. At the same time, through the integration of primary, secondary and tertiary industries, more than 300,000 jobs will be created.
Snail powder is a special snack in Liuzhou, named after its soup is boiled with snails. A bowl of snail powder has become a "three billion" big industry, and the supply-side structural reform has contributed.
Liuzhou people with "industrial thinking" aim at the market demand, insist on innovative supply, accelerate the industrialization, scale and brand development of snail powder, and make snail powder, which was difficult to store and transport, go to the whole country and export overseas, and become "online celebrity cuisine".
In April this year, when General Secretary of the Supreme Leader visited Guangxi, he came to Liuzhou snail powder production cluster area to learn more about snail powder characteristic industries to promote employment and increase farmers’ income. "What a surprise! It is not easy for Xiaomi to produce such a large-scale industry, which is worth studying and summarizing. " The general secretary praised.
General Secretary of the Supreme Leader exhorted everyone: "The development of industries must have its own characteristics. Snail powder is the characteristic, which has caught everyone’s stomach and made it an industry on the tip of the tongue. We should continue to take the road of branding, and at the same time adhere to high quality and high standards. I believe that the snail powder industry will have greater development prospects in the future. "
A few days ago, the reporter came to Liuzhou to explore the supply-side reform story contained in a bowl of snail powder.
Eat special
"The key to the popularity of Liuzhou snail powder lies in its unique flavor with high self-recognition, which has caught many people’s stomachs."
Slice ginger and peel garlic … … When the oil in the pot is hot, stir-fry more than 20 kinds of spices and washed snails, then pour them into the pig bone soup and boil them for a few hours. Finally, add red Chili oil to make the delicious snail soup. As soon as a guest orders, he can scoop the freshly cooked rice noodles and vegetables into the bottom of the bowl, add sour bamboo shoots, sour beans, fungus, peanuts, yuba, daylily, etc., and then pour a ladle of snail soup, and a bowl of authentic Liuzhou snail powder will be served on the table.
On a Sunday in May, Jison, a Shandong native who was on a business trip to Liuzhou, led by a local friend, walked into the Xihuan Fat Snail Powder Shop at the intersection of Xihuan in Liuzhou. This is an old shop that has been open for more than 30 years. At 11: 30 noon, the first floor of the shop that can seat 70 or 80 people is basically full, and seven or eight customers are still standing in line before ordering the table.
"Our store is open from 8 am to 3 am and sells more than 3,000 bowls of powder every day on average." Chen Muhua, the hostess of the shop, introduced.
Many Liuzhou citizens found that there were long queues in front of many humble snail powder shops during the May Day holiday this year. Statistics show that from May 1 to 5, Liuzhou received 2,713,300 tourists, ranking first among cities in Guangxi. "A bowl of snail powder, Liuzhou City with fire." Liuzhou Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism Bureau wrote when analyzing the city’s "May 1" holiday travel market.
"In the past two years, more and more foreign customers have come to the store to eat powder, and some people are holding mobile phones for live broadcast." Chen Muhua said that since 2019, Xihuan Feizi has successively opened 30 brand chain stores in Liuzhou, Nanning and Lanzhou, Gansu.
With a bottle of soy milk, Jison, who didn’t eat spicy food, ate a bowl of snail powder. "delicious." He wiped his mouth with a tissue and said.
On the same day, Fu Xinyu, a junior two student in Liuzhou, who claimed to be "uncomfortable without eating snail powder for a few days", rushed to the snail powder self-service experience restaurant in Luowei Industrial Park of Luoba Wang with great interest. "Cooking rice noodles and adding various ingredients here are all self-help, which has refreshed my experience of eating powder." Fu Xinyu said.
In addition to eating powder, Fu Xinyu also saw the whole process of the production of bagged snail powder. "There are transparent glasses on both sides of the visit channel, and the machines inside are running. Packages of snail powder are continuously produced, which is really novel."
Luobawang Luowei Industrial Park is invested and built by Guangxi Luobawang Food Technology Co., Ltd., which is both a production factory and a tourist attraction. "The investment is 450 million yuan, the factory area is 48,000 square meters, and the daily production capacity of snail powder is 1.5 million packs." Yao Hanlin, chairman of the company, said that since the industrial park was completed and put into operation at the end of March this year, it has received an average of more than 300 primary and secondary school students every day.
"In 2015, I invested 680,000 yuan to start my first snail powder production plant. The factory building is rented, with an area of 400 square meters, producing 2000 bags a day. " Yao Hanlin said frankly, "I didn’t expect to develop to such a scale today — — The company’s sales reached more than 900 million yuan last year. "
In Liuzhou, both snail powder stores and bagged production enterprises have witnessed vigorous development in recent years. "Especially during the epidemic prevention and control in COVID-19 last year, ‘ Home economy ’ Rise, our production is chased by orders. " Yao Hanlin said.
According to statistics, in 2020, the sales revenue of bagged snail powder in Liuzhou was 10.994 billion yuan, up 75.74% year-on-year, and the annual export value was 30.38 million yuan, 35 times of the total export value in 2019. The number of bagged Liuzhou snail powder manufacturers has grown from one in 2014 to 113 in 2020, with more than 20,000 online stores. The number of snail powder physical stores has increased from nearly 5,000 nationwide 10 years ago to more than 18,000 now.
"Liuzhou snail powder not only sells well, but also becomes a hot topic on the Internet from time to time." Li Bin, director of the Publicity Office of Liuzhou Municipal Committee, said, "During the epidemic prevention and control in mid-February last year, anxious netizens launched ‘ Snail powder is not delivered yet ’ Topic, boarded a hot search on Sina Weibo. "
In the view of Chen Wei, the former executive vice president of Liuzhou Snail Powder Association, the internet boost and the rise of "home economy" are just icing on the cake for the development of Liuzhou snail powder. "Liuzhou snail powder is rich in ingredients and has ‘ Sour, spicy, fresh, cool and hot ’ Its taste characteristics, its production skills were included in the list of representative projects of national intangible cultural heritage in May this year. " Chen Wei said, "The key to Liuzhou snail powder’s popularity lies in its unique flavor, which has captured many people’s stomachs."
set a standard (for)
"Standardization concept has run through the whole industrial chain of snail powder production"
What was the situation of Liuzhou snail powder 10 years ago? "Although there are many stores, they can’t be scaled up; Although there are many eaters, they can’t leave Liuzhou. " Chen Wei summarized this.
In order to promote the snail powder to go out, in 2011, the Liuzhou municipal government implemented the "snail powder to Beijing" project. With the support of the government, in March of that year, Chen Wei opened a shop called "Master Snail Liuzhou Snail Powder" in Chaoyangmenwai Street, Beijing, with a storefront of more than 200 square meters.
"After the opening, the business was good, and many customers patronized it. Later, thanks to Ben, the store rent was high and the income-generating point was not enough." Chen Wei said, "At that time, there was no bagged snail powder, so we could only cook it now and sell it bowl by bowl." In 2016, the Beijing store of "snail master Liuzhou snail powder" was closed.
In May 2012, Liuzhou snail powder appeared in the CCTV food documentary "China on the tip of the tongue". Since the same year, Liuzhou has held a snail powder food festival every year, and the first food festival also launched the activity of "snail powder for all people" & HELIP; … "During this period, social media such as Weibo and WeChat emerged, the Internet magnified the popularity of Liuzhou snail powder, and e-commerce expanded its circulation channels." Chen Wei said.
At that time, Yan Zhenhua, who was in his early twenties, partnered with others and was running a Guangxi local product supermarket near Liuzhou Railway Station. The business was tepid. "Most tourists come to Liuzhou to eat a bowl of snail powder, and often regret that it is difficult to pack it and take it home." Yan Zhenhua said that in 2011, when he was waiting at Guilin Airport, he found a bowl of Guilin rice noodles. "I bought two bowls, and after tasting it, I found that it was very close to the taste of dining. Inspired by this, I tried to make bagged snail powder. "
But problems also follow. The first is the problem of rice noodles. "We found the manufacturer of bowl-packed Guilin rice noodles and found that ‘ Brewing type ’ The production technology of snail powder can not meet the taste requirements. At that time, the rice noodles in Liuzhou were semi-dry and supplied to physical stores, and they were sixty or seventy centimeters long, which was difficult to package and easy to deteriorate. " Yan Zhenhua recalled that in order to buy dried rice noodles that meet the taste of snail powder, he ran a number of rice noodle factories, but because of the small demand, manufacturers were reluctant to take orders. "Later, through a friend’s introduction, a rice noodle factory promised to help us, tried two batches and finally met the requirements."
The problem of ingredients has been solved. In 2013, Yan Zhenhua prepared to set up a factory, but encountered obstacles when applying for a food production license. "To apply for a license, we must determine the food category and have corresponding product standards." Lu Zhongjie, then head of the food production supervision department of Liuzhou Food and Drug Administration, said that according to the production technology and product characteristics of Liuzhou snail powder, none of the 28 categories of food classification in the food production license at that time completely corresponded to it, and there was no corresponding product standard.
"On the one hand, the scale of online sales is growing, and snail powder enterprises urgently need to apply for relevant market access qualifications; On the one hand, it is family workshop production, and environmental sanitation and product quality are difficult to guarantee. " Lv Zhongjie said that after risk assessment, they decided to solve the market access problem of bagged snail powder as soon as possible in accordance with the principle of "standardizing first and then upgrading".
If there is no corresponding category, choose the one with the closest technology from the 28 categories of food — — Convenience foods; If there is no standard, it will guide enterprises to refer to national standards such as instant noodles and formulate enterprise standards for convenient snail powder food safety. "Send samples of enterprise products to quality inspection institutions, repeatedly test and analyze relevant data, and finally complete the formulation of enterprise standards for snail powder." Lu Zhongjie said.
After this enterprise standard was put on record by the former Health and Family Planning Commission of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Lv Zhongjie and his colleagues instructed Yan Zhenhua’s enterprise to carry out the transformation of factory buildings and improve the quality management system. Finally, after on-site verification by the expert group, in October 2014, the former Liuzhou Food and Drug Administration issued the first production license for bagged snail powder in the city.
In June 2015, Liuzhou established a leading group for the preparation of local food safety standards for Liuzhou snail powder, and organized the drafting of "Local Food Safety Standards for Liuzhou snail powder", which stipulated the materials, packaging, physical and chemical indicators and microbial indicators of bagged snail powder. In May of the following year, this standard was officially implemented. "Every indicator is repeatedly tested and tested." Gong Xinling, deputy director of Liuzhou Quality Inspection and Testing Research Center, introduced the water content of rice noodles as an example. If the water content of rice noodles is too high, it is easy to breed mold, and if it is too low, it is easy to break. "When formulating standards, we should also consider the actual production capacity of enterprises. We also listened to the opinions of some enterprises and finally determined the water content index as 14%."
"After the introduction of Liuzhou snail powder food safety local standards, production enterprises have unified food safety standards and solved the problem of uneven product quality." Lu Zhongjie said.
In February 2018, Liuzhou snail powder inspection and testing center (now Liuzhou snail powder quality inspection center) was listed. "At present, it can detect 9 categories of products including main products, raw materials, food packaging materials and food additives, basically covering the inspection needs of the whole industry chain." Gong Xinling said.
"In order to meet the requirements of local standards, we have introduced a high-temperature sterilization production line and increased semi-automatic packaging equipment. Rice noodles have also changed from outdoor drying to indoor constant temperature curing barn drying." Yan Zhenhua said that the company improved the production process as a whole, and the microbial indicators of the products continued to be stable in a safe range, and the shelf life of the products was extended from 3 months to 6 months.
Xie Shaozong, deputy section chief of standardization department of Liuzhou Municipal Market Supervision Administration, introduced that in recent years, standards such as "Liuzhou snail powder soup (preparation) package production specification", "Liuzhou snail powder production disinfection and sterilization specification" and "snail rice field ecological farming technical specification" have been introduced one after another. "Standardization concept has run through the whole industrial chain of snail powder production."
Education brand
"Enterprises continue to explore and innovate for the brand, and government departments also help to build brands."
As the founder of Liuzhou, the first enterprise to produce bagged snail powder, Yan Zhenhua has experienced the high-light moment of selling 10,000 bags a day and the low business. Looking back, he said that "not upgrading products in time" was the main reason for being overtaken.
In March 2020, Yan Zhenhua newly registered the company and put it into production in May of that year. "Over the past year, we have made great efforts to carry out technological transformation, develop new products and cultivate brands. After the Spring Festival this year, the daily output increased from 5,000 packs to more than 20,000 packs. "
"Brand is the core competitiveness of an enterprise. To realize the transformation from product to brand, we must constantly innovate and improve quality." Speaking of "catch-up", Yao Hanlin is so emotional.
"Before the new product goes on the market, I may try to eat more than 10 bowls of snail powder a day." Long Renjin, director of the R&D office of Guangxi Luobawang Food Technology Co., Ltd., is responsible for the research and development of new products. In the product exhibition hall of snail overlord company, all kinds of bagged snail powder are dazzling: the taste is original, spicy and tomato-flavored, and the types are barrel-brewed, box-brewed and bag-boiled.
"There are many snail powder enterprises in Liuzhou now, and they should be in ‘ Let a hundred flowers blossom ’ Zhong ‘ Stand out from the crowd ’ You must have your own selling point. " Yao Hanlin said that when he started his business in 2015, he was determined to take the road of differentiated development. "For example, at the beginning, we added two quail eggs to each bag of products, which other manufacturers did not have at that time."
"To build a brand, product quality is fundamental." Yao Hanlin said that for a period of time, due to the tight supply of raw materials for epidemic prevention and control, "we insisted on the quality standards of raw materials and did not relax, preferring to reduce production and ensure product quality."
Nowadays, in Liuzhou, many snail powder enterprises are making continuous efforts to take the road of branding.
Guangxi Zhongliu Food Technology Co., Ltd. cooperated with Liuzhou Vocational and Technical College to produce brewed snail powder with more mellow taste. "In addition to the stricter control of sour bamboo shoots and the requirement of brewing in the old altar for more than half a year, the production of rice noodles has also undergone technological innovation." Xiong Chaoxuan, chairman of Zhongliu Food Technology Co., Ltd. said that the bagged snail powder on the market is mainly boiled. Compared with boiled rice noodles, brewed rice noodles save consumers time and effort, but the taste is not as chewy as boiled rice noodles. "Through product optimization, brewed rice noodles are now chewy."
Guangxi Fensheng Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. operates the snail powder brand, which targets women aged 16 to 25, and fits the consumer psychology of this group from packaging to taste. "After big data analysis, this group is the main group of online shopping for snail powder." Fang Nong, the founder of Fensheng Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd., is 26 years old, and the average age of his team is 23 years old. "We have developed products with 14 flavors, and the sales revenue reached more than 300 million yuan last year."
"Brand ring to sell well. Enterprises continue to explore and innovate for tree brands, and government departments also help to brand. " Jia Jiangong, deputy director of Liuzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce, said.
Strengthen online and offline marketing. "In addition to organizing enterprises to participate in various large-scale exhibitions, it is more important to seize the e-commerce express and enhance the brand influence of Liuzhou snail powder." Jia Jiangong said that in recent years, Liuzhou has strengthened the construction of e-commerce platform and formed an "online gathering area" for snail powder industry.
Hold brand appraisal. In 2017, Liuzhou held the first snail powder brand appraisal activity, and the government awarded 6.5 million yuan to six award-winning enterprises. In March of this year, Liuzhou launched the second snail powder brand appraisal activity.
Create a regional public brand of "Liuzhou snail powder". In July 2018, "Liuzhou snail powder" was registered as a geographical indication certification trademark by China National Intellectual Property Administration, and 47 enterprises have been authorized to use it so far. "Obtaining a geographical indication certification trademark means establishing ‘ Liuzhou snail powder made in Liuzhou ’ The principle protects the common interests of Liuzhou snail powder production enterprises, and also puts forward stricter quality requirements for enterprises that use geographical indications to prove trademarks. " Jia Jiangong said.
cohesion
"Insist on supplementing and extending the chain, gather and develop, and promote the optimization and upgrading of the whole industrial chain of snail powder"
"In recent years, we have insisted on supplementing and extending the chain, gathering and developing, and promoting the optimization and upgrading of the entire industrial chain of snail powder." Wu Wei, secretary of the Liuzhou Municipal Party Committee, said that the city has made great efforts to promote the "Six Ones" projects, such as "compiling a plan, strictly enforcing a standard, building a number of industrial clusters, and cultivating a number of leading enterprises and well-known brands".
Up to now, Liuzhou has built snail powder industrial park, snail powder characteristic town, snail powder e-commerce industrial park and other industrial clusters, attracting more than 100 enterprises such as raw material supply, product processing, e-commerce and logistics distribution to settle in the park. Liuzhou snail powder raw material base has reached more than 500,000 mu, driving about 200,000 farmers to increase their income.
At 6 o’clock in the morning, it was dawn and the mountain was covered with mist. Qin Baolin stood by the ground and greeted the villagers who came to work. On this day, he will provide 50,000 Jin of cowpea and 30,000 Jin of pepper to a bagged snail powder production enterprise in Liuzhou.
Picking, packing, loading, busy until 1 pm, the villagers went home to rest, and Qin Baolin was finally able to take a breath. Tired is tired, and Qin Baolin feels comfortable: "This year’s orders have been placed at the end of July, amounting to 200 million yuan."
The 40-year-old Qin Baolin is the head of Guangxi Baolin Agricultural Science and Technology Co., Ltd., with a planting base of more than 3,000 mu, including 1,000 mu in Wangmei Village, Baisha Town, Yufeng District, Liuzhou City.
In April 2019, Yufeng District’s "Construction Plan of Liuzhou Snail Powder Industry Core Demonstration Zone" passed the expert review, and Wangmei Village was identified as the standardized production demonstration base of Liuzhou snail powder raw materials. At present, 5,500 mu of standardized breeding areas such as bamboo shoots, rice, beans and snails have been built. "Our base mainly grows beans and peppers, and the demonstration planting techniques include weight loss, drug reduction, quality improvement and efficiency improvement." Yan Baolin said.
In the courtyard of Baisha Acid Factory not far from Wangmei Village, a truck full of fresh beans is waiting to be unloaded. "We produce 20 million Jin of snail powder ingredients such as sour bamboo shoots and sour beans a year." Huang Yanzhi, head of Baisha Acid Factory, said.
Baisha Acid Factory is an acid processing area in the core demonstration area of Liuzhou snail powder industry. Liuzhou snail powder industrial park is also located in this demonstration area. So far, 38 enterprises have settled in and put into production, with an average daily output of more than 3 million bags.
"In recent years, Liuzhou has promoted ‘ Snail powder+tourism ’ Deep integration, Liuzhou snail powder industrial park tourist scenic spot and snail powder characteristic town were rated as national 4A-level scenic spots, further extending the industrial chain. " Li Bin said.
On December 18, 2020, Liuzhou held a press conference that the production and sales of bagged snail powder in Liuzhou exceeded 10 billion yuan. Vice Mayor Meng Qipeng announced at the meeting that Liuzhou achieved the goal of 10 billion yuan in sales revenue of bagged snail powder and 10 billion yuan in sales revenue of supporting and derivative industries two years ahead of schedule. In the next five years, Liuzhou snail powder industry will move towards the industrial goal of 50 billion yuan. "The sales of packaged Liuzhou snail powder will exceed 20 billion yuan, and the sales of supporting and derivative industries will exceed 30 billion yuan."
How to take the road of the future and promote high-quality development? Wu Wei said that, as always, we will focus on regulatory norms and service support.
On the website of Liuzhou municipal government, more than 1600 pieces of information can be searched by typing "snail powder". There are not only "strict management" news such as carrying out special rectification of the industry, holding enterprise interviews, and reporting the results of sampling inspection, but also "deep love" news that the city and county governments and relevant departments have helped enterprises out.
"Last year, our company deducted 3,926,400 yuan from the input value-added tax of agricultural products according to the new method, which was 740,000 yuan more than the old method." Yao Hanlin said.
The "new method" in Yao Hanlin’s mouth means that from August 2019, Liuzhou snail powder manufacturing industry will implement the approved deduction method for the input tax of agricultural products value-added tax. "Generally speaking, snail powder enterprises need to deduct the input value-added tax of agricultural products, and there is no need to provide the VAT deduction certificate for purchasing agricultural products. Instead, the tax department will calculate the consumption rate of agricultural products in the current year according to the accounting data of the enterprise in the previous year. Deduct." Wu Chenggang, chief accountant of Liuzhou Taxation Bureau, State Taxation Administration of The People’s Republic of China, said that this move solved the problem of increasing tax burden caused by insufficient VAT deduction certificate for snail powder production enterprises to purchase agricultural products.
There are still many such "help" news: the municipal finance has invested a total of 450 million yuan to support the whole industrial chain of snail powder to become bigger and stronger; Liuzhou Vocational and Technical College established the snail powder industrial college to train talents for industrial development & HELIP; …
"All parties will work together to promote the optimization and upgrading of the whole industrial chain, and Liuzhou snail powder will usher in greater development." Optimistic about the industrial prospects, Chen Wei recently cooperated with others to develop a red sorghum rice flour, ready to return to the snail powder market.
Layout design: Wang Zheping