In the Tsuen Wan Industrial Zone, there is a 20,000-square-foot chocolate factory. The company's name is Multizen (Shanlong Foods).
Consumers may not be impressed because the company mainly produces chocolate and bakery products, but since the establishment of the factory 6 years ago, there have been more than 100 brands, star-rated hotels and restaurants in Hong Kong, and the company's mainland plants are Hershey's and Godiva. Big brands such as Mars and Mars produce chocolate. The total annual revenue of companies in China, Hong Kong and the United States reaches 130 million U.S. dollars (about 1.014 billion Hong Kong dollars).
The founder of the company, Li Chengdong (Tommy) is not a dessert master. He studied industrial engineering at Cornell University (Cornell University), a prestigious American university, and listened to the "Cornell University". How did he get into the industry?
Multizen opened a 20,000-square-foot chocolate factory in Tsuen Wan to produce chocolate and other foods for many brands and hotels.
(Photo by Yu Junliang)
Not accustomed to workplace culture for $20,000 to start a business
Li Chengdong said that after graduation, he worked in the United States for several years, but he did not agree with the culture of large companies. What a waste!" After returning to Hong Kong, I found a job for a small and medium-sized enterprise company but failed. "Because my university is not bad, after seeing my resume, people asked me what I wanted to do and thought I was playing with it!"
If you can't be a wage earner, you can become a boss.
Li Chengdong recalled that he started his business in 1993, under 30 years old, with US$20,000. At first, he received orders from Japanese customers and produced small toys in chocolate eggs (similar to Kinder eggs). It went well, 20,000 changed to 40,000, 40,000 changed to 80,000, and slowly earned the first pot of gold."
Later, a Japanese customer suggested that Li Chengdong produce chocolate shells. He went to Italy to find a food foundry to produce chocolate shells. Together with toy packaging, it was a trading company in disguise. It was not until 2000 that factories were set up in Shenzhen to produce candy and Shanghai to make chocolate. 2006 This year, it moved to Nantong, Jiangsu Province to open a 550,000-square-foot factory. The factory can now produce 1 million chocolates (approximately 15 tons) per day. Mainland customers include major brands such as Hershey's, Mars and Godiva.
Li Chengdong wants to prove that Hong Kong's reindustrialization is possible.
(Photo by Yu Junliang)
Entrepreneurship is sweet with bitterness, hoping to use the action card to re-industrialize Hong Kong energy
Everything sounds smooth, but starting a business is like eating a bite of chocolate, with bitterness in sweetness.
After trying the first bucket of sweetness, Li Chengdong pursued his victory and set up a factory in the United States in 2003 and began to sell his own brand of candies, but eventually lost seven figures. After closing the American factory, he changed to a local American factory. After the merger, he acquired the factory in 2011.
"It is very difficult for Chinese to manage Americans all the time. We must return to local people to manage and return local talents to work!" Since then, Multizen has focused on foundry food, with revenues of US$130 million from three factories worldwide, of which chocolate accounts for revenue. 90%.
Even if it is a firm foothold in the mainland market, six years ago, Hong Kong "returned" to Hong Kong and invested 100 million Hong Kong dollars to open a factory. There are also friends "Wenty". , The collection of interest or rent a year is tens of millions of dollars!” But Li Chengdong, who has been a factory for many years, thinks that Hong Kong’s industry is too monolithic, and it seems that only real estate and financial industries can make money.
"A Hong Kong company has achieved the largest chocolate foundry factory in Greater China. I am proud to be a team... In the 1970s and 1980s, Hong Kong was prosperous because there were so many factories, but suddenly Hong Kong changed to real estate and finance. , You have to, the others seem to be unattended, but the financial support has so few people!"
The Tsuen Wan factory covers an area of 20,000 square feet and can produce 20,000 chocolates a day. Mooncakes are also produced during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
(Photo by Yu Junliang)
Multizen's Hong Kong business currently has an eight-digit annual business volume. After several years of losses, it is expected to break even this year, and it is even more likely to make money next year.
Li Chengdong said that he wanted to prove that Hong Kong's re-industrialization is possible and promising. He thanked the Hong Kong government for its support. Some large machines were also purchased through government funding. "We are the first batch of factories to return to Hong Kong from China. Can contribute to the Hong Kong economy and create jobs."
With the increasing number of orders, Li Chengdong said that mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival have to be rented in another warehouse. It is expected that there will be more and more orders from the Mainland in the next few years. He hopes to expand the factory in the future and even build an entire factory. It proves that investing in industry can be rewarded, and it is not a charity business. If you buy stocks for a few months, you will lose, and you may not necessarily lose when you do business!"