Chapter 158: Tasting Session (Updated) (Ch 818757192)

April 10th.
Hailufeng Company held a tasting event at the Peninsula Paris Hotel in the city.
Ten days ago, emails were sent to invite all the high-end restaurants, high-end Western pastry shops in Lingnan Province, as well as major domestic ice cream manufacturers.
Although nearly a thousand invitations were sent out, only 683 people agreed to attend the tasting.
Of course, this does not include the assistants these people brought with them.
All in all, thousands of people came to The Peninsula Paris today.
In order to hold this tasting event, the sales department booked the second and third floor halls of the Peninsula Hotel in Paris.
Chen Wei and Chen Jiajun, father and son, who had purchased white truffles from Hailufeng Company before, were the operators of a high-end restaurant. When they received the invitation from Hailufeng Company, they decided to come in person. When they heard that they were here to taste a new spiced strawberry, they brought two pastry chefs from the restaurant.
Come out of the elevator.
I saw a crowded scene.
Chen Wei also found many old acquaintances in the same industry.
“Is Boss Tian also coming to attend the tasting?”
Hearing the familiar voice, the pot-bellied Boss Tian turned around and found that it was the Chen family father and son. A smile that was invisible to the eyes appeared on his face: “Boss Chen, long time no see. Why haven’t I seen you go to Gujintang recently?”
“I had a cholecystectomy two months ago and have been recuperating at home for the past few months. It’s just the right time for me to bring my son here to see the world,” Chen Wei explained with a smile.
“Oh! As people get older, they have more health problems. I now have high blood pressure and high blood lipids.” Boss Tian sighed.
Chen Wei shook his head: “Let’s not talk about this anymore. Has the tasting started yet?”
“Let’s start. I’ll take you over to get your stuff.”
A group of people shuttled through the crowd.
After a while, they squeezed in to the tasting table.
The tasting table was filled with a variety of snacks and drinks.
There are various Western cakes, caramel pudding, ice cream, kolli, and cookies.
There are also Chinese-style mung bean cakes, chestnut cakes, and egg yolk cakes.
And various bottled drinks, including milkshakes, milk tea, honey water, coconut milk, and sour plum soup.
“Eat whatever you want. I’ve just tried it and it tastes very good.” Boss Tian picked up a bottle of iced sour plum soup and took a sip.
Chen Wei took a disposable plate and a set of disposable tableware from the waiter, and took a small piece of cake from the mountain of cake in front of him.
The two pastry chefs were not polite either.
“Huh?”
“What’s wrong, Master Yang?” Chen Jiajun had just picked up a bottle of honey water when he heard a surprised voice from one of the pastry chefs.
Master Yang did not answer immediately, but took another bite of the ice cream before confirming: “This vanilla ice cream actually uses natural vanilla seeds?”
“Really?” Chen Jiajun had also eaten vanilla ice cream made from natural vanilla. He took two steps at a time and came to the ice cream tasting table and asked the waiter to scoop a ball of ice cream for him.
After trying it, he found that it was indeed a very complex vanilla flavor, a rich fragrance that could not be replicated by artificial vanilla essence.
He also found that the amount of vanilla cream used in this ice cream could at least reach a very high concentration.
Li Du, the raw material purchasing manager of Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream Company, and the perfumer and seasoning chef sent by their company were also very shocked.
The person who spoke was the bald perfumer:
“Manager Li, this vanilla ice cream uses a very high amount of vanilla paste, which is roughly equivalent to about 0.6 to 0.7 grams of vanilla seeds per liter of ice cream, or 6 to 14 grams of vanilla paste.”
“Oh? How much vanilla cream do we use for our vanilla ice cream?”
“We use 1.5 grams of high-concentration vanilla paste per liter of ice cream, which is equivalent to 0.15 grams of vanilla seeds.” Another bespectacled seasoning chef whispered back.
In fact, the price of ordinary high-concentration vanilla paste is not high. If it is wholesaled in large quantities, it will cost about 700 to 800 yuan per kilogram.
Baskin-Robbins’ vanilla ice cream uses only 1.5 grams of vanilla paste per kilogram, which costs about one yuan.
Of course, using only 1.5 grams of high-concentration vanilla paste per kilogram of ice cream can only enhance the vanilla flavor a little. If you have a poor sense of taste, you may not even be able to tell the difference between natural vanilla and artificial flavors.
If you use a higher concentration like the vanilla ice cream in front of you, it can indeed enhance the diners’ taste experience, which is also one of the gimmicks of many high-end restaurants.
The bespectacled flavorist raised his eyebrows and said, “If our ice cream wants to achieve this concentration of flavor, we must use 10 grams of vanilla paste per kilogram of ice cream.”
Obviously, this amount of usage is not something that Baskin-Robbins can afford. After all, the retail price of 1 kilogram of their vanilla ice cream is only 33 yuan, and the wholesale price that distributors get is even lower, usually around 28 yuan.
1.5 grams of vanilla paste costs 1.125 yuan.
The cost of 10 grams of vanilla paste is 7.5 yuan.
This will significantly increase their costs and dilute their already low gross profit margins.
Therefore, Li Du and others do not think that this level of vanilla ice cream can be sold at a low price. If their company has the popularity of Haagen-Dazs, they can certainly use better raw materials, or higher concentration of vanilla paste, and then offset part of the cost of the raw materials through a high price.
Except for the people from Baxi Company.
People from Wuyang Ice Cream Factory, Meiji Ice Cream Company and Haagen-Dazs were also discussing in low voices the various snacks and drinks on the tasting table.
“Lao Wang, what do you think?” Zhang Lili, head of Wuyang’s purchasing department, put down the fork in her hand and looked at Master Wang, who was in charge of ice cream research and development.
Master Wang smiled bitterly and shook his head: “On their tasting table, these snacks and drinks all use vanilla paste, and it is used in high concentrations. Obviously, the products launched by Hailufeng Company this time are products like vanilla paste.”
“Vanilla cream?” Zhang Lili frowned.
Because their company does not use natural vanilla in its ice cream and popsicle products. After all, their products are positioned at a medium to low price. Using vanilla paste is too luxurious. Only by using cheap vanilla essence can they sell them at a low price.
However, Kudo Yinhao, the purchasing manager of Meiji Ice Cream Company, looked at the sample products in front of him thoughtfully. He turned his head and whispered a few words to his assistant and translator.
After a while.
His assistant came over with two employees from Hailufeng Company.
One of the employees was Watanabe Ken’o, who was previously taken in by Jiang Miao, and the other was Wang Zhixue, one of the deputy managers of the sales department.
“Hello, Mr. Kudo. I am Wang Zhixue, the deputy sales manager of Hailufeng Company. This is Watanabe Kenxiong, the translator from our company’s International Trade Office.”
Hearing Watanabe Ken’s name, Kudo Yinhao’s eyes flashed with surprise, but he immediately suppressed his curiosity and stretched out his hand to shake hands with Wang Zhixue: “Hello, Mr. Wang, I am Kudo Yinhao, the purchasing manager of Meiji Ice Cream Company. I would like to learn about the vanilla product that your company is about to launch.”
“Okay, let’s go to the business room on the fourth floor to discuss in detail.” Wang Zhixue led the way with a smile.
Come into the box.
Kudo Yinhao looked at the big iron box on the table curiously, then raised his head and asked, “Is this the vanilla product of your company?”
Wang Zhixue nodded, then pried open the lid, opened the sealed bag inside, and used a small spoon to scoop out a fingernail-sized amount of pandan strawberry powder.
Looking at the light pink powder, Kudo Yinhao had a strange expression on his face, but his nose smelled a highly concentrated vanilla scent: “It is indeed a vanilla scent, and it is very complex, but why is it in powder form? Shouldn’t it be in paste form?”
“Because our company uses another natural raw material, which is strawberry.” Wang Zhixue took out another sealed box, which contained Pandan strawberries that were frozen.
“Strawberry? Wang Sang, you said this is made of strawberries?” Kudo Yinhao widened his eyes.
As Wang Zhixue opened the sealed box, an even stronger vanilla scent filled the room. Fortunately, it was just one pill, so the smell was not too pungent.
If it is in a greenhouse, because a large number of pandan strawberries mature at the same time, and the closed space will cause the vanilla smell inside to exceed the standard, resulting in a smelly smell.
Kudo Yinhao approached the pandan strawberry and fanned it with his hand, and then he smelled the natural and strong vanilla scent, which is not a scent that can be easily imitated by artificial flavors.
“Is this a new variety? Could it be genetically modified?”
Wang Zhixue shook his head: “No, this is the genetic test report. Our company does not use genetically modified strawberries as raw materials.”
Kudo Yinhao just took a look at the genetic test report. Since it involved a lot of professional terms, he didn’t quite understand it. But he was not too worried. After all, since the other party dared to sell it, they naturally would not be afraid of other companies taking the product for GMO testing.
“I am naturally confident in your company’s products.”
Wang Zhixue poured the powder onto a small dish. As the powder was spread, the vanilla flavor became more pronounced. He then began to introduce it:
“At present, our product is available in 5 kg specifications, and the unit concentration is equivalent to that of vanilla seeds, which is about 10 times the concentration of ordinary high-concentration vanilla paste.”
“10 times the concentration?” Kudo Yinhao stared at the light pink powder on the small plate: “How much is it?”
Wang Zhixue smiled and quoted a price: “3,500 yuan per kilogram.”
“3,500 yuan per kilogram? According to the concentration, it is equivalent to 350 yuan for 1 kilogram of vanilla paste.” Kudo Yinhao thought about it.
In terms of cost-effectiveness, the price is 50% cheaper. In terms of effect, he has just tried various snacks and drinks made with this strawberry powder. Even though he and several colleagues tasted them carefully many times, they still did not find any obvious difference.
This is enough to make this strawberry powder a successful substitute for vanilla paste, and since it is produced from strawberries, its production difficulty must be much simpler than that of pandan pods, and it is very likely to be mass-produced.
Therefore, after thinking about it, Kudo Yinhao began to take the opportunity to lower the price: “3500 is too high. Your strawberry powder should be able to be mass-produced, right?”
However, Wang Zhixue smiled and shook his head: “Our company does not plan to mass-produce. Currently, we only produce about 100 tons of pandan strawberry powder every month, so the price of 3,500 yuan per kilogram is the only price.”
The market research department of Hailufeng Company has already conducted relevant research.
The current production process of vanilla paste is to produce 10 kg of vanilla paste from 1 kg of vanilla seeds, and 1 kg of vanilla seeds requires about 3.5 kg of pandan pods.
The cheapest pandan pods cost about 1,600 yuan per kilogram, which means that the cost of 1 kilogram of vanilla seeds is about 5,600 yuan. With the processing fee, the cost is 5,700 yuan per kilogram.
Vanilla seeds are further processed to form vanilla paste, which has a production cost of about 600 yuan per kilogram.
The vanilla paste that costs 700 to 800 yuan per kilogram has a gross profit of only about 100 yuan per kilogram.
After research, the market research department believes that the price of pandan strawberry powder should be maintained at 3,500 yuan per kilogram. Due to its concentration, it is almost equivalent to the sales price of vanilla paste at 350 yuan per kilogram, that is, half price.
It can not only ensure profits, but also avoid causing a devastating disaster to the pandan pod industry in other regions.
After all, European and American companies only pay a maximum purchase price of 1,500 yuan per kilogram in the origin of vanilla pods such as Madagascar. This is the price for the highest quality vanilla pods. The medium quality ones are 600 to 1,000 yuan per kilogram, and the worst ones are 300 to 600 yuan per kilogram.
Kudo Yinhao secretly cursed the Hailufeng Company for being cunning and unscrupulous.
They clearly have the capability to produce on a large scale, but in order to obtain high profits, they deliberately slow down production.
With a monthly production of 100 tons, even if it is equivalent to 1,000 tons of vanilla paste, it will not completely impact the market.
After all, this is a monopoly industry. Even if Meiji Ice Cream Company doesn’t buy it, other ice cream manufacturers will also buy it.
After all, the price advantage is there.
In order to reduce costs and increase efficiency, and also to compete with other peers, all ice cream companies that use natural vanilla as a gimmick will follow suit, otherwise they may be eliminated by the market.
Kudo Yinhao had no choice but to accept the price: “Mr. Wang, your company is really amazing! Give me 50 kilograms of samples, I need to send them back to the headquarters for product debugging.”
“No problem.” Wang Zhixue smiled and shook hands with the other party again.
After Kudo Yinhao left.
The business manager sent by Niupai Company, one of the three largest dairy companies in China, also came over.
Apparently there were quite a few smart people attending the tasting.
Niu Pai Company also bought a sample from Wang Zhixue and sent it back to the Mo Nan headquarters as quickly as possible, preparing to try using this raw material to replace vanilla paste. Of course, they will also conduct a detailed study on the ingredients of pandan strawberry powder to prevent Hailufeng Company from hiding any harmful ingredients in it.
Afterwards, several large chain pastry companies ordered dozens of kilograms of pandan strawberry powder.
I didn’t realize it until I saw the other participants.
Wang Zhixue knew he had to play.
On the big stage behind the tasting table, Wang Zhixue clapped his hands with the microphone: “Dear guests! Good morning, everyone.”
After hearing the broadcast, many guests stopped what they were doing and looked towards the big stage.
“I am Wang Zhixue, deputy sales manager of Hailufeng Company. I am very honored to invite friends from all over the world to participate in this tasting event today.”
As Wang Zhixue’s voice echoed in the hall, everyone’s attention shifted to him, or rather, these guests all wanted to know what Hailufeng Company’s so-called new product was.
Some of those who had already guessed it also remained silent, waiting quietly for what would happen next.
“You may be wondering why we haven’t brought out new products for everyone to taste, but in fact everyone has already tasted them.”
As soon as he finished speaking, many people who were confused just now showed expressions of sudden enlightenment, and they turned their eyes to the tasting table in front of the stage.
“Our company will soon launch pandan strawberry powder to the market. This is a brand new spice, and its taste is highly similar to natural pandan pods. The wholesale price is 3,500 yuan per kilogram. Customers who want to know more can come to the tasting table to get product introductions and samples.”
Li Du, head of the purchasing department of Baxi Company, had a thoughtful look on his face while his assistant went to the tasting table and received a product brochure and a small bag of pink powder.
Others also became interested.
As product brochures were taken away one by one, the discussion in the hall became more and more heated.
The bespectacled compounder of Baxi Company raised his glasses and said, “Manager Li, if the concentration is 10 times that of vanilla paste, 3,500 yuan per kilogram is acceptable.”
Li Du came back to his senses at this time: “I know, it seems that Meiji Ice Cream and Niu Brand Company have already contacted Hailufeng Company. We must take action and not fall behind other companies.”
Wang Dehua, the business manager of Haagen-Dazs, who had been maintaining his aloof demeanor just now, also had a look of surprise and doubt on his face.
At the same time, he secretly cursed the Hailufeng Company for being incompetent. You know, their Haagen-Dazs vanilla paste is directly purchased from vanilla pods originating from Madagascar.
Now that Hailufeng Company has sold so much vanilla strawberry powder that can replace vanilla pods at once, it is almost imaginable that in the next period of time, major ice cream companies around the world will definitely go crazy on their vanilla series products.
Even Haagen-Dazs, a luxury brand of popsicles and ice cream, would feel the increased pressure.
Because competitors have obtained cheaper raw materials, if Haagen-Dazs still uses the previous Madagascar vanilla paste, it will reduce Haagen-Dazs’ competitiveness.
Of course, Haagen-Dazs can also declare that vanilla ice cream made with pandan pods is real vanilla ice cream to maintain its luxury brand.
But whether consumers will pay for it is another matter.
After all, consumers will vote with their feet if they can get products of similar quality at relatively cheap prices.
The personality of a luxury product needs to show unique characteristics.
Otherwise, things that everyone can afford are not worthy of being called luxury goods.
When a luxury brand loses its luxury persona, it is not far from its demise.
To some extent, Hailufeng Company’s pandan strawberry powder is causing an industry reshuffle in the vanilla ice cream product industry.
Zhang Lili, the head of the purchasing department of Wuyang Ice Cream Company, who had shown little interest just now, had already come to the fire escape stairwell and called the general manager of her own company to report the current situation.
Many ice cream companies that have not used natural vanilla as a raw material before are also considering whether to develop a new product to enter the high-end market.
As time goes by.
The management of all major ice cream companies knew that Hailufeng had developed a new flavor that could be used to replace natural vanilla paste.
The ensuing scene was that the 5 tons of pandan strawberry powder currently in stock was sold out.
Although all the products are taken back for new product research, there are dozens of major ice cream companies alone, plus large catering companies and Western pastry shops, and 5 tons of products are only enough for them to make samples.