China Business Daily (Reporter Zhou Ziyu) A few days ago, a reporter from China Business Daily learned from the sales staff when visiting an offline store of Yanzhiwu in Beijing that Yanzhiwu products have anti-aging properties, improve immunity, improve sleep, and relieve asthma. and other multiple effects.
But in fact, the true efficacy of bird's nest has always been a mystery, and issues such as "collection of IQ tax" and "exaggerated publicity" by bird's nest enterprises have also frequently appeared in the newspapers.
Not long ago, Xiamen Yanzhiwu Bioengineering Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Yanzhiwu) announced its prospectus. If it wants to impact the capital market, will its IPO road be affected by various external doubts?
Salespeople stress that bird's nest has properties such as asthma relief and anti-aging
"Bird's nest has too many effects, it doesn't matter who is suitable for it, from babies over four months old to the elderly who can benefit from eating bird's nest. Children can improve immunity, women can improve skin condition, and the elderly can eat bird's nest. Improve sleep, asthma patients can eat to improve respiratory conditions." A salesperson of an offline store of Yanzhiwu in Xicheng District, Beijing introduced to a reporter from China Business Daily.
In the salesperson's view, the reason why bird's nest is so effective is that bird's nest itself is the saliva of swallows, and the main component is sialic acid, which contains many nutrients, including a variety of proteins, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals.
"Animal saliva is already rich in nutrients. As the saying goes, the nutritional value of four-legged animals is not as good as that of two-legged animals, and the nutritional value of two-legged animals is not as good as that of flying in the sky, which shows the preciousness of swallow saliva."
A salesperson from another Yanzhiwu store in Xicheng District, Beijing also stated similar content to a reporter from China Business Daily, "Bird's nest can fight free radicals, anti-aging, and enhance body resistance."
A salesperson from a Yan's House store in Dongcheng District, Beijing told a reporter from China Business Daily that the main effect of bird's nest is to enhance human immunity.
"We can't claim that it has healing properties, but in fact it does help with asthma and other diseases. My children usually don't take medicine when they have a mild cough. Just a few bowls of bird's nest can help."
In addition, the sales staff of the above-mentioned stores in Xicheng District, Beijing also introduced the "secret" to the reporter of China Business Daily that their products can be stored at room temperature and do not need to be stored in the refrigerator.
He said that most of the bird's nest products currently on the market need to be stored in the refrigerator, while the instant bird's nest of Yan's House does not need to be stored in the refrigerator and can be stored at room temperature, thanks to the professional sterilization and stewing technology of Yan's House. .
"At present, many bird's nest products on the market are stewed in large pots. The stewing technology of Yanzhiwu is different from that of these products. It adopts a unique professional sterilization and stewing technology, and there are no harmful substances in high temperature stewing. This allows the product to be stored at room temperature for a long time without additives and preservatives," said the above salesperson.
The above-mentioned salesperson of the Yanzhiwu store in Dongcheng District, Beijing explained to the China Business Daily reporter that, unlike the cauldron stewing technique used in freshly stewed bird's nest, the Yanzhiwu's bird's nest is stewed together with the bowl, so the product can be cooked at room temperature. Condition for 18 months.
Regarding how Yanzhiwu views the effectiveness of the sales staff in the store and the real efficacy of bird's nest, a reporter from China Business Daily called Li Youquan, executive director and CEO of Yanzhiwu, but as of press time, the other party did not answer. When answering the reporter's call, he also said that he would hang up the phone if something happened.
Caught in the question of "collecting IQ tax" and "exaggerating propaganda"
In fact, the true efficacy of bird's nest has always been a mystery.
Questions from the outside world about the "IQ tax" and "exaggerated propaganda" of bird's nest enterprises have always been heard.
For example, in November 2020, Wang Hai, a well-known anti-counterfeiter, cracked down on Simba's bird's nest, saying that the bird's nest displayed by Simba in his apprentice's live broadcast room was not a real bird's nest, but a gel synthesized from sodium alginate and calcium lactate, which was a blatant fraud behavior.
Although this incident ended with Simba's bird's nest refunding one for three, but the controversy over the true nutritional value of bird's nest has not ended.
Yan's House, a leading bird's nest company that has invited celebrities such as Zhao Liying, Carina Lau, and Lin Chi-ling, has become the focus of outside attention.
In May 2021, Yanzhiwu put out the advertising slogan "I heard that it is better to eat bird's nest when pregnant", saying that long-term consumption of its bird's nest series products can beautify the skin, enhance the body's immunity, improve morning sickness, and prevent colds, causing the outside world to " Exaggerated propaganda".
Li Youquan once said that the advertisement of the House of Swallows never directly stated that the bird's nest has any effect, so there is no consumption fraud.
"If consumers have their own feelings and understandings through advertising, we can't control them." This statement has aroused heated discussions in the outside world. Many people believe that there are many hints about health care effects in Yanzhiwu's advertising, and Celebrities such as Carina Lau also expressed on social platforms that the secret to their beauty and beauty is to eat bird's nest products from "The House of Swallows".
In addition, Tianyancha information shows that Beijing Yanzhiwu Yanwan Food Co., Ltd. has been punished twice by the State Administration for Market Regulation for using medical terms for publicity.
Regarding the effects of "improving skin, anti-aging, and relieving asthma" promoted by the staff of Yanzhiwu store to reporters, Ruan Guangfeng, director of the Science and Technology Communication Department of the Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center, told the reporter of China Business Daily that the behavior of promoting these effects, It is exaggerated propaganda.
In his view, the protein contained in bird's nest is mainly collagen, which is an incomplete protein and lacks the essential amino acid (tryptophan) required by the human body.
In addition, the current knowledge about the health effects of sialic acid is based on animal experiments, and there is not enough human experimental evidence.
"Even if there is evidence that sialic acid really has a lot of effects on the human body, bird's nest is not the only way to obtain sialic acid. Sialic acid is widely found in humans and animals (such as pig brain and other animal brains), not only in bird's nest. Yes. The human body can synthesize sialic acid by itself, and it does not need to be ingested through diet. Even if you want to ingest it, you can eat cheese or pig brain.” Ruan Guangfeng believes.
As for the sterilization and stewing technology of Yanzhiwu products, Zhong Kai, director of Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center, told a reporter from China Business Daily, "The technology is high-temperature sterilization and aseptic canned storage, which is very easy to achieve and There is not too high technical content.” Ruan Guangfeng also mentioned that the house of swallows adopts high-temperature sterilization technology, and its room temperature storage and low temperature preservation of freshly stewed bird’s nest are similar to room temperature milk and low temperature pasteurized fresh milk in the dairy industry.
A food researcher who did not want to be named told a reporter from China Business Daily that under normal circumstances, fresh stewed bird's nest still needs to be stored in the refrigerator, but canned products can be stored at room temperature without additives. Whether the technology is similar to canning.
Advertising costs are high
Recently, Yanzhiwu submitted a prospectus, intending to impact the capital market.
The prospectus shows that advertising expenses have always accounted for a high proportion of the company's revenue, and advertising has contributed a lot to the company's performance growth.
The data shows that from 2018 to 2020 and the first half of 2021, Yanzhiwu's revenue was 724 million yuan, 951 million yuan, 1.299 billion yuan, and 707 million yuan; net profit was 63 million yuan, 79 million yuan, and 122 million yuan, respectively. 100 million yuan, 64 million yuan.
In the same period, the sales expenses of Yanzhiwu were 234 million yuan, 308 million yuan, 317 million yuan and 169 million yuan respectively, accounting for 32.3%, 32.4%, 24.4% and 23.9% of the company's revenue respectively; among them, advertising The publicity expenses were 136 million yuan, 187 million yuan, 237 million yuan, and 122 million yuan, accounting for 18.78%, 19.66%, 18.24%, and 17.26% of the company's revenue, respectively.
A bird's nest industry practitioner in Jiangsu told a reporter from China Business Daily that the House of Bird's Nest has indeed invested a lot in advertising, but this is not a common phenomenon in the bird's nest industry. Most bird's nest companies are making products.
It is worth noting that Yanzhiwu also admitted in the prospectus that the company's revenue mainly comes from canned bird's nest products such as instant bird's nest at room temperature and fresh stewed bird's nest. According to the "National Economic Industry Classification", the company's industry is other canned food manufacturing. According to the "Guidelines for Industry Classification of Listed Companies (Revised in 2012)", the company's industry is C14 food manufacturing.
In other words, Yanzhiwu products are canned food in essence, not health food.
Advertising has made a great contribution to the growth of Yanzhiwu's performance.
Will Yan's House fall into doubts such as "exaggerated propaganda" and will affect its listing process?
Can its development model of over-reliance on advertising be sustainable?
In this regard, Lin Sisi, a researcher at Shenzhen Zhongwei Zhiyan Consulting Co., Ltd., told a reporter from China Business Daily that from the current information, there is a great possibility of "exaggerated publicity" in Yanzhiwu, and the company should produce authoritative investigation and scientific research results before listing. Make clear clarifications and explanations to the CSRC, otherwise this is likely to become an obstacle to its listing.
And Yanzhiwu's model of relying on advertising is not conducive to its listing and long-term development.
Listed companies should be valuable companies, not companies that rely on "gimmicks" and "publicity".
Liu Chang, chief analyst of the food and beverage industry of Tianfeng Securities, also told a reporter from China Business Daily that compared with other companies, the advertising expenses of Yanzhiwu do account for a relatively high proportion of the company's revenue, or because the bird's nest product itself still needs to be used for consumption. It may be difficult to reduce this proportion in the short term.
However, this phenomenon should not be the norm, nor is it conducive to the long-term sustainable development of enterprises.