Master Kang’s founder Wei Yingzhou: The king of instant noodles called Carrefour

The dispute between Master Wang Kang of instant noodles and the cross-border retail giant Carrefour made Master Kong once more intensive in the spotlight of the media. “Master Kong” is famous in China, but his founder Wei Yingzhou is rarely known.

Although the Taiwanese, who are nearly 60 years old, are already gray-haired, they are very embarrassed. According to people around him, Wei Yingzhou’s ability to study and observe is strong and his work is a full workaholic. However, he is very low-key and rarely appears in public places. Rivers and lakes even rumored that he had received no media interview. Just like this, Wei Yingzhou, who likes to work hard, has created the "Master Kong" brand, and has also made "Master Kong" almost synonymous with instant noodles in China.

In the 1980s, Wei Yingzhou took over NT$10 million in assets and NT$10 million in liabilities from his father’s industrial estate in Taiwan. He started from “zero” and led three brothers to the mainland.

On August 21, 1992, he invested 8 million U.S. dollars to set up Tianjin Dingyi International Food Co., Ltd. in the Tianjin Development Zone. From then on, Master Kong was invincible in the instant noodle market in China. According to statistics, on average, every Chinese person eats 5 packages of Master Kong a year, and its market share is 47%. Master Kong's continuous expansion has made many instant noodles manufacturers in Henan a “head of the production of instant noodles” a headache. In May last year, many companies questioned Master Kong’s market monopoly.

Wei Yingzhou’s appetite was huge. He bought shelves and some channels in the primary and secondary markets in some provinces and cities; in the third and fourth-tier markets in small cities and rural areas, he paid “1 yuan per package” to the countryside for the “going to the countryside”. "In order to suppress other brands. No matter which trick is to see blood sealing throat, under the strong offensive of Master Kong, many local instant noodle companies have almost no survival space.

It can be foreseen that Wei Yingzhou’s strength can be foreseen. This dispute between Master Kong and Carrefour is not surprising. When Carrefour refused Master Kong's request for price increases for instant noodles, Master Kong used the method of stock-out to “fight back”. Because Master Kong, which monopolizes half of the instant noodle market in China, has this strength, Wei Yingzhou, which has “aircraft carriers” for convenience foods, drinks, cakes, Western-style fast food and retail, also has such a strength.

Wei Yingzhou, who came from Taiwan, has a very heavy feeling of the Chinese nation. He believes that it was reform and opening up that allowed him and other Chinese to make a fortune. While the company is making profits, he has been thinking about it: Wealth comes from society and how we can give back to society. Today, he has set up 19 "New Hope Schools" in poverty-stricken areas in more than a dozen provinces and cities across the country. The group has also invested 5 million yuan to establish a "top fund" to help children in the mountains.

Today Wei Yingzhou spent more than 300 days a year in Tianjin TEDA Development Zone for more than 300 days. This has become his second hometown. He has also become a successful example of Taiwanese investment in the mainland.