B.B. Brand Condiments (Mercy Foods Company)

Click to Access
OUTSIDE China
Click to Access
INSIDE China
TRAVEL LINKS
Xiamen Gulangyu
Jimei Tong'an
Jinmen Z hangzhou
Quanzhou Wuyi
#1Fujian Sites!
Fujian Foto Album
Books on Fujian
Readers'Letters
Ningde Zhouning
Longyan Sanming
Putian Bridges
Travel Info,
Hakka Roundhouses
Travel Agents

MISC. LINKS
Amoy People!
Darwin Driving
Amoy Tigers
Chinese Inventions
Tibet in 80 Days!
Dethroned!
Misc.Writings
Latest News
Lord of Opium
Back to Main Page

Kung Fu

AmoyMagic--Guide to Xiamen & Fujian
Copyright 2001-7 by Sue Brown & Dr. Bill Order Books Xiamenguide Forum
Main Page Business Links Recreation Links Google Search E-mail

The Super Sisters of B.B. Mercy Food Company!
慈光食品（厦门）有限公司台湾高级调味品系列
Click Thumbnails for larger images
Click Here to see Sweden's most popular sauce!
Click for B.B. Contact Info

Some people think that I love B.B. Brand condiments because B.B. stands for "Bill Brown," but actually "BB" is how "meimei" [美美"beautiful beautiful"] is pronounced in the Minnan dialect. And as I learned when I interviewed the manager, Ms. Louise Hou (侯满足), B.B. is a beautiful company indeed--and based right here in Xiamen.

Hot Idea B.B. was started by Mr. Wang Zheren (王哲仁) in 1993 but had its roots in his parents' hot sauce business, which they operated from their home. Zheren's parents emigrated from Xiamen to Taiwan during the war with the Japanese in the 1940s. They were so poor that they lived with another family, and eked out a living sewing clothes and selling snacks until they came up with a hot idea--homemade hot sauce.
Return to Main Page Back to Top

For decades they brewed their hot sauce at home and bottled it by hand. After Wang Zheren graduated from university (about 1975), he borrowed money from the bank, bought land in Tainan City's Anping Industrial District (台南安平工业区) and built a factory. His brother joined him in the business about three years later.

Returning Home In the early 1990s Taiwan began allowing businessmen to return to the Mainland, so Wang Zheren decided to return to Xiamen, which he had not seen since he was 7-years-old. His goals were to do business, as well as to help his hometown. So in 1993, Wang Zheren left his brother in charge of the Taiwan hot sauce business, set up shop in Xiamen, expanded the product line--and almost lost his shirt.

Rude Awakening Wang had been quite successful in Taiwan, but on the Mainland he lacked both reputation and relationships, both of which were crucial to survival.

Xiamen did not have much of a market in the early 90s (we didn't have one supermarket!), so Wang introduced his products to other provinces such as Jilin, Henan and Anhui. B.B. condiments were a hit, and Wang naively shipped his products to the buyers on consignment, only to have one after another happily accept the products but refuse to pay for them. He appealed in vain to various governments, and with B.B. on the verge of bankruptcy, he withdrew from all markets outside of Fujian and focused on Xiamen.
Return to Main Page Back to Top

Dreams of Germany B.B. was virtually broke, with no money for materials, packing, or shipping. They always just managed to pay workers, but there was nothing left over. Wang and his wife Louise were on the verge of tossing in the towel and returning to Taiwan when Zheren had an unusual dream in which he had been invited to a German dinner. The keqi (polite, reserved) Zheren ate only 3 courses. A few days after his dream, Zheren was asked to send B.B. samples to Germany--and the German buyer chose 3 B.B. products. The profits from exports to Germany saved the company.

Bigger Dreams. Zheren had yet another dream six months later. This time he attended a sumptuous German banquet, and this time around he was not keqi! He sampled every dish set before him. Shortly after this dream, a the German firm asked for samples of more products, so Zheren sent ten samples, and they accepted all ten products. Now B.B. had enough of a financial cushion to reconsider the Mainland market.

Tackling the Mainland Again. B.B.'s second encounter with Mainland Chinese markets was much more cautious, and it is now paying off. Their products are sold throughout Fujian Province, Beijing and Shanghai, as well as in Italy and Turkey, and the company is now eyeing the U.S. market. But just as B.B. seemed to be taking off, Wang Zheren passed away, leaving the firm in his wife's hands.
Return to Main Page Back to Top

Little Ship Capsizing On the morning of May 20th, 2000, while greeting a customer in Zhangpu, Wang Zheren collapsed, and died that night at 10 PM. Louise noted his mother also died on May 20th, 2000, at 10PM. She also said he'd dreamed about his death two years earlier, in 1998.

Wang Zheren dreamed he was on a small ship, which was beside a large ship, and the small ship capsized, tossing him into the sea. As he sank into the depths, he realized he could now swim--and he woke up. He interpreted the large ship to be the mainland, and the small ship to be Taiwan. Two years later, on May 20th, as Louise watched the news of Taiwan's KMT losing power, she thought of her husband's dream of the little ship capsizing. Louise said, "We prayed together that morning at 6AM, that day the little ship capsized, and by that evening he'd passed on."

Taking the Reins. Louise had not been involved in the company over recent years because, as she said, "We were both strong-minded and fought alot over how to run things--so I stayed out of it!" But Louise faced many challenges as she tried to take charge. She had to deal with books that didn't balance, taxes, and recruiting reliable help. At one point she was seriously considering letting the company fold and return to Taiwan with her daughter. But she and her sisters stuck it out--though they are even today struggling with the challenge of hiring, training and retaining qualified staff.
Return to Main Page Back to Top

Management Woes B.B. started out hiring university graduates but found that many tended to be unreliable or, worse, they learned all they could and then left B.B. to work for competitors or set up their own businesses. So B.B. decided to promote from within, training workers for management positions. "We know them this way and can trust them," Louise said. "We wanted talented, knowledgeable and honest people, but the workers' education was not high so it was difficult to train them. And we found men were 'bossier' and more likely to take what they learned from us and job hop. Women were less likely to learn and leave."

[Note: In spite of B.B.'s preference for promotion from within, the firm is now seeking educated people for some key positions. E-mail Louise for info at: bbmercy@163.com ]

Moving Experience As if Louise and her sisters had not gone through enough trials, in 2006 the Xiamen government told B.B. they had to relocate--immediately. When Louise asked for one year's grace period to build a new factory, she was told she had no time at all! She had to move ASAP so her factory could be razed to make way for new construction.
Return to Main Page Back to Top
Louise bought land across the bay in Longhai, thinking her factory would help the local economy, but the local contractors tried to exhort such exhorbitant profits that she abandoned that idea and sought another place to rent in Xiamen. Miraculously, a group of buildings only 100 meters away was safe from the bulldozers because the military owned it. She signed a lease agreement and in one week moved the entire factory! But Louise is realistic. The military will eventually want to develop this prime real estate, so Louise is considering where B.B. will be 1 or 2 years down the road. One option is Tong'an, about half an hour north of Xiamen City, or perhaps Jiangsu Province, where a friend [Joshua Mo] is building a factory. "He's a genius," she said, "I could just use his brains, tell him what we need to build, and let him do it!"

B.B.'s Future? B.B. has made a name for itself, in both the Mainland and Taiwan, but its future is anything but certain. Yet Louise is not worried. She said, "After all I've gone through, I've learned to pray, to be calm, to be quiet, to let God make the decisions."
Return to Main Page Back to Top
Louise pointed to a framed calligraphic Christian inscription, 尊主为大 (Zunzhu Weida), and said, "I've seen that God must love me a lot--and He loves B.B. a lot too. So I tell my workers that God is the boss; I'm just the steward."

Contact B.B.
Xiamen Office: 0592 5931407 5930227
Shanghai Office: 021 64848361
Beijing Office: 010 81533598
E-mail: bbmercy@163.com B.B.Website: www.bbmercy.com