＊ Wowprime Group ＊
Profile ( until 2009 )
Established: 1993
Employees: Over 5,400 pers.
Paid-in Capital: NT$518 million
Brands: 10
- Wang Steak王品牛排
- Tasty Steak 西堤牛排
- Taoban House 陶板屋和風創作料理
- Yuanshao Roast Restaurant原燒優質原味燒肉
- Gi Hokkaido Kelp Hot Pot聚北海道昆布鍋
- ikki New Japanese Cuisine 藝奇新日本料理／ikki懷石創作料理
- Chamonix French Style Teppanyaki 夏慕尼新香榭鐵板燒
- Pintian Japanese Pork 品田牧場日式豬排
- 12 Sabu 一石二鍋／石頭鍋
- FengHua Hot Pot (China only) 豐滑火鍋
http://www.wangsteak.com.tw/link.htm
Chain Stores: 119 (including 28 in China)
Locations: Taiwan, China
Sales: 2008 NT$4.66 billion → 2009 NT$5.23 billion (estimated)
Average annual sales growth over the past 5 years: 17.5%
CEO & His Motto
※從小故事中，可以重新思考，得到自我啟發、解決問題的力量！
他～主持會議時，沒有八股教條，都在講故事。
他～私下聊天時，沒有正經八百，都在講笑話。
他～IQ看似正常，但切入問題角度，卻很另類。
他～明明是公司最閒的人，卻辯稱授權徹底。
他～台大中文系畢業，卻錯別字百出。
他～全名戴勝益，王品集團董事長，誠懇而浪漫，感性又好玩。
※九條通：
1. 敢拼、能賺、愛玩。
2. 人生追求的三順序：健康第一、快樂第二、成功第三。
3. 多學一點、多做一點、多玩一點。
4. 思想要深入，生活要簡單，才有真正的快樂。
5. 生命要尊嚴，生活要精采。
6. 人生短暫，不能等待！實現理想，無可取代！
7. 企業的規模，取決於老闆的氣度；企業的長久，取決於老闆的品德。
8. 最大的成本是時間，最大的敵人是自己。
9. 演戲可以綵排，人生不能重來！
Core Value
1. 誠實 - 對人對事，以誠實為第一要務。對公司、同事、廠商、客戶、政府、家人誠實以待，而誠的態度是：既誠信又實在。
2. 群力 - 群策群力、團隊精神。確信 1+1+1=9 的正面連鎖反應。相信在群體的激勵之下，每一個人的潛能更能發揮到極致。
3. 創新 - 創意無限、行事成熟而不守舊。敢於向傳統挑戰，不迷信、不陳腐。任何決定以科學數字作分析。
4. 滿意 - 凡事要讓客戶滿意、讓公司滿意、讓周圍所有的人都滿意；當然，也要自我滿意。但此非自滿，而是自謙。
SOP Scheme
標準化運作機制方面，依照PDCA的管理循環來落實與不斷的改善。
在計畫（Plan）方面，各種制度標準由總部各部門計畫與制訂；
在執行（Do）方面，依據文管權責單位執行；
在評估（Check）方面，在稽核室設稽核小組，分每月、每季、每半年進行內部稽核，並評分；
在處置（Action）方面，中常會每週五召開會議，追蹤成效。
Code of Conduct
1. 遲到者，每分鐘罰NT$100。
2. 公司沒有交際費。( 特殊狀況需事先呈報 )
3. 上司不聽耳語，讓耳語文化在公司絕跡。
4. 被公司挖角禮聘來的高階同仁( 六職等以上 )，禁止再向其原任公司挖角。
5. 高階同仁「擴大視野」目標：每年在世界各地完成100家餐廳的用餐經驗。
6. 中常會和二代菁英，每天需步行10000步。
7. 迷信六不：不放生、不印善書、不問神明、不算命、不看座向方位、不擇日。
8. 少燒金紙：每次拜拜金紙費用不超過NT$100。
9. 對外演講每人每月總共不得超出二場。
10. 演講或座談會等酬勞，當場捐給兒童福利聯盟文教基金會。
11. 公務利得之紀念品或禮品，一律歸公，不得私用。
12. 可以參加社團，但不得當社團負責人。
13. 過年時，不需向上司拜年。
14. 上司不得接受下屬為其所辦的慶生活動。( 上司可以接受的慶生禮是一張卡片、一通電話或當面道賀 )
15. 上司不得接受下屬財物、禮物之贈予。( 上司結婚時，下屬送的禮金或禮物不得超出NT$1,000 )
16. 上司不得向下屬借貸與邀會。
17. 任何人皆不得為政治候選人。
18. 上司禁止向下屬推銷某一特定候選人。
19. 選舉時，董事長不得去投票。
20. 購車總價不超出150萬元。
21. 不崇尚名貴品牌。
22. 不使用仿冒品。
23. 辦公室夠用就好，不求豪華派頭。
24. 禁止作股票，若要投資是可以的，但買進與賣出的時間，需在一年以上。
25. 個人儘量避免與公司往來的廠商作私人交易。
26. 除非是非常優秀的人才，否則勿推薦給你的下屬任用。
27. 除非是非常傑出的廠商，否則勿推薦給你的下屬採用。
etc.
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Wowprime on the Move
Taiwan's Top Restaurant Group Looks Abroad
Learning from its failed experience in the U.S., the Wowprime Group is now turning to partnerships to extend its steak empire in Taiwan to Southeast Asia.
◎ by Monique Hou
From: CommonWealth Magazine
Published: December 24, 2009 (No.437)
Taoban New Style Japanese Cuisine, one of the leading brands of Taiwan's biggest restaurant group, Wowprime Corp., will make the group's first foray into Southeast Asia next year when it opens a restaurant in Bangkok.
That day will come a decade before Wowprime Chairman Steve Day had originally planned, but Day will at least have his company's failed move into the United States market as a guide. One of the lessons learned: minimize risk by staying small. Wowprime will hold only a 30 percent stake in the new Bangkok establishment.
In 2000, Day's flagship high-end Wang Steak brand had reached its ceiling in Taiwan. Expansion was at a standstill, and because of Taiwan's slumping economy at the time, sales fell 24 percent. To generate growth, Wowprime unfurled a two-pronged strategy: launching a campaign to develop new brands domestically and expanding into the U.S. market.
"If the reaction in the United States were good, there would be no need to consider other countries in the following 10 years. Concentrating on the U.S. market would be enough," Day dreamed at the time.
In Taiwan, the company's branding campaign generated new brands with distinct styles covering specific niches, such as the mid-market steak house Tasty Steak, Taoban, and the higher-end Gi Hokkaido Kelp Hot Pot. But in the U.S., Wang Steak tasted failure, only opening one restaurant, the Porterhouse Bistro in Beverly Hills, over five and a half years.
Wen Chao-Tung, a professor in National Chengchi University's Graduate Institute of Technology and Innovation Management, observes that the service sector in the U.S. is more mature than in Taiwan, "so even if Wang Steak had a good reputation in Taiwan, it was only average in the U.S." The restaurant ended up being sold at a loss of NT$120 million.
Two Lessons Learned in America
Day learned two important lessons from his failed U.S. venture.
Lesson one: Competition in the restaurant business comes down to culture. In expanding abroad, one needs a relative advantage in terms of culture.
"I believe Southeast Asia is our best market," Day says, because Taiwan's level of development surpasses that of Southeast Asia, just as Japan's surpasses Taiwan's. "When choosing a brand, local agents normally opt for one reflecting a culture more refined than their own. Chinese restaurant brands have failed in Taiwan because their culture is not up to ours."
Lesson two: When moving into somebody else's territory, only by "grafting" a new plant can flowers thrive everywhere.
"The only way every brand can gain a foothold in every country or every city is by relying on somebody else," Day says. "I had always believed that you had to do things yourself when expanding abroad, soliciting outside investors for at most a 20-30 percent stake in the business. But now it's the reverse. I have partners take a 70-90 percent stake. That way, as soon as our strategy changes, I don't have to be limited to one country. If I was doing everything on my own, I would have to build a brand in one place for eight years before daring to start up in a second location."
In his reliance on "grafting" to blossom in an already established foreign territory, Day has one simple condition in selecting a partner: the company must rank in the top three in the sector in the country. "They understand the local market. If they choose our brand, I will authorize them to represent it and will provide education and training support and give them an IT system. They will work very hard because if by chance the business loses money, they will lose the lion's share while I lose a smaller amount."
But if a potential partner in a foreign market is already in the top three in their industry, why bother working with Wowprime? "First, all the chains in Southeast Asia sell fast food. There are very few real restaurants that have experience running a chain. Second, Wowprime's training program, management system and purchasing model are the best of their kind in Asia. Nobody else has been able to reach our size or proficiency."
Wowprime's Cost Advantage
The world's largest restaurant group outside of the fast food sector is Ruth's Hospitality Group Inc., best known for its Ruth's Chris Steak House. The group had revenues of about NT$13.4 billion in 2008, less than twice that of Wowprime.
Leveraging its impressive size, Wowprime relies on purchasing advantages and cash discounts to keep its food materials as a percentage of overall costs 20-40 percent lower than its competitors. It is already the largest importer of beef in Taiwan, and, with the help of cash discounts, its cost of goods is at least 10 percent below that of its main rivals.
"That's the threshold for entry. If you do not buy the best, in big quantities and cheaply, you're finished if you get involved in this business," Day says. By making joint purchases with Wowprime and having their orders delivered separately, the company's Southeast Asian partners immediately save at least 10 percent on their beef purchases.
Also, Wowprime does not exclude second floor or basement locations in choosing store sites, lowering the group's rental costs as a percentage of total costs to half that of other restaurant chains.
"For essentially the same thing that Japanese restaurants might sell for up to US$40, we sell for US$20. Other Taiwanese rivals cannot compete with our prices either, so their only option is to run short-term promotions. But our prices have been like this for a long time. That's one of our key strengths," Day says.
"Our systematic training is what sets us apart, and it represents a high threshold that we have built up," Day says.
Eleven years ago, when the group's executive director of training, Samson Chang, joined the company from McDonald's, Wang Steak had only two employee manuals: one on cleaning procedures and the other on customer service.
"They were really thin, only a little over 10 pages. When I saw them, I thought to myself, ‘how can this be enough?'" Chang recalls.
So he introduced McDonald's standard operating procedures to the group, and today Wowprime has more than 40 manuals on operating procedures. The thickest, over 200 pages long, covers even the most minor details, from telling employees that "earrings cannot extend beyond one's ear" to instructing waiters when serving food to "lift the plate cover in the direction of the customer 45 degrees and hold it there for one second before taking it away to let the customer enjoy the smell of the food and create a sense of curiosity and anticipation."
Also, these 40 manuals are also used as the core of 70 annual classes held internally. Promotions are determined entirely on one's scores and attendance in the classes.
Holding on to Talent
The base salary of Wowprime restaurant employees is at least 20 percent higher than their peers in the industry, but 70 percent of their pay comes from the company's generous profit-sharing plan. Twenty-one percent of the monthly profits of each group brand (which operate financially as independent entities) are distributed to their respective employees, and at the end of the year, those same employees share 50 percent of their brand's net profits.
This pushes the compensation of Wowprime restaurant employees to nearly double that of their peers. Kuo Yu-yu, a 28-year-old who started with the company six years ago as an hourly worker and has now become a supervisor, earns nearly NT$700,000 a year.
Day only holds 20 percent of Wowprime's equity. The rest is distributed to his managers. "There isn't anything I won't do to hold on to talented people," he says.
Aside from Taoban opening a branch in Bangkok next year, discussions are also underway to extend the brand to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
"The Southeast Asia restaurant market is about four times the size of Taiwan's," Day says. If the strategy of "grafting" new partnerships succeeds, combined with rapid expansion in China and opening smaller stores in second- and third-tier cities in Taiwan, Wowprime sales could break NT$10 billion in 2011 and it could accomplish its goal of going public in 2012.
Wowprime failed in transplanting its Taiwan model in the United States. It has been successful in China but is finding that employees there are not of the caliber of their Taiwanese counterparts, making it impossible to precisely recreate the corporate culture and profit-sharing system that exists in Taiwan. If Day's dream of building an international brand is to come true, he will have to succeed beginning next year in Southeast Asia, perhaps his last opportunity for internationals expansion.
Section I
Q1: What’s your favorite restaurant in Wowprime Group? Why?
Q2: As everyone knows, Wowprime Group provide VIP service for each customers (賓至如歸之感) ! Do you have any unforgettable experiences? Share with us.
Q3: Suggestions are the more the better ! Do you have any constructive advices for Wowprime Group?
If N/A, congratulate to Mr. Dai ! but now ~ try to be him … … so "you" will propose to open which types of restaurants in the future?
Section II
Q4: Which mottos from Mr. Dai do inspire you? Why? Any stories?
Q5: In your point of view, what are Wowprime Group’s “KSF (Key Successful Factors，關鍵成功因素)? Wrap-up in your group.
********************************************************************************************************************************************
Agenda:
6:45 ~ 7:00pm Greetings & Free Talk / Ordering Beverage or Meal / Getting Newcomer’s Information
7:00 ~ 7:10pm Opening Remarks / Newcomer’s Self-introduction / Grouping
(Session I)
7:10 ~ 7:50pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
7:50 ~ 8:10pm Summarization (20 mins)
8:10 ~ 8:25pm Regrouping / Instruction Giving / Taking a 10 Minutes Break (Intermission)
(Session II)
8:25 ~ 9:05pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
9:05 ~ 9:25pm Summarization (20 mins)
9:25 ~ 9:30pm Concluding Remarks / Announcements ********************************************************************************************************************************************
聚會日期：列於該貼文主題內
聚會時間：當天請準時於 6:45 pm 到達 ~ 約 9:30 pm 左右結束
星期三聚會地點：丹堤濟南店
地址、電話：台北市濟南路三段25號 地圖 (02) 2740-2350
捷運站：板南線 忠孝新生站 3 號出口
走法：出忠孝新生站 3 號出口後，沿著巷子(忠孝東路三段10巷)走約 2 分鐘，到了濟南路口，左轉走約 2 分鐘即可看到。
最低消費： 80 元
注意事項：
1. 文章是否需要列印請自行斟酌，但與會者請務必自行列印 Questions for discussion。
2. 與會者請先閱讀過文章，並仔細想過所有的問題，謝謝合作！
給新朋友的話：
1. 請事先準備 2~3 分鐘的英語自我介紹；會議結束前可能會請你發表 1~2 分鐘的感想。
2. 請事先閱讀文章以及主持人所提的討論問題，並事先寫下自己所欲發表意見的英文。
3. 全程以英語進行，參加者應具備中等英語會話能力，對任一討論問題，能夠以 5 到 10 句英文表達個人見解。
4. 在正式加入之前，可以先來觀摩三次，觀摩者亦須參與討論。正式加入需繳交終身會費 NT$1,000。
