Kebab king's bonanza
Highest bidder for temple fair stall prepares for Spring Festival with 60 tons of lamb
Selling kebabs might not sound like a big business. But the so-called kabab king is confident he will take in millions at Beijing's famous temple fairs during the Spring Festival.
He is, after all, the man made 10 yuan every second by selling Middle Eastern-style kebabs at previous temple fairs.
Gu Shengli - the king's real name - has placed the highest bid for a food stall at Ditan Park temple fair and Longtanhu Park temple fair respectively. Combined, the two locations cost him 534,000 yuan. The stall at Ditan is about 8 sq m.
Cost for a stall - 8 sq m - at the Ditan park celebration has grown exponentially from 21,000 yuan in 2004 to 300,000 this year.
Gu, who wears a red overcoat and a big mustache, agreed prices are "irrationally high", but said he is still confident of success.
Gu's kebab stall - No 18, which was said to be the best location in Ditan Park - brought in more than 300,000 yuan by selling 12,000 kebabs during last Spring Festival, when more than 1 million visitors flooded into the park over an eight-day period.
This year, Gu and his team have developed new products such as a do-it-yourself barbeque kit. The 100-yuan package includes uncooked kebabs and a small stove so visitors can cook their own or even have a barbeque at home.
He hopes the timing helps too.
"I am going to sell 10,000 big packages of do-it-yourself barbeque kebabs on the first day of the Lunar New Year, which happens to be Valentine's Day," Gu said.
Gu has stored 60 tons of lamb for the upcoming temple fairs where 20 staff will grill kebabs. He said he will also sell ostrich meat kebabs at 20 yuan per stick.
He charges 10 yuan for one stick of lamb kebabs and 20 yuan for big kebabs. "We offer quality meat. Just two sticks, you are full," he said.
A risk taker, Gu said he has not always been on the winning side of luck.
The Inner Mongolia native had to drop out of middle school at 15 to help his parents.
It was not until 1982 that he earned his kebab windfall.
At that year's Naadam Festival, the biggest festival in Inner Mongolia which is celebrated with wrestling, horse racing and archery, he was overwhelmed by the 20,000 yuan he earned from selling barbeque kebabs for the first time.
Energized with the success, he left Inner Mongolia to tour the country selling kebabs and now owns a meat processing plant in Beijing.
Gu has also owned several barbeque kebab outlets in various parts of the country and is now offering to share his "secret of success" with 100 people. He said he plans to help them "become millionaires".
Gu posted an advertisement on his website in November last year seeking to recruit 100 young people for full instruction on how to make and sell kebabs.
Currently, about 20 people have confirmed they will come to Beijing to join his seven-day training program during the Spring Festival. The youngest participant is 16 and the oldest, 60.
By providing them with free accommodation and training, he hopes more people can live out their dream of a better life.
"If you are poor, it doesn't matter. I just look for those young people who want to establish their own careers through diligence and hard work," he said.
Along with his barbeque staff, Gu has been expanding his kebab empire by attending nearly every big event nationwide, such as the International Beer Festival in Qingdao and the Agricultural Expo in Wuhan.
But Beijing's annual Spring Festival temple fairs remain primary events for him.
"I am lucky to celebrate the festival with people in Beijing by offering my kababs," he said.
