The Talos Keg or Space Keg developed by Talos. [Photo/WeChat account: tzfb001]

Taizhou might not be known for its beer, but the city is home to a company that plays a key role in ensuring that people around the world get to enjoy great tasting beer.

Headquartered in Yuhuan, a county-level city in Taizhou, Talos provides beer dispensing equipment and solutions to more than 3,600 customers in more than 80 countries around the world.

The company's signature product is the Talos Keg, or Space Keg, which hit the market in 2018 after three years of development. Talos sold 350,000 of these kegs in the first year after its launch, and the figure doubled in the second year before climbing to 1.55 million in 2021. Orders for this product currently account for nearly half of the company's total.

According to Qiu Diqing, president of Talos, the company spent over 30 million yuan ($4.61 million) to refine the design of this keg over the past three years. Besides being lighter and cheaper than common stainless steel beer kegs on the market, the beer stored in the Talos Keg also tastes better because of its unique design which ensures freshness.

A workshop of Talos, a leading supplier of draft beer dispensing equipment in China. Talos is based in Yuhuan, a county-level city in Taizhou. [Photo/WeChat account: tzfb001]

Qiu pointed out that the product has helped Talos secure a foothold in major beer markets including the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany.

Talos was not always involved in the beer industry. Twenty-five years ago, when the company was founded in the basement of Qiu's home, Talos only produced valves, faucets and electronic fittings. It was in 2008, when the financial crisis swept the globe, that Qiu realized the importance of developing products through independent research and development.

That same year, the businessman shifted his company's focus to producing draft beer equipment after noticing how this was still an untapped market segment in China.

Today, the company produces 65 percent of such equipment in China and is the holder of 224 patents. Designated a national high-tech company in China, Talos has even set up a provincial research institute for draft beer dispensing systems and led the drafting of some provincial standards for beer refrigeration. Talos claims to be the only enterprise in the world with a complete beer distribution industrial chain. 

The key to the company's astounding transformation and success, said Qiu, is innovation. He noted that Talos spends over 7.5 percent of its revenue on research and development every year.

"A devotion to one's craft will make him a master of it," said Qiu. "Being the best in a specific field is also what would earn you the world's respect."