Following the closure of the store and the war of words, the tea face is on the hot search again, this time because of the official price increase.
On January 5, Cha Yan Yue Xie announced on its WeChat public account that since January 7, 2022, most of the brand's milk tea products have risen by 1 to 2 yuan. The ace products "Youlan Latte" and "Sound Oolong" will be priced at 17 yuan and 16 yuan thereafter. And leisurely leisurely, floating half a day, kite paper kites this time will not increase prices.
Image source: Cha Yan Yue color official WeChat public account
Behind the closure of tea and the price increase, milk tea and baked pastries are also facing both price increases, and the days of other internet celebrity physical catering stores may not be good.
Whether it is the closure of stores, internal employees complaining about low monthly salaries, or the price increase this time, in the final analysis, it is still the company's low profit margin. In that well-known "war of words", the founder Lu Liang once revealed that the tea face yue color monthly loss of 20 million. Now after a small price increase, can the tea face be happy, can it really be in place in one step and save itself successfully?
Interestingly, after seeing the news of the price increase of tea, the first reaction of many netizens is that the wages of employees who are concerned about tea are not rising.
Raw materials are rising year by year, rising prices for the first time in five years
The new price of Tea Color is launched on January 7, 2022. "Everyone drank more than 16 yuan of Youlan for more than five years, 15 yuan of sound, and after January 7th, it will take 17 yuan and 16 yuan." Tea face is pleasantly colored.
Cha Yan Yue mentioned that it has been more than five years since the last overall price adjustment. The price has not been raised before, because the tea color has two advantages: one is the brand dividend, and the other is the procurement dividend brought by the expansion of the scale.
Regarding the reasons for the price increase, Tea Yan Yue said that raw materials and other costs on the market are rising year by year, and the dividends accumulated before cannot bear a series of superimposed costs.
Among them, the spontaneous support of customers and friends brought by the dividends of the brand itself allows the tea color to save a lot of marketing costs, and the company can sell a small profit and sell a lot of money; and after the scale of the tea color is larger, the cost advantage brought by a large number of centralized procurement is placed by the company on the use of better tea and other raw materials, "I hope that the works will give everyone a better consumer experience through quality upgrades." ”
However, after seeing the news of the price increase of tea, the first reaction of many netizens is to know, the price of the product has risen, and the wages of employees have risen? Regarding whether the price increase will be used for employee salary increases, Cha Yan Yue said in an interview with Blue Whale Finance that the price increase is mainly to cope with the general environment, as a catering company, the partner salary is still more laborious.
It is worth noting that on the evening of January 4, Xiangpiaopiao, which sells cups of milk tea, also announced a price increase, with the price increase of the main products ranging from 2% to 8%, and the new price will be implemented according to the price adjustment notice of each product from February 1, 2022.
Brewed milk tea faucet and new tea chains have both increased prices, and on the supply side, the good partners of milk tea shops, baking cakes, cream, condensed milk, etc. are also facing price increase pressure, and there has been a price increase.
On the evening of January 5, Ligao Foods, the "first share of baked goods" that provides Sam and Hema with net red mochi and Swiss rolls, announced that it will adjust the ex-factory prices of some major frozen baked goods and baking raw materials, ranging from 3% to 8%;
On January 4, Hairong Technology, the "first share of cream", said that the ex-factory price of some products was adjusted, and the increase range was 5%-8%. Previously, Panda Dairy also announced that it would adjust the ex-factory price of the company's main condensed milk-related products by 3%-10%.
Zhu Danpeng, an analyst in the Chinese food industry, told Caijing that other milk tea brands may also have price increases in the future. However, this price increase is a passive price increase caused by rising costs, and some milk tea brands with insufficient brand influence will not necessarily increase prices.
Under the tide of rising prices, where is the internet celebrity physical catering going?
Wen Heyou in Guangdong and Shenzhen has gone from shoulder to door, and wenheyou insiders in Guangzhou's Taikoo Hui business district admitted to 21st Century Business Herald that their performance is now almost half lower than in the early days of opening.
After the hot pot chain giant Haidilao announced the closure of more than 300 stores in November 2021, half of its fast food brands have also been shut down recently. The new elements of the well-known Internet celebrity light food chain restaurant were declared bankrupt last month due to serious losses and broken capital chains: the card has been supported, and all stores will be closed one after another.
Tea Yan Yue color has now announced a price increase, and the price of most milk tea products has been raised by 1 yuan, which is also a last resort, after all, the price of raw materials has risen is an indisputable fact.
Since last year, upstream raw materials such as vegetables, pork, and condiments have set off a wave of price increases. Especially since the fourth quarter of last year, Haitian Flavor Industry, Hengshun Vinegar Industry, Qianhe Flavor Industry, Anjing Food, Angel Yeast and other sub-sector leaders have joined the ranks of price increases.
The core of the price increase of milk tea is not only because of some cost changes, but also includes raw materials, rent and other aspects of the general rise. In the catering industry, for dine-in restaurants, the sharp decline in offline customer flow is the most direct blow. For catering businesses, the greater pressure is also that the rent is a hard cost, whether it is operated or not, it is necessary to pay the rent normally, especially in the face of force majeure external factors, the financial pressure faced by the business will increase sharply.
Closing stores and increasing prices is not necessarily a bad thing, cultivating content under the influence of the epidemic, subtracting the weight on the body, can provide better capital for the next step of development. However, chain groups such as Haidilao have begun to shrink their fronts, not to mention many small and medium-sized merchants, and any bit of "wind and grass" may squeeze the already precarious profit margins and cause huge pressure on cash flow.
Two months ago, Cha Yan Yueshi had announced the temporary closure of 70 or 80 stores in Changsha, and said that it was the third time in 2021 that it was a centralized temporary closure. Because of the measures of closing the store, some employees can not meet the normal working hours and the situation of 0 working hours, which caused the employees who were not long ago to be dissatisfied with the salary, and it was revealed on Weibo and Xiaohongshu that the average working hour was 11 hours, but the hourly wage was only 6-9 yuan, and the founder and the employees also launched a fierce internal salary "mutual fear" war of words in the company group.
Whether it is the closure of stores, internal employees complaining about low monthly salaries, or the price increase this time, in the final analysis, it is still the company's low profit margin. In that well-known "war of words", founder Lu Liang revealed that Cha Yan's life was not so good, with a monthly loss of 20 million. Before the tea face was pleasant, it earned dividends through the dense distribution points in Changsha, and the flow of people decreased under the epidemic, and after intensively opening stores to enjoy the traffic, it led to traffic regurgitation. Now after a small price increase, can the tea face be happy, can it really be in place in one step and save itself successfully?
After the development of "horse racing", the internet red catering brand is facing the stage of re-"reshuffling", and some insiders believe that many brands need to change their business methods and return to the essence of business. Li Xingmin, a brand marketing expert, believes that the "war of words" caused by internal reasons such as the temporary closure of the store and poor management of tea color has exposed some problems of new tea drinks: First, tea beauty and color use traffic play, but there is still a lack of real brand building, and it is necessary to explore the added value of the brand in depth.
In addition, whether it is a franchise store or a direct store, there is a risk that some stores are not profitable, but there are also companies that can control the proportion of unprofitable stores within a certain range. In general, tea color should also continue to strengthen the internal construction of the brand, internal continuous incentives and store opening risk control.
(Titanium Media APP Editor Liu Dafang Comprehensive Beijing Business Daily, 21st Century Business Herald, Securities Times, China Fund News, etc.)