Hot pot from single category competition to peripheral product competition;
The traffic width is extended, and the "live broadcast" of catering becomes a trend;
20% of stores do cognition, 80% sink multi-channel...
In order to analyze the current hot pot situation, Yumijun interviewed dozens of founders of hot pot brands such as Da Long Yi, Shu Daxia, and Pei Jie, combined with economic policies, let's see what incremental opportunities there will be in hot pot in 2022.
1
Competitive dimension upgrade
From single category competition to peripheral product competition
In the past two years, hot pot has been hot in a single category and explosive product strategy, and now it has become the competition of peripheral products, such as milk tea, desserts, snacks and other plates.
As the largest subdivision track in the catering industry, the hot pot has obvious inner volume, and many brands can be seen to do cross-border integration, combining hot pot with wine, tea, barbecue, etc., to achieve modular scene operation.
▲ Haidilao test water brand milk tea shop
Some hot pot practitioners believe that this innovative model of "hot pot +" can not only break through the operating bottleneck of the original hot pot single product, but also increase store revenue to a certain extent.
Speaking of a milk tea alone, Xiang Xiang entered the market with the innovative combination of "hot pot + milk tea"; the hot pot was also equipped with a "milk tea workshop" in the Happy Manufacturing Factory, and only three kinds of tea were sold; Haidilao launched a 9.9 yuan DIY milk tea shop, allowing customers to realize the freedom of milk tea...
▲ Hot pot milk tea workshop
Desserts are even crazier, at present, Sichuan-Chongqing region has developed a mature dessert supply chain, the degree of innovation and production is comparable to professional dessert shops, some people predict that the future to beat the dessert shop must be a hot pot shop! (Related reading: How long can a hot pot restaurant be "sweet"?) ）
Continuous refinement is the refocusing of the consumer population and more accurately satisfying different users. Continuous integration is also a breakthrough attempt for brands.
Regardless of the combination of points and combinations, behind the in-depth investigation, it is actually the result of deep insight into consumers.
Where your target group is, what they are thinking, doing, what they like, you try to do.
As Jiang Xia, the founder of Shu Daxia, said, the future hot pot needs more surprises to give consumers.
2
The market is polarized
One is high-end consumption, and the other is the ultimate cost performance
Global inflation has led to a contraction in the overall consumer environment, and consumers' incomes have decreased, in other words, customers have no money in their pockets.
Now the market is seriously differentiated, but there are two ports that are better: one is high-end consumption, and the other is the ultimate cost performance.
Although the population base of high-end consumption is small, the consumer group is not short of money, so it does not affect the development of the market.
In addition to Banu's successful exit on the road of quality hot pot, Laowang, which mainly attacks the high-end market, sprinted for IPO in 2021, and Xijiade launched a high-end dumpling brand of 300 yuan to 500 yuan per capita.
▲ Banu Ming file upgrade
Some insiders pointed out that under the surface of "cost performance" king, consumer demand for quality catering has increased significantly, and the high-end demand for business consumption and private banquets has begun to extend to hot pot, barbecue and other segments.
Another port - the ultimate cost performance, because of the changes in the general environment, resulting in the degradation of the ability of consumers to pay.
Therefore, a large number of hot pot brands have begun to redesign products, prices, and business models. As a result, there is a category like spicy hot plate, the customer list is about 30 yuan, the acceptance of the B-end and C-end is very good, and the sinking market opportunity is also very large.
▲ Plate spicy hot hot discussion on the whole network
Observations have found that well-known hot pot brands such as Dalongyi and Curbside have entered the game, held high, and opened hundreds of stores at every turn, causing heated discussion in the industry for a time.
Wang Wenjun, co-founder of Da long yi, told Da Long Yi Jun, "At present, the way we do brand innovation will shift from 0-1 brand building to 1-100 investment incubation, looking for a more reliable and potential brand team in the industry, working together to expand the market." At the same time, it can also empower the supply chain on the back end. ”
3
Community commerce exploded
20% do cognition, 80% sink multi-channel
When taking stock of various catering formats, we suddenly found that the community catering "shook its head".
According to the observation of Liu Bin, the founder of The Leaf Gate HotPot, under the shadow of the epidemic, the flow of people in the core business circle of the city has dropped sharply, but the basic catering of the community is not bad.
Just like Spicy Qianhong, which was founded in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, positioning the "small and fine" community hot pot model, more than 200 community hot pot restaurants have been opened in just two years, and the survival rate of joining is 95%.
▲ Spicy Thousand Reds positioned in the community hot pot mode
After the outbreak of commercial real estate, the rent of first-line business circles has been further raised, but some ordinary shopping malls and community mall owners have not looked up, resulting in many fields basically becoming the world of takeaway brands.
However, Yao Zhe believes that these properties should be quickly laid out at the moment, and it is best to enter in groups.
The quality chain of group entry, whether it is the cost of rent or the cost of management, is actually controllable. As long as the brand is close enough to the people, it can be considered for long-term operation of customers, after all, the quality supply is small.
▲ A hot pot restaurant in the community
Coupled with the double reduction policy and the trend of community aging, everyone will still be in the nearest consumption comprehensive format in the future.
20% of the first-line business districts do brand recognition and innovation, and 80% of the stores sink multi-channel, which will be a relatively good store opening structure.
4
Flow width extension
Under the favorable policies, catering is "live broadcast"
Yan Dongsheng, founder of Peijie, said that the industry change that felt most strongly this year was "live broadcasting", and in previous years, live streaming goods were usually sold physical products, and this year began to do electronic vouchers, which can be consumed in offline stores.
"Like we cooperated with Li Jiaqi this month, in just a few minutes, we sold more than 10,000 vouchers for offline stores."
Now consumers are accustomed to directly placing orders to buy goods through short video apps and live broadcasts, on the one hand, they feel cheap and cost-effective, on the other hand, they are to save trouble.
According to the observation of The Meal, many places have introduced relevant favorable policies, vigorously supporting social e-commerce and live e-commerce, expanding new consumption, and cultivating fashion consumption. Let's look at another success story:
In the "Heartbeat New Year's Eve" marketing, Four Seasons Coconut Grove can be described as a limelight, which focuses on two cores - repurchase and new promotion.
▲ Four Seasons Coconut Grove New Year's Eve Live Broadcast
1. Launch the "Three Chickens" monthly card package, split the signature features for sale, and customers can buy three chickens at a time, which can be used three times in one month. Turn traditional discounts into benefits for increased repurchases.
2. Co-brand with gaga light food, launch a low-calorie package for 2-3 people. It is reported that this package ranked second in sales in this event, and there was no price war, but because the product was creative, the effect was very good.
"Live streaming coupons, the user's interaction rate and participation enthusiasm are high, and the potential energy of 1+1>2 online and in stores can be realized." The head of operations of Four Seasons Coconut Grove Douyin said that she understands the live broadcast room as a room, when there are more and more people, the room is constantly expanding, and this space is infinitely extended.
However, the changes are inseparable, and while promoting, quality control, service, and a good sense of dining experience for customers are the most fundamental means of retention.
At the end of the day
Gone are the days of single-handed dining, whether it's the opportunities and dividends brought by time or the days when you could easily make money by hard work.
For catering people, there is hope without going down the table, which is also a key moment to test the resilience of restaurant owners, to see who can go to the end and laugh to the end.