A 65-square-meter shop with 9 sets of tables and chairs, 6 freezers, and further inside you can see the self-service seasoning area, tableware storage area, kitchen waste cleaning area... This is the Yang Royal Kitchen Unmanned Hot Pot Restaurant (hereinafter referred to as Yang Royal Kitchen) located near No. 12 Shuying Street in Jinniu District, Chengdu. Unlike traditional hot pot restaurants, this hot pot shop basically realizes 24-hour self-service and only has service personnel within a certain period of time.
The reporter inquired about multiple platforms and found that "unmanned hot pot restaurants" are still new in Chengdu. According to media reports, unmanned hot pot restaurants have landed in other regions. In the Hongjinhua 24-hour unselected hot pot restaurant in Jiulongpo District, Chongqing, consumers need to mix the bottom of the pot, take vegetables, and clean up the table; in nangang District, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, see the desert 24-hour unmanned hot pot can realize the brush face to take vegetables and feel the service provided by the small robot...
For unmanned hot pot restaurants, Yuan Xiaoran, executive chairman and secretary general of Chengdu Catering Association, said, "This unmanned business model can save some labor costs and attract some groups to try early." "However, how to ensure the health and safety problems of unmanned hot pot restaurants? Can it become a new outlet for the restaurant industry? On February 7, a Red Star News reporter visited an unmanned hot pot restaurant in Chengdu to talk to industry insiders.
▲Yang Royal Kitchen unmanned hot pot shop store
Per capita consumption is 60 yuan
There are waiters during the prescribed hours
Yang Royal Kitchen started operations at the end of September 2021 and has been open for five months so far. The owner of the store, Yang Liang, said that he has a long experience in the catering industry, "Since 2013, I have been making fake dishes, grilled fish and other late-night snacks. However, in recent years, the labor cost of the traditional catering industry has become higher and higher, and this model of unmanned hot pot is actually worth trying. ”
Yang Liang introduced that after entering the store, consumers can take pots, dishes and chopsticks and other dining tools in the rear. Before coming to the freezer, the reporter noticed that the food was divided into meat, pot bottom, and wine area. "The meat and vegetables are wrapped in boxes, and the bottom of the pot is sealed." Yang Liang explained that consumers can choose dishes by scanning the code with their mobile phones. After the reporter's actual measurement, it was found that after scanning the code, it will enter the small program of "smart retail", and take out a box of dishes to display the price. "The price on the phone is almost the same as the price marked on the freezer. Sometimes there may be some price difference depending on the weight. After the door is closed, the Mini Program will automatically charge the payment. ”
▲Yang Royal Kitchen unmanned hot pot restaurant store
The store currently offers five flavors of pot bottoms. "In the water receiving area, we will mark the amount of water required for each pot on each kettle, and customers can follow the prompts to mix the bottom of the pot." Yang Liang said that after the operation is good, you can directly open the induction cooker to enjoy the food.
▲Yang Royal Kitchen unmanned hot pot shop seasoning area
What should I do if I run out of stock? The reporter noticed that the sticker at the door read, "There are service personnel during the period from 17:00 to 22:00." There is only one waiter in the store during this time, "she is mainly responsible for replenishment, cleaning and hygiene, washing the bottom of the pot, etc." Because there will still be some customers who have not cleared the bottom of the pot after eating, or have not turned off the induction cooker, it is still necessary to leave someone to check the situation. Yang Liang said.
Speaking of the current state of operation, he believes that the income is acceptable. "With labor cost savings, the ingredients in our house are about 30% cheaper than the price of traditional hot pot restaurants. There are more people who eat at night, especially young people who want to eat supper, and drivers who run online ride-hailing cars at night will come to eat. According to its introduction, the per capita consumption of the store is about 60 yuan, and the current monthly income can reach about 40,000.
▲Yang Royal Kitchen unmanned hot pot restaurant dining table and induction cooker
Some unmanned hot pot restaurants closed after half a year of opening
Clerk: Frequent code scanning affects the customer experience, and employees are not convenient
As the first unmanned hot pot restaurant in Chengdu, how is the popularity of Yang Royal Chef? "Didn't know there was this hot pot restaurant near here. Don't you really want to try, can the bottom of the pot you make yourself delicious in a traditional hot pot restaurant? An aunt who happened to be passing by the shop said.
However, another young citizen thought the form was novel. "I've seen the video platform brush this store before, but I haven't tried it." When asked if she thought it would be troublesome to do the whole thing, she said that it was okay not to wash the pot.
▲ Outside the Yang Royal Kitchen unmanned hot pot restaurant store, the dining process is marked
What is the operating status of unmanned hot pot restaurants in other cities? The reporter's search found that the Hongjinhua 24-hour unselected hot pot restaurant, which opened in Chongqing in early 2021, has now been suspended. The reporter contacted Shi Xiuqing, an employee of the store, through the contact information provided by Yang Liang, who said that the two Hongjinhua stores were closed on July 30 last year.
Why is it facing closure after more than half a year of operation? Shi Xiuqing said frankly that the main problem is operation and site selection. "Plus there are only two employees in my store, and they are all older. The system we used before was too advanced, and we struggled to understand it. Every time you operate inventory in the background, it is not very smooth when the power is cut off. ”
Older employees face obstacles to the new system, and some consumers find frequent code scanning troublesome. "We were the first to open torch avenue in KowloonPo District. Consumers have also complained about cumbersome operations, such as re-scanning the code every time the freezer is opened. Shi Xiuqing explained, "However, the first store has a relatively high acceptance because there are more young people around." But the second branch is not very good. ”
According to reports, the second store is located in Guanyin Bridge, Jiangbei District, "there are many tourists, which can bring some traffic." However, due to the downtown area, there will be more elderly people in the surrounding area. Because they have never seen it before, and they have been scanning the code, the experience is very poor. Shi Xiuqing said.
Industry insiders: Hot pot has a strong social attribute
The whole process is unmanned or lack of "temperature"
How do industry insiders view unmanned hot pot? Yan Long, executive president of the Sichuan Hot Pot Association, said, "The innovative spirit of unmanned hot pot restaurants is worth encouraging, and the production process of hot pot has been gradually standardized, and it is possible to try the unmanned model to save costs." However, "at present, these stores are not stable enough in terms of technical applications, for example, will consumers encounter random charges and program catons when scanning codes?" And 24-hour unmanned operation is impossible to achieve, such as replenishment, safety or need to be completed by people. ”
In addition, in Yuan Xiaoran's view, hot pot has strong social attributes. "If the whole process is unmanned, it will lead to a lack of temperature. Friends and family get together and enjoy the service process more when eating hot pot. If you operate the whole process yourself, it will be too mechanical. Yuan Xiaoran said that the unmanned hot pot in the front end is the need for personnel as a "connection point", otherwise it is just a commercial "self-service supermarket", it is difficult to ensure the consumer's sense of experience.
▲The liquor area of Yang Royal Kitchen's unmanned hot pot restaurant store
When it comes to the development prospects of unmanned hot pot, Yuan Xiaoran believes that this needs to be handed over to the market to test. "In addition to the lack of warmth, the biggest feature of self-help is convenience and experience, but this is obviously not done well enough." The hot pot takes a long time to eat, and if you have been scanning the code to take vegetables and boiling and turning the heat in this process, it is easy to produce fatigue. "In addition, food safety also needs to be strengthened." Whether the ingredients are fresh, whether the dishes and chopsticks are cleaned regularly, and whether the waste edible oils and fats are recycled, etc., all need to be gradually strengthened. ”
Red Star News reporter Zheng Ran Huang Panpan photo report
Edited by Yixi Chen
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