Image source @ Visual China
Text | Red Meal Net
From the perspective of catering development, Chengdu and Changsha, the "four kings" of the internet red city, have successively shown their strength, "popular" a number of catering brands, only Xi'an, it seems that it has not been able to ride on the east wind of Internet celebrities to achieve some catering brands. What's the reason behind this?
With the rise of various social media platforms, influencers have gradually moved from scarce goods to commonplace, and they have their own influencers in almost all fields. At the city level, Chengdu, Chongqing, Changsha and Xi'an, which are sought after by the people of the whole country, can be said to be the "four kings" of the Internet red city.
However, in terms of catering that is closely linked to the city's sense of existence, Xi'an has always been relatively weak, and it has not been able to show the potential energy that matches its Internet celebrity attributes, both in terms of categories and brands. Is there a reason behind this? Where is the development potential of Xi'an catering in the future?
The different "fates" of internet celebrity cities in catering
We can no longer clarify whether catering has made an internet celebrity city, or whether an internet celebrity city has brought fire to local catering, because internet celebrity cities and catering often complement each other and achieve each other.
For example, in the process of hot pot becoming popular, in addition to Haidilao, the first generation of hot pot internet celebrities such as Dalongyi and Xiaolongkan can be described as indispensable. Their decoration styles, dishes and marketing methods, which seemed very novel at the time, made the hot pot quickly spread in the national market, coupled with positive feedback from the market, and the rapid keeping up with other hot pot brands, gradually formed a hot pot whirlwind that swept the country, which together contributed to the popularity of the hot pot.
As the base camp of these net red hot pot brands, Chengdu has naturally become the center of attention of diners and tourists, taking the lead in the circle. After that, this southwest central city attracted many people who came to punch in because of its leisurely living state, characteristic local culture, various Sichuan cuisines, city meals, and special catering.
With the popularity of hot pot, Chongqing, the birthplace of the old butter hot pot next door to Chengdu, has also risen because of the fame of the old hot pot, coupled with the special terrain of the "8D magic city" and the unique customs and culture of the mountain city, etc. Have quickly become popular, and then Chongqing small noodles, grilled fish and other local delicacies have also begun to enter the public vision.
In the sauerkraut fish, grilled fish, small noodles, fake vegetables, spicy hot and other Sichuan-Chongqing food as a single category, derived from Taier, Yang Guofu, Tanyu and other strong brands, successfully established in the national catering circle, Chengdu and Chongqing has also become a must-visit site for catering people to explore new products and explosive products.
Changsha is also the city and catering that complement each other.
As the entertainment capital of China, Changsha has never lacked topics, and Changsha's various foods have long been famous because of Hunan cuisine and various variety shows, but before that, there were more categories without brands, and there was no reputation and no scale.
This status quo has been broken in recent years, Changsha catering brand after several years of development, began to break out in the country, before there are snacks Wen Heyou left Guangshen, tea to make tea yan yue color force Wuhan, after the dinner of Xu Ji seafood, cooking tobacco, Chef Fei successfully stationed in the north of Shanghai guangzhou, Mo Mo dim sum bureau high financing eye-catching ...
△ Image source: Mo Mo Dim Sum Bureau official Weibo
In terms of catering, these cities have quite a trend of three or five years of leadership, unique urban cultural symbols, very distinctive catering categories, tastes, and constantly attract tourists and diners from all over the country, and they are promoting the characteristics of these cities through social media platforms that are in the process of development and rising, constantly fermenting, attracting more attention, and forming a virtuous traffic cycle.
However, this logic does not seem to have been confirmed by Xi'an, which is also a popular city, compared with Chengdu and Changsha, the volume of Xi'an catering is much smaller.
Strictly speaking, as a "carbon paradise", Xi'an catering is not unnoticed. Meat sandwich steamed buns, cold skins, water basin lamb, lamb steamed buns, oil poured noodles... Which one is taken out is a resounding existence, but their development in the country is somewhat "nominal".
Meat sandwich steamed buns, cool skin may be one of the most well-known categories, almost every city can see their figures, but most of them are small stall vendors, some even have no stores, in addition to the Beijing West Young Master Meat Sandwich Steamed Bun born many years ago, the current Master Brother Meat Sandwich Steamed Bun Shaanxi Noodle Restaurant (now changed to Master Brother Northwest Flavor Specialty Store), there are few strong brands appear.
Even in Xi'an, there are almost no national well-known chain brands, although there are nearly 500 stores in the market, such as Zuo Zuo Xiang Tong Guan Meat Sandwich Steamed Bun, more than 200 stores Yuan Ji Meat Sandwich Bun, more than 300 stores of WeiJia Liangpi and other brands, but their stores are still mainly concentrated in Xi'an-based northwest towns, and the energy in first-tier cities is not large, resulting in the overall brand power and market appeal are not strong.
Lao Tong Guan Meat Sandwich Steamed Bun and Bacon Meat Sandwich Bun is not so much a brand as a label, just like the peppery soup in Xiaoyao Town. In Xi'an, meat sandwich steamed buns are like small noodles in Chongqing, blooming everywhere, but without a brand.
For locals, this is not bad, but from the perspective of the development of the category, the lack of a strong brand will greatly limit the development of the category.
If a category wants to have a place in the national catering market, it must form a certain scale, and branding can make this scale faster and better, and drive the development of the entire category.
For example, the hot yellow braised chicken rice in the first two years, with a market effect but no brand to support, it is difficult to form barriers and market fulcrums, and the market is quickly divided after the potential energy declines. On the other hand, sauerkraut fish and grilled fish, after years of heat, have come to the inevitable decline in potential energy, but because there are brands such as Taier and Tanyu as support, they can continue to innovate, develop, and develop sub-brands, as long as the brand does not fall, even if the potential declines, it can always occupy a place in the city.
If meat sandwich steamed buns and cool skin can also be regarded as "categories without brands", then other categories of Xi'an catering in the national market may be "famous without categories and without brands".
Lamb steamed buns, water basin lamb, oil noodles, trouser noodles, etc., are very famous, but most of the stores are limited to Shaanxi or northwest regions, the main steamed buns of the old brand Tongshengxiang may be the most well-known brand, but there are not more than ten stores. They occupy the mainstream of the Xi'an market, but it is difficult to find relevant stores in other places, consumers must go to the local area to eat, and even if they want to eat when they return home after punching, they can't find a place to eat, so that enthusiasm is naturally difficult to continue.
It has to be said that the current oil-splashed noodle category head brand "Shaanxi Flavor Eater", its company is not in Xi'an, but founded in Beijing, and its more than 100 stores are mainly distributed in Beijing and its surrounding areas.
Red food network columnist Gong Wei said that this is related to the characteristics of the meat sandwich steamed bun, lamb steamed bun itself, from the practice to the product, these categories are relatively rough, big cakes plus fat and thin meat, high carb + high fat, want to make these categories more influential in the national catering market, need to go through certain improvements.
For example, many meat sandwich buns outside Shaanxi have launched beef, fish and other products that are more in line with the healthy diet of young people now, and have reduced the size of the cake and added vegetables such as green peppers, all of which are exploring improved products that are easier to promote nationwide.
And if you have to talk about the brand, Xi'an is not completely a desert.
Founded in 1929, Shaanxi cuisine long-established Xi'an Restaurant, is undoubtedly the shoulder handle of Xi'an catering, there are more than ten stores in Xi'an, gourd chicken, biangbiang noodles, meat sandwich steamed buns, steamed buns are the signature here; Defa Chang was founded in 1936, with the most complete variety, the largest scale of operation of dumpling banquets, while also operating new sea vegetables, new Sichuan cuisine, Sichuan hot pot, etc.; the Spring Occurrence, famous for Shaanxi local snacks "Gourd Head Steamed Buns", is also a long-established brand built in 1920. This year, we are experimenting with formats such as taverns.
△Image source: Xi'an Restaurant official Weibo
However, as a long-established brand, these old brands from the model to the decoration, dishes are more traditional, in their leadership of Xi'an catering, it is also lack of vitality, can not really arouse the interest of young people, stimulate the consumer market, to the whole country (not necessarily the store to the country, some catering brands are influential in the country spread, such as tea color).
In Xi'an, in addition to traditional catering such as noodles, the market is basically occupied by foreign categories and brands such as hot pot, tea, and barbecue.
Xi'an catering can not go out, chaining, lack of brand thinking is the root cause
Some people say that Xi'an's catering category is difficult to break through, in large part because modern young people have a natural resistance to high-carbon water.
But from another point of view, Lanzhou ramen is already the existence of the whole country, snail powder is evergreen Internet celebrity, in 2021 Wuye mixed noodles, Hefu Noodles and other brands of high financing, but also set off a powder noodle track frenzy, attracting a large number of catering people influx, and with the back-end prefabricated dishes, even Xinjiang bread, fried rice noodles are shining in online channels.
Therefore, the crux of Xi'an catering may not be in the carbon water, but in the fact that it is still in the initial stage of chaining and branding, tending to consider the inertial needs of the neighbors around a single store, without too many innovations and breakthroughs.
Although carb is not the "original sin", as everyone is worried, the high proportion of carbs in Xi'an catering is not too friendly to modern young people, which is contrary to the current mainstream low-carbon water, high protein, and multi-vegetable "guiding ideology". But this is not inexhaustible.
Menu collocation has always been a compulsory course for good restaurant companies, especially in the process of mass catering gradually out of small shops, towards chaining and branding, a single dish may be able to feed a small shop, but it is difficult to support a mature restaurant company. One of the reasons why Shaxian snacks can kill all sides before is that the choice is diverse, there are noodles and rice, soups and snacks, meat and vegetables, even if it is the main single dish of yellow stewed chicken rice, but also to provide a lot of vegetable options.
However, most of the catering in Xi'an still stays in a single store operation, serving the neighbors, coupled with the fact that the public's attention to Xi'an is not high before, so that the catering market here is in a relatively closed and stable environment, and due to the geographical location, the focus of development and other factors, the development of the city itself, relative to Chengdu, Chongqing, Changsha is also more limited, the chain of catering, branding demand is relatively low, local catering people usually do not put the brand chain operation in the forefront of consideration, serving the four neighbors is success, The combination of dishes will naturally not become a problem for them to consider, let alone other innovations and breakthroughs.
When Xi'an became a popular city because of its heavy culture and unique catering characteristics of the ancient capital of the Thirteen Dynasties, foreign tourists and diners "enjoyed" such a "carbon bomb" in the short term is naturally not a problem, but from the perspective of daily consumption, high carbon water is a huge threshold for Xi'an catering to expand outward.
Liu Xiaozhong, CEO of Shaanxi Cuisine Network and general manager of Xi'an Datang Boxiangfu Hotel, said that the back-end industrial chain of meat sandwich steamed buns, oily peppers and other products has made great progress in the past two years and is becoming more and more perfect.
However, on the whole, because of the low degree of chaining and branding, the scale is not enough, whether it is the cost control of catering enterprises, the back-end supply chain, the back kitchen training, etc., are still restricting the outward expansion of Xi'an catering.
Even the meat sandwich bun with the strongest sense of existence, the breakthrough in the national market is not very orderly, and the stores and brands are scattered and scattered, and no synergy is formed. At the same time, at the level of category packaging such as store decoration and marketing, or the inherent quality of product production, compared with mature categories, there is a big gap. Especially when it comes to marketing.
Chengdu-Chongqing and Changsha restaurants can form an increasingly influential influence in the country, starting from the fact that they have explored a set of branding and chaining methods. Perhaps for a period of time, it has brought people the feeling of "marketing > content", but it is undeniable that this has indeed knocked on the door to the national market for Sichuan-Chongqing and Hunan catering, and these restaurant companies are also in the process of development, constantly making up for the shortcomings of content, and now many Internet red restaurants have long been no longer in vain.
From this logic point of view, Xi'an Catering wants to have a more sense of existence, and perhaps to think and explore the development of the brand based on "national expansion" is the first step it wants to take.
Xi'an catering needs "spoilers", "catering + culture" or can achieve curve overtaking
The root cause of the low degree of development of Xi'an's restaurant chain and branding may be related to the fact that Xi'an has been in a "backward" position in the development of mainland cities for a long time.
In fact, from the perspective of development trajectory, the urban development of Chengdu-Chongqing and Changsha is not much earlier than Xi'an, but it seizes the opportunity to show their respective advantages, Chengdu-Chongqing is the southwest development center, talent gathering place, with a solid Foundation of Sichuan cuisine and snacks, Changsha carries forward the natural sense of smell of branding and marketing in the entertainment capital, and shapes and expands the catering brand.
As for Xi'an, some insiders have expressed such a view: Xi'an is a magical place, as the ancient capital of the Thirteen Dynasties, but it has not really integrated diversification, which is also doomed to many restaurant companies, catering thinking is difficult to really take root.
The ancient capital of the Thirteen Dynasties, the eastern starting point of the Silk Road, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, the most prosperous dynasty of Chinese civilization, and the absolute center of the world at that time, these are the dazzling halos above Xi'an's head. Logically, such a existence should be a multicultural and diversified integration place, but only from the perspective of dining habits, it seems that there has not been much change in the past thousand years, still dominated by various types of pasta, steamed buns, mutton, and the signs of cultural integration from the south to the north are not obvious.
Of course, this is related to many factors such as geography, politics, culture, and talent, but this disadvantage may become the biggest advantage of Xi'an Catering now, allowing it to be the first to arrive and overtake in curves.
With the advancement of today's restaurant chain, homogenization is becoming more and more apparent, to break through this boundary, giving the brand culture may be the most important idea of the next restaurant enterprises, that is to say, now the restaurant companies have to do not only brand, but also need to upgrade to catering culture.
Just like Wenheyou and Xicha, they are not only a catering enterprise, but also a symbol and label, and they are shaping their own cultural IP by integrating local culture and tide culture. The future of catering is destined to be not just simple catering, "catering + culture" has become a major trend.
△ Image source: Xicha official Weibo
And isn't this the advantage of the rich cultural heritage of Xi'an, the ancient capital of the Thirteen Dynasties? Xi'an itself seems to be working in this direction.
Datang Sleepless City is already the iconic existence of Xi'an, becoming the main front of its "night tour economy", integrating the ancient charm of Tang style and fashion vitality, "Tumbler Sister", live live music, a variety of mouth-watering snacks... They are all trying to restore the grand scene of Chang'an a thousand years ago; Xi'an's net red restaurants, in recent years, have done more popular Chang'an food stalls, Tang Cat Courtyard, Yongxingfang, etc.; the rising star Xingshan Temple West Street is full of many Internet celebrity coffees, taverns, and ancient book markets stretching for hundreds of meters, with unique style of cultural and creative products, "slow" tone of cultural and entertainment life, making it a creative cultural block loved by three generations of old, middle-aged and young people.
However, Datang Sleepless City, Xingshan Temple West Street, etc. only provide a concentration of development, as far as the catering sector is concerned, there is no real emerging strong brand, it is still the old brand in the main role, the form, means are traditional. Overall, Xi'an's overall urban construction, brand development thinking, and social atmosphere are still relatively lagging behind the rise of its reputation.
This is the same as we discussed a few years ago the question of "why it is difficult for internet celebrity restaurants to become popular", the restaurant is on fire, but the back end is not ready, and the more customer flow will reflect and bring more problems, resulting in a decline in word of mouth. Perhaps, the epidemic in Xi'an is the best portrayal.
From this point of view, what Xi'an catering needs is a real change in development ideas, and it needs a strong "spoiler" to break the balance of the current catering market.
This "spoiler" may be more and more tourists, diners, forcing the upgrading and evolution of catering enterprises, or it may be the inflow of talents and catering enterprises, just like the influx of Internet catering in that year, so that first-line catering enterprises were instantly "awakened", and the entire catering industry was pushed to the fast lane of upgrading.
△ Image source: Defa Chang's official Weibo
Looking back at the two stages of the hot pot boom, one is the emergence of chains such as Little Swan, Liu Yishou, Dezhuang, etc., and the other is the emergence of younger brands such as Xiaolongkan and Dalongyi, no matter which stage, innovation is the key to it, at the time of the start, they are all new brands, and they have breakthrough innovation in business models.
If you want to innovate, it is difficult to linger on the old road.
Gong Wei, a columnist of the Red Meal Network, also said that although to some extent, Xi'an's local catering brands are being impacted by foreign brands, although many brands are actively seeking changes, but due to the inertia of traditional ways of thinking and style, it seems that they have not been able to get much breakthrough at present.
In the context of the emergence of many cross-border talents in the national catering, Xi'an catering wants to innovate, it needs more talents to flow in, if the talent pool is scarce, the talents that can flow into the catering will be limited.
In addition, the number of young people also determines the vitality of the entire urban consumer market, if the market lacks vitality, the market thrust and sensitivity of catering enterprises will naturally not be too high, and the development of the back-end industrial chain will not be able to talk about.
From this logical point of view, whether it can use the popularity of the internet red city to attract more young people to innovate from the "catering + culture" may be the key to whether Xi'an catering can achieve a breakthrough in the future.
epilogue
We look forward to the rebirth of long-established brands such as Xi'an Restaurant and Defa Chang, but we hope to see more really strong new brands with new thinking characteristics, to pull the market's attention to Xi'an catering brands and categories, so that the industrial chain can develop.
Xi'an has the gene of net red urban catering, which requires multiple dimensions to be mined. In the future, Xi'an catering may be able to learn from other internet red cities to achieve curve overtaking. Looking back at the prosperity of Chang'an in that year, I hope that Xi'an can continue the glory of the Tang Dynasty.