Xicha is deeply involved in the layoff storm.
On February 9, it was reported that Some Xicha employees broke the news that Heytea was carrying out large-scale layoffs, involving 30% of employees overall, and said that the information security department was completely laid off, and the store development department was cut by 50%. The report also revealed that some employees said that all employees did not have year-end bonuses, and there were also saying that it was "postponed".
Heytea quickly denied the above news.
"The news is untrue and belongs to normal personnel adjustment." Xicha responded to the surging news reporter on the morning of February 9 that the relevant rumors are false information, the company does not have the so-called large layoffs, and a small number of personnel adjusted to normal personnel adjustment and optimization based on year-end assessment. At the same time, the year-end bonuses of employees have also been issued to employees normally before the Spring Festival according to their performance.
In this regard, the surging news reporter asked a number of Xicha employees for verification and learned that the functional department of Xicha (generally referring to the logistics management personnel of the headquarters and major regions) optimized about 15% and about 200 people a few years ago; the operation department (store employees) confirmed that there would be no layoffs; and the group of employees optimized 30%.
Xicha told the surging news reporter that there is no basis for the optimization of 15% of functional departments, and said that it is normal adjustment and optimization.
Some employees said that the functional department optimized 15% years ago and competed to be laid off
In fact, the xicha layoff storm has been fermenting for many days.
At the end of 2021, on the pulse of the workplace communication platform, some Xicha employees anonymously discussed the layoffs.
In this regard, the surging news reporter learned from a number of Heytea employees that the functional department of Heytea was optimized by about 15% years ago, and there were 30% layoffs in some groups, and it was not clear whether there would be layoffs in the next year.
A person who is certified as a Heytea employee on the pulse told the surging news reporter that his group was optimized by 30%, "verbally delivered" by the group leader, there was no official document notification, and said that the news that there was no year-end award was also verbally notified.
"The function was optimized by about 15% before this year, and the operation department confirmed that there would be no layoffs." Xiao Li (pseudonym), who is certified as a Xicha employee, said that laid-off employees can get N+1 compensation, and almost all of them have completed their resignation in January, and the compensation will be paid with wages in February. But at the same time, Xiaoli also said that Xicha will carry out "year-end adjustment" every year, and it is not clear whether there will be layoffs in the next year.
"There are indeed many people who want to be cut, including me", Xiaoli said, the year-end bonus is only 1/3 of the salary, if you can be cut, "hit by N+1", you can get "several times more than the year-end bonus".
Xiaoli admitted that she has taken the initiative to leave her job at present and has not taken compensation. An anonymous Xicha employee revealed on social platforms that the number of layoffs is limited, and they are all vying to be laid off.
Heytea said that this belongs to the normal flow of personnel at the end of the year of the company, and said that there is no more details to disclose.
For the personnel adjustment behavior of the enterprise, Shen Yongming, a senior partner of Jiangsu Boshida Law Firm and the head of the Bangsheng legal and commercial team, explained to the surging news reporter that the law prohibits the company from using "last-place elimination" and other methods to lay off employees. Even if the employee is really unable to complete the performance and be competent, it is necessary to "train or adjust the position, but still can not be competent for the job" in order to be discharged.
The valuation of 60 billion Xichatuo stores has slowed down
#喜茶将裁员30% #一度登上微博热搜, some netizens believe that the current epidemic situation, physical stores are not having a good time; some netizens speculate that layoffs are to beautify the financial report.
In the past 10 years of development, Heytea has occupied the high price segment of fresh milk tea. According to the official website of Heytea, Heytea was formerly known as Royal Tea ROYALTEA, which was founded in 2012, and was later upgraded to Heytea, and the original cheese is brewed tea. Xicha has said that the mainstream price band of its products is 19 yuan-29 yuan, which is not the so-called high-priced tea. Ping An Securities Research Report disclosed that in 2020, the market share of high-end ready-made tea drinks in the country was 27.7%, compared with the tea of its peer Nai Xue, its market share was 18.9%.
According to Tianyancha data, Heytea has completed 5 rounds of financing since 2016. In July 2021, Heytea completed a Series D financing with a financing amount of US$500 million, including sequoia, Hillhouse, Tencent, Black Ant, Richu and other well-known investment institutions. After this round of financing, the valuation of Heytea reached 60 billion yuan.
However, the expansion of Heytea stores seems to be slowing down, and the ceiling of high-end tea stores is gradually approaching.
According to the minutes of the morning meeting of Joaquin Securities on February 9, and the confirmation of Xicha, as of now, the number of Heytea stores is about 800, which is close to the number of tea stores in Naixue, which also focuses on high-end tea. According to the data on the official website of Xicha, 304 new Heytea stores will open in 2020 to 695 stores, and the growth rate of newly opened stores will reach 78%. Since 2021, the expansion rate of Heytea stores has not been as fast as last year.
Heytea's performance also seems to be under pressure. According to the data of the Prospective Industry Research Institute, in 2020, affected by the epidemic, the average single store sales of Heytea fell to 9.56 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of about 34%, and the annual sales volume was 6.644 billion yuan, an increase of 18% year-on-year.
Previously, Xicha had gained market attention due to the "contrarian" price reduction, and the market interpretation or to open up the mid-end market.
Since 2021, there have been a number of tea brands such as Yidian, Tea Baidao, COCO, Yihetang and Chayan Yueshi have increased prices one after another. At the same time as peers have increased prices, in January 2022, the price of some products and ingredients was reduced by 3 yuan to 5 yuan.
Xicha told the surging news reporter that Xicha's "countertrend" price reduction benefited from The brand potential and scale advantage of Xicha, as well as the continuous accumulation in the supply chain and the deep cultivation in the upstream. Heytea's behavior of lowering the price of products was also regarded as a signal to enter the mid-range market at that time. Immediately after Xi Tea, Nai Xue's tea also announced a price reduction.
In addition, under the background of doubts about the profitability of freshly made tea drinks, Xicha still frequently invests abroad. On February 8, 2022, Nie Yunchen, the founder of Xicha, invested in the fruit tea brand "Suge Fresh Tea" through a partnership investment enterprise. In fact, since July 2021, Heytea has invested in 6 tea-related companies, including the specialty coffee brand "Seesaw", the plant-based brand (oat milk supplier) "Wild Plant YePlant", the fruit tea brand "and peach peach", the low-grade wine brand "WAT", and the merger and acquisition of the fresh juice brand "Wild Extract Mountain".
Heytea founder Nie Yunchen equity penetration chart, the source of the picture tianyan check