Reporter | Wu Rong
Edit | Ya Han Xiang
According to the self-media "fast consumption" report, a number of employees broke the news that Wen Heyou had launched a round of large-scale layoffs a few years ago, and more than 60% of the departments were laid off; years later, a new round of layoffs continued. Most of the employees who were laid off this time were hired after July 2021, mainly involving the immersive theater project that WenheYou Changsha plans to launch and the Nanjing Wenheyou Project.
Wenjiake is one of the employees responsible for the above-mentioned Changsha project. She said in the breaking news that the project to cover the entire six floors of Changsha Wenyouhe, the workload is not small; during the period, the setting of the project's IP theme has changed back and forth, the top level has not reached a unified opinion, and the script plan has undergone many major adjustments, until the week before the Spring Festival in 2022, when it was notified of layoffs.
Nanjing is the fourth city that Wenheyou is ready to land after Changsha, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. According to Hong Yu, a layoffed employee of the project, at the end of 2021, she and the rest of the team suddenly accused her of changing the theme to "Six Dynasties Culture" according to nanjing's positioning, which means that the previous six months of work have been done in vain. The reason for the layoffs received by Hong Yu is the same as that of Wen Jiake, which is "the project is suspended, and the personnel should be optimized." The project also "cut from more than 60 people in its heyday to about 20 people, and I heard that it will be cut."
In addition to layoffs, the exposed employees also said that Wen Heyou had deducted wages. That is, the monthly salary of Wenheyou employees will not be paid in full, of which 10% of the performance salary will be pressed to the end of the year and the year-end bonus will be issued in one lump sum; and in 2021, there will be no year-end bonus for all employees.
Interface News asked Wen Heyou for verification in this regard, and the relevant person in charge of Wen Heyou's public relations responded, "Layoffs are normal personnel changes caused by the company's business adjustment, in fact, many positions in the company are still recruiting, and there will be new personnel in the next year." The company's various projects are now in progress, and there will be new projects and formats. But the company did not specifically respond to the above-mentioned employees' revelations.
Shenzhen Wen and Friends
The layoffs may just be part of Wen Heyou's downhill journey, after some hidden worries have emerged.
The "Wenheyou" brand was born in 2011, and the founder is Wenbin. From 2011 to 2016, Wen Bin successively opened Wenhe Youlao Changsha Fried Society, WenheYou Lobster House and Wenhe Youlao Changsha Sausage in Changsha.
In 2018, after obtaining an investment of not less than 70 million yuan from Tang Renshen Group, WenheYou Changsha Hisense Plaza store, which cost nearly 100 million yuan, opened. Covering an area of 20,000 square meters, this "Super WenheYou" includes a number of Changsha folk snacks, stationed in more than 100 businesses, and has been on weibo hot search because of the queue to take nearly 20,000 tables. In 2020 and 2021, Wen Heyou walked out of Changsha and brought Super Wen Heyou to Guangzhou and Shenzhen, which also triggered a queue boom.
In terms of the nature of its business model, there is not much difference from the food court. There are two ways to monetize Super Wen and You, one is not to collect rent, property fees, etc., through the store revenue sharing, the other is to collect a certain rent and property fees.
According to the investment benefits mentioned when Guangzhou Super Wenheyou opened, the first type of business is adopted, and the first batch of merchants do not need to pay rent and other entry fees, only need to pay the later water and electricity bills, purchase ingredients, but to share the turnover with Wenheyou, the proportion of the share is 30%.
In order to create a city culture scene, most of the non-chain and smaller long-established brands introduced by Super Wenheyou are unwilling to invest more costs, and the willingness to transfer from the street to the central business district is relatively low. This also means that from these long-established merchants, it is difficult for Wenheyou to obtain too much profit margin.
Second, such positioning is more difficult to replicate, limiting its expansion. Wen Bin once revealed that adjacent to Hermès and standing shoulder to shoulder with world-class brands is an important reference for the location of Super Wen Heyou, and the store must also occupy the shop on the first floor of the mall. Coupled with such a huge volume, it is difficult for Super Wen and You to choose a site.
Taking Wen Heyou in Taikoo Hui, Guangzhou as an example, the two sides initially contacted in 2018, but the whole process took two years to complete, the main difficulty of the project is that it is very large, covering an area of 5,000 square meters, and it breaks through the traditional design, bringing great challenges to the team's work, and the property owner also needs to do a lot of coordination, and it also takes a lot of time. In addition, in order to achieve the effect of nostalgic scenes, it also cost a lot of decoration costs. It is understood that the investment cost of Guangzhou Super Wenheyou has reached 200 million yuan.
Guangzhou Swire Huiwen and Friends
After spending effort from Changsha to Guangzhou and Shenzhen, Wen Heyou encountered water and soil dissatisfaction.
Interface News has previously reported that compared with the lively scene at the beginning of the opening, both have been questioned about "high open and low walk", and the flow of people has dropped significantly.
In Wenheyou, Guangzhou, there are a number of merchants leaving, there are also new merchants settled, most of the time do not need to queue, before the door for broadcasting the queue process of the TV has been demolished; after the partial decoration and adjustment, the theme of the venue catering changed to seafood theme.
Shenzhen Wenheyou also underwent a makeover last year, in addition to changing its name to "Old Street Oyster Market", the venue was also transformed into a cyberpunk-style old street oyster market, and at the same time adjusted to enter the business, Tea Beauty Pleasant Pop-up Shop, Wenji, Old Cat and QiaoshanFang left the market.
Choosing seafood as the theme of upgrading was an attempt by Wen Heyou to integrate into the local area. Feng Bin mentioned in an interview with the media that Wen Heyou in Shenzhen is not worse than Changsha in terms of crowd flow, but the style difference is not enough; in Guangzhou, Wen Heyou's biggest reflection is not confident enough and swinging. "The biggest loss we have suffered in Guangzhou is that we want to do the local culture of Guangzhou, but we are reluctant to throw away Hunan cuisine, which is our biggest reflection and biggest challenge." Feng Bin said.
In Changsha, Wenheyou may rely heavily on local characteristics and the dividends of tourists' "punch-in" business as a tourist punch-in destination. However, after leaving Changsha, it is necessary to adjust according to local conditions to meet the needs of local consumers. It's just not an easy task.
Taking Guangzhou as an example, the original Cantonese culture itself has its own set of relatively complete models, from the way of life to the cultural language has also been well preserved, whether it is Liwan, Yuexiu old town arcades and food, or the urban villages left over from the new urban area, it is not difficult to experience the old Cantonese life. From an experiential and cultural point of view, locals seem to be less likely to repeat the visit after coveting novelty.
On weekdays, around 12:00 noon in Guangzhou Wenheyou, the passenger flow is very small. (Photo: Wu Rong)
In recent years, the food and beverage life cycle has also become shorter in the context of the influence of social networks and the increasing disloyalty of young people.
Cui Wenjun, chairman of Guangzhou Pinhui Catering, analyzed to Interface News that in the past, judging whether a catering brand can survive for a long time will mainly revolve around three cores, namely quality (taste, quality), service and environment (hygiene, decoration style). Nowadays, food and beverage brands spend a lot of energy and investment in creating freshness, while ignoring the core of taste.
But taste is the key to retaining people, and the lack of taste is also a point that Wen Heyou has criticized.
Although Wen Heyou has said that it has continued to improve, on the public review page, there is still no shortage of negative comments such as "taking photos is suitable, the taste is average", "the photo spots are still good, but as a restaurant, it can only be said to be very general", "it is similar to the outside stall snacks, but there is no economy and taste of the stall snacks".