Image source @ Visual China
Wen | Red Meal Network, author | Zhai Bin
Jia Guolong kung fu dishes removed "home" and transformed into a "fast food" brand. Can it help Jia Guolong realize the vision of "100 billion Xibei"?
Jia Guolong, who has not appeared for a long time, has spoken, and this time he still focuses on "prepared dishes".
Recently, Jia Guolong said in an exclusive interview with the media, "Prefabricated dishes are the general trend of future catering, and Xibei will continue to lay out new retail and open the prefabricated vegetable market with Jia Guolong kung fu dishes." At the same time, he also revealed that in 2022, more "independent takeaway stores and dine-in restaurants" with Jia Guolong kung fu dishes will be opened in Beijing.
This is Jia Guolong's first official statement since Jia Guolong's kung fu dish Beijing Jinyuan store "reloaded" in December last year, after a year and a half of polishing, Jia Guolong kung fu dish has finally received the "stage affirmation" of Xibei and is about to start running at full speed.
"Return to just need", transformation of fast food, Jia Guolong kung fu dish this time is the right?
Two weeks ago, the author went to Jia Guolong Kung Fu Cuisine Beijing Xinhui city store to experience it, and the specific feelings were mainly reflected in the "four changes and one unchanged".
First of all, the first change: the store model has changed, and the "big store" has become the "small store".
Compared with the Jinyuan store (hereinafter referred to as the first generation store) before December last year, the latest version of kung fu dishes has significantly compressed the area, and the store is controlled at 70-90 square meters, with almost 50-60 seats, and the standard "small shop" model.
Image source @ Jia Guolong Kung Fu Cuisine Official Bo
The second change is the "store style", which has changed from pompous to refreshing and concise.
Compared with the slightly exaggerated style of the original store (the combination of the large golden dome + the red dress is particularly eye-catching; the waiter wears the same dress of the high-speed rail to open the can, heat and other operations, which is very ritualistic... Nowadays, the main color of the store has been changed to the traditional red and white colors of Xibei, supplemented by light log decoration, the style is simple and clear, and the overall freshness is much fresher.
The third change is the "menu", which changed from eight major cuisines to "66 classic Chinese dishes".
The original restaurant focuses on the classic dishes of eight major cuisines such as "Chuanlu Huaiyang", including "big dishes" with high unit prices such as stinky mandarin fish, yellow fish tofu, seafood sand tea pot, etc., while the new version of kung fu dishes is based on "66 classic Chinese dishes" such as Sichuan And Hunan cuisine and next meals, aimed at "one-person food" work meals and home cooking under the family dinner scene.
The upgraded Jia Guolong Kung Fu dish no longer has a box of pre-made dishes
The fourth change is "de-retailing".
In the new store, we can no longer see the large freezer in the previous Jinyuan store, and there is no waiter to heat the prepared dishes in front of the customers, the dishes are uniformly heated in the back kitchen, and the "de-retailing" of the entire store is done thoroughly.
In the past, Kung Fu restaurant staff was heating products Picture source @ Xibei official WeChat
What remains unchanged is still the "price".
Although Jia Guolong's kung fu dish has adjusted its positioning to "fast food", it still continues the consistent "small expensive" characteristics of Xibei.
Although the new menu has 9 pieces of 9 pieces of mapo tofu and sour and spicy potato shreds, 50% of the main dishes are still more than 30 yuan per unit price.
Although the price of kung fu dishes has dropped significantly compared with the per capita unit price of 100 yuan in Xibei Noodle Village, the unit price of 60 yuan per capita (the price of takeaway platform packages is 7-9% off, and the price of one meat and one vegetarian is 40-50 yuan) has also been similar to the unit price of some light meals, which is a proper "high-end fast food".
On the same day, the author ordered a signature mapo tofu, a Cantonese beef offal pot, plus two bowls of rice and a bottle of drink, a total of 63.8 yuan. First of all, it should be clear that it is not that the author has eaten a surprising amount or deliberately more, but indeed because the "portion of the dish is touching". This has also been verified by the public reviews, and "small weight" is the most reflected in all reviews.
A few more details:
Location
At present, several kung fu restaurants are located in the "compound business district", taking the Xinhuicheng store where I went as an example, there are both landmark office buildings such as Wangjing Soho and a large community around it, so even at nearly 1 o'clock on weekends (the author went on Sundays), there is a nearly 70% attendance rate.
In addition, from the location of the other 6 stores (7 stores have been opened so far, 1 to be opened), 2 are in Wangjing, 2 are in Shangdi, and 1 is in the CBD, which belongs to the area where high-income people are concentrated, and also conforms to the high-end positioning of kung fu cuisine.
Service contrast
If consumers who are already accustomed to "Xibei-style service", especially for family customers, Kung Fu cuisine is not so "friendly" in terms of service.
For example, there is no children's tableware in the store, the number of baby seats is not much, and there is no common "dining to send children's toys" in the village of Xibei noodles, so we must not look at kung fu dishes with the consumption habits of Xibei, which is a fast food restaurant that pays attention to efficiency.
Current Kung Fu Dishes Image source @ Jia Guolong Kung Fu Cuisine Official Bo
flavor
Pertinently speaking, the taste of kung fu dishes is not bad, in fact, in the case of pre-made dishes gradually dominating the back kitchen, most consumers are also difficult to eat the difference between "prepared dishes" and "freshly fried", which does not need to be discussed.
To summarize:
Compared with the oscillation between "retail and catering" in the original store, "return to catering" is my most intuitive feeling about the revised kung fu cuisine.
Although there have been some "detours" before, Xibei has made "corrections" in time, and at present, Jia Guolong Kung Fu cuisine may be the shortest way to realize Xibei's vision, although it still has many problems.
A twist and turn of Jia Guolong kung fu dish, the ultimate solution of "100 billion Xibei"?
Jia Guolong has repeated Xibei's vision on different occasions, that is, "every city and every street in the world has Xibei".
Ideal heroic but the reality is cruel, since 2015, Xibei has been trying to achieve his promise through fast food, from oatmeal noodles, Mai XiangCun, super meat sandwich steamed buns, to Xibei yogurt house, bow Changzhang, Jia Boss can toss, Xibei also worked hard enough, but never got the right answer.
It was not until the emergence of the epidemic that "prepared dishes" as the "ultimate solution" surfaced. Why is "prepared food" the ultimate way to realize the Sibe Vision?
Sibe's vision
In fact, for Sibei, the prepared dish can be described as "killing three birds with one stone".
The first is what Sibe needs. The epidemic has declared the complete end of the single model of "arrival at the store" of catering, "home" and prepared dishes continue to dilute the market share of "dine-in", Xibei wants to become a "catering service provider that provides comprehensive solutions", and pre-made dishes are the best grasp.
Highly standardized prepared dishes have a scale effect, which can effectively reduce the cost of ingredients, ensure product safety, and improve operational efficiency; at the same time, the fast food business based on Jia Guolong Kung Fu cuisine is most likely to expand rapidly at low cost and become the second growth curve of the brand.
The second is capital needs. Sibei has made it clear that it will be listed in the future, so the question is, how to meet the expectations of the capital market for Sibei's revenue and growth?
Obviously, it is unrealistic to bet on the "heavy assets, low growth rate, high customer list" of the Xibei noodle village. The prepared dishes with the characteristics of "catering and retail" will greatly help Xibei expand sales boundaries and digest the redundant capacity of the central kitchen, so as to achieve the goal of "100 billion Xibei".
Finally, there is consumer demand. In the past two years, prepared dishes have become a new hot spot for consumption, especially under the normal situation of the epidemic, prepared dishes have changed from a "dispensable" supplement category to a "regular product" in the refrigerator of young people. Therefore, "catering level" prefabricated dish players such as Xibei, Guangzhou Restaurant, Meizhou Dongpo, Zhiweiguan, etc. have entered the market and obtained "home advantage and category endorsement" that other competitors do not have.
All three parties need it, which also becomes the basis for Sibel all in pre-made dishes. But in terms of path planning, Sibei has indeed taken many "detours" in the past, roughly reviewing:
Pre-made dish version 1.0
In fact, before the epidemic, Xibei's prepared dishes were already on the road. Jia Guolong once revealed that in 2019, several models of Xibei's noodle fish were sold to Chinese supermarkets in Canada through agents.
At that time, Xibei's retail strategy was not clear, including yogurt, sea buckthorn juice, fruit and other retail products only as "supplementary business", prefabricated dishes were small in scale, single products, and the business had not yet become a climate.
Pre-made dish version 1.5
The Opening of Jia Guolong Kung Fu Cuisine Beijing Century Jinyuan Store and Sanya Store in 2020 can be seen as an important step in Xibei's "pre-made cuisine" strategy.
Through this test field, Xibei completed the testing of the first generation of kung fu vegetable products and the polishing of the business model, and officially rolled out half a year later. It is worth noting that this version is only intended as a "pilot" and not an "official version".
The presentation of kung fu dishes in the past Image source @ Jia Guolong Kung Fu dishes official micro
Although this is the "unofficial version", some problems can already be seen:
The first is positioning. At that time, the full name of the brand was "Jia Guolong To Home Kung Fu Dish", in which the word "home" had a deep meaning, which clearly stated the brand position at that time, that is, retail business (home) > catering business (store).
The second is the product structure. The first generation of products based on the products of eight major cuisines such as "Chuanlu Huaiyang" highlights "craftsmanship and ingredients", which is also the origin of the word "kung fu". The unit price of the customer is close to 100 yuan, taking the high-end route, and the strategy is to "move the dine-in home".
But at this time, consumers have a huge "cognitive gap" in the operation of "heating the back end of the prepared dish in person", so the controversy of "eating high-priced canned food and IQ tax" has not stopped.
Pre-made dishes version 2.0
At the end of March 2021, "Jia Guolong To Home Kung Fu Dish" was fully rolled out in the form of a store-in-shop in more than 300 Xibei stores across the country. Each store sets up a separate stall for kung fu dishes, consumers can choose dishes on the spot, direct dine-in after the store is heated, or they can take home after purchasing.
At the same time, with Tmall, JD.com, Mini Program official malls, and private domains as the main online channels, plus offline channels such as new retail such as its own stores and Hema, the retail channel structure of Jia Guolong Kung Fu Cuisine was officially completed.
Image source @ Jia Guolong Kung Fu Dish
However, the completion of the "revision" of Jinyuan store in December actually marked the failure of the 2.0 version, which had been running for 9 months.
At the same time, retail channels have also shrunk significantly: kung fu dishes in Xibei noodle village stalls have basically been demolished; the product structure of Tmall and Jingdong self-operated stores has been greatly adjusted, most of the original eight major cuisines have been removed, and the main products have been adjusted to main foods, fish, fresh beef and mutton, etc.; the private domain dominated by WeChat groups has also stopped pushing promotional products; the original products of Kung Fu cuisine are only left with the official mall as a channel to buy, and many products have been removed.
It is also to be expected that such a big adjustment will occur in Kung Fu cuisine, because the positioning of the original product has been seriously mismatched (for details, please refer to my "Jia Guolong Kung Fu Dishes Fully Rolled Out!" released in April 2021! This time, can Sibe gamble right? "), which leads to the "retail kung fu dish" this road is difficult to go through.
Pre-made dish version 3.0
With the reopening of Jinyuan store, "Jia Guolong Kung Fu Cuisine" was finally weaned and became an independent fast food brand, abandoning the retail attribute of "home" and returning to the logic of catering.
Now it seems that e-commerce is fast, but the high logistics and customer acquisition costs are unbearable for Xibei; these kung fu dishes such as cattle bones and stinky mandarin fish are indeed well selected and the process is exquisite, but after all, the high customer list is too high, which is a typical low frequency, low repurchase, non-rigid demand, and the general trend of consumption downgrading runs counter to the general trend.
In addition, this jia guolong kung fu dish transformation, perhaps the most important thing is the consideration of the customer base, the 1.0 version is still aimed at the stock of users who are not bad money; but if Xibei wants to achieve the sales target of 100 billion, it must focus on the incremental market with low customer unit price, and fast food is undoubtedly the "shortest path" to achieve the goal.
To summarize:
Jia Guolong once said that "dinner thinking is like a wall restricting him", and now "pre-made dishes" is the hammer that breaks the wall.
The underlying logic of prefabricated dishes is "using industrialization to make catering", which can not only meet the needs of catering, retail, but also take into account costs; and fast food is the most efficient "form of expression" of pre-made dishes. As a brand with a strong "meal gene", the current Xibei may finally be back on track.
Of course, the 3.0 version will never be the "final form" of Jia Guolong's kung fu dishes, in the context of consumption downgrade, as long as Xibei is still adhering to "consumption upgrades" and adhering to "quality fast food", its "small expensive" positioning will definitely restrict the sinking speed of kung fu dishes.
Several possibilities for a trillion-dollar prefabricated vegetable market
In the Spring Festival of 2022, many places advocated "local New Year", which also led to a sharp increase in sales of prepared dishes in various places, and prepared dishes ushered in a new wave of market and became the pig on the outlet.
In addition to the "Jia Guolong Kung Fu Dish" as the representative of the dining model, there are several other possibilities for pre-made dishes:
Lu Zhengyao's "Tongue Tip Hero" is said to have accumulated 1.6 billion yuan of financing and signed 6,000 stores in 1 and a half months;
The first weizhixiang of pre-made dishes has completed the channel adjustment from "distributor" to "franchisee", and To c's franchise business has also soared from 150 million in 2018 to 320 million in 2020;
The sales of prepared dishes of fresh e-commerce Dingdong have accounted for 14.9% of the overall GMV of the platform, and 3 million prepared dishes have been sold during the Spring Festival in 2022 alone;
Tao brands have fierce financing, and the new Chinese prefabricated dish brand Zhenwei Xiaomeiyuan has completed only 100 million yuan of financing, achieving more than 10 times business growth in one year.
Whether it is the retail model represented by "pre-warehouse and e-commerce" or the catering model represented by "fast food + convenience store", pre-made dishes are blooming in different channels, and the trillion market has triggered the crazy rush of many players. But back to the essence of business, there are a few things that we must clearly understand:
First, for consumers, prepared dishes are not just needed, and prepared dishes without staple foods are not a complete dining solution.
For young people, the only test of happiness is "eating at home", not "cooking at home", and we can't overestimate the willingness of young people in Z generation to be "willing to wash dishes".
Second, sooner or later, young people will understand that in the future, most of the food we will eat in restaurants will be prepared. Since they are all prepared dishes, why don't you just let the restaurant heat me up and send them over, so that I have to heat it at home, serve staple food, and wash the dishes?
Therefore, we must not be fooled by the explosion of pre-made dishes during the New Year, and those fragmented scenes based on specific time points or consumption upgrade needs are not non-mainstream. Catering must be the main scene of the pre-made dish, and at the end of the pre-made dish is the takeaway.
Third, whether you are happy to accept it or not, under the pressure of labor, rent and food costs, "cost reduction and efficiency improvement" through prefabricated dishes has become the general consensus of the whole industry, and the "industrialization and prefabricated cuisine" of catering has become irreversible. Those who are obsessed with "pot gas and craftsmanship" can only find comfort in small pyrotechnic shops or Michelin restaurants.
Finally, to share with you an interesting fact, when I was eating that day, I chatted with a father with a child at the next table:
Q: Why come here to eat?
A: Isn't this sibe's opening, take the child to eat with confidence.
Q: Do you know these are all prepared dishes?
A: It doesn't matter, isn't that all right now?
How Jia Guolong Kung Fu dishes will develop in the future, we don't know, but the above dialogue seems to give some answers. When Sibe will be able to realize the vision of "a good meal, anytime, anywhere", perhaps only time will give the answer.