The upcoming summer is the golden time for late-night snack consumption, and McDonald's also hopes to share the pie.
Recently, McDonald's China's new platform "MaiMai Night Market" was officially launched, with a new consumption model to increase the "night economy". The first new products "Mai Mai Ye Xiao Bao" and "Out of the God Halogenated Chicken Rack" and the previously launched "Green Pepper Flavored Half Chicken", and with French fries, beer and other beverages to form different specifications of the package for sale, the price ranges from 18 yuan to 59 yuan.
In fact, not only McDonald's, KFC, Haidilao have long been eyeing the night economy.
Restaurant giants are targeting the supper market, what are they trying to do?
McDonald's new platform "Mai Mai Night Market" was launched
Recently, McDonald's China's new platform "MaiMai Night Market" was officially launched. After 17:00, McDonald's restaurants and online ordering channels will switch to "night mode", and the page will change to a night sky image dotted with stars and moons.
In addition, the decoration of some stores has also been adjusted. Take the Guangzhou Today Square store as an example, the store is decorated with American retro style, and hangs a lot of neon lights, "Mai Mai Night Market opens at 17 o'clock" The words are particularly obvious.
Night Market Menu (Image: McDonald's)
McDonald's "Night Mode" ordering page (Image: McDonald's)
According to mcDonald's, the night market is a new menu slot launched by McDonald's China after dinner and breakfast. However, the reporter noted that in June last year, McDonald's launched a combination of green pepper flavored half chicken and bubble beer flavored drink package, which was also sold at 5 pm every day. Now it seems that last year's operation is more like a test of water before the official increase in the supper period.
KFC and Haidilao are also looking at the night economy
Not only McDonald's, KFC and Haidilao have similar ideas.
In the summer of 2019, KFC launched skewers and brine snacks, only for late-night snacks. Recently, KFC has also begun to expand its late-night menu, introducing "BBQ Flavor Tender Chicken Skewers" and "Sauce Flavor Q Bomb Squid Skewers" that are only available from 20:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., as well as "Secret Fragrant Fried Chicken Racks" and "Sichuan Spicy Fried Chicken Racks" sold after 17:00 every day.
KFC Chicken Rack (Image: KFC)
As a highlight of night consumption, Haidilao also sold beer and crayfish.
It is understood that since the end of May 2021, Haidilao's national stores have successively launched crayfish products, and as of the end of June, they have covered more than 1,000 stores in more than 30 provinces in China.
In addition, in order to meet the needs of consumers, Haidilao also launched its own brand craft beer, which has sold more than one million in May and June.
Haidilao's supper Image source: Shenzhen Evening News
Why restaurant giants should seize the "night economy"
In fact, in recent years, the "night economy" has become a new driving force for the growth of catering.
According to the "2021-2022 China Night Economy Monitoring and Typical City Case Analysis" released by Ai Media Consulting, the scale of China's night economy has exceeded 30 trillion yuan in 2020, and it is expected to exceed 40 trillion yuan in 2022, and the new consumption model, including the night economy, will become a new force driving consumption.
In addition, the "2020 Catering Night Consumption and Supper Category Development Report" released by Meituan shows that from 2017 to 2019, the transaction volume of the catering night market rose from 31.47% to 35.77%, and the trend of catering night consumption was obvious.
According to the "White-collar Supper Report" released by the convenience bee, more than 30% of white-collar workers are "forced" to eat suppers because of overtime; more than 50% of respondents said that they often eat alone in the late night; compared with lunch, white-collar workers are more willing to pay for supper and are willing to spend more money on supper consumption, which also shows that there is a certain potential in the supper market.
In addition, China's youth group is the main body of night economic consumption, in the night entertainment projects, young people love to watch movies, accounting for more than 50%, followed by parties, sports and fitness and KTV, accounting for more than 30%, while the new consumption format script killing, escape room, paid self-study room preference is relatively low.
Therefore, this has also become a potential sales growth point for chain catering brands.
What are the challenges mcDonald's face?
However, at the moment, the late-night exploration of McDonald's and KFC is still full of challenges.
The repeated epidemic is not a small blow to the catering industry, many restaurants can not guarantee the flow of customers during lunch and dinner, and supper is even more difficult to overcome.
Secondly, it is difficult for them not to face the dilemma of consumer cognition and choice, because fast food may be in the eyes of many consumers to solve the needs of the stomach, but at night, out of social, leisure or want to eat a more distinctive meal to treat themselves, whether everyone will choose to buy a late-night snack in a Western-style fast food restaurant, may also need to play a question mark.
There are also different types of products to choose from in the supper market, such as food stalls with more pyrotechnics in the market, which will be a competitor of McDonald's.
In addition, for the sake of healthy slimming, some consumers may also reduce their spending on suppers.
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