The source network of the cover and part of the distribution picture, invasion and deletion
Last year, a "Chinese burger shop" called Tustin appeared on the streets and subverted people's perception of traditional burgers with products such as fish and shredded meat burgers and spicy chicken burgers.
What's more worth mentioning is that according to GeoQ Data brand data, last year Tustin China Burger (hereinafter referred to as "Tustin") opened more than 1,500 stores, and the expansion speed even "crushed" the 10,000-store brand Wallace, becoming a "dark horse" in the snack fast food track against the trend.
As of March 7, 2023, Tustin's total number of stores has reached 3,100, covering 221 cities in 21 provinces, and the store size has exceeded that of the established burger brand Tex.
Tustin China Hamburg in the camp store heat map Source: GeoQ Ana brand analysis tool
In fact, from its inception in 2012 to 2020, Tustin has also sat on the "cold bench" for nearly 8 years, experiencing a difficult exploration from pizza to burgers.
After Tustin began using Chinese-style hand-rolled dough as a fort embryo in 2018, the innovative combination of "baked cake" and fried chicken quickly came out of the circle, and the total number of stores in 2020 finally exceeded 500.
After opening up in 2021, coupled with the positioning of Chinese burgers and related explosive products, the number of Tustin stores has grown by leaps and bounds.
Based on GeoQ Ana, this article will focus on digging into some hot issues from the perspective of Tustin store development:
·What are the trends in the store layout during Tustin's rapid expansion?
Compared with similar brands, what are the advantages and disadvantages of Tustin store distribution?
Under the fierce market competition, how does Tustin break the three "roadblocks" and achieve sustainable development?
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The middle and low lines "cast a wide net", and the high lines enter the community
Tustin identified the "gap" in the market and opened a store against the trend
Through the category innovation of "Chinese burgers" and the price range of 9-35 yuan, Tustin avoids head-to-head confrontation with McDonald's and KFC, so as to gain certain development space, and in terms of store expansion strategy, Tustin and the above two brands are also different.
GeoQ Ana brand analysis tool shows that Tustin stores are densely located on the southeast coast, while stores penetrate into central, southwest, and northern China. At present, there are few stores in the northwest and northeast regions, and there are no stores in Xinjiang, Tibet and Inner Mongolia.
Tustin China Hamburg stores in the province distribution map Source: GeoQ Ana brand analysis tool
At present, Tustin has the largest number of stores in Guangdong Province, followed by Fujian Province and Zhejiang Province, with the number of stores in the three provinces accounting for 41%.
Tustin China Hamburg stores in selected cities Source: GeoQ Ana Brand Analysis Tool
Judging from the current city level where Tustin is located, it is more inclined to open stores in low-tier cities. At present, the number of stores in fourth-tier cities is the largest, followed by second-tier cities, and there are fewer stores in first-tier and new first-tier cities. The number of stores in second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-tier cities accounts for 88.3%, and Tustin's offensive against the "middle and sinking market" has been very fierce.
Source: GeoQ Ana Brand Analytics tool
As of March 8 this year, Tustin has the largest number of stores in Guangzhou, followed by Shenzhen and Chongqing, and the number of stores in each city is not much different, and the distribution is relatively even.
In the past month, Tustin has opened more stores in Shenzhen and Guiyang, and still focuses on the expansion of advantageous areas and mid- and lower-tier cities.
Source: GeoQ Ana Brand Analytics tool
Source: GeoQ Ana Brand Analytics tool
Taking the location of Tustin's stores in Guangzhou as an example, its stores are densely distributed in core urban areas such as Tianhe District and Haizhu District, and are relatively sparse in the outer urban areas, with a clear trend of central agglomeration.
Distribution of some Tustin stores in Guangzhou Source: GeoQ Ana Brand Analysis Tool
In addition, Tustin's stores in Guangzhou are more located in residential areas, communities, and many are distributed around subway stations. There are few stores in or around the mall.
Location of some of Tustin's stores in Guangzhou Source: GeoQ Ana Brand Analysis Tool
In fourth- and fifth-tier cities, Tustin's store opening logic is completely different, and it prefers to open stores in core business districts and shopping malls. Take the fifth-tier city of Suining in Sichuan as an example, which has entered the commercial center of Suining Old Town and Wanda Plaza in Hedong New Town.
Tustin's store address in the fifth-tier city of Suining Source: GeoQ Ana Brand Analysis Tool
Overall, about 60% of Tustin's stores are located in communities and residential areas. It can be seen that it pays attention to avoiding McDonald's, KFC, Burger King and other brands that prefer to open stores in shopping malls in high-tier cities, and starts from the community to cover more areas of the city.
In the middle and lower tier cities, Tustin relies on price advantages and product differentiation, "hard" head and waist many burger brands.
Inescapable of catering and Wallace
What are the advantages of Tustin's current store layout?
Tustin occupies the minds of customers through category innovation, while quickly scrambling, and from the perspective of its expansion path, catering and Wallace, which are mainly targeting the sinking market, may be under greater pressure.
In comparison, Tustin has thousands more stores than Tex, but it is still difficult to match Wallace, which has more than 18,000 stores.
Source: GeoQ Ana Brand Analytics tool
Compared with the opening and closing of the three brands in the past month, Tustin stores have the highest growth and net increase, and are still in the stage of rapid expansion. The number of stores opened by Catering and Wallace is smaller than the number of store closures, and the size of stores is shrinking.
From the perspective of the advantages of the three brands' store scale in different regions and cities, Wallace has obvious advantages in the number of stores in most cities, while Catering has advantages in the number of stores in some cities in Xinjiang, Tibet and Qinghai.
Tustin has more stores in central China, i.e. in some cities in Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi than Catering and Wallace.
Source: GeoQ Ana Brand Analytics tool
The city level distribution of the three brand stores is very similar, with all of them having the most stores in fourth-tier cities, followed by second-tier cities. The number of stores in first-tier cities and new first-tier cities is small.
Source: GeoQ Ana Brand Analytics tool
Compared with the surrounding supporting facilities of the three brand stores, the average residential area, office buildings and shopping centers around each store are the most 1 km, and the location is relatively prosperous.
On average, Tustin has less than one office building and shopping mall within 1 kilometer of each store, which further confirms its preference for "community stores".
Source: GeoQ Ana Brand Analytics tool
Therefore, the overall comparison can find that even if the three brands are pointing to the sinking market, they can still make differentiated layouts in site selection.
There are "fierce enemies" in the front, and "chasing soldiers" in the back
Tustin urgently needs to remove three 'stumbling blocks'
Although Tustin has highlighted the siege through "contrarian development", it still faces great challenges. McDonald's and KFC are still two "mountains" that are difficult to shake, and the strength of catering and Wallace cannot be underestimated.
In addition, Chinese burger brands such as Chu Zheng, Dafangfang, and Hamburg Zhuangyuan appeared one after another, and Chu Zheng received 3 million yuan in angel round financing.
There are "fierce enemies" in the front, and "chasers" in the back, and Tustin itself has encountered three "roadblocks" that need to be solved urgently.
1. Under the rapid expansion, scientific store layout is very important
Tustin, which is in a stage of rapid expansion, expanded more than 100 stores in Guangzhou alone last year.
Its franchisees will feel this more concretely: once a city may have one store, now there may be multiple stores within 3 kilometers around.
Therefore, in the stage of rapid expansion, brands need to quickly assess the market space in urban areas and business districts, and rationally layout stores.
If the stores are too dense, it will increase the competitive pressure of franchisees, and may even lead to large-scale closures due to "infighting", affecting the brand's reputation; Stores that are too sparse and will free up too many blank markets, which not only gives competitors the opportunity to "card slots", but also does not meet the goal of rapid expansion.
Therefore, it is necessary to rationally plan and layout stores through digital network planning tools based on location intelligence, and it is also the "secret weapon" of many large chain brands. Tustin needs to step up its layout.
2. Fast food is not "fast", how to crack?
Due to the need for freshly baked hand-rolled noodle burgers, the speed of Tustin serving takes about 15 minutes, which is much slower than Western burger brands, so it is also criticized by many customers.
If you want to ensure the characteristics of the product, in addition to the improvement of processing technology, you can also consider "rushing time" in other places. For example, shorten the delivery time as much as possible.
To ensure takeaway delivery time, it also needs to be supported by a real-time takeaway delivery digital system, taking into account the weather, congestion, and even the matching degree of delivery personnel and surrounding communities, and these needs can also be achieved through location intelligence related products.
3. Supply chain optimization and franchisee regulatory issues
In the stage of rapid brand expansion and the influx of franchisees, food safety issues and franchisee supervision also need to be laid out in advance. In recent years, the rapidly expanding catering brands have more or less had the problem of substandard food and being swept away by negative news.
To ensure the freshness of ingredients, the construction of the entire supply chain and the real-time supervision of franchisees are very important.
Therefore, in summary, whether it is store location layout, takeaway distribution, supply chain construction, franchisee management and other issues, they can be solved with the help of digital tools. Establish a stable store system and supply chain system in the early stage of development to cope with the subsequent fierce competition.
Write at the end
In the Western-style fast food circuit that seems to be "a red sea", Tustin's contrarian expansion last year was undoubtedly surprising, but it also proved the potential of the Chinese market, especially the sinking market and the county economy.
Of course, from the perspective of Tustin's own positioning, pricing and store expansion, it has also cleverly found its own position and development gap, thus achieving good results.
However, under the market situation of "fierce enemies" in the front and "chasing soldiers" in the back, Tustin China Hamburg still needs to continue to build its own barriers, not only in terms of products and marketing, but also in terms of internal digital operation system and scientific expansion strategy, which can support its rapid and stable development.
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