Source: Burning Dimension (ID: chaintruth) Author: Burning Dimension Studio
The more "new Chinese steamed buns" sounds, the more it looks like a pseudo-proposition.
In the first half of 2023, with the trend of replacing traditional weight loss items such as bagels and bread with sugar-free and oil-free, relatively healthy and affordable steamed buns on social platforms, "new Chinese-style steamed buns" or "national tide steamed buns" made of "steamed buns + various fillings" that are "eye-pleasing and healthy" have become the "bagel replacement" and the first choice for health in the mouths of girls.
As a result, "New Chinese Mantou" became the traffic password on social platforms, and bloggers spared no effort to dig into various new Chinese steamed bun shops, and entrepreneurial stories about new Chinese steamed buns began to circulate widely.
A hoarding steamed bun shop opened in Hangzhou by the post-00s manager, focusing on new Chinese-style steamed buns, has accumulated 118,000 fans on Douyin before it has opened, and nearly 50,000 fans in Xiaohongshu, and set a record of selling out before 14:00 pm on the first day of soft opening, and countless young consumers lined up for a long time, just to check in.
Another new Chinese-style steamed bun shop in Chongqing, "Mantou Superman Supermantou", not only opened a pop-up shop, posting "explosive orders" on social platforms every day, its store is also extremely popular, and the highest price product in the store is a handmade old noodle steamed bun combination priced at 128 yuan.
Under the "boom", entrepreneurs have also poured into this track. In the first half of 2023, post-95 Shen Yue in a fourth-tier city in Shandong, post-99 Xiwei in Zhumadian, Henan, and Baoma Azhao in Qingdao, Shandong Province have all joined different new Chinese steamed bun brands and are ready to "do a big job".
However, they were greeted only by "steamed buns are expensive... The evaluation of "only selling sweet steamed buns, but also dead expensive", "expensive and unpalatable", and the fact that they are now preparing to close their stores - the first batch of new Chinese-style steamed bun shops have begun to close.
Play with the steamed buns to make taro rolls, brown sugar rolls, black sesame rolls, cheese rolls, meat pine rolls, etc., the "novelty" is insufficient, as for the "national tide", you need to put more thought into the style, the current "new Chinese steamed buns" shops are difficult to reach.
Compared to products that lack sufficient innovation and attractiveness, it is the climbing price. The unit price starts from 3 or 4 yuan a piece, and is as high as 8-10 yuan a piece, and it is not surprising that it is abandoned by consumers in the comparison of 2 yuan a bag of big white steamed buns in supermarkets.
Photo: The bankrupt Guochao steamed bun shop Source/Courtesy of Ah Zhao
"Taking advantage of the momentum to open the store, it took half a year from the local Internet celebrity check-in point to the closure." Shen Yue helplessly said that as an entrepreneur of a new Chinese-style steamed bun shop, fancy steamed buns priced from 3 yuan are "difficult to have organic traffic, and the repurchase rate is not high" in traditional communities, and what finally broke her was the off-season of steamed bun buying brought by the hot summer. ”
Therefore, Shen Yue, who thought that she could make a small profit, could only "close the store and leave, and she didn't even earn it back."
Xi Wei, who invested nearly 100,000 yuan to join the store to decorate and purchase machinery, also gained little, "There are too few customers, mainly young white-collar workers and mothers." ”
Although it has a group of customers who are willing to pay for low-sugar healthy staple foods, Xiwei still worries that "the frequency of online orders is low, and at the best time, there are only a dozen orders a day, and there is almost no organic traffic offline." In the end, she was criticized for "only selling sweet steamed buns, and it is still expensive", and decided to transfer it in September this year.
Mantou, the most simple food on the Chinese land table, featuring "strong anti-hunger" staple food, has been transformed into a "new Chinese" dim sum. About "Can a steamed bun be sold for 10 yuan a piece?" Or even 32 yuan a piece? The controversy has always revolved around this "national tide" rookie.
Not only these entrepreneurs who rushed in with a "hot head", but also the Internet celebrity "hoarding steamed bun shop" since its opening in June, from a long queue to no queue is only 2 months, on social platforms such as Xiaohongshu, many consumers are also buying hoarding steamed buns after sent, "8 yuan a steamed bun, is it worth it?" ".
However, the controversial high unit price does not seem to be the only reason why the new Chinese steamed bun is difficult to appear in the next "Momo Dim Sum Bureau" and "Tiger Head Bureau", "high price does not equal high quality", today's new Chinese steamed buns or poor taste is difficult to increase the repurchase rate, or to improve the taste of the filling with sugar and oil, a senior handmade blogger said to Ran Dimension, "The so-called some national chao steamed buns low calorie health, more like a consumer self-strategy." ”
At present, it seems that new Chinese steamed buns are not a "good to do" business.
01
The closure of a steamed bun shop
In July 2023, Shen Yue, after 95, came to the steamed bun shop that had been closed for nearly a week on a steaming afternoon, and took down the light box, signboard, etc. at the door one by one, and she decided to close the store completely.
Shen Yue's steamed bun shop has just been open for more than half a year, and unlike ordinary street shops that sell big steamed buns and flower rolls, Shen Yue's shop sells "new Chinese steamed buns", with more patterns, a simple steamed bun can make taro rolls, brown sugar rolls, black sesame rolls, and even cheese rolls and other flavors, "beautiful and delicious", the price is more expensive than ordinary 5 cents a steamed bun, priced at 2-3 yuan a piece.
In the past half a year, Shen Yue has been busy all night every day, making steamed buns during the day, and having to prepare materials at night, and more often, she is insomnia because she can't sell steamed buns.
At the beginning of this year, Shen Yue, who lost her job, opened a Guochao steamed bun shop in her third-tier city, and she briefly rubbed the "new Chinese" east wind.
At the beginning of its opening, Shen Yue's steamed buns attracted many customers with their high appearance, whether they were high school students and college students who always pursued the same style online, or young white-collar workers who advocated healthy eating, "long queues" in front of her small store, however, "more people watch, fewer people buy." Shen Yue said helplessly, "The ones who come to buy are young people who have just worked and like to taste early, or young mothers with children at home." ”
Bathed in the puzzled eyes of the surrounding grandpa and aunt, in the first week of opening, Shen Yue's daily turnover was only about 200 yuan, which was not as good as the small street shops around who sold big steamed buns, "Excluding water and electricity rent, I earn less than I go to work." ”
After the first three months of freshness, when I came to the summer, "I sat in an air-conditioned room and made steamed buns, and the clothes were not dried, even if it was so hard, everyone didn't like to buy them." "Summer is originally the off-season for steamed buns and other foods, because she can't sell steamed buns, Shen Yue has fallen into collapse countless times, "There are no orders, and no one comes to buy them when opening the store, so I simply closed the store." ”
Now every night gets darker, standing in front of the closed store, Shen Yue falls into a bottomless confusion.
Like Shen Yue, Ah Zhao, who is now also preparing to close his shop, once firmly believed, "How can a traitorous steamed bun not make money?" ”
Ah Zhao, who is good at making a variety of noodles, pays more and more attention to the nutritional problems of children after having children, in her opinion, this year's hot national chao steamed buns, nutritious and good-looking, "there is no shortage of market", at the same time, a number of national chao steamed bun brands have appeared on the Internet to join, "It is said that many stores have monthly profits from 30,000 yuan, and at most one and a half months to return the book." ”
In other counties near Ah Zhao, the new Chinese-style steamed bun shop opened up has detonated the circle of friends, which has made Ah Zhao a little "hot head", she quickly sold a store, just after joining the decoration and purchase equipment, she invested 100,000 yuan.
However, "everyone tasted something fresh at first," and after the first month, "they all tasted it, and then the employees' salaries couldn't be earned." Ah Zhao said bluntly.
Frustrated, Ah Zhao can only "pick up the stubble" by himself, and compared with the common big steamed buns for a few cents at the end of the street, although Ah Zhao's national tide steamed buns are good-looking, but "the quality of the products sent by joining is not good, the meat pine rolled buns are 4 yuan a piece, and the cheese brushed steamed buns only have a thin layer of cheese, and they are also sold for 4 yuan a piece, and customers feel expensive and unpalatable."
Photo: Modest turnover on the 26th day of openingSource/Courtesy of Xiwei
Originally wanted to earn a wave of young people's "silver" with national tide steamed buns, but Ah Zhao wanted to cry and tearlessly found that in addition to some old customers who were accustomed to placing orders online, people around mentioned Ah Zhao's store, "just selling sweet steamed buns, but also expensive" has almost become an inherent impression, now less than 3 months after opening, the turnover of only 100 yuan has become a daily routine, "Open a store is just to earn a utility bill, do not open the store has not been lost, simply have something to do not open." ”
In the end, Ah Zhao decided, "First transfer the store out, set up a small studio, and make fancy steamed buns that can be eaten by everyday families, so that there will be more customers." ”
02
Why New Chinese Mantou?
"Are the steamed buns so rolled now?" When Lin Lin after 00 saw the new Chinese steamed buns full of flowers, he posted this sigh on social platforms.
In order to catch up with the trend of national tide steamed buns, Lin Lin spent more than 100 yuan to buy all the steamed buns in the store, and the pictures and texts posted "no accident" attracted a lot of likes.
As a "bread head", Lin Lin believes that these new Chinese steamed buns "want to become bread or bagels", Lin Lin bluntly said, "such as matcha, cheese, and even Oreo and other flavors, but eat fresh, but the taste is somewhat strange, compared to black sesame, brown sugar, cranberry and other classics, not only delicious but also solid ingredients, the taste is very healthy." ”
After trying, Lin Lin, who has fitness habits, decided to replace bagels with new Chinese steamed buns, after all, compared to the starting bagels of around 10 yuan, the price range of solid steamed buns is between 3-8 yuan, which can make her easily achieve "high-quality carb freedom", in addition, for her, "new Chinese steamed buns have a high-energy photo", which also makes breakfast more ceremonial.
When steamed buns joined the army of "new Chinese baking" and became the "new social currency" of young consumers, the "handmade steamed bun fever" was also set off on social platforms.
Taking the Xiaohongshu platform as an example, Ran Dimension observed that in the notes related to the new Chinese steamed buns, keywords such as "no oil and no sugar" and "health" appeared frequently. In Douyin-related topics, many new Chinese steamed bun shop owners, in addition to using "eye-catching" cover images to attract likes, will also emphasize "clean ingredients, healthy and nutritious" in the video.
Picture/Good-looking and delicious high-priced new Chinese steamed buns (left hoard steamed bun shop, right steamed bun superman) source/Burning dimension screenshot
Xi Wei told Ran Weiyuan that in April 2023, she opened a "steamed bun yoyo handmade coarse grain noodle shop" in Zhumadian, Henan, and now, the most popular in the store is all kinds of coarse grains as the selling point of whole wheat meal replacement kits, such as "whole wheat taro puree, whole wheat purple rice salted egg yolk and other flavors, as well as low-fat chicken breast vegetable dumplings", now near the Mid-Autumn Festival, Xi Wei has also developed coarse grain mooncakes.
However, as shopkeepers link steamed buns starting from 3 yuan to "healthy handicrafts", the "inner roll" of raw materials has further raised the threshold for entrants to start a business.
"Since opening the store, the most difficult thing is choosing ingredients." Xi Wei said that because the main food is sugar-free and oil-free coarse grain fancy staple food, the influence of ingredients on taste is crucial, which also makes the choice of ingredients more critical.
"Since opening the store in April, I have wasted at least a few thousand yuan to screen satisfactory ingredients, such as Lipu taro, which is very popular with fat loss and sugar control people, because of its low calorie content and slow glycemic rise, it often becomes the main ingredient of handmade steamed buns, but many of the ones sold on the market are fake Lipu taro, steamed out of water, and have no taste at all." In the end, Xiwei stepped on a lot of pits online and offline, and finally chose Lipu taro that met the requirements of the store's products.
In addition, whether it is fresh milk added in the production stage to improve the taste, or coarse grains such as sweet potato flour, cornmeal, and whole wheat flour used in production, the cost of Xiwei has risen.
But no matter how entrepreneurs emphasize that their "new Chinese steamed buns" are solid in materials and online appearance, 2-3 yuan a new Chinese steamed bun is still difficult to be cared for in the community, "but in areas where young people gather, the rent is also around 80,000 yuan a year, which is several times the current cost, and I can't afford it at all." Xi Wei added.
"There is almost no natural offline traffic, and it is completely dependent on online orders to survive" - has become the daily life of many new Chinese steamed bun entrepreneurs.
Previously, Shen Yue asked on social platforms how to operate the Little Red Book of steamed bun shops. But now the Xiaohongshu account of Shen Yue Mantou Store has not yet officially operated, and the store has been closed.
"For the high-priced new Chinese steamed buns, the main buying groups are mostly mothers who pursue nutrition, and white-collar workers who do not have time to cook, but the repurchase rate is still limited, most people are accustomed to online orders, and offline stores are always unattended." Over time, Shen Yue's shop has become a "black shop that kills people" in the mouths of neighbors.
Ah Zhao's store has been open for less than 2 months, and its daily turnover has never exceeded 100 yuan, "earning a utility bill a day", it is better not to start work, after all, not starting work is equal to less compensation.
Even if Xiwei's daily flow has stabilized at about 500 yuan, some time ago, Xiwei was also in the collapse mood of "or forget it", previously with the social platform drainage, Xiwei has long made a WeChat mini program to expand online customers, but into the summer catering off-season, "the products are handmade, many ingredients are processed in the morning, and after 5 pm, they begin to change in taste, or completely lose their appearance." ”
Affected by the high temperature, the online mailing business also had to be suspended, which greatly affected Xiwei's turnover.
"Just when the lease of the original façade expired, I simply moved to a more remote shop, and I was ready to operate online in the future." Xi Wei said.
03
Can't run out of Momo and Tiger Head Bureau?
The "fat loss anxiety" of young people, rumored to sell up to 32 yuan a new Chinese steamed bun, has become a new trend of "new Chinese baking" in 2023, but how long can this wind blow, it seems that a question mark needs to be marked.
The controversy over high prices has always remained high, although some consumers said, "Compared with a small portion of bread and bagels for tens of yuan, Guochao steamed buns are convenient and nutritious as a meal replacement, only 3-8 yuan, and the price of steamed buns is very cost-effective." ”
But a handmade blogger also bluntly said, "The fat reduction party that eats steamed buns is originally for clean carbs, sugar-free and oil-free, but now the Internet celebrity steamed buns, in order to taste good taste, all kinds of cheese, dried fruits, meat floss added, not only sugar and oil are indispensable, but also contrary to the original propaganda of sugar-free and oil-free." ”
Ah Zhao also said that although she also wants to make completely sugar-free Guochao steamed buns, but after her many attempts, taking the store's popular black sesame steamed buns and Beibei pumpkin corn cake as an example, "not putting sugar is really not delicious, customers are not willing to buy back", in the end, Ah Zhao's Guochao steamed buns in the store except for one rose roll is low sugar, the rest of the styles are sugary.
Obviously, for consumers who originally wanted to use the new Chinese steamed bun as a "bagel replacement" for fat loss meal replacement, the fancy steamed bun does not seem to be cleaner than the big steamed bun with 5 Mao.
With the "blooming everywhere" of new Chinese-style steamed bun shops, the new Chinese-style steamed bun brand that is gaining momentum has also opened the road of rapid franchise expansion, and the entrepreneurs attracted by the wind seem to have become the first wave of "leeks" to be cut.
Nowadays, including "Rao Niu New National Chao Mantou Workshop" and "Manchu Xiaocheng", many national chao steamed bun brands are rising, according to Ran Dimension, including the franchise fee, machinery and early purchase and other expenses, the pre-entrepreneurial investment of these new brands is about 100,000 yuan, and at the same time, on social platforms, many steamed bun handmade bloggers have also begun to open classes, charging between a few hundred yuan and thousands of yuan.
Under the trend of entrepreneurship and joining, in addition to bringing cheers to consumers on social platforms that "there are also new Chinese-style steamed bun shops in ×× (places)", only the entrepreneurs themselves know the suffering.
Also joining a national chao steamed bun brand, Ah Zhao said, "Not only did it require a large number of purchases and raw materials in the early stage, which is known as quality control, but after entering nearly 80 boxes of finished products, not even half of them were sold for more than two months, and customers always complained that the taste was average, expensive and not delicious."
Even Ah Zhao later found that there were quality problems such as the steamed buns and drums sent, and in the end, Ah Zhao could only "admit that he was unlucky" and decided to transfer the shop and "reopen a steamed bun workshop himself".
At the same time, the new Chinese-style steamed bun shops that have conquered various social platforms may focus more on replicating the traditional bagels and bread chain brands such as "Lipu taro bagels, black sesame bagels, matcha red bean soy milk crisp buns" and other explosive products.
As a subdivision of new Chinese baking, "the current new Chinese steamed bun shops on the market have serious product homogenization. A consumer VC told Ran Dimension that he was not optimistic about the new Chinese steamed buns, "emphasizing that the current national chao steamed buns not only have seasonal restrictions, but also the transportation cost is not low, and the production threshold is not high. ”
In fact, according to Qiangua data, in the first half of 2023, young consumers on the Xiaohongshu platform have higher demand for the health and functionality of products, and products that are beneficial to the body, low sugar, low calorie and less added have attracted user attention. The new Chinese-style steamed buns have undoubtedly hitched a ride on the "health preservation" train.
However, between taste and health, the entrepreneurs of new Chinese steamed buns are still swinging left and right, "Eating steamed buns should return to the original, although steamed buns can also make patterns, but for the sake of gimmicks and freshness, it may be difficult to make steamed buns into bread and become Internet celebrities." A handmade blogger also said bluntly.
Obviously, with the continuous controversy, it is not easy for the new Chinese steamed bun to gain a foothold and even run out of the next "Momo Dim Sum Bureau" or "Tiger Head Bureau".
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