When it comes to the Internet celebrity outlet of catering this year, roast duck is undoubtedly the most of them.
Since the end of the epidemic, the popularity of roast duck has been rising. Up to now, Mao Roast Duck Xiaohongshu has reached 70,000+ notes, and the number of readings on Weibo-related topics has exceeded 10 million, with the topic of #How luxurious can Mao Roast Duck # alone be readed 8 million, and the number of views on Douyin-related topics has reached an astonishing 2 billion. The entire category of Mao Cai's Douyin has only about 5 billion views, and Mao Roast Duck accounts for nearly half.
The expansion of category stores is even more unimaginable. Obviously, it is just a new category that has only risen at the beginning of the year, and it has developed many brands such as Wu Mei Mao Roast Duck, Li Xuqing Mao Roast Duck, Aftertaste Mao Roast Duck, Mao Shichuan Mao Roast Duck, Shushan Legend Mao Roast Duck and so on, among which the number of Wu Mei Mao Roast Duck stores has reached 130.
The number of roast duck brand stores, the data source is narrow-door dining
Recently, it has been reported that even the once famous grilled fish brand Bantian Demon has recently begun to change its name to "Bantian Demon Grilled Fish and Roast Duck". Even well-known restaurant brands such as Da Long Yi and Frog Laida have begun to launch roast duck products-related packages. According to the data of enterprise investigation, in the past six months, the registration of roast duck-related enterprises has increased by 5 times.
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Roast duck attacking the front line
What is roast duck? Just like its name, it is simply Mao Cai + Roast Duck, that is, the roast duck is cut into pieces and added to the soup pot of Mao Cai, and then it is matched with the common mille-feuille belly, duck intestines, chicken feet, tendon noodles, instant noodles, konjac, lotus root and other side dishes, which looks like an upgrade of Mao Cai, a small hot pot of roast duck, and at the same time a mutated roast duck version of spicy grilled fish.
With its unique taste and sense of value, roast duck has developed rapidly. The head Wu Mei Mao Roast Duck even wrote in the brochure that "an average of 3 stores will be expanded every day", and 800 stores will be opened by the end of 2023. The popularity of the roast duck category reached its peak around June, and with the development of time, new characteristics have emerged in terms of site selection, products, and business formats.
1. Attack the first-tier new first-tier cities and occupy the core business district
As a local specialty category in Chengdu, it stands to reason that the brand should be concentrated in the Sichuan-Chongqing region. However, compared with the conventional local specialty category, which focuses on the route of "rural areas surrounding the city", Mao Roast Duck seems to have taken a different path from the beginning, taking an unusual path straight to the front line.
According to Dianping data, there are only 1,534 roast duck-related businesses in Chengdu, the birthplace of the company, but catering O2O found that almost all of them are occupied by roast duck in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. As of October 24, there are currently 306 merchants in Shenzhen, 181 in Guangzhou, 476 in Beijing, and a staggering 646 in Shanghai.
In 2022, there will only be 4 stores in Chengdu for Wu Mei Mao Roast Duck, but now as of October 25, according to the narrow door restaurant, the brand has covered 68 cities in 21 provinces across the country, of which the first-tier and new first-tier cities account for nearly 35%, and shopping malls account for 1.54%, with stores in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan and Shanghai. Another brand, Li Xuqing, is risking roast duck to attack more fiercely on the front line. As a roast duck brand born in Shanghai, Li Xuqing's roast duck has become the head of the roast duck category in Shanghai, with 29 stores in Shanghai alone. In addition, the stores are basically located in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Beijing and other first-tier new first-tier cities, and shopping malls directly account for 16.67%.
Wu Mei and Li Xuqing are distributed in roast duck brand stores
In addition, catering O2O also found that a roast duck brand named Su Xiaozhao has emerged in Shenzhen, with a total of 29 stores, and there are already 5 stores in Shenzhen alone. There are also many Chengdu Mao vegetable brands, such as Spicy Pan Pan Malatang, Mrs. Dong's Mother's Hoof Flower, etc., which have appeared to add the suffix of roast duck or extend the combination of roast duck.
2. At the beginning, the category took the route of light socialization, and now fast food options have appeared
Although the roast duck first appeared in the form of small stalls, it appeared in farmers' markets, vegetable markets and other areas. But with the explosion of the category, the original hot pot category of steamed dishes has been turned into a hot pot. Roast duck has become a social dish that is more hot pot, focusing on light gatherings of 2-4 people with friends and family.
Roast duck dining scene
Taking the head Wu Mei Mao Roast Duck Chengdu store as an example, when we open Meituan, we will find that almost all Wu Mei Mao Roast Duck is mainly based on multi-person packages, with 2-3 people package 58 yuan, 4-5 person package 108 yuan, and 2-4 person package 98 yuan. Even if you come to Shenzhen, it has not changed much, although Wu Meimao roast duck in Shenzhen head office has added a single meal for 1-2 people, but the overall product is still based on a 2-4 person package, and at the same time, the product price is about ten yuan more expensive than in Chengdu.
Li Xuqing roast duck is no exception, whether it is a store in Shanghai or a store in Shenzhen, the products are mainly double meals, 2-4 people meals, and at the same time, the price is slightly more expensive than Wu Mei, Meituan is a good and comfortable double meal of 89 yuan, Ba Shide board 3-4 people package is 249 yuan, the product portfolio is also richer, adding Tianfu snacks and sour plum soup and other special products.
Wu Mei and Li Xuqing roast duck Meituan package
However, with the development of the roast duck category in first-tier cities, catering O2O has found that the value of roast duck is weakening, leaving the social attribute of hot pot and returning to the fast food attribute of roast duck. Especially in the city of Shenzhen, more and more brands have begun to launch a single roast duck set meal of about 20-30 yuan, and there is also a brand of roast duck that focuses on fast food.
Crispy Xiao Zhao roast duck Meituan set
Looking at the current Meituan package of the crispy Xiaozhao roast duck restaurant, we will find that the group purchase is basically based on a single package, with a single half catty of roast duck + 6 kinds of side dishes for 31.8 yuan, a single person 3 taels of roast duck + 6 side dishes for 26.8 yuan, and a single person 1 catty of roast duck + 6 side dishes + 1 rice for 59.8 yuan.
3. Roast duck prefabricated dishes, seasonings, roast duck related products bloom on all sides
With the continuous rise in the popularity of roast duck, even prefabricated food brands have begun to make efforts in the popular style of roast duck, and the related products of the roast duck supply chain are blooming in all directions.
For example, Ma Liuji launched a pre-made dish of roast duck a long time ago, but the current sales of this product are not high, and the price of 650 grams of roast duck products is 79.9 yuan. Huaying Food, known as the world's king of ducks, has also launched a similar Sichuan-style spicy roast duck pre-made dish.
It is also reported that New Hope Liuhe has also recently launched the product of roast duck. Shandong Huaya Group also began to cooperate with Bantian Demon to create a "conditioning duck blank" for roast duck, and at the same time create a new category of duck production for the C-end, and roast duck is among them.
Not only that, many companies that originally produced duck meat have also begun to get involved in roast duck products, and even the manufacturers that originally produced hot pot and roast vegetable base have also begun to introduce special roast duck seasoning to solve the problem of roast duck base supply.
In addition, there are now many innovative category combination brands of roast duck in the market, such as the roast fish + roast duck combination of Bantian Demon, the hoof flower + roast duck combination of Mrs. Dong's mother's hoof flower, and the tavern + skewer + roast duck combination of the first half-step tavern, and the form of business has become more and more diversified.
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The roast duck that continues to explode
Can the next "Yang Guofu" be born?
The combination of the two major IPs of Mao Cai and roast duck brings freshness and excitement to consumers; Moreover, roast duck itself is a high-awareness category, and it has a large number of mature customers in both the south and the north; At the same time, it can be touched with the two tracks of hot pot and steamed vegetables, with high cost performance, strong standardization, and high degree of replicability, and it is not difficult to expand quickly.
With such an innovative subdivision track, is it possible to achieve the next Yang Guofu? Before answering this question, we also need to think about the question: why did Mao Roast Duck suddenly become popular?
The picture comes from Xiaohongshu shared by netizens
Many catering people have analyzed this, and some people think that it is because Mao Roast Duck has two attributes: high-value check-in and social interaction, which is very in line with the needs of young people. Some people think that this year's catering track lacks popular projects, and Mao Roast Duck happens to have a small investment, high standardization, and high traffic, so it was launched by the trend and platform as a catering "savior".
However, in the view of catering O2O, there is actually only one core factor in the popularity of roast duck, the ultimate cost performance. After all, in this period when customers' wallets are deflated and catering spending power is declining, the ultimate cost performance is the biggest weapon for catering.
The picture comes from Xiaohongshu shared by netizens
The per capita price of roast duck is only about 30 yuan, and two people can eat a hot pot like meat and pot bottom, materials and meat dishes, and even a package with drinks and snacks for 60 yuan. The most important thing is that even if roast duck is such an extreme cost performance, it is also a good business for caterers.
Originally, the average person who was in the business of cooking vegetables was up to 30 yuan, and he was scolded as a "price assassin". However, after adding the category of roast duck with a full sense of value, not only the category directly enters the small hot pot social track from the fast food and vegetable track, but the price band has also been widened, and the highest per capita can even be about 50-70 yuan. Roast duck is a very well-known ingredient, the price is not too expensive, and a roast duck does not need a whole roast duck, and the profit level can also be guaranteed.
However, even with the above advantages, it is not easy to give birth to the next Yang Guofu on the roast duck track.
1. The product is too monotonous and homogeneous
Looking at the current in-store menu of the roast duck brand, most of them are in the form of roast duck + dishes + drink combinations, and the dishes are mainly common dishes of roast duck, and then paired with some drink products. If you are a little more careful, such as Li Xuqing's roast duck, you will increase mutton, fat sausages, Chengdu snacks, etc. The products of the stores under the whole category are very monotonous, and the homogenization is very serious.
Wu Mei Mao Roast Duck Menu
In addition to this, roast duck also has limitations in the taste of the base. Different from hot pot, small hot pot spicy, tomato, clear soup and other pot bases, even the roast itself has a variety of pot base options, because Mao Roast Duck needs chili noodles to stimulate the aroma of the whole dish and increase the appearance of the whole dish, so there is basically no other version other than spicy.
In this era when brands that started with single product explosions, such as Taier Sauerkraut Fish, are seeking to expand their categories in order to increase the repurchase rate of stores, such a monotonous and easy-to-copy product, even if it becomes a big hit at the moment, it is not easy to independently support a subdivision track. Not to mention, the current heat of roast duck cannot be compared to the heat of sauerkraut fish at the beginning. It is suggested that Mao Roast Duck brands add other compatible categories to further subdivide the dish and extend the multiple flavors of spicy food. Alternatively, you can also try to integrate roast duck with grilled fish and bullfrog categories to create innovative dishes such as double and triple dishes, so as to further enrich the richness of roast duck and make it truly a category. 2. There are also deficiencies in the social scene
Perhaps because it originated in Chengdu, the current roast duck brands such as Wu Mei and Li Xuqing, the store scenes are mainly based on Chengdu Jingfeng, and the homogenization of the scene is very serious. Moreover, the store environment is very ordinary. As a restaurant person said, the embarrassment of eating fast food is even more embarrassing when eating a full meal.
In order to save costs, some unknown brands directly changed the original fast food restaurant to a roast duck store, and then pasted some Chengdu culture-related elements, which can hardly be called a sense of scene experience. In such a store, customers simply do not experience the social attributes of roast duck. This is undoubtedly losing the core social value of roast duck. However, every mature catering category needs to go through an immature stage, and has experienced a state of being hot, overheating or even going out, and becoming popular again. Although the roast duck category has existed in Chengdu for many years, the category is obviously still in the initial growth stage, and the current popularity is only the result of the trend of the times. As for what the category will do in the future, and whether it will be reduced to another local specialty category that disappears after cutting leeks, it is too early to judge now, and we might as well let the bullets fly for a while.
Moreover, catering O2O has also noticed that some roast duck brands such as Li Xuqing are upgrading their store scenes. Taking Shenzhen Nanshan Subway Station as an example, the store has reduced the cold and hard stainless steel-style utensils, tables and chairs, and added calligraphy and paintings, wooden tables and chairs, etc., and the whole store has shown a brand personality, which is obviously a good phenomenon.
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Author | Produced by Susu | Catering O2O