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文 | XMM
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Since ancient times, China has had a reputation as a "food power".
There are not only the "eight cuisines" that are well-known at home and abroad, but also more than 20 kinds of cooking methods!
Among these various competing Chinese cuisines, many have come out on top and have become "time-honored brands" that have been inherited for a hundred years.
Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant is one of them.
Quanjude can be said to be a well-known "domestic brand".
There are even many foreign friends who come to China just to taste a bite of Quanjude's roast duck.
Gu Ailing, the "Queen of Skiing" who shined at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, also said in an exclusive interview after the competition that the food she wanted to eat most was roast duck, and she came to Quanjude for filming.
It can be said that Quanjude not only represents the food of roast duck, but also a cultural symbol and symbol on behalf of China.
We often hear people say:
"If you haven't eaten Quanjude in Beijing, it's equivalent to coming for nothing!"
This is enough to see the national recognition of this roast duck restaurant.
However, by understanding China's history, we can find that many things will rise and fall.
When a thing reaches its extreme, if it is not maintained properly, it will go downhill.
All dynasties and generations in Chinese history have faced such crises, and today's Quanjude has also fallen into such an embarrassing situation.
Even, word of mouth is declining year by year, but the original "light of the country" has been disliked and disgusted by the majority of diners.
Why is this? Why did Quanjude suffer this "Waterloo"?
"The Decline of a Hundred Years of Glory"
In the past three years, due to the impact of the epidemic, the catering industry across the country has ushered in an unprecedented blow.
During this period, many businesses could not support the operation of their stores at all, so they had to close their doors.
Quanjude has also been greatly affected.
In recent years, Quanjude's operating income can be described as "a loss is higher than a loss".
In 2020, when the epidemic first broke out, in just half a year, Quanjude's performance lost as much as 139-152 million.
This is also the first loss of Quanjude since its listing.
In 2021 and 2022, there will also be consecutive losses.
In the past three years, Quanjude has lost nearly 700 million yuan!
However, due to the country's strong control, the epidemic has been effectively controlled nationwide, and the "national lockdown" will be ushered in in early 2023.
The lifting of the lockdown not only means that the people have restored their original freedom, but also the return of business for catering businesses!
Sure enough, since the end of the epidemic, Quanjude's business performance in 2023 has finally improved a little!
But even so, there are still experts who believe that Quanjude cannot win this "battle of turnover".
In addition to the influence of the general environment, there are also many problems within Quanjude.
Overall, it made two fatal mistakes.
"Folk brands are not close to the people"
First of all, Quanjude has been complained about in terms of price.
Many customers who have consumed in Quanjude have given "the highest evaluation" to Quanjude's pricing and dish volume.
There are many more such comments.
It stands to reason that Quanjude is a brand born and raised in China, and everything about the brand should be from the perspective of all Chinese people.
But I don't know when Quanjude has completely moved towards another kind of development.
The amount of food is getting smaller and smaller, and the taste is getting worse and worse than before.
Many guests reported that they spent a lot of money, but in the end they only ate a "bird meal".
It can be said that the current Quanjude is really "expensive and unpalatable"!
Quanjude's roast duck has different specifications, and different specifications have different asking prices.
According to the official quotation, Quanjude's large-size roast duck is 568 yuan, the medium-sized roast duck is 388 yuan, and the small-size is 238 yuan.
At this price, if you add other side dishes or whatever, it will cost at least a thousand for a table.
I believe that for most people, a meal worth thousands of dollars is really too luxurious.
Usually when we go to other restaurants to eat, we pay directly according to the price of the set menu, and there is nothing to do.
Available in Quanjude, there are some "additional charges".
We all know that in Western countries, the service staff is tipped for a percentage of the bill at the end of each meal.
Some of the more generous guests will also tip the staff more than the percentage to show their satisfaction with the service staff.
Tipping is the "convention" of the foreign catering industry.
In China, we have never had such a tradition.
However, Quanjude stipulates that customers who come to the store to dine will also pay a 10% "service fee"!
This undoubtedly increases the burden on consumers' wallets.
Moreover, does Quanjude's service really meet the standard of receiving service fees?
This does not seem to be the case, and this is the second step that Quanjude made a mistake - poor service quality.
Some netizens complained about Quanjude's "supreme service".
Quanjude is a well-known time-honored brand in the country, and it is also one of the common venues for receiving foreign guests.
However, Quanjude treats Chinese and foreign guests as if they have two attitudes.
There are also some slightly informed insiders' objective evaluation of Quanjude:
In addition, with the development of the information age, everything has become more and more transparent, and everyone is no longer as ignorant and ignorant as before.
Through the grasp of information, consumers also have a fixed number of the process of making meals and the cost required.
After some comparison, everyone will also feel that Quanjude is very cost-effective, in today's era when everyone preaches "downgrade consumption", Quanjude naturally can't take advantage of it.
The most important thing is that the service quality of Quanjude is very poor.
A netizen criticized netizens, saying that the service quality of Quanjude is not as good as the food stalls on the street!
In addition, many people have now experienced Haidilao's "god-style" service, and who wants to pay for such a dining experience as Quanjude?
The negative evaluation of consumers is undoubtedly the sword that crushes the century-old signboard of Quanjude.
For the "time-honored brand" with a glorious history of 159 years, of course, it will not let its reputation continue to be ruined.
Therefore, Quanjude has also begun the road of transformation.
"Eighteen Bends of Transformation"
After understanding the opinions of consumers on the store, Quanjude made corresponding adjustments.
First of all, the first thing is the price of the food.
For example, the original package of more than 300 yuan is now reduced to more than 200 yuan.
And listened to the demands of consumers, and eliminated the service fee that made people feel unnecessary.
In addition, it also conforms to the development of current affairs, carries out related theme activities during various holidays, and uses self-media and other methods to attract traffic.
And a series of innovative improvements have been made to the dishes according to the theme.
"Sunrise River Flower" red oil duck intestine roll.
During the previous Mid-Autumn Festival, Quanjude launched a brand product - "Fangshan moon cakes".
In addition, in the face of the previous decline in performance, Quanjude is also striving for "new breakthroughs".
As early as 2016, Quanjude launched the business activity of "embracing the Internet and embracing young people", hoping to consolidate its customer flow with the help of the Internet platform.
Takeout is one of the contents of this business.
It's just that this "food delivery business" did not achieve the expected success.
Later, some people analyzed that perhaps the road of takeaway was not suitable for Quanjude, and its own positioning was also different from the takeaway industry itself.
Quanju De is mostly used for dine-in banquets and even high-level and even national-level guests, while takeout is more for lazy and migrant workers "fast food".
Secondly, Quanjude's fruit wood freshly roasted and complex manual production process are the essence of roast duck, if you follow the process of take-out, the taste will inevitably be greatly reduced.
Looking at it this way, the failure of Quanjude takeaway is also reasonable.
In 2019, Zhou Yanlong of Donglaishun of Quanjude Brothers Company was appointed as the general manager.
After he took office, Quanjude began to move towards the two major tracks of new retail and new consumption, and increased investment in product research and development.
In addition, Quanjude has also prepared a business related to prefabricated dishes.
At present, some popular categories of prefabricated dishes in Quanjude have been put into the market.
However, as for the evaluation of these pre-made dishes, the editor also went to the Internet to find some real customer reviews for everyone.
How far is such a transformation from success?
However, for the "fall of the altar" of Quanjude, many netizens still feel sorry for it.
As for how to save Quanjude's deteriorating reputation and brand benefits, some people also put forward their own opinions:
epilogue
To make catering, not only must it taste good, but also the service must be in place, and it is not possible to do any without it.
If a business only focuses on the promotion and marketing of the brand, and ignores what really needs to be done, it will definitely be eliminated over time.
Quanjude was established in 1864 and has a history of 159 years.
It is not only a plaque, but also the inheritance of several generations and the witness of the country for a hundred years!
Therefore, Quanjude merchants should pay more attention to the needs of the people, less routines, and more sincerity, so as to truly be worthy of the "time-honored" signboard!
I don't know how everyone feels when they eat Quanjude roast duck?
What do you think about the future development of Quanjude? Welcome to share in the comment area!