Recently, "Internet celebrity noodle restaurants can't sell anymore" has been on the hot search, causing heated discussions among netizens. On December 19, a reporter from Modern Express visited new Chinese noodle restaurants in Xinjiekou, Zhujiang Road and other places in Nanjing. The reporter learned that these noodle restaurant upstarts who had been stepped through the threshold by capital are now far from meeting expectations, Chen Xianggui has only increased the number of stores by 2 in more than a year, and the number of stores in Wuye Mixed Noodles has decreased by nearly 300 a year.
Send toys, engage in co-branding, and do everything possible to drain traffic
On December 19, a reporter from Modern Express came to the Hefu Lao Noodle Store on Zhujiang Road in Nanjing. With the advertising slogan "Eat noodles in the study", Hefu Lao noodles were once very popular. The in-store menu shows that a bowl of noodles costs between 25 yuan and 128 yuan, with most products around 35 yuan, and only five of the store's 51 seats are being used for dinner on weekdays, with less than 10% occupancy.
The children's set menu is 39 yuan per piece, which includes a car toy. Ajisen Ramen, which runs on Zhujiang Road, has such a slogan. The clerk said that there are many primary and secondary schools near Zhujiang Road, and parents generally pick up their children and eat bowls of noodles by the way, "The toys for this package are not available today, and they will arrive tomorrow." One parent said: "I didn't order, I only ordered a children's set meal for the child, which contains not only noodles, but also small snacks such as French fries and chicken wings, he likes to eat, and if two people eat it, it will cost 100, which is too expensive." A review platform also shows that most of the store's praise is for this package.
Chen Xianggui's bowl of noodles in the Golden Eagle shopping mall in Xinjiekou costs about 40 yuan, and is one of the dinner options for workers in nearby office buildings, with more than half of the meals on weekdays attending. The reporter noticed that Chen Xianggui launched a new model for winter - hot pot noodles, "It has only been new recently, and there are many people who come to try it." The clerk said that a month ago, a noodle co-branded with Gong Linna was put on the shelves in the store, and those who ordered this noodle would be given Gong Linna's stickers, "Many people rushed stickers to eat noodles, and the stickers were sold out within a week after they were launched." "
Recently, topics such as "high-end noodles can't be sold", "Internet celebrity noodles are abandoned by young people", "A monthly salary of 20,000 yuan, I can't afford to eat a bowl of noodles" and other topics have been frequently searched, and many netizens have discussed this. "It's expensive and unpalatable, it's normal to not be able to sell it" "A smell of technology, will anyone really love to eat it?" "There are only two pieces of meat for more than 30 yuan, which is too expensive", and some netizens compared the downstairs restaurant with these noodle restaurants, "The downstairs restaurant can also add noodles for ten yuan a bowl, and the refined one is 20 yuan, plus poached eggs, thousand-page tofu and a lot of beef." What's in the beef noodles that sell for more than 30?" Through the discussion of netizens, it is not difficult to see that the high price and poor taste are the main reasons why everyone does not accept Internet celebrity noodle restaurants.
The noodle restaurant that is popular in the capital, is it no longer good?
In response to the recent statement that "Internet celebrity noodle restaurants can't be sold", Jiang Jun, founder and CEO of chain beef noodle brand Chen Xianggui, responded to the outside world. He said that Chen Xianggui's operating income from January to November 2023 increased by 62% year-on-year. As of November 2023, Chen Xianggui has opened 72 new stores this year, plus 13 planned to open in December, bringing the total number of new stores to 85 for the year. However, 10 stores did close this year, all of which were due to contract expiration or business considerations, and there was no "mass closure" as claimed by the relevant news. However, the reporter learned that Jiang Jun had previously said in an interview with the media that the number of stores had reached 237 in August 2022, and as of December 2023, the number of its stores was 239, an increase of only 2.
On the track of new Chinese noodle restaurants, the noodle restaurant upstarts who have been stepped through by capital have now developed far from meeting expectations, and "opening and closing stores" seems to have become the norm.
According to the data, Hefu Lao Mian will open 114 new stores in 2021, and only 72 new stores will be opened in 2022, with a total of 510 stores, which is still far from the goal of 1,000 stores. In addition, the number of stores of brands such as Wuye Mixed Noodles and Meet Small Noodles is also shrinking. At the end of 2021, it had 300 stores, but now it has shrunk to 234.
On December 20, the reporter opened the official website of Wuye Noodles and showed that the current number of stores is 1500+, and the number of stores will exceed 1300 by the end of 2022. However, through a review software, you can see that the two stores shown on the official website have been closed. According to data from Narrow Door Restaurant, as of December 20 this year, the total number of Wuye Mixed Noodles stores was 1,003, of which 36 were suspended. This also means that nearly 300 stores have been closed this year, which is a high rate for a brand with a scale of 1,000 stores.
The reporter learned that Wuye Noodles had 7 stores in Nanjing, distributed in Gulou District, Xuanwu District, Jianye District, Jiangning District, Yuhuatai District and other places in the commercial plazas and blocks, and now only one store located in the underground commercial space of Nanjing South Railway Station is still open. On the afternoon of December 19, the Modern Express reporter did not find the store according to the corresponding address, and the contact phone number of the store was not connected.
Noodles are still popular, but cost-effectiveness is the mainstream of consumption
You think the pasta business is not good, but it is not. According to the "2022 Chinese Consumers' Meal Type Preferences" released by iiMedia Research, noodles are far ahead of all types of meals with a 50.4% share. At the same time, the market size of Chinese noodle restaurants will exceed 340 billion yuan in 2022. Compared with traditional noodle restaurants, these online celebrity noodle restaurants have not been recognized by consumers, which is the fundamental reason why their development is in trouble. According to the study, most Chinese consumers have an acceptable price for Chinese fast food in the 20 yuan price range, with 85.2% of consumers believing that the acceptable price is no more than 30 yuan per bowl.
Judging from the current market, the high cost performance of catering consumption is the mainstream demand. In the view of Bao Yuezhong, a new retail expert in the FMCG industry and chairman of Baum Enterprise Management Consulting, these capital-supported noodle restaurant upstarts are mainly aimed at office workers in nearby office buildings and shopping mall consumers. Although the input cost of this type of noodle restaurant is significantly higher than that of other noodle restaurants, consumers will gradually lose interest in it because they have no outstanding advantages in price, taste and service.
Since the beginning of this year, many consumer brands have been talking about "price reduction", and Fu Lao Mian has launched a 33 yuan braised beef noodle with the slogan of "high-end and inexpensive", and the member price has been "controlled" within 30 yuan, which is significantly lower than the previous customer unit price of 40-50 yuan;
Low prices are a means of drainage, but for brands, blindly fighting a 'price war' is not a good way. Bao Yuezhong told the Modern Express reporter that the brand should continue to do a good job in "internal strength", excellent quality, reasonable price, high-quality service, differentiated market competition, and be recognized by consumers, rather than relying on capital, blindly focusing on the "explosion" brought about by quantitative expansion and network marketing.
Modern Express + Reporter Yang Xiaodong Yin Yixing text / photo
(Proofread by Hu Tao)