Highlights of this issue
1. 2023 review of various catering formats
2. How to break the game in 2024
Issue 1510
Text | Zhang Dong
Hot pot, snacks, fast food and other businesses have fallen into a wave of closures
There are two masterminds
2023 has come to an end, and it is miserable to review the various formats of catering throughout the year.
This year, 33,700 hot pot restaurants have died, whether it is a long-famous catering veteran or an ignorant entrepreneur, they have all been stupid by the market changes;
In addition to the first major track of Chinese food, other formats have also fallen into an unbearable winter.
Three years ago, Zhengxin Chicken Chop had 22,000 stores nationwide, three times that of KFC (China) and seven times that of McDonald's (China).
Another example is lo-mei, Zhou Heiya lost 42 million in half a year, 1,300 stores closed, and the founder washed his face with tears all day long;
Look at fast food again, at the end of last month, Hefu Lao Mian announced that the number of directly operated stores exceeded 500, covering more than 60 cities, however, this brand that has been financed 13 times in 10 years, in the past three years, has lost 700 million, it can be seen that there are only stories, and the ambition of expansion cannot be supported, and in the end it is all accidents; Home Youhao, which has more than 100 stores, will also go into bankruptcy liquidation in 2023.
In addition, this year, the Chinese dim sum tiger head bureau and the barbecue brand Hanyang restaurant have disappeared in the undercurrent of the market; the cafeteria Dayu Haitang has only closed its doors, and it has been blocked by members, employees and suppliers to defend their rights; the tea brand has closed more than 500 stores in 18 months, and only a few stores remain......
A history of catering entrepreneurship, half of which is a history of blood and tears. Analyzing the current market situation, it is not difficult to find that in addition to the environmental reasons of "declining consumption power", there are two masterminds that have led to the tide of restaurant closures.
First, the brand is aging. In today's fast-paced era, the biggest enemy of a brand is not a competitor, but a self that refuses to upgrade.
Like the Tiger Head Bureau, the national tide scene is hard to resist to the end, the scene is unchanged, and there are almost no freshly made dim sum;
Not to mention Zhengxin chicken steak, the scene product has been the same for several years, and the original intention has not changed, however, customers have changed their consumption Xi.
There is also a little bit of milk tea, in the face of the pressure of the predecessors and juniors, there is still no great improvement in the product, it is obvious that if it is not new, it will be sad.
Second, it suffered a big loss of "efficiency".
The world's martial arts, only fast is not broken. In the case of a tiger behind you, you don't have to run faster than the tiger, just run past your fellow travelers.
Like the Hanyang Pavilion, the biggest problem is that the rapid expansion of the supply chain and capital chain is not ready, like running with a disease, will undoubtedly accelerate its demise, and the expansion must be supported by efficiency;
Like Wuye noodles, the headquarters uniformly distributes the goods and transports them to the branches, and the net profit is about 10%, which is difficult to resist risks, and entrepreneurs who can't see hope will definitely go first.
Another example is Hefu Lao Mian, the entry of capital has allowed it to expand rapidly, but the organization, personnel, supply chain, logistics and transportation cannot keep up, and it will inevitably become a plate of loose sand.
Super cost-effective + brand premium, yes
The way to win
For hot pot people, the most ruthless battle in 2023 is the "price war", low-price packages, low-price coupons, beer drink one get one free, staple food and small ingredients are all free, and the profits are eaten little by little, but the cost remains high, some leave the scene gloomily, and some are still struggling to maintain.
So, how to fight in 2024?
In the era of declining consumption power and rising willingness of residents to save, user demand is very simple, first, cheap, but also good, second, the best brand (brand is the trust endorsement of customer purchase).
Therefore, the key playing formula in 2024 can be expressed as (super) cost performance + brand (premium).
Make a simple assumption, if the unit price of Haidilao customers drops to 80 yuan, will you increase the frequency of repurchase? Of course, this situation will not appear, it is just a "thought experiment", but the answer in your heart has already told you how to fight.
Super cost-effective is not a one-off price reduction, behind which is the support of efficiency and cost.
Like Zhu Guangyu hot pot restaurant, known for its "new fast", small new every month, big new every quarter, behind this is the competition of innovation, but also the competition of efficiency, after all, a new product from the headquarters to nearly 200 stores, the need for a strong supply chain system, only in this way, can we ensure the improvement of the production efficiency of terminal stores, to achieve the unity of production.
In the supply chain system, in addition to source procurement, there is a more important link, transportation.
Zhu Guangyu in transportation, the choice is "Huading cold chain", its founder Li Yang said, the choice of Huading two main reasons, one is that Huading has a deep understanding of hot pot, can be well adapted with Zhu Guangyu's SKU;
Like looking for Xiaoxian Malatang, innovating spicy flavors, selecting supplier resources, positioning young people, and strategically targeting the sinking market, it soon made a name for itself in the Malatang track, however, with the surge of stores, logistics and transportation have become its biggest difficulty.
Li Jie, the founder of the Mi Xiaoxian brand, said that the previous transportation could not guarantee the timeliness and temperature, and many places in the sinking market could not be delivered.
Since working with Huading, which focuses on "county and township cold chain", Mi Xiaoxian has completely solved the distribution problem, and users do not need to pick up the goods by themselves, which greatly saves time and improves efficiency.
By increasing efficiency and reducing costs, brands can achieve super cost-effectiveness.
Speaking of the brand (premium), behind the brand is a sense of trust and respect, which needs to be supported by the number of stores and product quality.
When the overwhelming stores enter the public's eye, it is easy to enter the minds of customers, and the traffic penetrates, so high-quality products are needed to undertake this pouring wealth.
Like Uncle Xiong's freshly made dumplings, under the current situation of large-scale industrial flow production, Uncle Xiong has captured the hearts of many young people in the form of ready-made dumplings, and the business model of raw food take-out, dine-in take-out, and dine-in integration has made Uncle Xiong quickly become a leader in the dumpling category, so that the number of restaurants has increased by 1,380 a year.
The front-end model is inseparable from the back-end supply chain, behind the expansion of Uncle Xiong, can not be separated from Huading's national cold chain logistics warehouse distribution network, Uncle Xiong co-founder Li Wenyang said that the warehouse distribution section is a very important confidence in the process of brand chaining.
In the process of expansion, Li Wenyang found that there are many places, the headquarters can not be distributed in place, and there are some places, the distribution is very reluctant, and the transit is many times, which virtually increases many costs, which obviously restricts the pace of brand progress, and later after the cooperation with Huading cold chain, investment began to develop nationwide.
In the final analysis, it is Huading cold chain that solves two major pain points for Uncle Xiong, first, real-time distribution of products in place, and second, national warehousing provides a safety guarantee for the quality of raw materials.
Another example is Kuafu fried skewers, after cooperating with Huading, in 4 years, in more than 200 cities, more than 2,000 stores (currently there are more than 2,500), the most critical point is that Huading's one-stop cold chain warehouse distribution service strategy and national cold chain warehouse distribution network layout have delivered a steady stream of "true gas" for the sinking market, allowing the brand to achieve the ultimate supply chain and total cost leading advantage.
To sum up, whether it is hot pot or spicy hot, whether it is barbecue or fast food, if you want to live and live well, it is the top priority to reduce costs, increase efficiency and enhance brand power.
"Technology + efficiency", become
Keywords of the year 2024
Although 2023 is a "difficult time", as a whole, in the field of science and technology, ChatGPT, Spot & Atlas robots, lithium-ion power batteries, and unmanned aerial vehicles are all huge scientific and technological achievements that have made society move forward, and are penetrating our lives little by little, and society has become convenient and efficient.
The same is true for the restaurant industry, where efficiency comes first, and if you dig deeper, you can see that efficiency is supported by energy and information.
What is energy? It is the superposition of various forces such as brand power, innovation power, organization power, operation power, and store power.
Information can be dismantled into information, knowledge and principles, and information is time-sensitive, in other words, whoever can quickly get first-hand information can anticipate the enemy's opportunity and occupy the high ground of victory; in the past, some people relied on poor information to make money, and the advantage was "fast action"; the sources of knowledge are wide and varied, among them, there is their own consciousness and the experience of their predecessors, and the principle is the underlying logic that cannot be deleted and changed; if the underlying logic is mastered, it can be copied if it succeeds, and regardless of whether it crosses borders or not, because the principle has the attribute of "transferable".
In the difficult 2023, some people leave the market miserably, and some people expand their stores and expand their stores, and they can replicate successful brands, in essence, they all have the ability to master energy and "core information (principle)", Zhu Guangyu, Kuafu fried skewers, Uncle Xiong makes dumplings, and looks for Xiaoxian Malatang, etc.
If you focus on the link of transportation and warehousing, these brands can expand rapidly, Huading is an unavoidable element, and the role played by Huading is the "core information", that is, the underlying logic of transportation and distribution.
Of course, Huading cold chain is by no means a simple warehousing and transportation, Huading is more like a technology company, not long ago, it also won the "2023 Cold Chain Enterprise of the Year" issued by the Cold Chain Committee of the China Federation of Things.
Huading Cold Chain has a self-developed SAAS system, which can realize the visualization of the whole process of cold chain logistics, ensure that the temperature is visible and the quality is controllable, and the efficiency of processing orders is increased by 80%.
To put it bluntly, under the "SAAS Eye" of Huading, you can see the whole process of a package of goods from sending to receiving by users, real-time tracking, and full transparency of the link.
Wang Jun, CEO of Huading cold chain, said that Huading is taking the national cold chain logistics warehouse distribution network and digital cold chain service as the starting point, adhering to service quality, upgrading service capabilities, improving service efficiency, reducing service costs, and helping chain catering brands to build a more stable, agile and efficient supply chain system, so as to truly reduce costs and increase efficiency.
Science and technology is the "energy" that Huading has.
In the coming 2024, the catering industry will still shuffle, expand and rise, efficiency will become the most critical factor in the industry, inefficient brands, will be cleared out of the team, and some high efficiency, fast upgrading and iteration, can have a keen insight into consumer behavior of the brand, will also stand in 2024, and expand steadily, I believe that the degree of chaining of catering next year will reach a new level.
In 2024, a battle of heart and strength is about to be staged, at that time, there will be more unusual players participating in the battle, and more new ideas, new ways of playing and new technologies will join in.
F&B people will create a new era.