#头条讲真的#
Closure, contraction, bankruptcy, bankruptcy, sale of property to pay off debts...... In 2023, these catering brands will be worse than the other.
This article was originally published by Red Meal Network (ID: hongcan18), author: Zhou Mo, editor: Wang Xiuqing.
The end of the year is approaching, but the catering industry is cold.
Recently, another well-known restaurant publicly said, "I don't know if it can survive this year!"
According to the Southern Metropolis Daily, not long ago, the Guangzhou Taikoo Hui store under the chain brand "Xiaoshan Japanese Restaurant" sent a message to consumers that Japan's nuclear sewage discharge has had a very big impact on the store's business, and the store has suffered frequent losses.
The news quickly sparked heated discussions. In fact, since the beginning of this year, there are not a few catering stores that have struggled to support, and many stores that can't support and even some well-known brand stores have also fallen a lot.
According to Qichacha data, since the beginning of this year, as of December 21, 2023, the number of domestic catering enterprises has exceeded 1.265 million, which is more than twice the sales volume of catering enterprises in 2022 and a new high since 2020!
Behind the shocking data are countless "killed" restaurants, as well as the cruel truth that is rarely known in the current catering industry.
Bankruptcy, bankruptcy, sale of real estate to pay off debts......
The restaurant brands that will die in 2023 are getting worse than the other
A street is full of "prosperous shop transfers", and the tide of restaurant closures is really coming......
△ Several restaurants that have closed down on a street, photo by Red Meal Network
In fact, this is just a microcosm of the "closure" of the restaurant market this year.
Red Meal Network combed and found that since the beginning of this year, many restaurants across the country have closed their stores and "died", involving baking, tea, hot pot, coffee, Chinese food, snacks and fast food, desserts, buffets and other major categories, such as contraction, bankruptcy, bankruptcy, selling real estate to pay off debts, abnormal business and other keywords, which are frequently seen in the newspapers.
In the baking track, LeTAO, known as Japan's must-eat dessert champion, has closed its Shenzhen store, Dunkin' Donut has withdrawn from the Chinese market, the old bakery Christine store has been closed and sold to pay off debts, Niujiaocun has been exposed to bankruptcy and liquidation, and the new Chinese baking "twin stars" Hutou Bureau Standard Chartered Cake Store has been mired in rumors of bankruptcy, layoffs, and debts, offline stores have been closed one after another, and Momo Dim Sum Bureau has retreated to Hunan......
In the new tea drink track, brands such as a little bit, Happy Lemon, Buckle Ma Tea, Dakoujiu, and Fuxiaotao (formerly "Fushimi Momoyama") have closed their stores and contracted......
In the hot pot track, Xianhezhuang closed its stores and shrunk, and only 30% of the stores in the country were left compared with the peak period......
In addition, Hong Kong's "regal canteen" Fu Lin Men was held accountable for owing 20.29 million Hong Kong dollars; Mingluchuan, known as the "ceiling of Sichuan cuisine in Shanghai", was closed for less than one year; Pacific Coffee, the former "China's second coffee chain brand", closed its stores in many places; and Xu Liushan, a veteran Hong Kong-style dessert product, closed its stores on a large scale......
Most of the brands listed above are well-known catering brands, some of them choose to shrink due to strategic adjustment, and some of them can't stand it anymore and can only close their stores and stop losses.
Chain brands, catering groups and other companies have abundant funds, but they are still closed one after another, and the small brands and small stores with weak strength have fallen even more.
Especially this year, the catering ushered in the "revenge opening of the store", and there are countless entrepreneurial whites who have poured in, and cases of closing stores, being hollowed out, and even going into debt abound, which is embarrassing.
△ The entire row of closed stores in the urban village, taken by Red Food
The 1.265 million restaurants that disappeared,
The truth of the cruel industry is hidden
Looking back at the restaurants that have fallen this year, in addition to the new stores opened by entrepreneurs, there are also stores of well-known brands and dark horses on the track. Among them, there are also some cruel truths about the current catering industry.
1. A group of veteran restaurants have a weak follow-up and are speeding out.
Since the beginning of this year, among the stores that have died and shrunk, there have been frequent figures of old restaurants. For example, Hong Kong-style dessert representative Xu Liushan, "the first baking stock" Christine, the first generation of Internet celebrity milk tea brand Happy Lemon, and the former "China's second largest coffee brand" Pacific Coffee.
Why have they become the "tears of the times"? Brand aging and lack of innovation may be the common reasons.
Shenzhen stores are all closed, and the time-honored brand Xu Liushan can't keep it?
△ Image source: Xu Liushan China's official blog
Founded in 2006, Happy Lemon also faces the problem of lack of product innovation. It became popular as a hand-cranked tea drink, but since then there have not been many products that have made consumers memorable. Since the beginning of this year, Happy Lemon has only launched about 7 new products, and its pace is even slower at a time when mainstream tea brands are mostly new on a weekly basis.
When the market continues to roll in, competitors continue to emerge, and the "first generation of Internet celebrity brands" that are aging and lack innovation can only be reduced to "tears of the times" in the end.
2. The celebrity catering effect fails, and it is difficult to go far only by relying on traffic.
The once-glorious star catering ushered in the "darkest moment" this year. Star catering brands, including Xianhezhuang, Shangshangqian Hot Pot, Niujiaocun, Glad to Meet You, etc., have all been exposed to store closures.
For example, Xianhezhuang has withdrawn from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu and other cities one after another this year, and has been exposed to food safety problems before, and it is rumored that the Internet celebrity brand invested by Han Han is very happy to meet you, but it was accused by investor Wang Wenchao that the core reason for the collapse and failure is to put the cart before the horse, the reputation is good, but the dishes are too unpalatable.
Many celebrities have taken a fancy to the catering business, and the concept of celebrity catering was once popular. But looking back now, after several years of development, there are few successful cases of star catering, and various star restaurants are even frequently searched for problems such as product quality, franchise disputes, and improper management.
Another star restaurant went bankrupt: it lost tens of millions, and the 3,000-square-meter luxury restaurant only survived for one year
△ Image source: Photo by Red Meal Network
3. Baking involution, the market began a new round of reshuffle.
Many bakery brands have not had a good year in the past year.
The new Chinese baking twin stars - Tiger Head Bureau and Momo Dim Sum Bureau, the former was rumored to be in arrears and the affiliated company was bankrupt and liquidated, and the latter also shrank its stores and retreated to the base camp Hunan.
Some well-known bakery brands such as Niujiaocun, Dunkin' Donuts, Yuefeng Tang and Baxter Donuts, which focus on large items, have closed stores and shrunk, while others have withdrawn from the Chinese market.
Christine, the "first stock of baking", was forced to sell her property to pay off her debts, Angsi Cake stopped production and closed business, and its "world's largest cake shop" with an investment of 100 million yuan was also empty.
The above-mentioned brands almost cover the main business models of the baking industry, Christine has risen rapidly by relying on the central kitchen, Hutou Bureau and Momo Dim Sum Bureau have created new Chinese baking outlets, and Niujiaocun and Dunkin' Donut are representatives of baking specialty stores. These brands are more or less facing challenges, which means that the increasingly involuted baking market has entered a new round of reshuffle.
4. The life cycle of the Internet celebrity format is getting shorter and shorter.
Previously, the curse of Internet celebrity restaurants was "close down in three years". Since the beginning of this year, the life cycle of Internet celebrity explosive products, Internet celebrity formats, and Internet celebrity catering phenomena has become shorter and shorter.
For example, Zibo barbecue, in March this year, became popular out of the circle and rushed to the peak on "May Day". But in just one month, Zibo barbecue quickly "reduced the fever", and topics such as #Zibo barbecue restaurant traffic decline # transfer of a large number of barbecue restaurants continued to emerge. Many entrepreneurs who followed the trend to open barbecue restaurants suffered heavy losses, and some even lost their money.
In addition, Internet celebrity formats such as new Chinese-style steamed buns, tea brewed around the hearth, bamboo milk tea, and adult small dining tables have also cooled down quickly after a short period of "highlights".
△ Image source: Courtesy of the interviewee
On the one hand, consumers are becoming more rational and pragmatic, and are no longer blindly planted, on the other hand, the fast-growing and fast-dying online celebrity catering industry is often not supported by real market demand, and it is only a matter of time before losses and bankruptcy occur.
Many newly opened restaurants may not survive next year's May Day
At present, the catering industry is caught in the "new three highs" dilemma of high growth rate, high elimination rate and high bankruptcy rate, what is the reason?
Many industry insiders believe that this is a series of chain reactions brought about by intensified market competition and industry involution.
"Due to the relatively low threshold for entrepreneurship and the unsatisfactory environment, many people who are professional in different industries will consider doing catering, but most of them are not professional enough, which is one of the main reasons for the increase in the bankruptcy rate of catering. Zhang Changquan, co-founder of Coconut Girl Coconut Chicken, said bluntly.
Wang Dongming, a columnist for Red Meal.com, said that in the past three years, catering investors have become poor and eager to open stores to make money, and customers are also poor and just want to save money. When those who want to make money are afraid of spending money, it will evolve into a situation of "opening the life + playing the life pass".
A large number of new entrants, as well as players who originally existed in the market, are trying their best to compete for customers, and the involution is becoming more and more intense, and the stores with insufficient competitiveness are the first to be eliminated.
△ Image source: Picture Worm Creative
Yao Zhe, founder of Hezhonghe, said that since the beginning of this year, the number of catering stores has surged, resulting in higher customer acquisition costs for existing brands, and many merchants have attracted traffic through low-price group buying, further squeezing store profits. When returns are not as good as expected, stores with squeezed margins will also be the first to fall.
In addition, the overall consumption recovery is less than expected, and various operating costs remain high, which also puts pressure on catering people.
Wang Yugang, founder of Youdao Catering Consulting, told Red Meal Network that the decline in consumption power has led to the turnover of most restaurants not as expected, but the cost of rent, labor and ingredients has remained high, which is a very heavy blow to catering practitioners.
In this context, many catering people predict that with the intensification of competition in the catering market, the wave of closures will continue.
Lai Linping, a columnist for Red Meal.com, said, "Those who rushed in this year and wanted to make some cash flow in the catering industry will close their stores by March next year." ”
"Many newly opened stores are likely not to survive next year's May Day, and at the same time, many investors will return to reality and become rational, when the catering industry's 'high growth rate + high elimination rate + high bankruptcy rate' of the new three highs will also be limited contained. Wang Dongming analyzed.
Yao Zhe said that in 2024, the catering industry will continue to accelerate involution, and when entrepreneurs "roll" supply and demand to balance, the market will have a new inflection point.