Chinanews.com, Shanghai News, April 10 (Reporter Miao Lu) CCFA New Consumption Forum - 2024 China Chain Catering Summit was recently held in Shanghai. According to a survey, the average life span of Chinese catering brands is only 18 months, and under the new cycle of the catering industry, how can chain restaurants endure for a long time has become the focus of attention of the guests.
Adapt to the environment and be a sustainable catering brand
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first two months of 2024, the growth rate of the catering industry will be 12.5%, which will be halved compared with the growth rate of 20.4% in the whole year of 2023.
"From the perspective of the overall economic environment, as China's economy has entered a new economic cycle, the growth rate of catering may further ease down, in the new cycle, how can catering people adapt to the environment and maintain competitiveness in the fierce market?" At the main meeting of the summit held on April 8, Peng Jianzhen, president of the China Chain Store & Franchise Association, shared his observations and thoughts on the industry from three aspects.
First, actively embrace change and innovation. One of the biggest variables in the Chinese market today is the dramatic change in consumer habits and lifestyles thanks to a variety of modern tools. Today's consumers are more independent, have more sources of information, need more touchpoints to connect with F&B businesses, and live at a faster pace. As practitioners in the catering industry, whether we can follow the changes in consumers' lifestyles and continuously meet their changing needs is the basis for our sustainable development.
Embracing change is reflected in business innovation, product innovation, brand image is clearer, and it is also reflected in the improvement of internal management of enterprises. In the past, we could perceive and grasp the changes of consumers through consumer research and communication with consumers, but the biggest difference for us today is that we have digital means and tools.
The second is to achieve scientific decision-making through digitalization. At present, whether it is China's retail industry or catering industry, the application degree of digitalization is generally relatively high, and the scope of application is also relatively wide.
In 2023, Luckin Coffee will open 8,034 new stores, and it is understood that the success rate of Luckin Coffee's site selection is very high, which is closely related to Luckin Coffee's digital site selection team. In addition, at McDonald's in China, the application of digitalization has involved supply chain, employee management, equipment management, which can be said to involve all aspects of end-to-end, and digital sales account for 90%, which has played a very big role in improving the efficiency of enterprises.
Today's digital transformation of enterprises is not only a manifestation of enterprise informatization upgrading, but more importantly, it can help us achieve scientific decision-making. At present, the digitalization of Chinese enterprises is progressing rapidly, and the digitalization of Western countries represented by the United States is making steady progress. These are two different styles that we can learn from each other.
Third, it is necessary to establish a modern enterprise system. In the construction of the enterprise system, it is suggested that in the early stage of development, while respecting the tradition, enterprises must establish a modern enterprise system. After the scale of the enterprise grows, the modern enterprise system and the culture of integrity become very important. Of course, another key point in the establishment of a modern enterprise system is the distribution of corporate profits, now many enterprises adopt the partnership system to develop, set up a scientific and sustainable profit distribution mechanism within the enterprise, so that employees can follow the development of the enterprise and grow, but also the basis for the long-term development of the enterprise.
In addition, at present, many enterprises are actively deploying overseas and actively extending to the upstream supply chain; at the same time, many enterprises are also developing prefabricated dishes and using products to expand sales to supermarket channels; and some enterprises have begun to pay attention to lean management and continuously improve their services and internal operation levels.
"Overall, with the development of China's economy in the future, the catering market will definitely continue to grow, and the focus is on whether we can stay in this growth segment by actively seeking change. President Peng Jianzhen said.
Life and death, change and change, development in innovation
According to a survey, the average lifespan of Chinese catering brands is only 18 months. For Haidilao, which has been established for 30 years, what supports it to move forward? At the meeting, Shao Zhidong, the rotating chief operating officer of Haidilao, summarized Haidilao's growth process in the past 30 years as "life and death, change and change, and development in innovation".
In 2023, Haidilao will achieve dual innovation in the service industry, and its performance will reach a new high. In 2023, Haidilao's revenue will be 41.453 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 33.6%. Profit for the year was RMB4,495 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 174.6%. In the face of such achievements, Shao Zhidong said that it is more important to summarize what Haidilao has done right and what has been wrong in the past period.
Innovation is the difference between life and death. Haidilao, which has just come out of the epidemic in 2023, faces the biggest challenge is to mobilize the vitality of the front line again. How to establish an innovative mechanism to make the front-line organization more dynamic? Haidilao has made the organization more flat, turning the original cross-regional family system into a regional coaching system, eliminating the middle layer, and allowing regional coaches to directly manage and guide store managers.
At the same time, this year, Haidilao has further delegated the authority to put products on and off the shelves, so that store managers and regions can adjust products and services according to localized needs, so as to give the region greater autonomy to gain in-depth insight into the market, grasp consumer needs, and help the overall business level continue to improve.
Shao Zhidong said that real innovation comes from pragmatic work, and real innovation comes from the front line. Whether it is the bus picking up people after the concert, or the innovation of shampooing and subject three, they all come from the creativity of first-line stores. What the headquarters should do is to affirm everyone's enthusiasm for innovation in a timely manner and escort the endless innovation.
"Business innovation is the appearance, organizational innovation is the root, and digital innovation is the foundation. "Looking to the future, on the road of continuously releasing innovation, Haidilao still has many points to improve. For example, making "intelligence" the "infrastructure" of enterprises and making management more effective is what Haidilao has been exploring.
The times are changing, the environment is changing, and customers are changing, and Haidilao is constantly embracing changes, and what remains unchanged is the company's values. "In the 30 years of Haidilao's development, what has not changed is the value of changing destiny with both hands, and what has not changed is the two basic points of 'customer satisfaction' and 'employee effort'. Stepping on these two mountains of gold and silver, I believe we can go further. Shao Zhidong said.
The next stop at dining is the human touch
Shu Congxuan, the founder of Laoxiang Chicken, said in his speech that the next stop of catering is human touch. What is human touch? Person: From whom do you receive this kind of service?Feeling: What kind of relationship will I have with the other person?Taste: How do I sell goods and provide services? In his view, food and beverage has shifted from a functional value to an emotional value in the past. Consumers are no longer consuming goods, but choosing to consume services. For catering, fireworks and human touch are still an important demand for consumers. Only stores that make consumers feel happy and full of intimacy, and stores that can accept sadness, are stores that customers are willing to spend.
Shu Congxuan said that the details look at the character, the small things show the pattern, there is no difficulty in catering, everything is in the hearts of the people. Big things are supported by small things, and those casual details are the key to distancing themselves. Every paid vote of consumers is a careful confirmation of their personality. Lao Xiang Chicken has also done a lot of small things in these aspects, such as "a love meal", "no food without washing hands", "self-service area", "happy rider's day" and so on. A brand with temperature and emotion will have a super relationship with customers and its own people who belong to the brand. "The best taste in the world is the human touch. Shu Congxuan said.
Domino's rise and development
Domino's CEO Wang Yi shared Domino's development in China with attendees. Domino's opened 100 stores in China in 2016, entered a period of rapid development in 2017, and by the end of 2023, Domino's has 768 stores in 29 cities in China, achieving 26 quarters of positive same-store sales growth since the third quarter of 2017, and a compound annual growth rate of 40% in the Chinese market from 2020 to the end of 2023, and 51% growth over revenue from 2022 to 2023.
Wang Yi said that the potential of China's pizza market is huge. Domino's differentiates itself in China because of its "4D strategy", which is Delicious Pizza @ Value, Delivery excellence, Digital leadership, and Quality Development. According to reports, Domino's top 19 global first-month sales are all from Chinese stores, and the first stores in Xi'an, Changsha, Xiamen and Hefei are now among the top 4 in Domino's global first-month sales records. It is expected to reach the target of 1,000 stores by the end of 2024.
The practice of franchising
Shao Xinmou, CEO of Dingqiao Catering Group, said that from the development of chain franchise in 2000, to the entrepreneurial franchise of employees in 2014, and then to the franchise 3.0 model in 2023, Dingqiao Catering Group has gone through more than 20 years of chain franchising.
Over the past 20 years, on the one hand, there have been changes everywhere, including: the scale of the brand is getting bigger and bigger, the franchise system is becoming more and more mature, the policies and regulations are becoming more and more perfect, and the capital threshold for joining is gradually reduced; on the other hand, there are three fundamental problems that have never changed: who will join, what are the pain points of franchise partners, and how to achieve the common development between brands and franchise partners.
Shao Xinmou shared with the participants the triangular model of franchise from headquarters, franchise partners to stores. He said that the headquarters shoulders the responsibility of building a franchise platform, the key to finding a franchise partner is to find the "right person", and the store is the best dojo for brand display, which is the key to the implementation of QSC and food safety. In this triangular model, Dingqiao Catering Group pays attention to the relationship between the three: first, the relationship between the headquarters and the franchise partner is that the service is greater than the management, the second is to help the franchise partner from a single store profit to the career advancement, and the third is between the headquarters and the store, the store must be the first, and the unified standard of direct operation and franchise is treated equally.
"It is not easy to join the business, please allow me to use 'co-creation and co-responsibility, co-prosperity and sharing' to encourage you, thank you. Shao Xinmou said.
Promote the long-term development of time-honored brands with integrity and innovation
Jia Feiyue, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Beijing Huatian Group and President of Beijing Catering Industry Association, shared the inheritance and innovation of Huatian's time-honored brand with the participants. According to reports, Huatian Group is a large-scale catering investment group based on catering and food, and is one of the enterprise groups with the largest number of time-honored brands in China, with 21 Chinese time-honored brands and 22 Beijing time-honored brands, including Qingfeng Steamed Bun Shop, Tongheju, Makai Restaurant, Hongbin Building, etc., providing catering services for more than 100 million customers every year.
Jia Feiyue said that the inheritance of Huatian's time-honored brand is fundamentally to keep the soul of the time-honored brand, which is also an important guarantee for building a strong time-honored brand. Huatian Group insists on creating a "flywheel effect" in the operation of time-honored brands: first, the spirit of time-honored brands, honest management, no deception, excellence, and genuineness. The second is a reassuring and reliable corporate image. In terms of the inheritance of time-honored brands, Huatian adheres to the modern inheritance model of "collective masters, collective apprentices", laying the foundation for the inheritance of time-honored brands.
In terms of the innovation of time-honored brands, Huatian insists on continuous innovation and uses evolution to rejuvenate the youth of time-honored brands. The first is to optimize classic dishes and develop new fashion products. The second is digital and intelligent empowerment.
Huatian time-honored brand strives to tell the story of time-honored brands in a new way, and spreads time-honored brands in a combination of traditional media and new media. In terms of corporate development strategy, Huatian adheres to community penetration, high-end development, and retail layout, and continues to promote the industrial chain value chain.
Huatian time-honored brand has always adhered to social responsibility, and first launched the "38 Mouth Action Plan" in the whole industry to guide the new food fashion of food and beverage that is strictly economical. Huatian attaches great importance to the heart of employees, implements the "happiness project", and provides a broad stage for employees to grow and become talents.
"Reassuring people is a kind of wisdom in life", Jia Feiyue said, this is the slogan of Beijing Huatian, and it is also the corporate philosophy that we have always adhered to.
At the main venue on April 9, Wang Hongtao, vice president and secretary general of China Chain Store & Franchise Association, as the host, had an in-depth dialogue with Jia Guolong, chairman of Xibei, on the development of Xibei's business situation. It is reported that the overall turnover of Xibei in 2023 will exceed that of 2019. After three years of the epidemic, Xibei is currently in a period of recuperation and recuperation, and the pace of opening stores will be relatively slow. However, this year, Xibei Noodle Village has a relatively big move, that is, by adjusting the product structure, reducing the unit price of customers. At present, Xibei Noodle Village has more than 300 stores, and plans to open more than 1,000 stores in the Chinese mainland market in the future.
Regarding the topic of Xibei's fast food road that the industry is concerned about, Jia Guolong said that Xibei began to make fast food in 2015, and fast food is a high-frequency rigid demand. However, compared with imitating and copying the mature fast food categories existing in the market, Jia Guolong is more willing to create his own fast food brand and create a different fast food model.
In recent years, Xibei has been increasing investment in supply chain construction, such as the Noodle Factory, Yogurt Factory in Inner Mongolia, the procurement base of beef and mutton, and has built 4 central kitchens across the country, and will continue to strengthen the supply chain capacity in the future. In response to the trend of demographic changes, aging, small families, and declining birthrates, Jia Guolong said that Xibei will also change with the changes in customer needs, such as the large portions of Xibei dishes in the past, and now it has also launched small-sized dishes for one person. In terms of digitalization, Xibei has invested heavily in digitalization on the operation side and supply side, and will increase digital investment on the customer side and the market side from this year. In terms of ESG, Jia Guolong believes that companies have achieved sustainability by doing their jobs well. In addition, making things into quality and not wasting the table is the greatest sustainable development. Despite the impact of the epidemic, Jia Guolong said that by 2023, Xibei will achieve the business goal of exceeding 100 billion yuan, and this goal will never change.
F&B operations in the era of "normalization".
From the opening of the epidemic to the present, the catering industry is still facing many challenges. However, in recent years, CFB Group's net profit and EBITDA have been growing by 20 points. In terms of the number of stores, we will continue to grow by 250 to 300 stores per year. By the end of 2023, CFB Group had 1,558 stores in the Chinese market. At the meeting, Xu Weilian, CEO of CFB Group, delivered a speech entitled "Catering Business in the Era of "Normalization". He said that the current industry has returned to the era of normal pricing, and the premium era has passed; second, the marketing methods, frequency and intensity of catering brands are more volatile than before; third, there are more competing brands. If enterprises want to compete in the era of lower prices, they must have greater breakthroughs in cost and marketing methods.
Xu Weilian shared with the participants the practices and thinking modes of the stable development of CFB Group from five aspects: more cost-effective, more innovative R&D, more efficient management, more frequent marketing activities, and more attractive restaurant atmosphere. He said that for example, in the pursuit of cost performance, at the beginning of this year, the pizza brand Papa John's launched the 19.9 Leak Pizza Campaign, which is a very cost-effective way to attract consumers without hurting the existing time for dine-in. In terms of innovation and R&D, in the face of emerging digital marketing channels, the Papa John's China team has made bold innovations and made many pizza products, such as the star pizza that was oversold on Douyin. DQ will release a new product on Douyin every two weeks, so as to win the competition of emerging channels.
The best inheritance is to keep up with the times
For a brand with a history of 100 years of development, how to lead it to the next 100 years, to the whole country and even the world? Yin Jiangbo, founder of Guangzhou Shishang Guowei Group and vice chairman of Tao Taoju, believes that the best inheritance is to keep pace with the times.
According to reports, according to different consumer groups and consumer needs, according to its own brand characteristics, Tao Taoju has created different store types, such as classic series, gold medal series, business series, and banquet series, covering a comprehensive consumption scene and meeting the segmented needs of guests more professionally.
Yin Jiangbo said that the core of Tao Tao Ju is handmade on site, and the inheritance is traditional handmade refreshments and Cantonese cuisine. Therefore, no matter how many stores Tao Taoju opens, he will always insist on on-site handmade. Over the years, Tao Taoju has insisted on menu innovation, and has also done a lot of cross-border and cooperation to promote the development of the brand.
"It's the brave who start the marathon, and the winners who reach the finish line, but it's never glorious to quit halfway through. We do the same with catering, it takes courage to do catering, we need to stick to it day after day, year after year, it is diligent, so we need diligent people and people who pay to do this industry. Yin Jiangbo said.
Malatang's growth path and global expansion
Jiang Baidong, general manager of Zhang Liang Malatang, shared the practice of Zhang Liang Malatang, first of all, there must be a gene, including: high-frequency rigid demand, low price and value, strong universality, simple process, simple model, fast replication, small and fine, small and beautiful, low investment, suitable for all business districts, supply chain, enterprise operation model, organizational strength, and most importantly, goal and model matching. With this gene, in the face of the current economic environment, Zhang Liang Malatang has used three methods: one is an efficient store profit model, the second is a simple enterprise operation model, and the third is the ultimate organizational internal drive.
In terms of store profit model: change the measurement method, change the profit acquisition method, change the sales form, and present the goods to consumers in the most direct way with the least economic cost and labor cost. Zhang Liang Malatang currently has more than 6,000 stores, 100 directly operated, and the rest are franchised. In terms of the ultimate organizational internal drive: abandon the laziness of strategy with ignorant diligence, reject perfectionism, reject perfectionism from the aspects of employment, blind innovation, local optimization, etc., and implement what can be understood in understanding, and understand what cannot be understood in implementation.
When it comes to the topic of catering going overseas that the industry is concerned about, Zhang Liang Malatang went to sea in 2016 and currently has more than 80 stores overseas. Second, the future stores must be localized products, staff, scene services, and customers. The third is the problem of managing radius. Fourth, supply chain issues. Fifth, the store opening cycle. Sixth, the brand should be prepared for continuous investment in the early stage and plan for long-term market layout.
A balance between selling and advocating
Are peddling and advocating derogatory terms? In the view of the well-known host Liu Yiwei, these two words are actually neutral words. Advocacy is promotion, and selling is sales. After doing a few live broadcasts on Douyin Local Life, he had a deeper understanding of this. At the meeting, Liu Yiwei shared his observations and thoughts on how to achieve a balance between selling and advocacy. In his view, the way of local life is to return to the local and highlight the value of the community. Douyin local life sells coupons, and customers take this coupon to the restaurant to consume, he must enter the restaurant and come to the community he is familiar with to consume, and the customer can taste the original taste that the restaurant person should adhere to on the spot, which is particularly important. Get back to life and relive your neighborhood. Through the live broadcast of local life and the sale of coupons, everyone can return to life.
Liu Yiwei said that companies hope to let consumers return from online to offline, but in fact, there is no relationship between returning and not returning, but how to combine online and offline. "We have a real life, but we also have a different life online, but we're not divided. We will combine online and offline through short videos, online shopping, and offline shopping and eating. If our platform and the catering industry can provide consumers with such a consumption platform and guidance platform, this is the real combination of online and offline with local life. Liu Yiwei said.
How a bowl of jajangmyeon won the Michelin title for five consecutive years
Ma Junjie, chairman of No. 69 Jajangmignin No. 69 of the Square Brick Factory, shared the practical experience of how a bowl of jajangmiso noodles won the Michelin for five consecutive years. When I first took over the No. 69 fried sauce noodles of the square brick factory, the main problems were: the product has no memory points, the sales method of scenic attributes is single, the product sells one noodle alone, there is no brand awareness, the standard process is not uniform, and only one noodle is sold if the single average is low. Therefore, the No. 69 fried sauce noodles of the square brick factory have been innovated and the quality has been improved. Ma Junjie said that his requirements for No. 69 fried noodles in the brick factory were: 1. Product requirements: look good, eat delicious, comfortable after eating;2. Surface requirements: slippery, elastic, tendon;3. Sauce requirements: sauce fragrant, green onion, meat fragrant;4. Environmental requirements: the environmental standard of the restaurant with a per capita consumption of 150 yuan;5. Service Requirements: Feel at home.
In Ma Junjie's view, the reason why the brand has been recommended by Michelin for five consecutive years is that the first reason is the taste and affordability, and the second is the intention and focus.
According to reports, the No. 69 fried sauce noodles of the brick factory have been innovated from the following aspects: product upgrading, according to the needs of different customers, the launch of three fried sauce noodle products; menu enrichment and upgrading; service: three free policies: free noodles, sauce, free laba garlic, real benefits to customers.
In the brick factory, in addition to providing customers with fried noodles, there are also old Beijingers love to eat belly noodles, in some scenic spots have also added a single person to eat roast duck, cost-effective, his thinking logic is: "Not everyone has time, enough money to enjoy a big meal, if in a simple fast food restaurant can meet people's desire to eat all over Beijing, why not", Ma Junjie said, be kind to the staff let him work hard, be good to the customers let him look back, one more time" It is hoped that the No. 69 fried sauce noodles of the square brick factory will be built into a landmark business card of Beijing's food and snacks. (ENDS)
Editor: Miao Lu