In recent years, the sales of pre-made dishes have been booming, but at the same time, they have also been controversial. According to a report at the 315 party, the reporter received a report that "some companies use untreated trough meat to make prefabricated dishes of plum cabbage and meat", which pushed prefabricated dishes to the forefront.
Although the only thing that thundered at that time was the plum cabbage and meat, many merchants were also questioned: whether the merchants were prefabricated dishes?
Lao Xiang Chicken is one of the most controversial businesses in the pre-made food turmoil, but in the face of doubts, Lao Xiang Chicken's approach has been recognized by many consumers - the 200,000-word "Lao Xiang Chicken Dish Traceability Report" has been published, so that consumers can regain the right to know and choose.
"Hometown Chicken Dish Traceability Report"
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The practice of hometown chicken seems to be a table-flipping peer, but it has really created a wave of favorability for consumers. Looking at the marketing methods of Lao Xiang Chicken, because of the accurate positioning and repeated breakthroughs, what enlightenment will it bring to the marketing of physical catering brands?
Fake flip table, real transparent
Kazuo Inamori, a Japanese business master, believes that "people should 'act honestly with a caring heart', and the caring heart here can also be called the heart of 'altruism'...... Respecting the other person and thinking about the other person, that is, the act of "altruism", may seem to bring damage to oneself at first glance, but in the long run, it will definitely bring good results to both oneself and others. ”
Lao Xiang Chicken's response to the "pre-made dishes" turmoil this time is exactly this, in the "Lao Xiang Chicken's Food Safety Open Letter to Consumers", it sincerely expressed the reason for making the report public, that is, the brand puts itself in the shoes of consumers. At first glance, it seems to be a self-confession of "flipping the table", but in fact, it is a sincere exchange of sincerity.
And the sincerity of the countryman chicken is divided into three steps.
First of all, the 677-page dish traceability report with a total of 200,000 words at the beginning, which contains 202 supplier details and 484 three-card traceability files of Lao Xiang Chicken (188 restaurant dish traceability cards, 136 central kitchen ingredients traceability cards, and 160 external raw material traceability cards);
Secondly, two real-time monitoring live broadcast rooms of "Lao Xiang Chicken Central Kitchen" and "Lao Xiang Chicken Restaurant Back Kitchen" were opened, and consumers were invited to cloud supervise the work together;
Hometown chicken real-time monitoring live broadcast
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Finally, the processing methods of the dishes set up in the store are classified and publicized, and the three processing methods of the restaurant's fresh-made, semi-prefabricated and reheated prefabricated are distinguished by color;
Classification of hometown chicken dishes
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This "open source" move has also received numerous praises, including but not limited to "confessing the truth of the bureau" and "taking the lead in the era of catering transparency" and so on. In the comment area of "Lao Xiang Chicken's Food Safety Open Letter to Consumers", many netizens praised Lao Xiang Chicken's practice, and some consumers gave feedback on food hygiene, payment process and other issues.
Hometown chicken hot search entries & reviews
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In fact, the matter of "transparency" of information was done by Lao Xiang Chicken before the thunderstorm of 315 prefabricated dishes. In 2016, Lao Xiang Chicken decided to make the kitchen transparent to make consumers more assured, and in 2021, Lao Xiang Chicken began to publish a self-inspection and self-correction report, in which the name of the restaurant, the time when the problem occurred, the description of the problem and the corrective measures were publicized, and a total of 34 articles have been released so far.
It can be said that the approach of the hometown chicken is bold and confident.
They're gambling that people will choose the restaurant brand because of the favorability it brings, and they're confident that they don't want their competitors to take advantage of the fact that they don't want to disclose inside information about the dishes, ingredients and ingredients they source.
I have to say that Lao Xiang Chicken is right to make this decision, and for catering brands, the most important thing is the dining experience of consumers. The relationship between brands and consumers should not be binary because of the processing methods of the dishes, and building trust is the only way to make the business go long.
Other controversial catering brands have also made similar moves before, such as Yonemura bibimbap admitting that the dishes are pre-made dishes, and Taier sauerkraut fish disclosing the sauerkraut production process, etc., all of which have won over consumers' favorability through "transparency", and business is becoming more and more popular.
Respecting the "right to know", handing over the "right to choose", focusing on the attitude of information disclosure to consumers, and dispelling doubts with sincerity have greatly strengthened people's trust in the brand, and this trust may be one of the sources of revenue improvement for merchants in the next step.
True, earthy, true, attentive
From the perspective of brand promotion, isn't the transparency of Lao Xiang Chicken's catering a marketing?
Founded in 2003 in Hefei City, Anhui Province, Laoxiang Chicken has gone to the whole country after 21 years, with the experience of "raising chickens for 40 years and boiling soup for 20 years", it has opened more than 1,000 fast food restaurants across the country. It relies not only on cost performance, but also on the help of its differentiated marketing. For example, the above two sets of data are the brand slogans of Lao Xiang Chicken, which are very direct and effective to enter people's memory.
In the traceability report, in addition to the brand's product information, Lao Xiang Chicken also announced the practice of the meal, which attracted many kitchen experts who had the courage to try. Netizens tried according to the recipes of the hometown chicken, and spontaneously expressed their experiences and thoughts on social media, bringing waves of natural traffic to the hometown chicken.
This kind of social marketing is exactly what the hometown chicken is good at. The social media platform has become the main front of brand marketing, and the hometown chicken has quickly and accurately found its own "personality".
For example, the "Giggles" series of blog posts posted every day on Weibo and the "Giggles" series of comments in the Douyin comment area, although there is no clear meaning, they have successfully made every social media user who has seen the "Giggles" in the comment area know that there is a brand called Laoxiang Chicken. In Xiaohongshu, Lao Xiang Chicken has also created a down-to-earth brand personality to shorten the distance with consumers.
Hometown chicken social media personality
In addition to long-term social marketing, Lao Xiang Chicken has two cases of being out of the circle, expanding the brand voice with local flavor and affordability.
In 2002, Lao Xiang Chicken created an 80s press conference with a budget of 200 yuan in a nostalgic environment. Chairman Shu Congxuan's speech integrated the fashionable Internet hot stalks, disseminated the business situation and product information of the hometown chicken in a witty style, narrowed the distance with young consumers with the local taste, and gained tens of millions of views. Then the brand also invited Yue Yunpeng to be the spokesperson to further strengthen the down-to-earth brand impression.
Hometown Chicken 80s press conference
2023 is the 20th anniversary of Lao Xiang Chicken, and the brand decided to launch the "Banquet Nationwide" activity. Chairman Shu Congxuan announced that more than 1,000 stores of Lao Xiang Chicken are all free, and launched the anniversary micro-film "Lao Xiang Chicken Pony Travel Back to 20 Years Ago" to continuously improve its status in the hearts of consumers.
The 20th anniversary of the hometown chicken banquet is held all over the country
It is worth noting that every time the countryman chicken breaks the circle, it is inseparable from the figure of Chairman Shu Congxuan.
During the epidemic in 2020, Shu Congxuan released a video tearing up the joint letter of employees and received 190,000 likes, which increased a wave of favorability with respect for medical staff and community workers, care for employees and a sense of responsibility for the enterprise. In addition, in recent years, the chairman of Lao Xiang Chicken has not only relied on sincerity to frequently go out of the circle, but also penetrated into the circle culture of young people by creating a "giggle music label".
As one of the important marketing methods of hometown chicken, the chairman IP can not only win the closeness of consumers but also win more popularity by exposing the chairman's image and personifying the brand.
Social marketing, local advertising and chairman IP can be described as the three major marketing methods of Lao Xiang Chicken, and under the fierce market competition, Lao Xiang Chicken has found its own differentiated communication ideas.
Brick-and-mortar F&B marketing implications
The success of Lao Xiang Chicken has a certain exemplary effect on some catering brands.
Different from the development path of KFC and McDonald's in the domestic market, Laoxiang Chicken is from Anhui to the whole country, starting from the local area and then expanding the market step by step, which can be said to be not easy.
Judging from the prospectus released by Lao Xiang Chicken, although its revenue has been on the rise in recent years, the gross profit margin is lower than that of the same industry, less than expected, and the cost of sales has also risen, which is difficult for investors to be optimistic. In terms of market distribution, the revenue of the Anhui market accounts for the vast majority of the Laoxiang chicken, and the revenue contribution in North China is relatively small.
Revenue
Cost of goods sold
Hometown Chicken has experienced three IPO failures in the past, but this also means that without the constraints of IPO on profits, marketing can be more daring. For example, the free meal activity mentioned above, according to the first dynamic speculation of the IPO, assuming that the net profit attributable to the parent company in 2021 is calculated, the national banquet of Lao Xiang Chicken will account for about 7.5% of the impact on profits.
Hometown chicken banquet national profit calculation
Source: IPO First News
In the past, brick-and-mortar catering was once intended to make quick money, relying on quick investment and marketing methods with appearance and gimmicks. When consumers are more rational, what catering brands need is to let consumers see the business attitude of merchants and the hard power of restaurants.
From the hometown chicken, we can see sincerity, the overall situation and the spirit of innovation.
The word "sincerity" is not just an attitude here, but also a marketing style, which has been played by the brand. The sincerity of the hometown chicken is down-to-earth, and it can be seen from past marketing cases that the more direct they are, the more the public likes them.
The overall situation is reflected in the attitude of the hometown chicken to employees and consumers, although it was once rumored that "the hometown chicken has not paid social security for 16,000 employees in 3 years", but the actual insurance rate of 93.75% also makes Shu Congxuan have the confidence to sincerely apologize. Do not pursue short-term benefits, pay attention to long-term management, the brand can go long-term.
If you count from Shu Congxuan's return to his hometown to run a chicken farm, the hometown chicken has a history of 42 years. But when middle-aged entrepreneurs collide with middle-aged enterprises, young sparks can always be born. The rejuvenation of the business mode and the rejuvenation of marketing have brought vigorous vitality to the hometown chicken, which is also the innovative spirit that many catering brands should learn.
The marketing method may not be completely reproduced, but from the hometown chicken, you can still find many shining points as a company and brand. Even if the pre-made food storm has not yet passed, being honest with consumers may open up a larger market for enterprises.