9 yuan a cage of steamed buns, 8 yuan a pancake or egg scones are already ordinary prices for many citizens who eat out for breakfast. However, now there is a restaurant that says that 3 yuan porridge, soybean milk, and milk are unlimited, and the attraction has gone up all at once? Beijing Youth Daily reporter learned that a number of Chinese chain restaurants have opened a "3 yuan buffet" for breakfast, not only to recreate the popular dining period, but also to attract customers to return to the offline "fireworks".
"3 yuan breakfast buffet" frequently appears in Chinese fast food chains
At 9 o'clock in the morning on weekdays, a Chinese restaurant chain downstairs in a community in Chaoyang District was full, and if you want to find an empty seat, you have to spend some time to see which one is about to leave. As a general rule, 9 o'clock is already the "end" of breakfast serving, and most restaurants have begun to prepare for the main meal with few customers. However, the restaurant's back kitchen has also made some new churros for customers to choose from. The staff on patrol in the front hall are also reminding the kitchen to add soy milk and milk.
Since the launch of the breakfast 3 yuan porridge drink buffet, this situation has long been the daily routine of the store's breakfast time.
A reporter from Beiqing Daily learned that a few years ago, as long as you spent two or three yuan or bought a designated "dry" breakfast, there was no limit to "rare" breakfasts such as porridge in the store, and it was still the "killer feature" of some large-scale individual breakfast businesses. And this model is now "learned" by Chinese restaurant chains. According to incomplete statistics from the reporter of Beiqing Daily, at present, restaurants or some restaurants of brands such as Nancheng Xiang, Hehegu, Teacher Tian's braised pork, Yonghe Dawang and other brands have launched various models of unlimited payment for breakfast, drinks and porridge.
For customers, as long as they have time, even if they only spend 3 yuan to taste the self-service porridge and drinks in the store, the small amount of food is basically full. Most of the general customers will choose a staple food or add an egg, plus the buffet part, 5 to 8 yuan can meet the demand, directly reducing the breakfast consumption.
"I really wanted to go but I didn't have time on weekdays, so I went for two days in a row on the weekend, and even took the initiative to overcome the lazy bed. A white-collar worker said. "I used to eat at home, but now I go to Nancheng Xiang for breakfast from time to time. One elderly person said that the price is more affordable than making it yourself at home. A delivery rider said that although many restaurants will give riders a discount, this semi-buffet breakfast is still very cost-effective. "As long as 3 yuan a day, you can save more than 200 yuan a month. ”
The rare "blue ocean" in catering has long been rolled up
"Eat well in the morning" For young consumer groups who are concerned about health, the importance of breakfast is increasing day by day. It is such a daily rigid demand market that is indeed one of the few incremental "blue oceans" in the red ocean of catering that already has a huge consumer group.
According to previous statistics from Mintel United Nations Securities Research Institute, the size of China's breakfast market has reached 1.8 trillion yuan in 2019 and is expected to reach 2.6 trillion yuan in 2025. At present, although the breakfast market is huge, there is no national brand, and the current market merchants are scattered, small business, and mom-and-pop shop model.
As a result, various businesses are chasing the breakfast market, hoping that it will become a new performance growth point. In addition to the Western-style fast food McDonald's and KFC have been in the market for many years, in the past two years, the breakfast market has begun to "roll" up across borders.
According to the "Shenzhen Release" on April 9, Shenzhen bus breakfast was officially launched, currently serving 5 kinds of breakfast packages, the promotion price is 8 yuan / serving, and the package meals are not the same for a week. In addition, not long ago, Haidilao sold breakfast at the door of an office building in Xi'an. In addition, Nai Xue's tea has launched a breakfast package of 9.9 yuan, and coffee brands such as Luckin and Starbucks also have breakfast discounts on drinks + bread, etc.
Not only the participating merchants, but even the breakfast sales model is also "rolling". It is not difficult for those who usually commute by subway to find that not only vending machines in Beijing subway stations have started to sell breakfast. As early as 2022, McDonald's and KFC successively set up mobile breakfast cars in the subway, taking the lead in seizing the subway breakfast consumption scene for migrant workers. Not to mention the convenience store breakfast located at various exits of the subway.
Can you make money with a "$3 breakfast buffet"?
Among the many breakfast business models, "3 yuan buffet" can be described as a killer feature. According to a survey, 94.2% of the respondents made it clear that they would control the cost of breakfast within 10 yuan. According to the survey results of Qicheng Capital in 2023, consumers spend 10.3 yuan per capita on breakfast, and less than 7 percent of roadside stall consumers spend less than 8 yuan. For a long time, no matter how McDonald's and KFC adjust their breakfast categories, the price of their products will be set at less than 10 yuan. Nai Xue's tea priced its breakfast package at 9.9 yuan, which allowed its breakfast package sales to increase by 6.2 times in the first half of 2023.
It is precisely because consumers have a "limited budget" for breakfast that small profits have become a major "disadvantage" of breakfast in the eyes of operators, and there is a saying that "getting up early and being greedy for money does not make money" in traditional operations. So, does the "3 yuan buffet breakfast" make money?
"If you just look at the porridge and drink it casually, you will definitely lose money. However, there are basically no customers who come to my house as long as porridge, and the basic per capita consumption is about 10 to 15 yuan. A breakfast merchant in Tongzhou District who sells porridge for 3 yuan free said that his signature is to burn cakes and meat, and porridge is just an incidental product. This method of sales has been going on for 7 or 8 years, during which time the store has moved and expanded its operations, and although it is far from its original location, many regular diners still follow.
In the eyes of analysts, the "3 yuan buffet breakfast" is a business model for restaurants to continue the breakfast period and reduce the labor and labor expenses during the breakfast period, and at the same time expand the customer base for breakfast. The ultimate cost-effective ratio is very attractive to consumers who have time to spare, and this consumer is often not the main customer group for breakfast out.
For a long time, the demand for convenience of breakfast has made take-out breakfast the mainstream demand in first-tier cities such as Beijing. The "3 yuan breakfast buffet" attracts more customers to stay in the restaurant, complements the mainstream take-out customer group, and adds a new sales growth point. This means that during breakfast time, restaurants can increase sales through takeout, take-out and dine-in.
After Nancheng Xiang launched the breakfast activity, its founder Wang Guoyu publicly revealed that the average breakfast turnover of a single store can exceed 10,000 yuan.
The "3 yuan buffet" launched by the Chinese fast food chain not only brings the breakfast market back to fireworks in a fast consumption, but also relies on scale to create a space in the only blue ocean market of catering.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Zhang Xin
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