In 2024, the domestic catering industry will encounter a cold snap, and the number of cancelled stores will reach nearly 460,000. In this seemingly silent business disappearance, who is quietly reaping, and who is silently suffering the pain?
The entire restaurant industry is undergoing an unprecedented reshuffle. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, nearly 460,000 F&B outlets have announced closures in the first three months of 2024. This number is shocking enough because it accounts for almost half of the number of newly registered F&B outlets.
The long-term impact of the epidemic, although the epidemic has gradually been brought under control on a global scale, its impact on the economy, especially the real economy, is still ongoing. Many catering operators have accumulated more operational pressure during the epidemic, and the capital chain has been tightened or even broken, resulting in many restaurants that are already on the verge of survival unable to continue to maintain.
Consumer behavior has changed, with more and more people choosing to cook at home or use takeaway services, reducing their reliance on traditional brick-and-mortar meals. Consumers have higher and higher requirements for the quality of catering, and no longer only seek cheapness and convenience as before, which is undoubtedly a huge blow to many low-end restaurants.
In this crisis, the closure of celebrity restaurants has been particularly striking. Celebrities opening restaurants seems to be a good business model, using the popularity and influence of celebrities to attract a large number of fans and consumers. This model no longer seems to be working so well in recent years.
In 2021, Huang Xiaoming's roast Jiangnan barbecue restaurant was executed due to financial problems, and he himself has withdrawn from the management team. A similar incident occurred in Chen He's Xianhezhuang, where he publicly stated that he would work with all franchisees to advance and retreat, but ultimately chose to withdraw, leaving franchisees with huge investments and an uncertain future.
In addition to the retreat of celebrities, some once glamorous Internet celebrity stores have gradually disappeared from public view. These stores once made money day by day because of the "Internet celebrity effect", but they often lacked a long-term business strategy and a stable consumer group. Once the novelty wears off, high maintenance costs and a flowing customer base become an unbearable burden.
The problem of capital chain is also an important reason for the large-scale closure of restaurants. Many restaurants borrow excessively in order to expand, and once they encounter market fluctuations or poor management, it is easy to break the capital chain and eventually close their doors.
Financial mismanagement is a common problem in the F&B industry, especially for brands that are expanding rapidly, and problems can ensue once management can't keep up with the pace of expansion.
With the saturation of the market, new food and beverage formats such as cloud kitchens and light food restaurants are emerging, and these new models usually have lower operating costs and more flexible business strategies, putting traditional food and beverage outlets under great pressure. How to maintain uniqueness and competitiveness in the competition has become a problem that many established restaurants must think about.
For consumers, they have more and more choices, which directly affects the customer source of those restaurants that have no obvious characteristics or low service levels. People are now more likely to look for restaurants that offer a unique dining experience or value for money, which requires restaurants to not only work on the taste of food, but also innovate in service and environment.
In the face of these ever-evolving challenges, F&B operators need to adapt to change and find new ways to survive. Some restaurants attract customers by refining management and improving the quality of dishes and service levels, while others try to expand sales channels through takeout and online reservations.
Even in such a severe market environment, there are still some catering brands that have not only not been eliminated by the market, but have achieved growth against the current. These brands often have a few things in common: a focus on brand building, a commitment to food safety and quality, a constant commitment to innovating dishes and services, and an accurate grasp of market dynamics and consumer needs.
This reshuffle in the restaurant industry is brutal, but it is also full of opportunities. The future remains bright for F&B businesses that are able to respond flexibly to market changes, continue to innovate and maintain high-quality service. And for those who are stagnant and unable to adapt to the new normal, this could be a farewell moment.