The self-service model is quietly gaining popularity, but it may not necessarily work for all merchants.
This article was originally published by Red Meal Network (ID: hongcan18), author: Zhou Lixi, editor: Jing Xue.
Many restaurants are trying to seek new growth points in customer flow and revenue by "changing to self-service".
Recently, the hot pot brand Ge Laoguan announced on its official WeChat public account that many of its stores will launch self-service packages, where guests can eat bullfrogs, snacks and desserts for 99 yuan, and if they spend an extra 20 yuan, they can also freely choose more than 20 dishes such as hairy tripe, shutters and beef tongue.
In fact, the brand experimented with the self-help model back at the end of last year and has been intentionally expanding the scope of the self-service model ever since. According to its official account, as of now, about one-third of the stores under the elder brother have been changed to self-service mode.
And the elder brother is just a microcosm of the self-help trend. At present, more and more F&B brands are trying to launch self-service packages, and some restaurants have even directly changed their business methods to implement a full self-service model. But can the self-service model really be a magic weapon for restaurants to attract customers and stabilize revenue?
All-you-can-eat hot pot and drink desserts,
The self-service model has quietly turned popular
Since the beginning of this year, the wind of hot pot buffet has begun to blow more and more fiercely.
In January, Hongjie Old Hot Pot launched a 118 yuan lunch buffet for a single person at the Shanghai Wantiguan store, and the store provides more than 80 SKUs of hot dishes, desserts, snacks, drinks, etc. Since then, the store has also upgraded the lunch buffet to an all-day buffet and adjusted the price. According to the Meituan APP, the current price of Sister Hong's old hot pot buffet is 96.5 yuan per person.
△ Image source: Hongjie Old Hot Pot's official WeChat public account
In February, Shen Rub Hot Pot Tavern also changed its individual stores in Shanghai to a self-service model, providing 99 yuan/person lunch buffet and 138 yuan/person evening buffet, with more than 90 kinds of dishes for consumers to choose from.
In March, Jiangba Hot Pot, which started in Shenyang, also announced on its official public account that the brand's three stores in Shenyang have changed to self-service mode, and the average person spends 59.9 yuan to eat hundreds of dishes in the store.
In April, Yanglao Sanniu Yangbei Charcoal Hot Pot announced that some stores in Hangzhou would be changed to a self-service model, with a price of 123 yuan covering fresh beef and mutton, barbecue, crayfish, snacks and fruits, and unlimited drinking and beverages......
Not only in the hot pot industry, but also in the breakfast track. In the middle of last year, brands such as Hehegu and Nanchengxiang in Beijing have launched breakfast buffets in their stores.
In March this year, Jiahe Yipin also announced the return of the breakfast buffet model and joined the business war. It has launched a 15 yuan buffet breakfast in nearly 20 stores, providing more than 30 products including porridge, steamed buns, coarse grains, snacks, side dishes, and drinks.
△ Image source: Jiahe Yipin official account
It is not uncommon for dessert shops to change to self-service, and the most typical of them is Manji desserts. Red Meal Network noticed that since the end of last year, Manji Dessert has tried to launch a self-service activity of "48 yuan all-you-can-eat". Today, this self-service model has been further popularized in its directly operated stores, and the official WeChat account of Manji Dessert shows that the event has radiated to more than 100 of its stores.
In addition, there is even a noodle buffet on the market.
Beijing Jianguo Hotel has launched a 28.8 yuan "traditional handmade on-site hand-rolled noodle buffet", noodles can be eaten at all, Beijing home-style marinade, mushroom meat sauce, eggplant minced potatoes and tomatoes and eggs and other flavors of marinade are infinitely continued, as well as black tea, green tea and jasmine tea can be drunk; Shenzhen's "Eight Monsters Self-service Noodle Restaurant" provides a variety of special toppings, side dishes, and free noodles, guests only need to spend 15 yuan. These noodle self-service models have aroused the curiosity of many consumers, and many food bloggers have checked in and shared on social platforms.
Open for a limited time, the main promotion of "semi-self-service"
The popularity of the self-service model is not accidental, it not only reflects the change of consumer demand, but also is inseparable from the improvement of merchants. If you pay close attention, you will also find that the new wave of buffet mode will be slightly different from the traditional buffet model in the past.
1. The price is lower, the SKU is more, and the involution is upgraded again!
Looking at the entire buffet field, it has long been more subdivided and specialized, and more segmented players such as seafood buffet, steak buffet, and barbecue buffet have also emerged. In terms of price, in the past, the per capita consumption of these cafeterias ranged from 200 yuan to 400 yuan.
But in today's more rational consumption, guests want to enjoy high-quality service and food at more affordable prices. Merchants are also aware of this and have lowered the price of buffets. As mentioned above, the price of many self-service hot pots has gone to 59.9 yuan per person. In addition, the barbecue buffet of 49.9 yuan on the market is also common. The price of the self-service model is undoubtedly getting lower and lower!
At the same time, a number of hot pot brands that have transformed into self-service are also aiming at the publicity point of "rich products". In the self-service package of Sister Hong's old hot pot, Shen Rubbing Hot Pot Tavern, and Chuanting Mao Belly Hot Pot, there are more than 80 SKUs. Lower prices, rich flavors, and a complete range of dishes have become the basic skills of the new wave of self-service models.
2. The self-service + ordering mode is parallel, and multiple price bands are set to ensure profit margins
For merchants, lowering prices will actually affect revenue, and too many SKUs mean that costs are difficult to control, so how can brands ensure profit margins? In this regard, most catering brands choose to solve this problem with the "semi-self-service" model, that is, while launching the self-service model, retain the regular ordering method.
Taking Nancheng Xiang as an example, the 3 yuan breakfast buffet products in the store only include porridge and drinks, and if you want to eat wontons, fritters and sandwiches, you need to place a separate order to buy them, and Nancheng Xiang has launched a small hot pot set in some stores, including all-you-can-eat fresh vegetables and rice, a 100% original cut fat beef/fresh mutton, pot base, and 8 kinds of small ingredients. However, if you want to add additional meat, you need to pay an additional price of 19.9 yuan per plate.
△ Image source: Nancheng Xiang
Such a semi-self-service model can attract price-sensitive consumers and achieve the purpose of drainage. At the same time, many guests will involuntarily choose some other dishes to match on the basis of the original buffet set menu, which can maintain the unit price of customers to a certain extent and ensure profit margins.
In addition, although it is a self-service model, many brands will further refine on this basis and divide the buffet according to the price, such as Ge Laoguan, Niu Xiaoxin Roast Meat House and other restaurants have launched buffet packages at different prices, which are rich and thrifty, giving consumers more diverse choices.
3. Open and adjust products within a limited time to improve store efficiency
It is worth noting that many stores will also have time restrictions when implementing self-service, and some brands will choose to open self-service only during off-peak dining hours. For example, the Manji dessert buffet is only open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekdays, while the Hong Kong-style refreshment buffet at Wan Lung Chau, a Cantonese restaurant in Beijing, is only open between 10:30 and 16:00 on weekdays.
△ Image source: Manji Dessert Official Blog
At the same time, some merchants will adjust the original dishes and cancel those products that are complicated to make, take a long time or are difficult to control costs, such as the lack of fish heads in the self-service of Ge Laoguan, and the additional bullfrogs are no longer seasoned and put in the pot in a fresh state;
On the whole, whether it is the "semi-self-service" mode or the limited-time open self-service, it more or less shows that merchants still have the mentality of testing the waters for the self-service mode, and they are generally in the exploration stage.
"Changing to self-help" is not a panacea
At present, after the transformation of merchants to the self-service model, the feedback from the market is also different.
It is understood that after the launch of Sister Hong's old hot pot buffet, in just 4 months, the sales volume of the buffet package on Meituan has exceeded 24,000 orders, and queuing for 3-4 hours on weekends has become the norm. Wang Guoyu, the founder of Nancheng Xiang, previously revealed that after the launch of the three-yuan breakfast, Nancheng Xiang's breakfast turnover has increased significantly.
However, in the actual visit to the market, Red Restaurant also found that some restaurants did not meet expectations after adding a self-service mode in their stores.
A Chaoshan beef hot pot in Tianhe District, Guangzhou, changed to a self-service model in January this year, but in the end it was difficult to escape the closure of the restaurant; another Japanese restaurant owner bluntly said in an exchange with the red food network that just after the New Year this year, seeing that the self-service mode is very popular, he launched a self-service set meal in the store, but it did not bring many new customers, but some old customers suddenly stopped coming because they changed their dishes.
△ Image source: Picture Worm Creative
In the eyes of many industry insiders, there are still many challenges in the self-service model itself.
Yu Yihong, an expert in store profit model, pointed out that in the past, the "large and complete" buffet store model was heavier, but now it is difficult to work. Even if you do "small but beautiful" self-help, it is difficult to control gross profit. The current business environment is more difficult than before, and the rational consumption of customers does not mean that the pursuit of quality is relaxed. "Today's guests may be more 'picky' than they used to be, and they don't want to be good value for money, they even want to get the best value for their money. ”
If the original ordering model of the store wants to switch to the self-service model, or the "semi-self-service" model, it will also encounter a lot of challenges.
Wu Hongtao, chairman of Xiong Meow, said in an interview with the self-media "Hot Pot Meal" that self-service is not changed, but designed, this model looks simple, but in fact, there are many particulars on cost, efficiency, and the combination of ingredients.
△ Image source: Picture Worm Creative
The founder of a self-service barbecue brand who did not want to be named told RedFood.com: "The change of restaurant to buffet may also affect the original image of the brand. If you change to self-service, you may face discounts and promotions, which can maintain customer flow and cash flow in the short term, but in the long run, customers will think that your product is only worth this price. ”
As he said, the self-service model may not work for all merchants, and brands or merchants who want to transform into a self-service model need to think twice.