Blue shark guide: After the baptism of the new consumption wave in the past few years, young people are becoming more and more prosperous
Author | Tian Tian
Edit | Lu Xucheng
Many new Chinese bakery brands that have raised a lot of money have gone downstairs.
Starting in March 2023, Hutou Bureau, which also took tens of millions of yuan in financing at the beginning of the year, was mired in rumors of layoffs and debts, and offline stores were closed one after another. Up to now, the narrow door restaurant shows that only 8 stores are open under the Hutou Bureau, 7 in Wuhan and 1 in Changsha; Online flagship stores such as Tmall, Douyin, and Pinduoduo have also been closed.
Momo Dim Sum Bureau, which is also known as the "New Chinese Baking Twin Stars" and Hutou Bureau, which has melted 6 rounds from 2020 to 2022, has also been shrinking in the past year, and the 40 stores that are still operating normally are all located in the base camp of Hunan.
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Could it be that consumers are thrifty and have begun to abandon the new Chinese pastries that have the blessing of the halo of "national tide" and once queued up when they saw a new store?
Don't rush to conclusions. Because Blue Shark consumption has also observed that some new Chinese baking brands that are deeply involved in the region are actually living a good life.
For example, the "Xianghe Dumpling Shop" in Tianjin has seen a compound growth rate of more than 100% in revenue every year in the past few years; "Mr. Yang Pastry" located in Hangzhou will achieve sales of 300 million yuan in 2023, and has successfully become a "Hangzhou souvenir" for many foreign tourists; There is also "Master Bao", who was once so popular that he was copied everywhere and ran around in a lawsuit, with the design of a "meat floss scallop", which has been popular for a long time.
Recently, Blue Shark Consumption chatted with Yang Ming, the fourth-generation successor of Xianghe Dumpling Shop, Yang Fachao, the founder of Mr. Yang's pastry, and Zhang Lin, director of CMC Capital, about what the new Chinese baking brands that have grown against the trend or become popular have in common, and came to the conclusion that the new Chinese bakery that lives well does not believe in "new consumption".
Unexpectedly popular, "Buddhism" business
Thanks to the well-developed domestic supply chain and various traffic channels that were still in the bonus period at that time, the popular mode and habitual operation of new consumer brands after becoming popular are roughly as follows:
After determining the name, packaging and KOL matrix, you will have the opportunity to run out of explosive products as soon as you operate as fiercely as a tiger in marketing; After the birth of explosive products, they will make every effort to increase marketing to continue the popularity of explosive products; After becoming an Internet celebrity, he took advantage of the momentum to raise a large amount of money, open stores widely, and frequently launch new products...... Until the traffic dividend disappears, the capital heat recedes, and the consumption upgrade comes to an end.
It is a typical Internet celebrity brand model represented by Changsha, and Momo Dim Sum Bureau is one of them. Zhang Lin, director of CMC Capital, believes that these new brands have the same tonality as Hunan Satellite TV and Mango Entertainment programs, and whether it is online marketing or store design, the so-called secular happiness spread to the outside is easy for young people to get. Because of this, its brand voice has been continuously amplified through new media communication, and it has quickly become a super Internet celebrity with a national reputation, and has also attracted many fans to make a special trip to Changsha to check in.
If it is a deliberate plan for the new consumer brand represented by Changsha to become an Internet celebrity, the popularity of Xianghe Dumpling Shop and Mr. Yang's pastries is unintentional.
In 2015, Yang Ming took over Xianghe Dumpling Shop because his father was over 60 years old and had the idea of retiring after barely maintaining Xianghe for many years.
Before taking over Xianghe Dumpling Shop, Yang Ming had experience in e-commerce agency operations, and after becoming the shopkeeper of Xianghe, he tried to move Xianghe's dim sum to Taobao to sell. What exceeded expectations was that when it took over, Xianghe Dumpling Shop sold tens of thousands of catties of dim sum, which was equivalent to the sales volume of the store in the previous years.
At the beginning of 2018, after the third season of "A Bite of China" (hereinafter referred to as "Bite of China 3") was broadcast, Xianghe Dumpling Shop quickly became popular. However, what is ironic is that many Tianjin people left a message on the website at that time: Is this a time-honored brand in Tianjin? I've never heard of it.
Yang Ming told Blue Shark Consumption that in Tianjin at that time, there was only one Xianghe Dumpling Shop, and the location was remote, near the back square of Tianjin Railway Station, which was not visited by locals, and the radiation distance was within 1 km at most.
The popularity of Mr. Yang's pastries is somewhat of a stroke of luck.
In 2013, its first store opened in Hangzhou's Xixi Wetland Scenic Area, directly because the founders, Yang Fawei and Yang Fachao, had a restaurant in the same location that was about to become unviable, forcing them to think about business transformation. The production skills of the Yang family's small twist have been passed down through four generations, and the food in small packages is also suitable as a souvenir.
Since then, Mr. Yang's pastry sales have been growing steadily. The outbreak broke out again in 2020 after the epidemic hit the offline business and Mr. Yang's team made efforts on Douyin e-commerce.
Although it is in Hangzhou, the "capital of e-commerce", Mr. Yang's team really did not have any foundation for live broadcast at that time, and there was no one in the entire company who understood live broadcast e-commerce. Yang Fachao told Blue Shark Consumption that they had cooperated with external anchors and invested more than 100,000 yuan, but they didn't do it, and all of them were lost. Just as the team was struggling with whether to invest heavily in Douyin e-commerce, Yang Fachao said to a girl who knew how to shoot videos, "I'll give you 1 million yuan, and you can find a way to spend it, don't care if it works out or not." "I didn't think that I would soon produce a popular video on my Douyin account, and not only did I not spend much of 1 million yuan, but I also earned 1 million yuan by bringing goods in a short period of time.
It is worth noting that whether it is Xianghe Dumpling Shop or Mr. Yang's pastries, after becoming popular, they did not take advantage of the hot iron to expand.
In the year when "Tip of the Tongue 3" was broadcast, Xianghe Dumpling Shop did not open a new store, and only 2 new stores were opened in the second year. At present, Xianghe, which has an annual revenue of 500 million yuan, has only 50 stores, all of which are located in Beijing and Tianjin, and more than 40 are in Tianjin.
As for playing marketing, compared with Changsha's Internet celebrity brand in terms of interaction with consumers, Xianghe has a bit of a "lonely self-appreciation" flavor - just look at the Weibo account of Xianghe Dumpling Shop, which is basically a release column for irregular advertisements. There are only sporadic forwards and likes, and it is estimated that there is no full-time staff to maintain them.
This is very similar to the style of the city of Tianjin, which never presupposes what consumers want to see, or what kind of content is highly disseminated, and just wants to express themselves authentically.
Mr. Yang's pastry is also a "corner of the country", which has been established for 11 years, and all 14 offline stores are located in Hangzhou.
Moreover, Yang Fachao told Blue Shark Consumption that Mr. Yang's pastries will not go out of Zhejiang within 3 years, and may be opened in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai after 3 years.
It's our duty to survive
However, don't think that these "Buddhist" new Chinese pastry brands have no ambitions, and just want to live a life of small wealth.
Blue Shark Consumption believes that behind the seemingly "Buddhist system", it is actually not disturbed by external noise, and after establishing a sense of understanding of the nature of business and thinking clearly about what you want, you can control the rhythm of your pace.
Yang Ming told Blue Shark that Xianghe Dumpling Shop was not started because of him, and of course he didn't want to see it end in his hands. The founder of Xianghe is his great-grandfather, and the founding time is in the early 20th century. His grandfather studied under the imperial kitchen of the Qing Dynasty, and not only did he have excellent skills, but he also changed his tricks to produce new products, and constantly renovated the dim sum of the former court.
The city of Tianjin, where Xianghe is located, is "Tianjin Wei under the nine rivers, with three pontoon bridges and two passes". The Westernists once set up the Tianjin Machinery Bureau here, making it an important base for the Westernization movement; In the 30s of the 20th century, there were more than 1,200 factories and 200,000 industrial workers in Tianjin at that time...... Today, the number of time-honored brands in Tianjin ranks among the top three in the country, and the convenient water transportation and port infrastructure, as well as the historical accumulation of a century-old industrial city, have undoubtedly laid the foundation for Tianjin's time-honored brands to leap from workshops to brands.
After taking over the Xianghe Dumpling Shop, Yang Ming's biggest belief is that "people are in the brand, and business is sustainable". In his opinion, as a century-old brand, it is his duty to survive, and if he can't survive, he has no ability. "Xianghe Dumpling Shop has survived in the form of craftsmanship for 100 years, and I hope it will live for another 100 years in the form of a brand."
In order to fulfill his duty and continue the brand, Yang Ming is more willing to invest the money he earns in equipment upgrading and supply chain transformation. In 2018, Xianghe expanded the factory, and in 2019, it began to upgrade the production equipment, so that the equipment can accurately restore the movements of human hands. Some Chinese pastry brands will emphasize their own dim sum "ancient methods" and "handmade", but in Yang Ming's view, "when the baker feels tired after working for 10 hours, the technique is easy to deform, and the quality of handmade products is inevitably uneven, which is different from the production of mechanical equipment." ”
Thanks to the blessing of the new Chinese baking outlet, in 2021, Xianghe Dumpling Shop was finally "discovered" by capital. In that year, Xianghe Dumpling Shop completed an angel round of financing of more than 100 million yuan exclusively led by CMC Capital. However, Yang Ming told Blue Shark Consumption that when accepting external financing, he once told the capital, "The investment required by Xianghe to open a new store can only be rolled up with the money it earns, and the financing money will be used in the supply chain, and traditional businesses should not rely on financing to expand." ”
Mr. Yang Pastry has also increased its investment in the supply chain. A few months ago, in Yushan Township, Fuyang District, Hangzhou, Mr. Yang planned a park with a total investment of about 200 million yuan, which will become his production base in the future.
Yang Fachao told Blue Shark Consumption that the products of Mr. Yang's pastries include twist flowers, gourd cakes, Dingsheng cakes, Qingtuan and other Chinese pastries, but the focus on the big single items, only two twist and gourd cakes, and the twist of Mr. Yang's pastries is also made of rice flour. In the future, from the sales of the tertiary industry to the production and processing of the secondary industry, and then to the agricultural planting of the primary industry, Mr. Yang hopes to be deeply involved in it, and hopes that his factory can become the most professional rice product pastry factory in the country.
At present, Mr. Yang Pastry has no financing plan, on the one hand, because it is not too bad for money, and the annual net profit can be 10%-20%, in addition to maintaining the company's daily expenses, it can also further invest in future development; What's more, Mr. Yang has his own development plan, "at least 20 years of deep cultivation in the region." ”
Why is there no Wandian brand in Chinese baking?
For a long time, Chinese baked dim sum was abandoned by young people. Yang Ming told Blue Shark that when his father was in charge of the shop, in order to make a living, Xianghe's bakers even had to learn to make Western-style cakes.
Blue Shark consumption found that in recent years, "old taste" food has become popular all over the country, that is, the taste of childhood. In addition, with the enhancement of China's economic strength, young people are full of cultural self-confidence, and the new Chinese baking that has done well has also taken advantage of this to make a comeback.
As Yang Ming said, in recent years, a number of new Chinese baking has been run, and the time-honored brand has been revived, which is related to the social environment, if you go back to 15 years ago, I am afraid that no one can run out.
Yang Fachao is also grateful for this era when the "national tide" has become an identity. Nowadays, Mr. Yang Pastry has developed a variety of flavors around large single products, and is committed to telling the story of Hangzhou in terms of product packaging and marketing, if we go back to 15 years ago, even if Mr. Yang Pastry was established earlier, there may not be many innovations on the basis of traditional skills, because the market does not need so much innovation.
Zhang Lin, director of CMC Capital, believes that Chinese baked dim sum also carries an emotional value and carries a lot of memories, which Western cakes do not have. Some are associated with cultural memory, such as Xianghe's dim sum, which reminds people of a piece of dim sum that his grandmother gave him when he was a child; Some are associated with festivals or natural seasons, such as the Qingtuan during the Qingming Festival and the mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival, which have been tested by time.
In this case, why does the bubble tea shop, which has a similar business model to the bakery, run out of the 10,000-store brand, the top brand of Chinese baking, but the number of stores is only 1000-2000? In the future, will Chinese baking have a chance to achieve the Wandian brand?
Zhang Lin told Blue Shark that the bakery category has certain staple food attributes, and the biggest bottleneck facing its growth may be that one person's appetite cannot fit so many baked pastries; In addition, there are still many small regional chain brands in the baking market, and their business models are mostly To B, such as Wei Duomei, an important function of offline stores is to pick up goods, and the business of these regional brands is quite stable; In addition, baking is actually a category that has existed for a long time, and consumers have already formed a price band in their minds, which makes it impossible for bakery products to be overpriced, and the gross profit is actually not high.
What if the expansion is accelerated with the help of capital?
Yang Fachao believes that capital entry can certainly help brands achieve scale in the short term, but the corresponding price is: it is easy to die if you run too fast.
Because of China's large regional differences, there is a process of cultivating market flavors in making Chinese baked pastries with regional characteristics, "For example, a piece of gourd cake, some people think it is too sweet, some people think it is not sweet at all, which has nothing to do with the product itself, so that consumers can accept the taste and gradually form a memory, which is not something that can be done in a short period of time." ”
In the past few years, those new Chinese pastry brands that have retreated after large-scale expansion have probably predetermined the future with monthly sales during the period when the store scale is not large and the queue is the hottest.
Therefore, Yang Fachao predicts that Chinese baking will go through a long process of running out of the Wandian brand, which will be accompanied by the cross-provincial flow of population, the north-south integration of tastes, and the specialization and refinement of the supply chain.
Back to the present, Chinese baking still has to deepen the supply chain and make genuine dim sum, and cannot think that through the help of external capital or overwhelming marketing, it can cover a lot of things that take time to accumulate.
After the baptism of the new consumption wave in the past few years, young people are becoming more and more prosperous and genuine, and they are only willing to pay for beautiful and genuine consumer goods.