Looking for a breakthrough in the C-end with one hand, and continuing to dig deep into the business fundamentals with the other hand, and constantly polishing the supply efficiency and stability, Yihai has never deviated from its original intention.
There's a concept in Hollywood called the Element of Surprise. They think that whether a drama can be popular or not, there must be at least one element of surprise.
Entering the peak season of crayfish sales and marketing, on May 1, Yihai International's brand Chopsticks Chef landed the "Love Garlic" theme market in Nanyang Wanyue City, with the theme of "French Garlic I Eat Garlic". As one of the surprising elements, a wedding called "Mr. Garlic and Miss Butter" stood out among the fancy prawns, and successfully detonated the new French garlic crayfish seasoning of Chopsticks Chef. The event lasted nearly 10 hours and attracted more than 10,000 people, and the sales of crayfish seasoning in Wanyue City that day were more than 13 times that of normal days.
Weibo data shows that the topic related to this event #26-year-old eats crayfish for the first time in my life# rushed to the 6th place on the hot search list of the day, with 230 million views and 19,000 interactions as of press time, triggering 7,181 discussions and 1,284 original articles. Under the category of Nanyang's "Hot Search in the Same City", the related topic # Henan Wedding Four-meter Big Pot Fried Thousand Jin Lobster Banquet Tourists # rushed to the top of the list, and the popularity in the same city was as high as 10719.
△ Chopsticks and small kitchen Nanyang activity site
The topic went out of the circle and drove sales to skyrocket. As of May 5, the sales of crayfish seasoning in Yihai's offline and online channels increased by more than 30% year-on-year during the holiday, making a "good start" for this year's crayfish season. Based on the creation of this major event, Nanyang Wanyue City and Wandelong system also reaped dividends simultaneously, and the sales of crayfish seasoning on May Day increased by 860% compared with the average daily in April; During the continuation of the activity period from May 1st to May 5th, the average sales of a single day increased by 395%, breaking multiple single-day coefficients.
△ Chopsticks and small kitchen Nanyang activity site
In terms of consumption scenarios, the crayfish category basically includes two categories: eating at home and eating out, the former including making your own, eating pre-made and ordering takeaway, and the latter including lobster franchise stores and other food and beverage outlets. Among them, the application of seasonings has penetrated in all subdivided scenarios, and the huge market space has led to countless large and small players in the track.
In the Red Sea, how to create a blue ocean?
A series of new products launched by Chopsticks Chef this season may provide a solution to the problem. Among them, the French garlic flavor is unique among the three new products, creating a precedent for the combination of Chinese and Western, and accurately cutting the garlic flavor track that is in the rapid rise of market share, reaping double dividends. The simultaneous launch of braised and spicy flavors has become the new backbone of Chopsticks Kitchen's consolidation of the stock market, and the overall market is also on the rise.
△ Wandelong supermarket is displayed in many places in the venue with new crayfish seasoning products of chopsticks and small kitchens
Behind the C-end action in full swing, what really supports the brand to "get out of the circle" is inseparable from the supply chain capability engraved in the brand's genes. Today, more and more supply chain companies have come to the front of the stage from behind the scenes to build the second growth curve of the C-end and realize the wings of the flight. And their confidence to get out of the narrow door still stems from their own deep cultivation and service capabilities in the industry.
As one of the samples, Yihai has never deviated from its original intention, looking for a breakthrough in the C-end on the one hand, and continuing to dig deep into the business fundamentals on the other hand, constantly polishing the supply efficiency and stability. At present, the number of Yihai's B-end customers is increasing, and its trials on the C-end will eventually be used as nourishment to feed back into the service upgrade of B-end customers.
Product combination punch, playing style "offensive and defensive"
According to data from Meituan, BI and Intelligence Communication, in 2023, the overall sales volume of crayfish seasonings (to C-end), including spicy, minced garlic, spicy, braised in oil, and thirteen spices, will increase by about 7% year-on-year compared with 2022, of which garlic flavor will be "far ahead" of other flavors with a 16% increase, followed by oil stew and spicy flavor, with an increase of 10% and 5%, respectively, and spicy and thirteen spice flavors will decrease by 1% and 13% respectively.
The three new French garlic, spicy and braised flavors launched by Chopsticks Chef this time have accurately hit the rapidly growing engine category, among which the main garlic flavor is the sales growth champion in 2023.
△ The French garlic flavor at the event site was loved by the children
However, unlike the traditional Chinese fried minced garlic, Yihai has fully extended and innovated through its keen insight into the taste of minced garlic, and adopted the production process of fried cooked minced garlic to fill the gap in the previous subdivision of the taste in the field of minced garlic. At the same time, it is served with "high-quality" ingredients, using imported Irish cheese and stir-fried in butter, which is suitable for steaming/grilling small seafood such as oysters and scallops, as well as dishes such as bolong, small green dragon and open-back shrimp, which can present a more authentic Western taste.
According to the relevant person in charge, in the preliminary visit and research, the French garlic flavor was not only widely welcomed by the restaurant, but also gave good feedback among children, which further strengthened the purchase mentality of family users. "Because it is stir-fried with butter and minced garlic, the French garlic has a richer but softer taste, which is not only in line with the current trend of light taste, but also very friendly to children's taste experience."
In 2023, the overall sales volume of garlic seasoning in the market will be about 330 million. On the one hand, Yihai will continue to enjoy the rising dividends of the garlic track, and on the other hand, through exclusive and differentiated product advantages, it will create a blue ocean category in the red ocean market, which will also enable the brand to further grab the share of competing products.
△ On-site consumers lined up to buy French garlic crayfish seasoning in the Huangrong CP Suili area, and felt the multi-purpose of one ingredient in the DIY area
If this season's "pioneer" new French garlic product is regarded as Yihai's active attack in product strategy, then the simultaneous launch of spicy flavors and braised flavors is the best interpretation of "Shou Policy" to a certain extent.
Relevant statistics show that in 2023, the overall sales volume of crayfish seasoning oil stewed flavor will be about 150 million, and the overall sales volume of spicy flavor will be about 270 million, and the regional specialty flavor will increase significantly.
In terms of production process, the stewed taste of chopsticks chef is fried in rapeseed oil, which is more light and non-greasy, and is benchmarked against Hubei Qianjiang oil stewed lobster shop, which is more flavorful when simmered for 30 minutes; The spicy flavor is committed to restoring the flavor of shrimp in Changsha Night Market, Hunan, and the crayfish is spicy and refreshing after removing the head, opening the back, passing the oil, and stir-frying.
Focusing on French garlic flavors, supplemented by braised and spicy flavors, this product portfolio not only once again demonstrates Yihai's leading effect in the field of product innovation, but also consolidates its basic chapter in the stock flavor market, and truly achieves the front attack and the rear defense in terms of product strategy.
Brand mentality construction "gradually getting better"
Every supply chain enterprise may have a "brand dream". As a C-end brand opened up by Yihai, Chopsticks Chef has performed remarkably in recent years, and a few years ago, its original "three catties of lobster and one pack" once became the object of imitation by various brands.
Before the launch of the new product, Chopsticks Kitchen for the C-end crayfish seasoning products on sale include spicy, spicy, garlic and thirteen spices 4 flavors, 200g-320g terminal price is 10.9 yuan, 138g spicy and garlic flavor price is 7.9 yuan. The French garlic, oil stew and spicy flavors launched this time are 240g, 280g and 220g respectively, with a unified price of 13.9 yuan.
On the marketing side, Yihai's game-breaking strategy is also "getting better".
This time, Chopsticks Chef landed the "Love Garlic" theme market in Nanyang Wanyue City, through the online nonsensical TVC viral spread, superimposed with a large number of cross-border joint marketing with the theme of "five senses", constantly heated the theme, and finally refreshed the market activities offline with a grand "wedding". At the same time, with the grass planting video of Douyin's super-head experts and on-site delivery, the event finally achieved the "explosion" effect of integrating quality and efficiency, and became another excellent case of tackling the C-end mentality of the seasoning track.
Further dismantling of this new product launch can be seen that the design of "Mr. Garlic" and "Miss Butter" holding a wedding, and a four-rice pot of freshly fried lobster can not only quickly hit the attention of consumers, but also significantly increase the memory points of the participants, so that they can remember the unique formula of the product; At the site selection level, Chopsticks Kitchen chose Nanyang, a more pyrotechnic location, which not only avoided the fierce competition in high-tier cities, but also fully absorbed the local agglomeration effect of Wanyue City, which was also a clever move in the marketing process.
"Behind the scenes" companies come to the forefront, usually due to two logics.
On the one hand, it is for business reasons. The construction of C-end brand capabilities can further improve the level of gross profit margin and improve the company's profit indicators.
On the other hand, we will build a second growth curve and build a healthier diversified income structure. At present, Yihai International mainly has three major brands: "Haidilao Seasoning", "Chopsticks Kitchen" and "Wow". In 2023, the Group launched 24 new hot pot seasoning products, 37 Chinese compound seasoning products, and 40 convenient fast food products. As of December 31, 2023, the Group had a total of 62 hot pot seasoning products, 68 Chinese compound seasoning products and 72 convenient fast food products on sale.
The supply chain "password" behind the product
It is worth noting that the new products launched by Chopsticks Chef this time not only include C-end products, but also include B-end products mainly for the catering industry, including garlic, oil stew, spicy and spicy, which are more suitable for restaurant procurement and some dinner scenes. In terms of packaging strategy, the 150g trial pack can also lower the threshold for customers to try, and at the same time, each bag is printed separately, and the distributor can sell it to the restaurant according to 1kg/bag, eliminating the pressure of purchase.
On the road of expanding the C-end, Yihai has not deviated from its original intention. Every detail of the product from R&D to market sales has the tension of its supply chain genes.
Product research and development is reasonable, creativity can go first, but it still needs to be steadily escorted. According to the relevant person in charge of the new French garlic, since the project was established in September last year, the team has visited a large number of restaurants to conduct research on the application scenarios of French garlic and oil stew and spicy flavors. The product was finalized in December, and the whole process lasted about 3 months. In the research of the taste of oil stew, the team specially went to Hubei and Hunan, the major crayfish breeding provinces in China, to conduct inspections, and tried dishes one by one in the selected restaurants and listened to the opinions of merchants.
△ Yihai product team has been visiting consumers for a long time to conduct communication research
"For taste, we have a very mature and graded testing mechanism, which is divided into three stages on the user side: small-scale, medium-test and final test, and after the product is launched, consumer taste re-testing will be carried out every month. In the small-scale and pilot-scale tests, details including taste and process will be quickly responded to and trial-and-error based on feedback, so as to ensure that most of the basic adjustments are completed before the product is launched and improve R&D efficiency. At present, this mechanism is still being continuously polished and optimized, and the R&D team is trying to make the final test before the market closer to sales, and at the same time further improve the standardization of the pilot test.
For catering enterprises and merchants, the fluency of the evaluation mechanism is also very high, and the "key user tasting" is added after the pilot link, and dealers and terminal merchants are invited to conduct evaluations, and the tasters can put forward opinions according to their own sales experience and sales needs, including taste, packaging, weight, etc. The 150g small packaging product launched for the merchant side is the result of the co-creation of Yihai and customers, and has received excellent market feedback.
It is reported that the R&D and production cycle of Yihai is usually not more than two weeks for new customers or new product needs from customers, "Our factory has a very rich variety of raw materials and sufficient supply, and the production line efficiency is also very high, and the cycle from production to labeling and delivery is far lower than the industry average." A relevant person in charge introduced. At present, the production of seasonings and seasoning packets is mainly concentrated in the first and second phases of the Ma'anshan factory, and the factories in Bazhou and Zhaoqing will also produce some of the output, and the overall production capacity is quite sufficient.
Nowadays, each factory in Yihai, including the dispensing factory, flavor factory, etc., is equipped with a dedicated R&D team on site, including R&D and application engineers, to conduct research and reserve recipes for the more popular dishes on the market. In addition, the factory can also customize products according to customer needs and volume, adjust the formula according to the requirements of the other party, standardize the production and direct delivery.
Directly hit the pain points of supply, so that merchants have "no worries"
The stability of suppliers is one of the biggest constraints for almost all catering enterprises. Quality assurance, stable production, and high cost performance are the key needs and procurement "pain points" of B-end customers. "For Yihai's factory, these needs are fundamental capabilities. Over the years, we have been honing our supply chain capabilities to provide merchants with a better experience and service. The person in charge further explained.
This has been fully verified by Yihai's customers.
"At that time, we evaluated several brands at the exhibition, and finally chose Yihai. Although it seems that the ingredients are similar, after comparing the tastes, we found that the taste of Yihai is significantly better than that of similar products. Doing business must pay attention to taste, and deliciousness is the foundation. ”
Boss Zhuang is the founder of Nanjing Qiweijia small hot pot brand, and at its peak, the brand's chain stores were as high as a dozen. Now, all of her stores have been purchasing Yihai's tomato and clear oil flavored hot pot base for more than two years, which are also Yihai's "trump card" products. Before cooperating with Yihai, she also cooperated with Yihai's "brother company" Shuhai for a long time.
"Yihai's clear oil tastes fragrant, with the aroma of chili peppers. Many other brands of clear oil products are acceptable after the first bite, and there is no aftertaste after eating. In terms of tomato taste, Yihai's base has a more natural taste, very close to home-cooked tomato soup, unlike many brands, where the taste of industrial ingredients is too strong. Boss Zhuang further explained.
Not only taste, but also big brands mean stability. "There are almost no small brands from our suppliers. At that time, it was decided to purchase Yihai's products, mainly because of the high brand awareness, which meant that the supply was more stable. One of the advantages of a big brand is that there is someone to take care of if something goes wrong, which is very important for restaurant owners to have no worries about doing business. ”
Today, the purchase frequency of the Zhuang boss is maintained at 2-3 times a month, "the goods are very flexible, there is no risk of pressure on the goods, and the dealer directly delivers the goods to the door." Several times when I came to deliver the goods, in addition to the regular base materials, I also bought a lot of other products, such as pig blood, duck blood and some dry goods, on the one hand, there is brand endorsement, on the other hand, the price is very reasonable, together with the purchase of both peace of mind and worry. ”
According to the latest financial report of Yihai International, the second phase of the group's Hebei Bazhou project, Anhui Ma'anshan phase II project, Henan Luohe production base, Sichuan Jianyang, Thailand factory phase I and other production bases have been put into operation, and the second phase of the Thailand factory will also be put into operation in 2025.
△Yihai (Ma'anshan) factory
On the one hand, a large number of factories can form a stable and strong production capacity, and the subdivision capacity of each factory has been continuously improved in the long-term operation process, which fully ensures the production quality and efficiency; On the other hand, the capacity advantage will be further translated into a procurement advantage. With the continuous increase in the purchase volume, the group's purchase price on the raw material side will become more and more advantageous, reflecting the client, the cost-effective advantage will be more obvious.
In view of the overall layout of Yihai, its supply chain system has spread all over the country's major cities, and after superimposing logistics capabilities, it can achieve efficient production and delivery to customers.
"New species" between the shifts
In the process of realizing long-term value of enterprises, product power and brand power are indispensable, the former points to kinetic energy, and the latter points to potential energy - a product that has not undergone C-end testing is difficult to achieve a wider range of closed-loop verification in the construction of brand power; Products with only C-end experience may not be able to complete the stable support of product strength due to lack of industrial accumulation, let alone serve B-end customers.
As an enterprise with many years of supply chain experience, Yihai International will open up new market positions and "get out of the narrow door", but also with the help of a series of trial and error and achievements on the C-side, feed back the polishing of product strength, and provide merchants and customers with an additional layer of trust barriers through excellent product endorsement, and reduce the cognitive threshold of procurement.
In the middle of the move, this "behind-the-scenes" enterprise is striding towards the "front of the stage" and becoming another "new species" of the catering industry with two wings.
Note: The cover image and the pictures in the article are from Yihai International