Text | Red Meal Network, Author | Liang Pan, ed Radius
- "There are more big and old stores that have fallen. This year, there are 5 or 6 times more large stores that are recycling than last year."
- "Last year, the turnaround speed of equipment was only 2 or 3 days, but this year it has become a week."
- "The first half of the year was supposed to be the peak season for selling goods (second-hand equipment), but the first half of this year turned into a season for receiving goods."
- "42 hot pot restaurants were recycled in one month, and some people lost more than 4 million in one year."
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Halfway through 2024, many catering people have their dreams shattered.
This year, the chill in the catering market has worsened, and old and big stores can't bear it, and hot pot, tea, and baking have become the hardest hit areas for closure. Entrants have also become cautious, and the warehouse turnover of equipment manufacturers has begun to slow down.
The catering market has cooled down, and second-hand equipment cannot be sold
At the end of last year, a second-hand equipment recycler summarized to the red dining network: the first half of the store opening tide, the second half of the store closure tide.
Entering 2024, the catering market will cool down! According to Qichacha data, in the first half of the year, a total of 1.31 million new catering-related enterprises were added across the country. Compared with the 1.68 million restaurant enterprises in the same period in 2023, the growth rate has narrowed significantly.
Popular catering entrepreneurship tracks such as tea, baking, and hot pot have all declined to varying degrees. In the first half of the year, the number of registrations of bakery and tea-related catering enterprises fell by about 3% year-on-year, and the number of registrations of hotpot-related catering enterprises decreased by more than 7,000 compared with the same period last year.
The number of new F&B players has decreased, and second-hand equipment recyclers have clearly felt that business is not doing so well.
An Dawei, the person in charge of Gouge's second-hand catering equipment, told Red Meal Network that in the first half of this year, the number of recycled equipment tripled compared with the same period last year, but the sales volume fell by 20% year-on-year, and the turnover rate of equipment dropped to one week. In the same period last year, the equipment could be sold as soon as it was put into storage, and the turnaround was only 2 or 3 days.
Shanghai Yuqing Catering Equipment is a company mainly engaged in the recycling of high-end catering equipment, which was co-founded by Feng Jiafei and Liu Hongbing, two post-90s generations from Anhui Province.
△ Photo provided by the interviewee, the oven recycled by Yuqing
Liu Hongbing revealed to the red food network that compared with previous years, this year's sales are a little unsold, not only the price can't go up, but the sales are also declining.
For example, he said that last year, an oven that could be sold for 40,000 yuan can only be sold for 30,000 yuan this year. In the first half of the year, the number of equipment recycled by Yuqing doubled compared to last year, but sales fell by 30%.
At the same time, many equipment recyclers have found that the repurchase rate of second-hand equipment has become significantly lower this year. Generally speaking, many restaurants will not only buy second-hand equipment before opening a store, but also continue to buy if the business is big and wants to open a branch; When it fails, the equipment is sold back to second-hand equipment dealers.
Brother Monkey, who is in the catering equipment recycling business in Guangzhou, told Red Meal that compared with last year, the equipment repurchase cycle has become longer.
△ Photo provided by the interviewee, the tea cabinet recycled by Brother Monkey
Last year, some of Brother Monkey's customers will buy another batch of equipment in 2 or 3 months after buying the equipment. Sometimes, Brother Monkey can meet several repeat customers in 1 month.
"This year, most of the repurchase is because the equipment is broken, and the old equipment is going to be eliminated. Although there are people who buy equipment because of the expansion of the scale and the change of categories, there are very few people." Brother Monkey said.
The tide of closures is ahead of schedule! The catering veteran can't bear it
"The first half of the year was supposed to be the peak season for selling goods, but it turned out to be the season for receiving." Brother Monkey told Red Meal Network that not only did the bankruptcy tide advance in advance, but most of the people who consulted him about equipment this year were some old players with catering experience.
Relevant data shows that from January to June 2024, more than 1 million restaurant companies will go bankrupt, which is equivalent to the total of last year.
Zhang Hengming, a native of Tangshan, is engaged in the second-hand equipment recycling business in his hometown, and he is also deeply touched by the fact that the people in the rivers and lakes call Brother Heng.
He told Red Restaurant Network that in previous years, the summer to the National Day period belonged to the peak season of the catering industry. After October, it is the peak period for the closure of catering stores. But after May Day this year, many restaurants have closed down one after another. Zhang Hengming revealed that after May Day, the amount of equipment he recycled every month was one-third more than in March and April.
△ Image source: Photo by Red Meal Network
Compared with previous years, this year's restaurant closure wave came earlier, and a number of old stores and big stores couldn't hold on.
An Dawei found that the old stores that are more than 10 years old this year have obviously collapsed. In addition, it is also difficult to do a large store type, and there are 5 or 6 times more large stores for the recycling of second-hand catering equipment than last year, most of which are stores that have been in business for 5 to 10 years.
An Dawei recently recycled a 1,500-square-meter store, which is run by two brothers and has been doing it for 7 years, and the business format is also very rich, integrating Sichuan cuisine, barbecue, grilled fish, etc.
Before the store was closed, although the daily turnover was 2 or 30,000 yuan, it could only achieve a flat profit and loss, or even a slight loss. Later, the two brothers quarreled over procurement, and decided to close the store the next day.
Among the restaurants recycled by Yuqing, the proportion of old stores has also reached 5%, and most of the stores that fell last year are new stores that have not only opened recently.
Liu Hongbing analyzed to the red food network that this is related to the decrease in the number of whites who have poured into the catering market and the decline in enthusiasm for opening stores.
"Nowadays, many people understand that entrepreneurship is risky and have become cautious." In his opinion, after last year's reshuffle, a number of new stores have fallen in the market, and there are fewer people opening stores this year, and there are more old stores that have fallen.
The hot pot restaurant is the worst! These tracks stage brutal knockouts
Hot pot, tea, and baking with a high chain rate have always been popular for catering entrepreneurship. This year, these tracks also staged brutal knockouts.
According to Qichacha data, by the end of 2023, the stock of hot pot-related restaurant enterprises will be 410,000. By the end of July this year, that number had become 400,000. Nearly 10,000 fewer in half a year, the fierce competition can be seen.
Recently, An Dawei has successively recycled 3 franchise stores of a Chongqing hot pot chain brand. According to its disclosure, among the three franchisees, there are more than 3 million people who have lost the least. Among them, there is a franchisee who was originally in the building materials business, but the industry is sluggish and cross-border catering, and the result is more than 4 million a year.
This year, Zhang Hengming recycled the most hot pot and barbecue restaurants in Tangshan, many of which have only been in operation for half a year to one year, counting various expenses such as rent, labor, and franchise fees, such a store will lose at least 40 or 500,000 yuan.
Brother Monkey recycles 40 or 50 stores every month, and seventy percent of them are hot pot restaurants. He told Red Restaurant Network that due to the short winter in Guangzhou, many hot pot restaurant owners work for 3 or 4 months to earn enough money for a whole year. But this year, the idea is simply not realistic.
He said that since March, hot pot restaurants in Guangzhou have been falling in batches.
△ Guangzhou second-hand equipment trading market, photo by Red Meal
Tea and coffee, as categories with a high degree of standardization, have always been favored by entrepreneurs. And this year, the growth of the scale of the tea and coffee track is also slowing down. Brother Monkey revealed that the number of bubble tea shops he recycled was second only to hot pot restaurants.
At the same time, this year, Brother Monkey also recycled dozens of stores of a coffee chain brand, and the number of stores of this brand has shrunk by half compared with the peak.
The bakery is also having a hard time.
Liu Hongbing told Red Meal Network that due to the low threshold, there are more entrants, and there are also many bankruptcies.
One of Yuqing's customers invested more than 1 million yuan to open a bakery, and it closed after 3 months of business. The equipment was sold, and in the end only 3 or 40,000 yuan was recovered.
△ Photo provided by the interviewee, the Malatang display cabinet recycled by Andawei
Some influencer categories have experienced rapid birth and death. This year, Tianshui Malatang exploded, and a large number of people followed the trend and poured into this track. But many people's stores only survived for a few months.
An Dawei said that many Tianshui Malatang stores were open for less than 3 months, and they turned yellow. However, in the Tianshui Malatang store, there are many merchants who do pure takeaway business, and most of the losses are less than 100,000 yuan.
42 hot pot restaurants were collected in one month, and the competition in catering in first-tier cities intensified
Since the beginning of this year, the trend of catering "escaping" from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen seems to be more obvious.
According to public data, in the first half of the year, the revenue of Beijing's catering industry fell by 3.5% year-on-year, and Shanghai's accommodation and catering industry fell by 3.6% year-on-year. In addition, according to the data of enterprise investigation, in the first five months of this year, the number of revocations in the four first-tier cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen) was 31,000, a year-on-year increase of 3.7%.
The consumer market is sluggish and the traffic of shopping malls is decreasing, Brother Monkey found that some shopping malls in Guangzhou have raised rents, and some shopping malls have even directly increased the rent by 2 times, forcing many restaurants to retreat.
He told Red Restaurant that due to the poor business of the store, these bosses could not pay the rent, water and electricity, and the equipment was locked by the property, and they could not take it away, so they could only contact the equipment recycler to solve the problem. More than half of the stores he recycles have such problems.
Competition in Beijing's restaurant industry is just as brutal. An Dawei told Red Food Network that it had recycled 42 hot pot restaurants in Beijing within one month, breaking a record.
Last year, most of the hot pot restaurants recycled by Ondawei were white-labeled. This year, franchise stores have taken over the mainstream.
Many whites and catering veterans have become cannon fodder. An Dawei revealed that this year, the number of shops that are more than 10 years old in Beijing have fallen. And some new stores don't even last 1 or 2 months before they go close.
One of An Dawei's customers closed the store after less than 3 days of business. Before opening the store, the owner was full of ambition to open the first explosives shop on that street. Unexpectedly, before his store was renovated, 4 new stores of the same category popped up. The boss suddenly lost the confidence to do it, and the business closed after 3 days.
In contrast, Zhang Hengming, who recycles second-hand equipment in Tangshan, found that some restaurants are doing better.
Mom-and-pop shops account for less than 5% of the stores he handles. He told Red Restaurant that compared with other store types, mom-and-pop shops have a longer survival period. Moreover, in a third-tier city like Tangshan, the more low-end the brand, the more popular it is, and the better it lives.
On the one hand, the husband and wife who open the store will do it themselves, without considering labor costs, and no one will be the shopkeeper. Unlike partnerships between friends, accounting has more friction than who does more and who does less, as well as the distribution of benefits.
On the other hand, the family runs the store together and is relatively stable. Zhang Hengming found that the closure of mom-and-pop shops was mainly due to the fact that the revenue did not meet expectations, or there was something at home that could not take care of the store's business.
Is the end of a restaurant business a second-hand equipment recycling?
"It's better to open a restaurant than to be a corpse collector." In the eyes of many people, second-hand equipment recycling is a lucrative and low-risk business.
After communicating with a number of catering equipment recyclers, Red Meal Network learned that many catering equipment recyclers have experience in the catering industry. They all said that the recycling of catering equipment is stronger than the anti-risk ability of dry catering.
A few years ago, Liu Hongbing opened a takeaway restaurant. Originally, I planned to use this store as the flagship store, and then attract foreign investment later, but after I actually did it, I realized how difficult it was to attract customers. Later, Liu Hongbing shelved the project of Bo Bo Fish and started a catering equipment business.
After a few years in the equipment recycling business, Liu Hongbing found that the input cost was lower and the risk was less.
Opening a restaurant includes many costs such as labor, rent, ingredients, and operation. The cost of second-hand equipment manufacturers is mainly in storage. At the same time, the equipment can be sold not only to catering businesses, but also to peers.
Zhang Hengming also opened a restaurant.
A few years ago, Zhang Hengming partnered with two friends to open a barbecue restaurant of more than 100 square meters in Tangshan, with a total investment of 100,000 yuan. At the beginning, the business of the barbecue restaurant was not bad, with a daily revenue of 5 or 6,000 yuan and a net profit of 5%. But the good days did not last long, and later the daily revenue fell to about 1,000 yuan.
Last year, Zhang Hengming started a catering equipment recycling business.
His biggest feeling was that he was not anxious all of a sudden.
"Although it is tiring to recycle second-hand equipment, it is tiring and anxious to do catering. Now that I receive the equipment, I can estimate how much money I will make."
He recalled to the Red Dining Network that in the past, when opening a restaurant, he had to purchase ingredients, prepare dishes, serve meals, entertain guests, and clean up every day, and he was busy until 9 o'clock in the evening before eating. Now you can just clean the equipment, shoot the video, and communicate with the customer, so you don't have to worry about the daily revenue, and you don't have to worry about the lack of customers or bad reviews.
According to him, the second-hand equipment was recycled in less than 3 months, and the tuition fee for training and the annual rent of 20,000 yuan have been recovered.
He told Red Restaurant that the gross profit margin of this industry can reach 45%-50%.
However, there are still a few people like Zhang Hengming and Liu Hongbing, who have changed from catering people to "catering corpse collectors". Some entrepreneurs still insist on stumbling on this road to the end.
An Dawei revealed that the owner of a Chongqing hot pot restaurant he recycled was a second-generation restaurant, and although he lost more than 3 million yuan, he recently opened a sour soup hot pot restaurant.
The boss's exact words were, "Since I lost money in the hot pot, I have to make it back here."