Produced by | Entrepreneurship is at the forefront
Author | Li Xiaofeng
Edit | Feng Yu
With a history of more than 2,000 years, the brine flavor is called "the most representative of China's taste" by some netizens. In recent years, this ordinary category is giving a new look.
In addition to the most common casual marinade and the marinade that is positioned at the family table, many brine flavors are also cleverly combined with taverns, hot pots and other forms. There are also some hot brine brands in the mall, not only snacks, but also staple foods such as flour and noodles.
The huge shapeable space of the brine has attracted many gold diggers and capital catchers. Enterprise investigation data show that since the beginning of this year, there have been at least 6 financing incidents in the halogen industry, and "Chrysanthemum Blossom" and "Sheng Xiang Ting" have obtained 100 million yuan of financing, of which Sheng Xiang Ting said that the overall valuation of the brand is about 1 billion yuan.
Consumer love and capital optimism have also made the halogen industry "rolled up", and the "forefront of entrepreneurship" found that there are at least 11 halogen brands in Beijing Hopson Hui Mall. There are more than 20 brine stores within 2 kilometers of residential areas.
In such a dense situation of store opening and overcrowded market, is brine still a good business?
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="9" >1, "halogen +" new changes</h1>
For a long time, the brine industry has maintained the pattern of "three hegemonies" of Huang Shanghuang, Zhou Black Duck and Absolute Taste Duck Neck. In July this year, Shanghai Ziyan Food Co., Ltd. filed an IPO prospectus, which means that the three giants are about to usher in a strong competitor.
However, for the Big Three, the challenge from the brine industry is probably not only this one, but also the influx of new players is also worth their vigilance.
According to the data of enterprise investigation, the number of registrations of brine-related enterprises in the country currently exceeds 123,000. From 2011 to 2020, the number of registrations of halogen-related enterprises has shown an overall upward trend, of which the number of registrations in 2018 exceeded 10,000 for the first time, and in 2020, it was the highest in the calendar year, reaching 17,000.
Some new players quickly got the help of capital.
According to the statistics of enterprise investigation, since the beginning of this year, at least 6 financing incidents have occurred in the brine industry, of which the family table brine chain brand "Chrysanthemum Blossom Halogen" (hereinafter referred to as "Chrysanthemum Blossom") and the hot halogen brand "Sheng Xiang Ting" have obtained financing of 100 million yuan respectively. According to the enterprise investigation data, Chrysanthemum Blossom and Sheng Xiang Ting have completed the B round and A round of financing respectively. Sheng Xiangting's franchise manual also wrote that the overall valuation of the brand is about 1 billion yuan.
In addition to the increase in players, halogenated products also show great plastic space. The more common model in the brine industry is casual brine food, and the representative brands are absolutely delicious duck neck, Zhou Black Duck, Huang Shanghuang and so on.
There is also a type of brine brand positioned in the family scene, such as Ziyan Baiwei chicken, whose category is more comprehensive than the brine snack brand, in addition to chicken, duck, as well as pig's trotters, cold vegetables and other categories. On the takeaway platform, the set menu of Ziyan Baiwei Chicken is also accompanied by a rice staple.
As early as 4 years ago, when entrepreneur Cheng Xiao began to do the brine business, he opened his store in the community and aimed at the family scene. In his view, community stores are a very stable form of business. "Most of the old customers can reach 80% to 90% of the repurchase rate." Cheng Xiao told "The Forefront of Entrepreneurship" that the "small and cooked brine" brand he created has opened more than 300 stores across the country.
In addition to these two most common forms, the halogen industry has also derived many new formats.
For example, hot halogen. Among the players who have received financing this year, Sheng Xiang Ting and Hot Halogen Eating Light are the main brands of hot halogen. "The Forefront of Entrepreneurship" found during the visit that on the B2nd floor of block 21 of Beijing Hopson Hui Shopping Mall, there is a hot brine brand called "Zhai Men Xian Halogener", which has in addition to snacks such as wing tips and pig's trotters, as well as staple foods such as mixed flour and noodles, and most of the people who consume in the store are young people.
Liu Ran (pseudonym), a staff member in charge of joining the business at Sheng Xiang Ting, said that in addition to brine snacks, there are also staple foods such as flour and noodles. Therefore, the area required for the store is large, and the guest seating area should be set aside in the store. "We mainly open in large shopping malls in the local area, or in places with large traffic, and the customer base is mainly young people."
The franchise staff of hot brine food light also said that this mode of snacks and staple foods is conducive to the multi-time operation of the store. "You can sell staples at noon and dinner time, and snacks can be sold at other times."
In addition, there are practitioners who combine brine with other catering formats, such as brine + tavern, consumers can eat brine dishes while drinking; and then such as brine + hot pot, according to public information, the main business of "Jingpai Fresh Brine" that obtained financing this year is brine hot pot takeaway.
The ordinary brine industry is bursting out of strong vitality.
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With the influx of many new players, the brine industry is also gradually moving towards the inward roll.
In Beijing, Hopson Hui, which attracts many young people to punch in, is a vane for new consumption. Here, the "inner volume" of the brine industry is vividly displayed.
Entering the B2 floor of the 21st block of Hopson Hui, you can see a brine brand called "Halosisi", which is next door to the delicious duck neck.
Turning to the back of the shop, "Zhou Black Duck" and "Liao Kee Stick Chicken" come into view. Further inside, there are several brands such as "Small Hoof Masterpiece" and "Boneless Claw". During the visit, "Frontline of Entrepreneurship" saw that the two time slots of 6:30 pm and 7:30 pm are the peak time for dinner, and there are very few customers in these shops.
Take the escalator to the B1 floor, and when you exit the escalator, you will see the above-mentioned "Zhai Men Xian Halogener" shop, and there are 6 customers in the dine-in area.
According to rough statistics, there are at least 11 brine brands in the B1 and B2 layers of Hopson Hui.
This is not only the case in shopping malls, but also in the vicinity of residential areas, the density of brine brands opening stores is also very high.
"Entrepreneurship Frontline" searched for brine takeaway near Jingtai in Beijing's Dongcheng District on Meituan, and found more than 20 stores within 2 kilometers of rough statistics.
Although brine stores have become ubiquitous, new brands are still expanding the market intensively, and opening up franchises is the most versatile and fastest way.
Zhang Wei (pseudonym), a franchisee of Chrysanthemum Blossom, said that Chrysanthemum Blossom is a henan provincial enterprise that previously only operated in Henan Province, and opened up the operating authority of several cities in neighboring provinces in mid-April this year.
To join these brine stores, the cost is not low. Chrysanthemum franchisees said that the recommended store area is about 10 to 20 square meters, and the cost of cold chain delivery fees, security deposits, equipment, decoration costs and other costs for two years adds up, and the total investment amount of a single store is about 75,000 to 80,000 yuan.
Zhang Wei said that the headquarters will distribute the finished products to the store, which not only saves the store area, but also saves the cost of manpower and so on.
The hot halogen brand is generally opened in the business circle or the location where the traffic is concentrated, and it needs to be processed in the store and set aside for dine-in areas, and the rental cost will be higher. Liu Ran, the staff in charge of joining Sheng Xiangting, said that the store needs 30-70 square meters, and the door needs at least 3.5 meters.
In addition, joining Sheng Xiang Ting also needs to bear the franchise fee for various names. "The brand authorization fee is 60,000 yuan, the annual management fee is 15,000 yuan, the security deposit of 10,000 yuan is refundable, the training fee is 5,000 yuan, and the design fee is charged according to the standard of 200 yuan per square meter of the store." Liu Ran said.
Sheng Xiang Ting's franchise manual lists the input costs, according to the 40 square meters of store area, the initial investment needs more than 300,000.
Figure / Detailed cost input of Sheng Xiang Ting
Although the upfront investment is not low, according to the franchisee, the profit of the brine brand is very considerable.
"Our payback cycle is generally 9-12 months, and the gross profit is about 60%." Liu Ran said.
"At least 40% profit." Chrysanthemum franchisee Zhang Wei also told the "forefront of entrepreneurship". He also added, "In May this year, a customer in Jinan opened a store, the turnover remained at 4,000 to 5,000 yuan per day, and it took almost three months to return the cost, and this customer was about to open a second store." ”
Most of the hot halogen brands such as hot halogen food light open stores in shopping malls, and their franchisees also said that their store area is recommended to be between 30 and 50 square meters. The initial investment, including franchise fees, equipment, rent, decoration and other costs, is expected to be 250,000 to 300,000, and the return cycle of shopping mall stores is almost between 4-6 months.
"The traffic of the mall is large, it can sell 4,000 to 6,000 yuan at noon, 5,000 to 7,000 yuan in the afternoon, and thousands of yuan in other scattered hours, and the daily turnover is about 10,000 yuan." The franchisee said.
He said that hot halogen food light has a franchise store of more than 30 square meters, and the turnover of one month can reach 280,000 yuan. "Gross profit is generally around 60 to 65 percent."
Although in the mouth of most brand owners, the store operation and the return cycle after joining the halogen brand are very ideal, when the brine has become a business chased by capital, the competition between brands has long been not limited to the product taste itself, but has become a race of brand scale and operational efficiency.
There is no doubt that the market is seriously inward-looping, and more speculators will be ruthlessly eliminated.
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In addition to the new players who are chased by capital, there are also some couples who run a small brine business all year round.
Every day at about 11 a.m., Li Jian's parents began to make brine dishes and left the stall at 4:30 p.m. on time. Such a process, Li Jian's parents have been repeating for six or seven years.
Li Jian recalled that his parents started the brine business under the leadership of relatives. "My relatives made more than 200,000 yuan in the first year of cooking brine dishes." Li Jian is a post-90s, after graduating from university, first worked in Hangzhou for a year, and then joined his parents to do business in Wuhan together.
Li Jian and his parents are each responsible for a stall, which is located at the entrance of a vegetable market in Tiansheng Street, Jiang'an District, Wuhan City, with a daily turnover of about 1,000 yuan. "We don't have plans to open a store because not only is the cost high, but the business isn't necessarily better than it is now." Li Jian said.
Photo / Li Jian's mother's booth
In the brine industry, a considerable number of practitioners are husband and wife stall business. It can be seen that the traditional brine industry is fiercely competitive, and the threshold is not high.
The "forefront of entrepreneurship" also saw on Douyin that whether it is an old brine store that has been operating for decades or a grassroots player who has set up a stall to do business, they are all enthusiastically recruiting apprentices and teaching brine making techniques.
Li Jian's parents have also accepted several apprentices, "The technology is not difficult, it can be learned in about 3 days." He said.
Not only that, even if you buy a brine package on Taobao, the store will give you a detailed production tutorial.
Cheng Xiao believes that the halogen industry seems to have a low threshold, but in fact, it is not so, if you want to run this business well, you also need practitioners to make some efforts, such as how to maintain product stability, store location, post-operation, etc., are very important.
Cheng Xiao said that compared with other catering categories, brine has higher requirements for the stability of products. "Because brine food is made hundreds of pounds at a time, if the product quality is poor, it is a wave of customers who may never patronize again."
But it just so happens that a lot of people overlook this. "They think that if they want to make money, they have to drive down the cost, so they use some bad ingredients or cut corners, and over time the store will close." Cheng Xiao explained.
Cheng Xiao also noticed that the brine industry has also been survival of the fittest. "There were some new brands the year before, but a bunch of them died last year."
The main reason, he explains, is that they are only concerned with crazy expansion, seeking quantity rather than quality, resulting in a series of problems. "Either the supply chain is not sound, or the model is difficult to copy, or the operation training, the store operation is not in place, anyway, there are all kinds of problems." Cheng Xiao said.
The entry of capital has also disrupted the originally calm industry to a certain extent. "As a result, some players are focusing on expanding the market and earning franchise fees."
However, the intensification of market competition has also made the brine industry mature rapidly.
"Compared to the previous two years, the competitive pressure this year is lower. The survival rate of our stores has increased by 80% to 90%. Cheng Xiao explained. Of course, this is also attributed to their main community store, which is less affected by the epidemic and is conducive to the growth of the brand.
Cheng Xiao saw that in recent years, practitioners have become more and more formal, and many of their franchisees are former brine food husband and wife stores, and they will choose to join a chain brand for long-term development.
This is also how grassroots players survive. "It must be constantly changed, with the changes in the market, from the product, image packaging and other aspects of the upgrade." Cheng Xiao said.
According to Frost & Sullivan, the market size of China's halogen products industry rose from 26.8 billion yuan in 2011 to 123.5 billion yuan in 2020.
Under the 100 billion market, husband and wife files are moving towards formalization, new players rely on standardization to run a staking, and the traditional brine industry is also being injected with more fresh elements.
*The title image in the text is from the photo network, based on the VRF protocol.