Chongqing hot pot, Bashi

As night falls, a hot pot gradually boils, and the streets and alleys of Chongqing are filled with spicy and fragrant flavors. Hot pot is an indispensable part of the lives of Chongqing people and is the city's iconic business card.

Chongqing hot pot originated from the Yangtze River and Jialing River in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and then with the development and change of society, the unique flavor of Chongqing hot pot gradually won people's love and became a national cuisine. Especially since the reform and opening up, Chongqing hot pot has formed an industry and developed rapidly. In 2007, the China Cuisine Association awarded Chongqing the title of "Hot Pot Capital of China".

On Nanbin Road on the banks of the Yangtze River, the business of Qin Ma hot pot is as hot as ever. In the quaint courtyard, more than 30 eight immortal tables are full and bustling. In the face of the pot full of peppers and peppercorns, in the collision of different ingredients and hot and spicy red soup, diners sweat and breathe.

Li Jie, 53, is the owner of Qin Mama's hot pot. In 1998, he and his wife Qin Yuanhong rented a temporary façade in a small alley, set up five tables, and began to start a hot pot business. In order to ensure that the taste type is different, Li Jie drafts the dark every day and personally prepares the stir-fried hot pot base. A month later, more than 50 tables were set up inside and outside the shop. Today, Qinma Hotpot has grown into a large-scale restaurant chain with more than 700 chain stores and more than 30,000 employees.

According to the incomplete statistics of the Chongqing Hotpot Association, at present, there are more than 840 hotpot chain enterprises in the jurisdiction of Chongqing Municipality, of which well-known brand enterprises such as Qinma Hotpot account for nearly 30%; the city's hotpot stores are nearly 30,000, with nearly one million employees and an annual output value of nearly 50 billion yuan.

In Li Jie's view, the reason why Chongqing hot pot is respected and loved by the public is not only because of its thick fragrance, refreshing spicy, and rich red to give people a beautiful taste experience, but also because of its unique cultural heritage. "No matter what kind of dish, it can be contained, and it can be put into the pot." Li Jie believes that the inclusiveness and diversity of Chinese culture are most vividly reflected in Chongqing hot pot, which is not only a delicacy, but also a sense of cultural identity.

Franchise chain operation is an important means for modern catering enterprises to implement expansion strategies. "In the hot pot industry in Chongqing, large, medium, and small hot pot brands attach great importance to chain operation." The relevant person in charge of the Chongqing Hot pot association told reporters that in accordance with the requirements of unified logo, unified image, unified distribution, unified price and unified management, many Chongqing hot pot enterprises have adopted direct operation and franchise methods to implement the "going out" strategy, which has not only realized the prosperity and development of Chongqing's local hot pot industry, but also developed Chongqing hot pot chain in the country and around the world, which has greatly enhanced the influence of Chongqing hot pot and promoted the development and growth of the hot pot industry.

At present, Chongqing hot pot has reached as many as 140,000 franchise stores across the country, and the number of employment has exceeded 5 million.

Chongqing hot pot not only floats throughout the country, but also goes to the world with its unique style. Not long ago, Chongqing Liu Yishou Catering Company officially opened its Chongqing hot pot restaurant in Madrid, Spain, which is the 58th store of Liu Yishou hot pot opened overseas. "Chongqing hot pot goes abroad, which not only meets the development needs of the enterprise itself, but also promotes and disseminates Chinese catering culture." Liu Mei, founder of Liu Yi hand hot pot, said that Chongqing hot pot is deeply loved by overseas consumers, the market prospect is promising, and the turnover of Liu Yi hand hot pot overseas stores is also increasing year by year.

According to the data of Chongqing HotPot Association, in recent years, the pace of overseas expansion of Chongqing hotpot enterprises has accelerated. At present, a number of chongqing local hot pot enterprises, including Liu Yishou hot pot, have opened more than 200 stores in the United States, Singapore, Russia, Australia, Canada, Laos and other countries.

In recent years, in the face of increasingly fierce market competition, Chongqing's hot pot industry is also constantly innovating and changing. On the one hand, information technology has penetrated into the procurement, ordering, human resources, customer service and other aspects of Chongqing's hot pot industry, which has played a major role in simplifying management processes and improving management levels. Chongqing Dezhuang, Qin Ma, Liu Yishou and many other hot pot brand enterprises have built an electronic procurement platform, the inventory cost of enterprises has been reduced, the procurement efficiency has been improved, and the quality has been better guaranteed. On the other hand, Chongqing hot pot enterprises continue to innovate soup types, flavor types and dishes, and the promotion and application of disposable pot bottom soup ingredients are welcomed by consumers. While grasping product innovation, all hot pot enterprises pay more attention to the improvement of serving methods, dining environment, seasoning skills, etc., so as to meet the consumer's pursuit of pleasure from the senses to the heart to the greatest extent.

In order to transform the mode of enterprise operation and development and achieve new profit growth points, many Chongqing hot pot enterprises have accelerated the construction of the industrial chain from "field" to "table". In recent years, many Chongqing brand hot pot enterprises have established planting and breeding bases in suburban counties, supporting raw material production and processing bases and logistics distribution centers, which not only ensure the control of product quality, but also reduce logistics costs and effectively increase economic benefits. (Economic Daily-China Economic Network reporter Wu Lumu Ran Ruicheng)

Source: Economic Daily