Jinshan Network News "Feast open peach and plum garden in a look, spring in jinjiao mountainside rain and sunny", this is the origin of the name of the banquet spring restaurant. Like Jinshan and Jiaoshan, Yanchun Restaurant is a business card of the ancient town of Jiang, a business card of food.
126 years shouldered the glory, 126 years of vicissitudes, once the door is like a city, once the door can be a bird, the banquet spring restaurant in the tide of history several times floated and sink. However, in the process of continuous innovation and development, transformation and upgrading, the long-established golden sign of Yanchun Restaurant is more and more shining.
Outside: The old brand sells takeaway
At the beginning of March, just after the Spring Festival stalls, Wu Rongsheng, the head of the banquet spring, began to plan "new actions". The store on the first floor of the Yanchun Dashikou store has been newly decorated, the equipment, tables and chairs have also entered the scene, and the preparatory work has entered the "sweeping tail" stage. What is this going to do? Passing by No. 87 Jiefang Road, many citizens will look inside through the glass.
"The store on the first floor is expected to officially open in late March, mainly serving light meals, specialty snacks, and there will be takeaway windows along the street." The answer given by Wu Rongsheng is somewhat surprising. Because before long, the citizens can also taste some of the tastes of zhenjiang streets and alleys in Yanchun - dried back to brine, tofu brain, small wontons; they can also pack a boxed dish cooked by Chef Yanchun at the takeaway window.
As a large and medium-sized catering enterprise, putting down the body to operate simple meals, snacks, and also taking the new fashion of takeaway, this will be another gorgeous transformation of the century-old restaurant Yanchun.
Change is due to changes in the situation. In December 2012, the central government's "Eight Regulations" were introduced, which was originally thought to be just a gust of wind, but since the second half of 2013, mid-to-high-end catering enterprises have obviously felt the "cold winter" coming. Yanchun was no exception, with turnover falling by nearly 30%. The high-end catering enterprises that have returned from the panic have begun to seek transformation, do family banquets, do wedding banquets, and grab the original "turf" of mass catering. As a result, the original festive banquet of Yanchun was affected by market diversion, and even the morning market business was not spared, and the turnover was once again frustrated.
The superposition effect of the two rounds of influence makes Yan Chun have to think about where the future is? In addition to transformation, or transformation, only transformation can have development, in Wu Rongsheng's view, in today's catering market with a hundred flowers and full competition, high-end catering enterprises can only find a good opportunity for development if they return catering to "eating" itself, more people's livelihood and more public. Adhering to this development concept, the warm spring that belongs to the feast spring has quietly arrived.
This year's Spring Festival, the business of Yanchun is no longer enough to use the word hot to describe, but it is hot to no. Starting from the morning market at 6:30, from morning to night, the crowd of guests is endless. The morning market is connected with the afternoon market, the lunch market is followed by the evening market, and various gift boxes such as meat and soup buns are sold out of stock.
History: Dangers abound in pompous circumstances
Walking into the spring feast, a faint retro wind greets you, and the clean and tidy halls and boxes that still have ancient charm are telling customers about the historical preservation after going through the lead. Since its inception in 1890, Yanchun has gone through 126 years, leaving a strong mark in the history of Zhenjiang catering, and has made indelible contributions to the development of Zhenjiang's local specialties and the cultivation of local chefs.
At the first banquet of the Founding of the People's Republic of China, the state banquet menu personally approved by Premier Zhou: Zhenjiang cuisine, crab yellow soup buns, stewed crab powder lion's head and several other famous dishes are selected from the traditional famous dishes of Yanchun. It is no exaggeration to say that Zhenjiang cuisine is here because of the feast spring. Nowadays, the famous chef masters in the catering industry in Zhenjiang, the leaders of major catering enterprises to pick the beams, are most likely from Yanchun. It can be said that Yanchun is the "Whampoa Military Academy" in Zhenjiang's catering industry.
Therefore, in the eyes of many people, the business of Yanchun is booming, relying on the name of a century-old shop and the gold signboard of the old brand. But Wu Rongsheng witnessed the ups and downs in the development of Yanchun. "Yanchun can develop to today, with today's achievements, it is not to lie on the old golden sign to sleep, this way is actually not easy."
Time back to the late 1980s and early 1990s, with the country's reform and opening up, the transformation of the planned economy into a market economy deepened step by step, and large and small catering enterprises sprung up like mushrooms. In the face of free competition in the catering market, Yanchun seems to be unable to keep up with the pace, declining day by day and on the verge of closure. In 1994, Wu Rongsheng returned to Yanchun to take up his post. On the one hand, it invests funds to renovate hardware, create new restaurants, and update equipment; on the other hand, it innovates the operation and management mechanism to achieve equal pay for regular and temporary workers. A year later, Yanchun, which was almost closed, turned a profit. The first year to lay a solid foundation, the second year to go up the steps, the third year to completely turn over, Yan Chun spent 3 years to fight a beautiful turnaround battle.
On January 22, 1999, Yan Chun jumped out of the old city, moved to the east to come in to The Dashikou, the operation was a hit, wedding banquet, breakfast, business banquet, the business was so hot that the industry was surprised.
In 2003, the restructuring of enterprises came unexpectedly. Due to the excessive economic burden, personnel burden and historical debt, the road after the reform of Yanchun has been extremely arduous. However, the restructuring also gives enterprises the space for independent development - embarking on the road of chain development, laying out branches in the east and west of the main city; setting up food companies, and production lines to deliver finished and semi-finished products for each chain store.
The future: It's time to ride the wind and waves
Time is the best sculptor. Yan chun restaurant used 126 years to "carve itself into jade". Today's feast spring, whether it is a festive banquet with reasonable prices and authentic dishes, or a variety of special morning tea with real materials, or a traditional feast spring meat and crab yellow soup buns, are closely related to the daily life of Zhenjiang citizens. While allowing the citizens to taste authentic Huaiyang dishes and various dim sums, Yanchun also gained a good reputation.
Among them, the spring morning tea is particularly worth mentioning. Many old Zhenjiang people retain the habit of eating morning tea in the spring, ordering two pieces of meat, and then a steamed crab yellow soup bun, enjoying a leisurely and comfortable early morning time with the steaming spring white soup noodles. Every day, the morning market hall of Yanchun Dashikou is always full of people, more than 500 people will come here to enjoy morning tea, and if there is a holiday, the number will double.
The public's pursuit of spring morning tea is a catering phenomenon and a cultural symbol of a city. Coming to Zhenjiang and not eating the spring morning tea is equivalent to not coming to Zhenjiang, because the spring morning tea has long become the "spokesperson" of the ancient town of Jiang's food culture.
Because the morning tea business employs many people, labor intensity, and the price is relatively low, so from the perspective of businessmen, most of the morning tea business earns only barking. But Wu Rongsheng insisted that morning tea is the core of Yanchun and what Yanchun should adhere to.
Change or not, for an old brand, has always been a dilemma. With the rapid changes in the catering market and the sudden rise of young consumer groups, what should change and what cannot be changed for the feast spring that has gone through a hundred years of wind and rain?
"The core of the old brand cannot be changed, but the business philosophy must change, must keep up with the trend of the times, Yanchun does not want to be swept down on the beach by the torrent, but hopes to step on the waves and ride the wind and waves." How does the long-established Yanchun plug in the wings of Internet +? How will the supply-side structural reform of Yanchun products be carried out? What about the cultural repackaging of the centennial feast? In fact, in the mind of Wu Rongsheng, the helmsman of Yanchun, the thinking about these issues has never stopped. (Wang Hongwei, Zhang Chongyu, Shi Jingjing) Photography Zhang Bin