In Chengdu, it is probably because the hot pot and skewers are too strong, so that many people ignore that there are many local special snacks that also have the genes to go to the whole country.
Ganshiji is a single snack brand that rose to prominence in Chengdu, selling more than 2.2 million signature fatty sausage powders every year. Last year, Ganshiji Fat Sausage Powder was listed as a district-level intangible cultural heritage, and recently appeared in the popular food documentary "Breakfast China".
How did this bowl of fat sausage powder catch fire? How did it get out of the streets and go to the whole country?
Hong Bo High-end Interview Weekly
Column Planner/Host: Chen Hongbo (Founder of Red Meal Network)
01 A bowl of Chengdu fat sausage powder
Fat sausage powder is to Chengdu what small noodles are to Chongqing.
Chengdu people love to eat fat intestine powder, three meals a day, even if it is the first meal in the morning, it is not too heavy. A bowl of freshly boiled fat intestine powder, the red and bright soup base is soaked with slender and transparent sweet potato powder, and the rich aroma of the thick fat intestine rises with the heat of the soup, provoking the appetite of countless people.
Chengdu people have been eating fatty intestine powder for more than 100 years, and from the late Qing Dynasty to the present, fat intestine powder has become one of the most distinctive local snacks in Rongcheng. Like most snacks in Chengdu, this bowl of flour is hidden in the streets, alleys and residential areas, because it is too homely, and its value is often ignored.
"The bowl of fatty sausage noodles that Chengdu people think is delicious may be downstairs in their house, or around the corner of a nearby free market." Gan Le is a native of Chengdu, he knows nothing more about fat intestine powder, because from his grandfather's generation, fat intestine powder is the main livelihood of his family, grandfather and several uncles are selling fat intestine powder for a living, and take the family name as the signboard, the name "GanJi".
Gan Leyuan is a designer, in the early years of his own business to open a decoration company, in the design services for some chain companies, suddenly attracted by the standard and replicable "chain" business model. He thought that his ancestral craft fat sausage powder should also be able to make a chainable and standardized Chengdu snack brand.
As a result, there is now this snack brand that integrates traditional handicrafts, grassroots categories and modern business models - Ganshiji (because the surname trademark is not allowed to be registered in China, "Ganji" is registered as "Ganshiji").
Today, Ganshiji has opened 24 chain stores in Chengdu, Xi'an, Guiyang, Dalian and other cities, selling more than 2.2 million copies of signature fat sausage powder every year, and planning to enter first-tier cities such as Shanghai and Shenzhen.
As for how to excavate and shape a street snack into a national local snack brand, Ganle has a lot of thoughts worth sharing.
Gan Le talks about the development process of Ganshiji
02 Little fat intestine powder, how to get out of the streets?
1 Fashion turn of grass root fat intestine powder
Before making Gan's food note, Gan Le first asked himself two questions:
First, why do you want to do this category of fat sausage powder?
Second, why should we regain the brand of "Ganji"?
With these two questions, he started from the attributes of fat intestine powder and his own advantages, thinking about the possibility of making this Chengdu specialty snack into a national chain brand.
First of all, fat sausage powder is a very "grassroots" snack in Chengdu, and it also has a certain degree of recognition in the country. But at that time in Chengdu, the fat sausage powder was made in the street mom-and-pop shop model, and there were almost no standardized chain brands, which was an opportunity.
Secondly, the fat intestine powder itself can both relieve hunger and eat enough, and has the attribute of a staple food. Just like Yunnan rice noodles and Hunan rice noodles, the reason why they can be made into a national category is because their staple food performance supports the independent products into stores, so there is a possibility of chain replication, and the same is true for fat intestine powder.
For the brand of "Sweet Food", the "gene" inherited by three generations is its unique advantage, based on family craftsmanship, to promote the evolution and development of grassroots snack fat intestine powder, and to create a national local snack representative brand.
The prerequisites for doing it are sufficient, but in the process of doing it, how to change the fat intestine powder from a street snack to a fashionable trendy food is a key consideration of Ganle.
Gan Le set his sights on the mall. Ganshiji is the first fat sausage powder brand in Chengdu to enter the mall.
The practice of mall snacks and street food is obviously very different. Gan Le analyzed that fat intestine powder can relieve hunger and eat enough, and it already has a relatively strong ability to obtain customers in the mall. But before it can acquire customers, there is still a problem that needs to be solved, that is, how brands can gain the trust of mall consumers.
"The fat sausage powder on the streets of Chengdu is generally priced at about ten yuan, and this price will definitely not work in the mall, so the first thing we have to do is to increase the value of the product."
2 Strict selection of ingredients, qualitative increments
A bowl of fat intestine powder, sweet potato noodles are the main body, fat intestines are the soul, grasp these two key ingredients, the value of this bowl of powder is also grasped. The value improvement of key ingredients mainly lies in the guarantee of the supply chain and the presentation of products.
On the supply side, Ganshiji guarantees the quality of products by customizing special ingredients.
For example, the sweet potato that makes sweet potato powder has set up a special sweet potato customization base in Anyue, Sichuan; the fat sausage used is in cooperation with the two major pig slaughterhouses in Jianyang, Chengdu, from pig slaughter to store processing, Chengdu stores to achieve 6 hours of "fresh intestine direct supply" to ensure freshness.
The product is presented to the consumer, and the sense of value is enhanced through "large weight".
The traditional Chengdu fat intestine powder is medium in size and is mainly used to relieve hunger, while the fat intestines are mostly diced or treated in small pieces because of their high price, adding up to only a few grams. In Ganshiji, each bowl of fat intestine powder with a full 45 grams of fat intestines, and the slices are wide and fat, at the same time, the amount of powder is also increased accordingly, presented in a large bowl, giving enough visual sense, making people feel that it is worth the money.
3 Hand beaten fresh powder, showing quality
The production process of fat sausage powder also has a complicated traditional process, that is, hand-beating fresh powder, which requires strong technicality, physical strength and experience, and later this process is basically replaced by industrial milling, and the texture of fresh powder is slowly losing.
"We must use the technical way of hand-beaten fresh powder on the spot to restore the scene of the store, as well as the taste of hand-beaten fresh powder, so that consumers can perceive the inheritance and value of the traditional handicrafts behind the food." ”
Based on his own experience, Ganle standardized the process of hand-baking fresh powder into eight steps, and set specific operating standards for each step.
At the same time, in the position of each store near the corridor of the mall, a clear file window is set up, and the powder master is arranged to hand beat fresh powder every two hours, and the whole process is equipped with a grounded labor number, and the picture is vivid. Conveying value information through this scene can attract more people into the store.
03 Jump out of the perspective of fat intestine powder and upgrade the category
Since it was to do chain brands at the beginning, Ganle did not imprison Ganshiji in the regional market, but jumped out of the perspective of fat intestine powder, built a brand image and store model from the perspective of the first national category, and created a young and efficient snack brand.
1 Brand image: youthful and international
Snack fast food has always been classified in the same track, careful people may have found that whether it is an international fast food brand, or many domestic rice fast food, red is chosen as the main color of the brand, red is basically the standard color of fast food brands.
Studying at Tsinghua Academy of Fine Arts, Gan Le, who has been doing interior decoration design for many years, is very sensitive to color and design. Ganshiji deliberately distinguishes itself from other brands in these aspects, and the appearance of the store is very high.
For example, the brand's standard color, with a fresh emerald green, is very in line with the aesthetics of young people, especially women; the logo and graphic icon design uses a more international "neon" gradient effect to enhance the overall texture of the brand.
2 Business model: efficiency first, take into account the value
Before building the store model, Gan Le led the team to conduct an in-depth investigation of the domestic and foreign flour markets, research and learn other people's store models, product portfolios, operation methods, etc. "We found that eating snacks doesn't really require that strong service. What does it need more? Speed, temperature, taste. ”
Therefore, Ganshiji has been grasping the efficiency of stores, and constantly saving time and labor through the optimization of the moving line. At present, the store area of Ganshiji is basically 60 to 100 square meters, under the per capita unit price of 25 to 28 yuan, Ganle's goal is to only need 6 to 8 employees per store to challenge the monthly turnover of 300,000.
At the same time, Ganle did not ignore that delicious food is the root of snacks. In his view, the opposite of efficiency is value, and in the face of great value, efficiency must also make corresponding concessions.
For example, Ming file hand-beaten fresh powder, this link alone, each store needs to occupy 3 human labor, but hand-beaten fresh powder can make fat sausage powder more delicious, but also can attract more consumers, this is the value of more than efficiency of things.
3 Brand positioning: focus on fat sausage powder
Around 2017, Ganshiji carried out a brand upgrade, and the original 45 SKUs were cut to 15, further focusing on the category of fat intestine powder.
Because Ganle believes that Ganshiji is going to the whole country, but it is still in the early stage of the brand, the core task of this stage is to seize the minds of consumers and let them know what to eat.
Gan Le said that when the category of fat intestine powder develops to have national influence, Ganshiji can change the positioning of the fat intestine powder specialty store and play the banner of "Chengdu snack representative brand". This is the ultimate goal that Ganle has set for Ganshi at present.
Conclusion
The potential of local snacks is beyond doubt, there are distinctive snacks everywhere, but how to tap is a technical job.
The experience of Ganshiji may be worth learning. First, based on the attributes of the product itself, judge how big its market space is, whether it has the potential to push to the whole country; in the process of product shaping, the trade-offs are very critical, traditional snacks are focused on handicrafts, then efficiency and value need to be balanced; and the polishing of the brand, but also to have forward-looking thinking, the focus of each stage of the brand, and the ultimate goal is best to be clearly visible.
What snacks in your hometown have the potential to tap? Welcome to leave a message to share~