For the old brand, how to survive in the change of the times is the most concerned topic in the industry in recent years.
The Ministry of Commerce has twice evaluated China's time-honored brands, and 21 in Chengdu have been selected. The Department of Commerce of Sichuan Province has been identified as "Sichuan Time-honored Brand" three times, and there are 37 in Chengdu. The reporter's investigation found that most of the long-established brands are facing operational difficulties, among which the contradictory demand of "inheritance and innovation" is a problem that plagues many long-established brands.
Chengdu Catering Company (hereinafter referred to as "Catering Company") has put more emphasis on innovation. The company has a total of 9 Chinese time-honored brands and 10 Sichuan time-honored brands (of which 9 overlap). Last year, the company invested more than 7 million yuan to make the "husband and wife lung tablets" and "Panyi City" stores "change their faces", the most important change of which is the first attempt by the old brand to sell hot pot. The company is also ready to invest another 7 million this year, "changing face" two old brands, "both to revitalize the brand, but also to revitalize the market." We can't let the old brands fall on our generation. ”
"Husband and wife lung slices" began to sell hot pot
The moon flow is 3 times higher than before the "face change"
"Every old brand has been worked through generations and cannot disappear or be marginalized in the hands of our generation." In the office on the third floor of the Golden Furong Restaurant in Wenshu Monastery, Hu Jiafeng, chairman of the catering company, sighed a long time. Her office is in quaint Chinese style, very different from the newly renovated "Husband and Wife Lung Tablets" shop on Zongfu Road.
Whether it is a chinese time-honored brand or a sichuan time-honored brand, the husband and wife lung tablets have a place. In Chengdu, husband and wife lung slices are well-known Sichuan cuisine classics, and in the "Husband and Wife Lung Tablets" main store located on Zongfu Road, the main business is not only husband and wife lung slices, but also many long-established catering dishes, including camphor tea duck, zhong dumplings, hui pot meat... Since the end of last year, the store has tried to sell hot pot for the first time, and it is also the first time that many centuries-old brands have sold hot pot.
What does it mean for a century-old brand to sell hot pot? "It's an attempt at innovation in our dishes." According to the relevant person in charge of the company's office, the company has increased the pace of innovation, investing 7 million yuan last year to make the "husband and wife lung tablets" and "Panyi City" shop "change their faces", the most important project of which is to decorate the hot pot shop on the second floor of the "husband and wife lung tablets".
The lines are simple, the colors are fresh, and the newly renovated "husband and wife lung pieces" have changed the antique style of the previous old brand, which is a typical modern minimalist style. After the completion of the renovation, the price of the store's dishes rose slightly, but the flow was 3 times that of the previous one, "almost 3 million yuan per month." Wang Qinrui, deputy manager of the store and a non-hereditary inheritor of the traditional production technique of "husband and wife lung tablets", said.
Old employees can't keep up with the market
The first task is to get the waiter to learn to smile
"The development of enterprises to a certain extent, it is necessary to upgrade." For enterprises, to cater to the modern market economy, transformation and innovation are needed. Hu Jiafeng admitted that the company was trapped by "changes in taste", and in the end, the company chose more changes, "the brand is not just relying on the three words of 'old brand' can be reflected, must derive the actual consumer demand, how to attract young people to eat is the key to development." ”
This isn't the first major change in a food company. Founded in 1956, the state-owned company was restructured in 2002. "The company is an old enterprise, and although the restructuring has been completed, many of the institutional changes will take time."
"Changing face" is a reform, which is not only reflected in the decoration change and dish innovation, but also the management model can withstand the test of the market. The catering company that completed the restructuring held all the shares, the shareholders reached thousands of people, and the number of old employees was huge, which was also the place that made Wang Qinrui once have a headache, "Under the previous catering company system, many old employees did not have a market-oriented psychology, and the service attitude could not keep up." ”
After "changing his face", Wang Qinrui linked service quality and performance into store management, "The first task is to let waiters learn to smile." ”
The store was designed by a famous Designer in Hong Kong at a cost of 400,000 yuan. Wang Qinrui first made a plan with the designer, and then found the company's senior management to propose the design fee, "At first, the senior management did not have the bottom in mind, and now that the results are seen, the storefronts that are transformed later are budgeted for the design fee." ”
This old state-owned enterprise began to try more marketization, and the inheritance of the master-apprentice system became a master-apprentice system plus "assessment" and was motivated by shares.
This year, another 7 million yuan will be invested
Completed 9 store upgrades in 5 years
"The company is an old business, everything is very old, to live, you must innovate." Hu Jiafeng said that the old brand is not independent and needs to be warmed up in a group, "Our 9 brands, if it is not a group operation, have long been dispersed." ”
The catering company is ready to invest another 7 million yuan this year to upgrade the storefronts of the Longshu Hand Restaurant and "Chen Ma po" in the west of the city, and the company will complete the upgrading of 9 stores in 5 years.
"Some catering is pure dining, some are cultural catering. We have some old brands that are losing money, but we have to hold on and can't let them disappear in our hands. When the company was first established, there were 107 stores, most of which were within one ring, and with the passage of time, after several changes, there were only 23 "Chinese time-honored" stores left, and the self-operated stores were only one-fifth of the original.
In the years of exploration, the company has explored the direction many times. Today's "husband and wife lung tablets" hot pot restaurant was previously a McDonald's. In fact, food companies have thought of referring to Western fast food such as KFC and McDonald's.
Why can't the old brand make foreign fast food? "The hardest thing is standardization." Sichuan cuisine pays attention to one dish and one taste, and the craftsmanship of each chef is still different, and assembly line production is even more difficult. Hu Jiafeng said that at present, the company's Lai tangyuan and Zhong shui dumplings are trying to industrialize production, and the future hot pot will also be included in standardized production.
What are the biggest bottlenecks in innovation? "Preserving tradition and transforming innovation are still hard to measure." The relevant person in charge of the company's office said that the company is still questioned by "not the original taste".
Wang Qinrui has another reference object. Before "changing face", he had organized a team to go to Taiwan Din Tai Feng to study, coincidentally, before Din Tai Feng settled in Chengdu, there was also a team to visit the "husband and wife lung tablets", "We have a lot of similarities with them in positioning and dishes, and the operation of Din Tai Fung is worth learning." ”
Chengdu Business Daily reporter Ye Yan Editor Zhang Bo