Original Zeng Li New Dining Insights
Nucleus Look
1. How can a restaurant with a poor location help itself?
2. What are the actions behind the fourfold doubling of store revenue?
3. What is the logic of creating a signature dish?
"A lot of people say that your kind of restaurant is a very expensive restaurant with a high threshold at first glance."
At the beginning of the interview, Wang Zixia, general manager of Qiandao Lake Fish Flavor Restaurant, exposed the shortcomings, "When I first took over, there were more waiters than customers in the store. ”
And today I want to tell the story of him after he took over the restaurant. In two months, the store achieved 5 stars, and the monthly turnover increased from the initial 400,000 to an average of 1.6 million, and the peak reached 1.8 million.
The new catering insight reporter interviewed Wang Zixia exclusively and listened to him tell the story of the store's self-help.
Store dilemma: "More employees than customers"!
"In the beginning, there were more waiters than customers in the store." Wang Zixia recalled the state when he first took over the restaurant.
On average, only 1-2 tables of customers can be received every day, and in stores of 1200 square meters, there are more waiters than customers.
"I'm very anxious and confused, why can't I do business?" After thinking bitterly alone and fruitlessly, Wang Zixia decided to look inward first and then look outward for the reason.
- The location is not advantageous, there are big steps 3 meters high in front of the door
Although it is located on the street, the Qiandao Lake Fish Taste Restaurant is a bit like being on an isolated island of traffic.
The reporter who visited the field was most impressed by the large 18-step staircase in front of the door, which was 3 meters high. At that time, I couldn't help but think, "Such a high 'threshold' is estimated to be able to drive away a group of customers." ”
In addition, Wang Zixia also analyzed that all the fast cars passing by next to him are difficult to stop. Moreover, there are no office buildings and residential areas in the surrounding areas, and there is a lack of stable customer base sources.
A park next to it, but the athletes who come are basically exercised, it is difficult to have a need for dining.
- The price of the dish is too high, and a fish head sells for 688 yuan
When it comes to the revision of the menu, the reporter also looked at the thick old menu, and the home page is a fish head of 688 yuan. In this regard, it is a little surprising, probably many customers have difficulty accepting this price.
Wang Zixia explains, "Because Qiandao Lake is a fish head 688, but this may not be suitable for the mass dining environment in Beijing." ”
In addition to the high price, the design of the dishes is also somewhat complicated.
For example, the head of the white soup fish is sold according to the portion, and the fish soup and the eight treasure fish soup are divided into large and small portions, and the fish species are also divided. Braised fish head is sold by the pound, different kinds of fish, the price is not the same.
"For the fish head alone, we waiters have to introduce it for at least three minutes. This is very contrary to consumer cognition, and customers are too difficult to choose. ”
- Service in general, lack of initiative
For the problem of service, Wang Zixia found it when he led the team to learn from the outside.
"With the team, I ate all the Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisine restaurants on the praise list in Beijing, just to see the gap between us and others."
The most impressive thing is to find the gap in service.
"We were impressed by the service in a restaurant. As soon as I took my seat, I brought a plate of watermelon. We deliberately looked for stubble and asked for two plates, and the waiter did not agree. The manager saw it and came over and said, what a big deal, and said that he brought not only 2 fruit plates, but also a dessert. When we left, we were given a small gift with exquisite packaging, although it was not worth anything, but the impression of this intention to the customer was too good. ”
Therefore, Wang Zixia benchmarked the requirements for the front office attendants after the standard, "customer needs are responsive, and the service is surprised."
Break the game in three steps, and quadruple the revenue!
The key to finding a problem is how to break the game. Wang Zixia studied and consulted everywhere, and finally explored this key three steps: internal adjustment, online drainage, and offline response.
- Change the menu: make the signature dish more eye-catching
The main problems of the original dishes were inflated prices and complex menu structures. But changing the menu is not as simple as streamlining and reducing prices.
Wang Zixia first photographed the restaurant menu within a 500-meter radius of the store. "Come back and study one by one. Because the size of the restaurants on our street is similar, it is better to benchmark. ”
Benchmarking other people's menus, the core principle of his adjustment on his own menu is "people have no self, people have me excellent".
All dishes are categorized and adjusted from the three dimensions of sales, price and gross profit.
Chop off excess signature fish head dishes. He has reduced the fish heads of the original subdivided into 10 skus into two types: casserole fish heads and grilled fish heads with green onions, each setting up a large and small portion to cope with the dining scene of different numbers.
The price was also uniformly reduced to: 398 for large parts and 238 for small parts. Although the price has dropped, the quality experience has also been upgraded.
Take the grilled fish head with green onion as an example, which was originally a stainless steel plate, which felt very cheap. Wang Zixia specially found a black cast iron pot worth more than 400 yuan, and the sense of value was immediately improved. The plating has also been optimized, from simple fish heads to red bell peppers and green onion leaves. "There are red and green, from point to line to surface, the overall visual feeling is very rich."
Cut out dishes that don't fit the restaurant's positioning or are unattended. Dishes such as stir-fried shredded potatoes and shredded fish and meat, which are too homely and troublesome to prepare, have been drastically deleted.
If someone else has it, I will reduce the price accordingly. For example, stinky mandarin fish, from the taste type richness of consideration need to be retained, the next door Hui restaurant only sold 198, the original restaurant sold 298, "it is indeed a little expensive, so now reduced to 199, although the price is similar, but our fish is bigger."
Replace large portions with small drainage dishes. Originally sold hundreds of large dishes were broken down into one-person drainage dishes. For example, a large portion of keel, originally sold for 138, guests ordered less, and ate less. "I changed the large portion to 12 for each person and sold for 16 yuan. Customers eat without pressure, and order without pressure. ”
He recalled, "None of this had been done before, and I didn't know if it would work or not." I can only try. As a result, it has now become a must-order dish at the table. A lot of these actions are tried out little by little like this."
- Solicitation: Putting stores at the "crossroads" of the line
After the menu and dishes were adjusted, Wang Zixia began to worry about the flow of customers. Stores do not have an advantage offline, it is difficult to obtain customers, he set his sights on the line, describing this as a "crossroads" that put the signboard online.
For online business products, he summarized it as two ideas, namely to increase conversion rate and increase exposure. Among the many online products, he focused on sharing the operation experience of the package.
"In the past, many people thought that the set menu was bought cheaply by customers, just get a small stir-fried meat, green vegetables and rice. Actually, no, very few people come to your shop because of this kind of package, because it is completely confusing. ”
He explains, "I think the package is an important tool to increase the conversion rate, the effect is obvious, if the package configuration is more reasonable, the customer flow to the store will be considerable." "To make a good package, you can have several ideas.
a. Competitive product research
Before making a package, you first need to do a competitive product survey to see the surrounding stores and what kind of consumption level everyone is.
If you are generally within the level of 188 and 198, you had better not do more than 200, and the total price should be basically consistent with everyone.
Because the price-performance ratio is all compared.
b. Do different packages that distinguish between dimensions
After the total price is determined, it is necessary to distinguish between different traffic and demand.
First of all, according to the number of people, single meal, double meal, 4 people meal, these are the most important. As far as possible, you can set up multiple types of packages to meet the needs of various dining scenes. It can also be secondly, according to the price distinction, the same meal for two, you can make a basic model, and then do a deluxe version.
Finally, it is divided by weekday and weekend. If your shop is not doing well at noon on weekdays, you can do a weekday lunch set to drive down the price for idle time drainage.
c. Provide a choice of dishes
Set menus can also be set up with multiple options. Because there may be customers who do not like the fixed package, if you do multiple choices, it is equivalent to more choices for customers, similar to an electronic menu, customers feel that there is a lot of choice, it is easier to place an order.
- Delegate authority to the front office: free orders, preferential treatment, the waiter has the final say
"I often tell my partners in the store that it is my business whether the guests come or not, but it is your business that you can't stay."
To this end, he has 3 key actions in store operation support.
a. Store performance is bound to bad reviews
As for the dimension of judging customer satisfaction, at present, he mainly looks at the evaluation of public reviews.
"Customer reviews are like a mirror that effectively reflects on the restaurant. Speaking with data, everyone also feels fair. ”
But at the beginning, Wang Zixia attached great importance to evaluation, but employees did not care. After a bad review, it is often he who tries to find the cause, but the employee does not care.
In order to make employees pay attention to evaluation, in addition to reviewing the evaluation at each meeting, he also tied the evaluation to the performance of the store.
For example, the store manager's 20% performance bonus is related to the bad evaluation rate, and the bad evaluation rate is within 5%, and the bonus is all taken; within 5%-7.5%, only half is taken. "The rules are simple, that is, I will evaluate what kind of results I want."
b. Customers say that the dish is not delicious, which is a problem in the front hall
On the correction of bad reviews, he has a different concept.
If a bad review is because the guest says that the dish is not delicious, usually other stores will directly be the responsibility of the back kitchen.
But Wang Zixia still believes that it is the responsibility of the front office.
"Which dish is not delicious, why doesn't the waiter in charge of the table in the front hall know, or why don't you deal with it when you know it?" If the front office is careful and can control the risk, there will be no back kitchen. ”
He explained that it is not that there is no back kitchen, but that if the front hall is careful, the problem will be found in time, and then the back kitchen can give timely feedback at the moment.
Later, we will study why this dish has this problem, and how we will avoid it next time.
The focus is on ensuring the smooth operation of the peak dining time.
c. Delegate authority to the front office
When guests have complaints and dissatisfaction, the waiter must do a timely handling.
In order to respond to customer needs to the greatest extent, Wang Zixia gave the waiter a green light, not restricting the waiter's preferential treatment and free single power.
When the customers in the shop said that there was a problem with the dish, the waiter's response was, "Okay, you see if I return it for you or redo it."
Even at the end of the cash register, there is a checkout, and when the cash register is asked, "Sir, are you satisfied with what you eat?" ”
If a guest says there's something wrong with a dish, the cashier goes on to say, "In this way, this dish will give you a discount and you'll get rid of the order." Then guests are often particularly surprised, "That's okay too!" "No matter how much dissatisfaction there is, it will dissipate.
There is no way to eat and drink, every step counts.
After Wang Zixia and the team have tried to adjust many times, the Qiandao Lake Fish Flavor Restaurant has also been significantly changed. In 2 months, the star rating of Dianping stores has been raised to 5 stars, and now it has stabilized at 4.9 stars. Revenue also increased rapidly from 400,000 to an average of 1.6 million, with a maximum of 1.8 million.
Recalling the experience along the way, he was most emotional about the fact that he had a partner who had great support. "A lot of times I just come up with ideas, and what matters is the support and execution of the partners. Opening new stores next will also give them more opportunities. ”
Seeing his full expectations and confidence in the future, the reporter could not help but sigh that perhaps this is the charm of the catering industry. Competition is brutal and fair, and as long as you dare to try and work hard, you can get timely feedback.
At the end of the year and the beginning of the year, I hope that his self-help story can give everyone the courage to continue to persevere and find new directions.