Text | Pencil road, the author | Lin Sen, Editor | Wu Jinna
Become a popular place for Internet celebrities, VC pursuit, valuation speculation, listing rumors, rapid expansion, layoffs and contractions, and the top stream is difficult to recover...
Like many Internet celebrity catering brands, Wen Heyou, who once promised to be the "Disney of China's food industry", seems to be unable to escape this old-fashioned "script".
Recently, Wen Heyou employees broke the news to the media that Wen Heyou had begun to lay off employees in a large area a few years ago, and the layoffs continued after the year, and the proportion of layoffs in some departments exceeded 60%. Most of the laid-off employees are the Changsha Wenheyou Immersion Theater Project and the Nanjing Wenheyou Project. Both projects are projects that have expanded in a big way after wenheyou financing in 2021.
Although Wen Heyou denied the news of large-scale layoffs for the first time, saying that it was only a normal personnel change caused by the company's business adjustment, it still could not dispel the doubts of the outside world about the current situation of Wen Heyou. What is more serious than the miscarriage of a single project is that Wen Heyou, who was still a "top dining class" a year ago, now seems to be much worse than before. With the exception of Changsha Wenheyou, both Guangzhou and Shenzhen Wenheyou had difficulty restoring their initial prosperity.
An investor told Pencil Road that Wen heyou is ultimately a problem of brand positioning. "It's a hard thing to calculate, and it's questionable whether the model of making things old is a mature business model in the long run." At the same time, there is currently no catering company in the world, which is successful by opening only one store in a city. ”
The problem faced by Wen Heyou is also the problem of many internet celebrity catering brands. "It is impossible for internet celebrity catering brands to queue up forever, and this state is not normal. After experiencing many consumer brands, I have found that to become a brand, the most successful state is to become a daily consumer product for the people. To achieve the price is not too expensive, do not have to be so red, the product can do well, ordinary people can also eat and drink. The investor said.
How does "Internet celebrity" become a "long red"? It is a problem that entrepreneurs must face.
01 Wen Heyou "stir-fry vegetables become stir-fry people"
The wind of layoffs blew from the Internet to the restaurant industry. At the beginning of the new year, a number of star catering brands were laid off.
First of all, the Mo Mo Dim Sum Bureau and Xi Cha were exploded with large-scale layoffs, although the two sides responded that it was a small number of personnel adjustments, but there were still departing employees who told the media that there was indeed a "wave of departures".
Just a few days ago, Wen Heyou was also caught in a layoff storm. Some laid-off employees revealed to the media that Wen Heyou had begun to lay off employees on a large scale a few years ago. After years, layoffs continue, and the proportion of layoffs in some departments exceeds 60%.
According to the Southern Metropolis Daily, Wen Heyou responded to it that the layoffs are normal personnel changes caused by the company's business adjustments, involving only a few people. At the same time, many positions in the company are still hiring. Compared with the response of several other companies that have been exposed to layoffs, it is almost exactly the same.
"The catering industry is not easy to do", the reason why there are constantly layoffs, the industry believes that this is the reason. Some catering industry practitioners said to the pencil road, "It is difficult for everyone to do catering now." ”
After the heat of the layoffs of the Xicha and Mo Mo Dim Sum Bureau passed, Wen Heyou was still being discussed by everyone, but mainly questioning its operational level.
Wen Heyou's layoffs are believed to be mainly due to the failure of the expansion of new projects. Some laid-off employees said that most of the laid-off employees were the Changsha Wenheyou Immersion Theater Project and the Nanjing Wenheyou Project.
Both projects were launched last year, and continuous financing has laid the groundwork for the launch of new projects. According to the enterprise investigation, Wen Heyou has raised two consecutive financings in 2021, with a valuation of 10 billion yuan. At that time, Wen Heyou also spread rumors of listing. But Wen Heyou said that its Series B is still in the process of financing. However, according to its expansion rate, it is impossible without the support of huge funds.
It is reported that Nanjing Wenheyou is the fourth store of Wenheyou after Changsha Wenheyou, Guangzhou Wenheyou and Shenzhen Wenheyou, and signed a contract to land in Nanjing at the end of March 2021. Like other regional Wenheyou, the positioning is a combination of "local culture + gastronomic entertainment". According to media reports, employees serving the Nanjing Wenheyou Project have revealed that nanjing Wenheyou has changed its positioning in the middle of the way, changing from "Ming Dynasty Culture" to "Six Dynasties Culture", so that employees' half-year efforts have been wasted, and most of the employees who serve this project have been laid off.
Wen Heyou's actions can't help but make people doubt whether Nanjing Wen Heyou can land smoothly. It should be known that in November last year, the government personnel of Nanjing Qinhuai District also inspected Shenzhen Wenheyou and dispatched the Nanjing Wenheyou project.
Even more miserable than the Nanjing Wenheyou Project Team is the Changsha Wenheyou Immersion Theater Project Team. According to the employees involved in the project, the entire project has been stopped, and many personnel have received layoff notices.
The Changsha Immersive Theater project is an important step for Wen Heyou to move towards "dining Disney", creating a paid project similar to disney float parade. In fact, as early as April 2021, Shenzhen Wenheyou tried immersive drama performances called "Qi Meng" and achieved good reviews. However, even with successful precedents, somehow the Changsha Wen and You Immersion Theatre project chose to suddenly run aground. Some people conclude that it is caused by the internal management chaos of Wen Heyou.
△ Image source: Little Red Book Author: Bell Bell
However, what is more serious than the miscarriage of a single project is that Wen Heyou as a whole seems to be on the decline.
02 Wen Heyou "Glory is Difficult to Recover"
Except for Changsha, Wen Heyou's landing projects in other cities are difficult to restore their initial glory.
In July 2020, Guangzhou Wenheyou opened, and 9 months later, Shenzhen Wenheyou opened. On the opening day of Wenheyou in Guangzhou, the number of people in the queue was as high as 2500. Shenzhen Wenheyou is even more exaggerated, with more than 6w people lining the table. The opening of two new stores attracted a number of media reports, and once rushed to the day's Weibo hot search
However, after that, the two Wen and Friends began to go downhill. According to media reports, soon after the opening, many local merchants in Guangzhou Wenheyou began to withdraw one after another. Although guangzhou Wenheyou's geographical location is superior, it is difficult to avoid the cold status quo. Some consumers visited Guangzhou Wenheyou and found that during the peak period of non-dining, many stores do not need to queue, and some stores do not even have a customer, which is a huge contrast with the lively scene of the long queue when it first opened.
The reason why Guangzhou Wenheyou is like this, some insiders said that it may be related to the regional characteristics of Guangzhou. In Guangzhou, old-fashioned streets are not everywhere, but they are not scarce. Many old life scenes are still preserved, and consumers do not need to go to Wenhe Friends to explore.
Wen Heyou reflected on Waterloo in Guangzhou, believing that it was because while doing local culture, he was reluctant to throw away the Hunan cuisine culture.
Under the lessons of Guangzhou, Wen Heyou's operation in Shenzhen has been changed. The first is to change the name, called "Old Street Oyster Market". This was followed by an internal overhaul that became cyberpunk- After the renovation of the "Old Street Oyster Market", it will include a seafood market, a wet market and a bazaar.
After Wen Heyou became the "Old Street Oyster Market", was it still Wen Heyou? Such a question has been raised. However, this is also the embarrassing situation faced by Wen Heyou, whether to adhere to the local city culture or innovation.
Whichever one you choose is a problem. Both of these aspects require great innovation, and the quality of team innovation is extremely high. Wen Heyou's success in Changsha is partly due to his long-term immersion in Changsha culture and his ability to have a deep understanding. However, when it comes to a new place, the accumulation and advantages of the team are undoubtedly reduced a lot. In addition, if it is an innovation, it is another new business model, which can be the first time.
"The catering business is not so easy to do, and Wen Heyou's model is too demanding for innovation." However, the result is that many customers are happy to go for the first time, but will not come back after visiting once, because there is not enough attraction for people to go again. Fu Qingshuang (pseudonym), a senior investor in the catering industry, told Pencil Road.
When the freshness fades, most of the reasons why consumers no longer patronize are the problem of dishes. As a brand that focuses on catering, Wen Heyou's dishes are also constantly questioned. Taking Guangzhou Wenheyou as an example, on the public review platform, most of them are "general", "not cheap", "no highlights" and other evaluations of dishes. Some consumers may have said the voice of many people, "Here I mainly want to experience an atmosphere, I can play with the fun, and there is nothing special about what I eat." ”
In Fu Qingshuang's view, Wen heyou is ultimately a problem of brand positioning. "It's a hard account, and it's doubtful whether the model of making things old is a mature business model in the long run." At the same time, there is currently no catering company in the world, which is successful by opening only one store in a city. ”
03 What is the endgame of the net red catering brand?
Wen Heyou also had his own goals.
In 2021, Wenheyou CEO Feng Bin told the media that Wenheyou plans to open about 20 urban Wenheyou in the next 5 years. Founder Wen Bin also mentioned that he wanted to be the "Disney of Chinese food".
"From the perspective of business models, the two are too far apart. Disney's cultural appeal is very strong, and everyone is willing to pay for admission. However, if Wen Heyou chooses to sell tickets, there should not be too many people willing to pay to enter. Fu Qingshuang said.
At present, it seems that it will be very difficult for Wen Heyou to "become bigger and stronger". As mentioned above, Wenheyou's management team has been accused of internal management problems, and this may also become a resistance to its expansion and strengthening.
"Catering is an industry with a low threshold to start in, and some entrepreneurs with low academic qualifications have a lot to do, but there is also a ceiling." Some entrepreneurs can push the company to a higher level after achieving a certain level, which is doubtful. Taking the restaurant chain industry as an example, it will eventually look like a large human resources company. Fu Qingshuang said.
In this way, you need to have a professional team to do things, and the team needs to be very stable. "This puts forward requirements for the boss to learn to be open and let others do it after knowing their shortcomings." The boss must also have a great sense of tolerance and a strong determination in order not to be deceived and to see the truth. In addition, for enterprises, improving management capabilities and layoffs is not necessarily a good way, especially to resign from the top level, which is easy to make people who work afraid and difficult to stabilize the military. ”
In fact, the problems faced by Wen heyou are also the problems faced by many catering enterprises, especially the Internet celebrity catering brands that have soared in recent years.
In Fu Qingshuang's view, the speed of financing or opening stores is particularly aggressive, and the Internet celebrity catering brands that are easy to let consumers get on top of them are easy to fall off the altar in the end.
"It is impossible for internet celebrity catering brands to queue up forever, and this state is not normal. After experiencing many consumer brands, I have found that to become a brand, the most successful state is to become a daily consumer product for the people. To achieve the price is not too expensive, do not have to be so red, the product can do well, ordinary people can also eat and drink. He said.
Judging from the successful cases of the catering industry in the past, this is indeed the case. Brands such as Starbucks and McDonald's have eventually become the daily choices of consumers. However, this is a problem that many restaurant brand entrepreneurs have not thought clearly. "For catering brands, strive to do a good job in basic products and services, and don't engage in so many fancy things." Now in China, in fact, what is really missing is the brand that does a good job in basic needs. Fu Qingshuang said frankly.
However, for the "new species" of Wen heyou, it is already an innovation of traditional catering and has created a new direction of catering. For now, it may be too simple and too early to evaluate right and wrong. For it, the unique positioning has been established, the popularity is high enough, if it can go out of a new development path, it is still worth looking forward to.
However, it all depends on how Wen Heyou breaks the current situation. Everything is undecided.
References: "Wen Heyou was exposed to large-scale layoffs, new projects were delayed in opening, and the commercial myth of the top catering was shattered?" Fast-moving