Income generation has to rely on side hustles!
Author | Editorial Department of Pinzhao
It has become a consensus that the catering business will be more difficult to do in 2024.
First, the wave of closures continued, with 670,000 stores closed in the first quarter, an increase of 232.6%.
Second, price wars have become the norm, and merchants have fallen into a vicious circle where no one comes to do activities and no money is made from activities.
Third, the performance of a large number of head catering companies has declined, and even Nancheng Xiang, the king of the national ping effect, said that its revenue has dropped a lot this year.
There is no doubt that for a long time to come, most businesses still need to think about how to survive this cold winter. However, recently, the reporter of the red food network found that many catering franchise brands have transformed their doors and reversed the dilemma of declining performance by doing side businesses, and their revenue has risen sharply.
How?
Oily noodles with a large plate of chicken
He relied on two-wheel drive to turn the tide around
Beijing's fast food business is difficult to do, and not only Nancheng Xiang feels this way.
Guo Fenglin, the head of investment promotion of Shaanxi Food, told reporters that since the second half of last year, Beijing's fast food consumption has taken a sharp turn, and even the performance of Shaanxi Food has been affected to a certain extent.
In this context, Shaanxi Flavor Food quickly adjusted its strategy, from the single product of oily noodles to the two-wheel drive strategy of oily noodles + large-plate chicken.
Shaanxi Flavor Eater's Big Plate Chicken Products丨Source: Shaanxi Flavor Eater
Nowadays, fast food and fast food have become a trend, and consumers want to get the experience of eating at the price of fast food.
The new model of Shaanxi food eater caters to this trend. With the gradual increase in the popularity of Northwest cuisine, consumers' awareness of large-plate chicken has been improved, and there is almost no market education cost.
The main ingredients of Shaanxi Flavor Food's large plate chicken are chicken, vegetables and trouser belt noodles, but it still maintains the price of fast food, which is not only satisfying, but also nutritious and delicious, which increases the value of the product.
At the same time, it can be sold as a main dish with a large plate of chicken with staple food and snacks to meet the needs of consumers, so as to broaden the consumption scene and increase the unit price of customers.
Taking the Wangjing New World store of Shaanxi Flavor Food as an example, after the transformation, it not only improved the anti-risk ability of the store model, but also significantly improved its performance:
Changes in the door of Shaanxi Flavor Food丨Source: Shaanxi Flavor Food
After the store upgrade, the sales of large-market chickens in Wangjing New World stores reached 20%, which led to a 14.75% month-on-month increase in turnover in April, and it also continued to grow in May.
Milk tea + fried chicken
He relied on the "tea +" model to send milk tea to the countryside
The competition for milk tea is fierce, and many brand franchisees bluntly say that this year's revenue has been cut in half, but there is a brand that uses the idea of "milk tea + fried chicken" to open up a world in the township, and this brand is Xinshi.
Although the competition for the tea market has spread from the county seat to the township. However, the township has the ecology of the township, and the simple drink is only an upgraded version of the bottled drink, which cannot meet the demand of the young people in the town for snacks and drinks.
In the view of Zhu Jun, the founder of Xinshi Brewing, "milk tea + fried chicken" is the "best solution" for snacks and drinks. Fried chicken is relatively more addictive, especially loved by young people in small towns; The supply chain of this category is relatively mature, which is convenient for distribution and storage.
After years of continuous exploration of the possibility of "tea + mode", finally in 2022, Xinshi Brew launched a brand strategy upgrade and launched a new model of "milk tea + fried chicken".
New time to make milk tea + fried chicken丨Source: New time to brew
In just one month, the performance of many stores soared, with a maximum increase of 500%. Nowadays, many customers are accustomed to bringing a fried chicken with them while buying milk tea. Products such as "Fried Chicken Thighs of the God of Food" have become popular in stores, and the sales of snack products such as fried chicken account for 30-40%.
"Fat rice noodles + Chengdu snacks"
He relies on new product lines to open up customers
This year, the head brand of fat rice noodles, Gan Shi Ji, has also expanded its product line, and after the flagship store of Gan Shi Ji Chengdu Chunxi Road has been upgraded, business is very hot.
Different from the previous impression of "Ganshiji = Fat Rice Noodles", consumers can not only eat intangible cultural heritage hand-beaten fat rice noodles in the Chunxi Road store, but also eat various Chengdu famous snacks such as Lao Ma Zhaoshou and Sweet Water Surface, and the proportion of Chengdu snack products has increased by nearly 5 percent, and even the label of "Chengdu Snack Carrying the Handle" has been played.
Gan Shi Ji product line丨 Source: Gan Shi Ji
By expanding the snack product line, it will help Ganshiji reposition itself from focusing on noodle fast food to snack fast food, thereby extending business hours and broadening its customer base.
Generally speaking, the peak consumption of noodle fast food is usually concentrated in lunch and dinner, while breakfast, afternoon tea and supper are relatively rare. In addition, the customer base of noodle fast food is relatively fixed, mostly office workers and residents in the surrounding area. The introduction of snack products can effectively fill these gaps and attract more customers.
Secondly, the combination of "Fat Rice Noodles + Chengdu Snacks" provides a one-stop opportunity for foreign tourists to experience Chengdu snacks. Gan Le, the founder of the Ganshiji brand, said that there is a folk proverb in Chengdu - "If you don't eat fat rice noodles, you don't come to Chengdu", although fat rice noodles belong to the noodle category, they are also the landmark food of Chengdu snacks and one of the Sichuan provincial intangible cultural heritage food categories. Therefore, taking fat rice noodles as the core, and then matching them with a number of Chengdu snacks, is a strategy that is in line with market perception.
Gan Shi Ji store丨 Source: Gan Shi Ji
Since the completion of the 4.0 upgrade, customer satisfaction has increased significantly, and it has continued to be on the list of snacks and fast food in Chunxi Road and Jinjiang District since May Day. According to the Meituan App, as of June 19, Ganshiji Chunxi Road Store ranked first on the popularity list of snacks and fast food check-ins on Chunxi Road in Chengdu.
"During this year's 'May Day', the highest turnover in a single day exceeded 30,000, the number of receptions in a single day exceeded 1,300, and the highest number of seats turned over in a single day exceeded 30 times." The person in charge revealed that the Chunxi Road store covers an area of only 60 square meters (including the back kitchen), and its turnover has increased by more than 200,000 yuan compared with May last year, a year-on-year increase of 25%; The average daily order volume increased to 660, a year-on-year increase of 33%.
epilogue
For a long time in the past, the way to play for catering franchise brands is: redo subdivided single products, so as to obtain rapid development opportunities.
This year, the style of play has changed significantly, and many franchised brands are increasing product categories, broadening consumption scenarios, and extending business hours, hoping to survive in a complex market environment.
However, it is worth noting that the fundamental reason why the above strategies can work is that their single products are already very capable of playing, expanding the product line, and also matching well with the original products, and it is also for the sake of improving the efficiency of the store.
If the original single product business is very ordinary, and you want to add another category to achieve the effect of reversal, it is likely that it will only increase the cost of transformation, or even fall into the trap that you want to improve your business, but the headquarters only wants to sell your goods.