Total Issue 3802
Author | Restaurant boss internal reference internal ginseng Jun
Columbus: "How do you make an egg stand on the table on its own?" ”
Passerby: "No way, the eggs are round." ”
Columbus: (snap) "Hit the table with a little force, and it stands." ”
Passerby: "It's so simple? So will I. ”
Columbus: "Yes. When I discovered the New World, everybody was like, 'I can do it too.'" But what about before the discovery? ”
The widely circulated story of Columbus conveys the power of belief, and the same is true of the catering circle, in the fierce competition pattern, "Columbus" is needed to innovate, to break the game, and to discover the new world.
In the current catering environment, the hot pot track is the most volatile and the competition is the most intense. Major brands are busy putting in franchises, running scale, impacting higher store numbers, testing new store models, making efforts to sink the market, co-branding big IP, marketing is booming, and capturing young consumers.
Rookies are coming out frequently, passing through the catering cycle, and old brands that have precipitated a lot of methodologies are also continuing to make efforts. What is the key point of the hot pot track?
Perhaps Xiaolongkan, which has been exploring for 10 years and innovating for 10 years, can provide a successful sample, especially in the path of hot pot chain franchise.
From 2014 to 2024, Xiaolongkan, as an explorer, has explored one "new continent" after another, and has experimented with multi-dimensional gameplay from operation to marketing to franchise for the hot pot franchise format, and continues to inject new views, new models, and new strength.
"Delicious" in the first place:
In the past ten years, there have been frequent explosions
Product power is the direct driving force for consumers to choose a brand, and it is also an important foundation for brand development.
As the brand representative of Sichuan-Chongqing hot pot, Xiaolongkan has put "delicious" in the first place since its birth, and has given back to consumers with "good taste". Xiaolongkan continues to improve oil, formula, and technology, insists on using high-quality butter, and has not been disappointed after years of hard work, and in 2023, Xiaolongkan will grow into the head brand of spicy butter hot pot.
A clear category positioning will lead the brand to continue to move forward. Today, with the vision of "becoming the world's No. 1 brand of spicy butter hot pot", Xiaolongkan has further highlighted the place-occupying orientation of the hot pot segment.
This detailed vision of the hot pot segment not only allows consumers to better recognize the brand, but also allows franchisees and other partners to have a more accurate understanding of the company's development plan.
Just like Xiaolongkan's corporate values, "customer first, continuous innovation, pragmatic and responsible, altruistic and win-win". The brand and franchisees work together to seek long-term development, which is a long-term development concept.
In terms of product innovation, Xiaolongkan's 10-year history has been frequently released.
In the early years, there were dishes such as "ice hockey goose intestines", "rose balls" and "overlord beef" in the industry, and in 2021-2023, it was the first to create the "fermented pot bottom", research and development of the "material" series of flavor pot bottoms, and launched seasonal cuisine, black gold series and other theme items, and its tea brand "Long Xiaocha" has launched a variety of products such as "Bawang Frozen Lemon Tea" and "Shaker Cup", all of which have been well received. The first-of-its-kind "Nine Sons Series" has become a must-order signature dish, and the dragon-shaped base co-branded "Forbidden City Guantang" customized is an industry original.
From the brand's start-up to becoming the head of the industry, the brand potential energy is high, which is inseparable from the word "innovation". Only innovation can keep the brand alive, have strong competitiveness in the fierce market competition, and be able to respond flexibly and lead others regardless of adversity and good times.
New Campaign:
The brand exposure exceeded 2 billion, and the GMV exceeded 40 million yuan
After 10 years of development, Xiaolongkan has precipitated a mature marketing methodology, taking advantage of marketing to achieve high exposure of 1+1>2 and effectively achieve annual increment. These marketing actions have become the mainstream of the hot pot track.
The dragon is the totem of the Chinese. The Year of the Dragon coincides with the 10th anniversary of the Xiaolongkan brand, which can be described as the right time. When the Spring Festival was approaching, Xiaolongkan launched a large-scale marketing campaign of "Eat Xiaolongkan in the first day of the Dragon" nationwide. Joined hands with the Forbidden City Guantang, co-branded with top IP, and also issued a hot pot fund of 100 million yuan.
Looking back on the "First Meal of the Year of the Dragon" project, Xiaolongkan has implemented the "four unifications" strategy for nearly a year, and has achieved remarkable results. According to Xiaolongkan, during the Spring Festival, the brand exposure exceeded 2 billion, the GMV exceeded 40 million yuan, and the rate of attracting new users in the main battlefield of promotion such as Douyin increased by more than 600%.
New model and new operation of stores:
Contrarian layout of 100
"In the era of rolls, we have to make our own rolls, so our seemingly 'stupid' actions are necessary." The relevant person in charge of Xiaolongkan said.
In the post-epidemic era, brands have begun to focus on community catering to get closer to consumers. In the hot pot track, Xiaolongkan will make all-round efforts to develop the community store model in 2023, transform the brand potential energy into new business lines, and deploy more than 100 stores across the country.
At the operational level, we deeply implement the idea of "please come back and go out": invite franchisees to Chengdu, visit new stores, new models and new products in batches, and output new management and operation methods; Going out, the headquarters staff organized offline exchange and study tours in many cities across the country, effectively empowering stores around the country and helping partners solve operation and management problems.
At this time, the number of Xiaolongkan stores, which bucked the trend, also returned to 800.
By 2024, the F&B environment will change dramatically, and operational strategies will need to be more surprising and flexible. Xiaolongkan brings a new model of "one store, one policy" to regional partners, tailoring detailed plans for operation and marketing for each store face-to-face, starting from the basics.
The team members of the headquarters flew more than 30,000 kilometers per capita within 2 months, bringing a new model of "one store, one policy" to regional partners, so that each store has a set of single-store analysis fishbone diagrams, starting from the basic flyer solicitation and platform improvement merchant packages, and learning and implementing the operation market method.
While focusing on efficiency, developing new models, and improving the efficiency of current stores, we are also innovating scenarios and building communication channels for new consumer groups.
It is reported that the Xiaolongkan version 3.0 store will be built and tested for shopping mall scenes and young consumer groups, and will be launched in October. In the past, Xiaolongkan only opened commercial stores in the neighborhood and did not set foot in the field of shopping malls, but the 3.0 version of the store will further broaden the business scene of Xiaolongkan, fill the blank market and crowd from another level, and conform to the current brand road of "good taste + high quality".
Behind the brand competition, look more at the values!
In 2022, Xiaolongkan will launch a new 10-year strategic plan, dividing the next 10 years into 4 stages according to the rhythm of 1+3+3+3. Xiaolongkan took "surviving" as the brand's internal slogan that year. But the more difficult the moment, the more the company's strategic determination is tested. At that time, the management reached an eight-word consensus, "focus on the main business, and seek growth in stability".
In 2023, when social and economic activities return to normal, Xiaolongkan will be in full swing to rebuild its scale and resume all-round growth through professionalism and efficiency. The number of stores that year was basically the same as in 2019.
This year, Xiaolongkan set the tone of "all-out sprint", focusing on high-quality stores and focusing on the double growth of talents. Moving steadily along the strategic plan is guided by the brand's important values.
The relevant person in charge of Xiaolongkan also mentioned that "go all out". Where does the power come from? "The company will be driven by strategy as the engine of development, and the company's mission, vision, values and other core concepts have been updated."
In the past 10 years, Xiaolongkan, as an explorer, has explored one "new continent" after another, experimented with multi-dimensional gameplay for the hot pot franchise format, and continued to inject new ideas, new models and new strength into the franchise model of the hot pot industry.
Jumping out of this road depends on Xiaolongkan's advanced strategic insight, tenacious strategic determination and consistent strategic execution, and it is also the determination of the brand to insist on doing only one thing in the past 10 years, always focusing on the Xiaolongkan brand and related industrial chains, and the coordinated development of the community of interests.
Thanks to such values, Xiaolongkan can formulate a long-term strategy and continue to implement it, and in this process, gradually complete the management, promotion and empowerment of franchisees to achieve common growth.
The brand has entered its 10th year, and from the perspective of the median life cycle of the catering industry, Xiaolongkan is already considered an "old brand". The Internet celebrities of that year have become popular, and the maintenance of brand popularity has become an endurance race.
"Like Columbus, we want to explore the New World more. Hopefully, when we look back on the next 10 years, we will see that we haven't taken many detours. "The firmness of corporate values has made the pace of enterprise development stable, brand marketing is dynamic, product innovation has methods, new models and new store types have changed with the trend, and although it is difficult to explore, it is firm and abnormal.