"Let's open a bubble tea shop!"
It used to sound like the most quiet business, but now it has become the most "bloody" business in the catering industry.
According to data from Narrow Door Restaurant, as of August 5, 2024, 167374 new stores of milk tea drinks have opened in the past year, but the net increase is only 35,518, which means that more than 130,000 milk tea shops have closed down.
Among them, there is the former "second brother" - the figure of Shuyi burning fairy grass.
In 2021, Shuyi Burning Fairy Grass, which once ranked second in tea drinks with 7,000+ stores, is experiencing large-scale store closures this year. According to the latest statistics of Narrow Door Restaurant, its latest number of stores is 5,765, which has fallen out of the top five in the industry.
Books also burn fairy grass, why did they fall behind?
Books are also burning fairy grass and are disappearing
The book also burns fairy grass recently, which has attracted attention because of a hot search topic: #书亦烧仙草倒闭门店太多二手设备滞销#. According to a report by the Strait Metropolis Daily, some equipment recyclers said that they had received up to 13 calls from the store in one day.
According to the data of the second-hand platform of Xianyu, the search keyword "Shuyi burns fairy grass equipment", a total of 153 products are on sale in the past seven days across the country, although there are slightly more than the stores that are ranked before and after Tianlala and Yihetang, but it is not significant.
Huihui, who is engaged in the recycling and sales of second-hand milk tea equipment, said that it is normal for large brands with a large number of stores to have fluctuations in opening and closing stores.
Jihai Data, a chain store monitoring platform, once had a set of data, and in the nearly 90 days as of September 11, the number of Shuyi Xiancao stores had decreased by more than 1,000. However, the interesting report verified this data with Shuyi Burning Fairy Grass, and the relevant person in charge said that the platform data was wrong and had sent a letter to correct it, but the actual store closure data was inconvenient to announce to the public.
Interestingly, Jihai Data has since updated a completely different set of data, and in the nearly 90 days as of September 17, Shuyi Yao Xiancao has only newly opened stores, and there are no new closed stores.
Screenshot of Jihai brand monitoring
Coincidentally, the paid advanced data query of the number of closed stores and the closing rate of brand stores provided by Narrow Door Dining Eye is the only brand that does not have this data.
However, if the timeline is extended, the volume of Shuyi Xiancao stores does show a downward trend, and in 2021, the data released by it shows that there are more than 7,000 stores, but so far the data of the narrow door restaurant shows that there are only 5,765.
Aside from the store data, in the opinion of Yun Fei, a tea lover, the sense of existence of Shuyi Burning Fairy Grass is indeed decreasing.
As a high-frequency consumer of milk tea, Yunfei has to try every new brand that appears, and is loyal to multiple brands. In her eyes, Shuyi Yao Xiancao is a brand with low consumption frequency, "It's hard to think of it when ordering milk tea, even if you slip on the takeaway, you don't know what to drink." ”
The once large single product of burning fairy grass is becoming more and more devoid of consumption scenes. Yun Fei said that it may only be after eating hot pot or when she feels a little hot that she will take the initiative to order a cup of "burnt fairy grass", but this kind of scene is not common.
What's more, even if consumers want to spend, they may not be able to buy it. Yun Fei, who lives in the west of Beijing, has found it difficult to order a cup of book and burn fairy grass recently. Click on the takeaway platform, and the delivery fee of Shuyi Burning Fairy Grass can often reach more than 10 yuan, which shows that there is no store near her that can only be delivered remotely.
Searching the Dianping platform, many Beijing stores in Shuyi Xiancao are closed, such as Juntai Department Store and Huawei Youfan Street Store in Xidan Business District in the Second Ring Road, Wudaokou Business District Wudaokou School Store and Fengke Wanda Store in Southwest Business District have all been closed.
An interesting report called Xidan Juntai Department Store, and the store said that it had just closed half a month ago, and almost all the stores in the west had been closed, and the stores currently in operation were concentrated in Chaoyang District.
Books also burn fairy grass, which step is wrong?
Although it is inconvenient to disclose detailed data, the book also burns the "shrinkage" of fairy grass, which has been recognized by the brand.
The relevant person in charge of Shuyi Xiancao told the interesting report that it is indeed closing stores in some high-tier cities, shrinking the first and second tiers, and turning to a more sinking market. "Based on the new market situation, the book also optimizes stores and business adjustments, shifts from opening more stores to opening good stores, focuses on the sinking market, focuses on product structure adjustment and single-store model optimization, supports franchisees to make steady progress, and improves the revenue and profitability of stores."
In short, these actions are all directed at "profitability" – closing stores with high rents and making a profit, so as to focus on low-cost, profitable markets.
However, there are not a few tea brands in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and Shuyi Burning Fairy Grass has also begun to explore from his hometown in Sichuan to the four cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen from around 2019.
This may also start from the "detour" taken by Shuyi burning fairy grass.
Lin Yue, an expert in the catering industry and chief consultant of Lingyan Management Consulting, believes that Shuyi Xiancao has undergone a brand upgrade in 2022, which has become the starting point of its "detour".
Wang Chong, a tea industry insider, said that since the success of H&H's consulting services from Mixue Bingcheng, many brands have also tried to take the road of consulting and upgrading, and Shuyi Burning Fairy Grass is one of them.
The first name of Shuyi Burning Fairy Grass was "85°TEA", and it was renamed Shuyi Burning Fairy Grass in 2017 before it really focused on the subdivision of "Burning Fairy Grass". With the "Burning Fairy Grass" that is different from other tea brands, the book has also quickly occupied the minds of consumers. THE SUBSEQUENT LAUNCH OF SLOGAN "SHU YI BURNS FAIRY GRASS, HALF A CUP IS MATERIAL" FURTHER STRENGTHENED THE BRAND ATTRIBUTE OF SHU YI, AFTER ALL, THE TREND OF "MILK TEA EIGHT TREASURES PORRIDGE" PREVAILED BACK THEN.
It was not easy to occupy a place in the tea industry with the burning of fairy grass, and only 5 years later, Shuyi burned fairy grass but "took the initiative to give up the existing advantages".
In Lin Yue's view, after the brand upgrade, from the image point of view, the green store and the red rabbit logo have not been widely recognized by young consumer groups. At the same time, upgraded products, such as the concept of plant-based new tea drinks and the replacement of animal protein with plant protein, have also seen negative feedback on poor taste and bland taste among consumers.
At the same time, Shuyi Burning Fairy Grass continues to enrich its product matrix, resulting in only 3 signature Burning Fairy Grass, and more products focus on fresh fruit tea, milk tea and other categories, such as its current fresh fruit tea products have 8 kinds. The interesting report noticed that on the must-drink list of the Shuyi Mini Program, there was not a single burnt fairy grass product.
Source: Shuyi burns fairy grass applet
In the process of upgrading, more than 7,000 stores have not been at the same frequency - some stores have changed their new image, and some stores have not; Some stores use new ingredients, while others do not. This directly led to a sharp decline in brand reputation.
Wang Chong said that not every brand is suitable for "big moves", and "the upgrade of the brand is not decided by a pat on the head, but should be achieved on the basis of consensus from the headquarters to the franchisee to the supply chain".
In the tea track, the most difficult thing to compete for is the franchisee
Objectively speaking, the number of stores is only one of the dimensions to judge the vitality of a tea brand, but at a time when nearly 170,000 new tea shops are opened every year, "conquering the city" has a lot of value for the brand.
In the view of independent consumer analyst Liu Ge, on the one hand, occupying the geographical advantage of gold is a move to get twice the result with half the effort, once a brand takes the lead, then some brands have to go around.
On the other hand, freshly made tea has become "convenient consumption", and whoever happens to be there when consumers want to drink it and who is the most convenient to buy will have an advantage, especially when there are enough brands, and who drinks it may become less important.
More importantly, for tea brands with franchise as the development model, the more franchisees, the greater the brand voice and presence, so as to attract more franchisees to enter the game, and finally achieve a "win-win" between franchisees and brands - franchisees can return to their costs and make profits, and brands make money by charging franchise fees and material costs.
However, when store size shrinks, "brands often try to regain sales by engaging in price wars, but this can make franchisees unprofitable and eventually fall into a vicious circle." Lin Yue said.
As for how to win back franchisees, the relevant person in charge of Shuyi Xiancao said that the current focus is on the low-cost franchise model, that is, to reduce material costs and reduce store operating costs.
These include: lowering the price of core bulk materials such as milk base and small feed; reduce the cost of shop decoration by about 20%; Franchise fees and brand management fees are exempted, and a series of preferential policies such as store opening, relocation, and renovation are provided......
So can these measures really save the hearts of franchisees?
In fact, from 2023 to 2024, Shuyi Burning Fairy Grass has already allocated 178 million yuan to support franchisees, but this stage is also the fastest time for it to close stores.
Wang Chong believes that franchisees value the long-term performance of stores, not just cost data, and no matter how little investment is, it is difficult to attract them if it is difficult to make money and have a long payback cycle. "The franchise fee of Bawang Chaji is as high as 600,000 yuan, but the sales volume is high, and the franchisees are still in an endless stream."
Lin Yue also believes that the current tea brand has entered the stage of big waves and sands, and what can really continue to develop is those brands with core competitiveness, which can establish their own personality and differentiate themselves in the industry.
Author: Qu Boyang Editor: Yu Yuan
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