Total No. 4005
Author | Restaurant boss internal reference internal ginseng Jun
Everywhere there are "rice village bibimbap" sub-villages
Recently, bibimbap stores under the banner of "Korean intangible cultural heritage" and "Korean cuisine" have landed in various cities. For example, Suzhou's "Uncle Pu's bibimbap", Shijiazhuang's "Miyue Korean bibimbap", Shenyang's "Mi Yu bibimbap", Jinan's "Xikui bibimbap", ......
But it seems that it is accompanied by the shadow of "Northeast McDonald's" rice village bibimbap.
After a netizen went to a bibimbap store to dine, he exclaimed, "It seems that all bibimbap brands and stores are copying rice villages, from the name, logo to the promotional points, they are all similar, and then to the store decoration, color matching, bibimbap dishes, plating, and small food tables are almost the same." To what extent does this mean that you can reap a wave of first stores by changing your name? "There are also people who say the truth" There are too many similar bibimbap pre-made food manufacturers, and the products are basically the same, so it is easy to find bibimbap stores. ”
Indeed, the emergence of these brands has made the "Korean cuisine" in the market more lively, driving the activity of the bibimbap category; However, it can be seen with the naked eye that there is limited room for innovation in bibimbap categories and brands, whether it is store style, model, dishes, and pricing.
Relatively large-scale, Uncle Park Bibimbap took the lead in occupying the advantage of the southern market and gradually expanded to the north. According to its official public account, 69 new stores were opened in 52 cities during the National Day, and the number of stores nationwide exceeded 700, and it plans to exceed 1,000 stores by the end of the year. In contrast, with more than 1,400 stores, the opening speed of Mimura Bibimbap seems to have slowed down a bit, thinking that with the expansion of Micun and the continuous southward expansion, the difficulty of enterprise management has increased, restricting the rapid expansion of the brand, and the southern market is a blank market that Micun has not yet reached.
◎A netizen filmed in his hometown, and the two stores were "close to each other"
This year also saw the bibimbap brand financing incident. The multi-million yuan angel wheel of [Miyue Korean bibimbap], currently has more than 120 stores, which are mainly takeaway shops or stalls, labeled as "Korean intangible cultural heritage"; Established in April 2023, [Miqiren Bibimbap] has completed the angel round and positioned itself as a bibimbap brand provider. According to Dianping, the brand already has dozens of stores in the sinking market.
The bibimbap brands represented by Micun have Korean Yanbian cuisine, which has national and cultural characteristics, and has the Northeast catering gene. According to the data of enterprise survey, there are currently more than 8,000 bibimbap catering enterprises in the country, and the number of bibimbap enterprises in the three provinces in the Middle East accounts for 27.3% of the national total, and the number of bibimbap enterprises in Heilongjiang accounts for 13% of the country.
Nowadays, there are a large number of Northeast people scattered all over the country, and their recognition of hometown food in their bones is difficult to change and is more likely to cause emotional resonance. A friend from the Northeast is very proud, and he can eat a bibimbap from his hometown far away, which is very kind.
Big names are also crazy, bibimbap business is so good?
At the same time, bibimbap brands are facing the entry of leading companies one after another, and they are focusing on the takeaway business.
As the competition for dine-in customers becomes more and more fierce, catering brands have no choice but to find other ways, such as launching staple food products for lunch and dinner, especially rice, and bibimbap has become one of the first choices.
The master of bibimbap hatched by Hefu Lao Mian has about 6 kinds of bibimbap, priced at more than 30 yuan;
Ikeda Sushi, the "sushi industry Huawei", has added the words "bibimbap master" to the takeaway platform, and the bibimbap and tuna bibimbap are concentrated at about 30 yuan.
The name of Jiutianjia barbecue on the takeaway platform is also getting longer and longer, from barbecue, to bibimbap, cold noodles, and the dine-in takeaway business is not wrong.
……
Bibimbap is not a new category, in addition to Korean bibimbap, crab roe bibimbap, chopped pepper bibimbap, braised pork bibimbap, barbecue bibimbap, pepper bibimbap, etc. are all common bibimbap categories, and they have their own brands. For example, people are well-known for more than 750 Zhang Xiumei barbecue bibimbap and nearly 1,000 Xie Baolin barbecue bibimbap; More than 400 stores nationwide have opened crab and pomelo crab roe bibimbap.
◎According to public information, the brand is mainly a takeaway restaurant
First of all, the bibimbap category technology and supply chain are very mature, and the standardization and efficiency of meal delivery are very high.
For example, bibimbap is simple and fast, and the product is presented in the same form, with a layer of rice on the bottom, and colorful dishes and eggs on top. For the store, it only needs to ensure the freshness and health of the ingredients, the taste and production standards of the supply chain, and then the efficient and standardized operation of the kitchen staff in the store. "In any case, the essence of making food is safety and cleanliness."
Secondly, bibimbap is a Chinese-style rice fast food, which is very well accepted by the national market and has high-frequency demand.
In first- and second-tier cities, office workers demand this kind of satisfying and cost-effective meal. The price of bibimbap in Micun has reached 30 yuan per capita, which is much higher than the 15 yuan per capita of the old Zhang Xiumei barbecue bibimbap. But it is undeniable that Micun has always maintained a high standard of cleanliness and hygiene at the product level and in the dining environment, which is one of the reasons why people want to eat for the first time.
Although everyone is shouting "cost-effective, quality-price ratio", for most customers, the real quality-price ratio is not necessarily ultra-low price, and what impresses customers is psychological satisfaction and happiness. If the product quality, taste and texture are not bad, a lunch of more than 30 yuan is also worth it. This requires brands to truly understand customer needs and find out the differences from the commonalities, so as to accurately cut in.
In addition, bibimbap, noodles, noodles, and self-selected fast food have all successfully embarked on the wave of affordable catering.
People's consumption has become rational, and they must eat well and eat well, which has given birth to the affordable fast food track, and even the "price war" that has broken out in the past two years. Some netizens said that the "Poor Ghost Package" made me fall in love with Micun Bibimbap, which refers to the fact that people are happy to order children's meals in Micun stores at a lower price, and they can refill the rice for free, and for some people, eating a children's meal bibimbap is completely enough.
The side reflects that although Mimura bibimbap is aimed at office workers, from the product design, it consciously covers office workers, the elderly and children and family groups, and these slogans have laid a good customer foundation for the store.
However, the bibimbap category is a subdivision track after all, and the limited market space allows a "rice village bibimbap" to run out, but it may be difficult to create more "rice village bibimbap" to build momentum.
"The bibimbap track has been oversupplied, and for bibimbap brands, it is necessary to either invest large capital and costs in marketing and traffic, and keep up with Micun bibimbap, but this road is difficult to walk; Either don't pursue scale, just do your own single store or small-scale business, which is also an opportunity. A bibimbap restaurant owner said frankly.
Although bibimbap is popular, the "sense of crisis" has also come
Last year's popular Sita Old Lady Barbecue took the opportunity to launch the bibimbap sub-brand, and after opening its first store in Shanghai, it quickly launched the brand momentum.
Previously, some netizens shared the current situation of the first store of Hangzhou West Tower Old Lady Bibimbap on social platforms, it is said that "since it opened last year, it has been in a queue state from the opening to the end every day, and the pure dine-in turnover during the peak period is 500,000+, and the daily turnover is nearly 20,000." Now it is observed that basically no one is queuing, and there is a situation of dissatisfaction during the peak period...... and some netizens left a message saying, "The founder of the brand has basically given up on this bibimbap project." However, it is impossible to verify the truth of the above facts.
However, public data shows that there are currently more than 20 stores in Sita Bibimbap across the country. And the branding does change. For example, Beijing Shangdi Hualian Store has been renamed "Old Lady Sita · Korean Cuisine", judging from the name, the store is not only focused on bibimbap, but a rich and slightly tall Korean restaurant; At the same time, brands should also be trying takeaway specialty stores (similar to the shared kitchen model), and some bibimbap prices are only about 17 yuan.
Last month, a new spicy stir-fried beef and three curry series bibimbap were launched, and the amount of dishes was enough, the rice was renewed for free for 3 yuan, and the kelp soup and side dishes can be eaten casually, especially his mixed sauce is loved by customers, although it is complained about the prefabricated dishes or the price is expensive, the store business has been lively.
In addition, Yonemura has enriched the value-added packages on the takeaway platform, which used to be mainly based on a few signature bibimbaps. Now, this practice is undoubtedly to further facilitate the convenience and more choices of people's take-out orders, and help stores increase sales.
There is a big difference between the dine-in dining experience and take-out after all, especially in autumn and winter, how to bring the fireworks of dine-in to take-out meals is a problem worth thinking about in stores, so as not to be complained about by customers about the poor quality and taste of take-out, which will affect the brand favorability.
When people complained that it was a pre-made dish, Mimura Bibimbap generously admitted it, and transported boxes of prefabricated semi-finished products to the store in front of them. Others avoid "pre-made dishes", but Mimura is very calm. Of course, this did not affect the flow of customers who came to the restaurant to eat.
Could it really be that the sentence of netizens "everyone scolds prefabricated dishes, and everyone loves prefabricated dishes"?
Someone also came out to the platform of Micun, "I have worked part-time in Micun, the sanitation is absolutely clean, you must wear a hat and wash your hands when you enter the kitchen, and monitor it in an all-round way. ”
Looking at Uncle Park's bibimbap, which has a strong expansion momentum this year, there are different location strategies when entering first-tier cities, either intentionally avoiding highly competitive locations, or not finding a more suitable location, or the brand potential has not yet been fully rolled out.
Taking the Beijing store as an example, Uncle Park's bibimbap is located in a shopping mall relatively close to the outer ring, which seems to be an area that has not yet been reached by rice village bibimbap. It is not difficult to find that the way to open a store in Beijing is to focus on the office worker customer group, choose in the core business districts such as office buildings, shopping malls, and CBD, and the store layout density is very high, which makes it difficult for other competing brands to get close.
It's too easy to imitate, but who is the next "rice village"?
In the minds of customers, your product has passed, but whether the environmental hygiene can be maintained for a long time. Such details are easily captured by customers. For example, the rice buffet and the all-you-can-drink kelp soup are obviously good things for customers, but when a mother took her children to the restaurant to eat, she found that "I felt very bad when someone directly touched the spoon of the soup with the dishes and chopsticks that she had drunk." But there are also those who believe that "it is difficult to avoid these situations when self-picking, for example, when the shovel touches the edge of the bowl." ”
Or, with the opening of Bibimbap stores in Rice Village too aggressive, will the opening of stores slow down this year? At present, Micun bibimbap is making efforts towards the southern market, but from the overall environment of this year, it is also worth waiting and seeing whether Micun can successfully enter the southern market. "When a brand expands to a certain stage, it will inevitably face a slowdown, you need to investigate the local consumer demand, peer competition, catering categories, consumer psychology, etc. in the new region, and the national layout is facing the efficient management and operation of the team and operation for the enterprise. Just because you're popular in the northern market doesn't mean you'll be able to quickly occupy the southern cities, and can your products impress local customers? ”
Recently, some stores of Yonemura bibimbap have taken off the production line of a "cheese rice cake chicken", and netizens expressed regret. According to public information, Yonemura Bibimbap issued a notice on October 7, saying that "due to the poor repurchase rate, high negative review rate, and long meal time, the cheese rice cake chicken dishes on the takeaway platform have been removed from the shelves." From the brand point of view, this product is indeed not suitable for takeaway, and the order is not good, so you need to make a decisive choice at this time. Although it will hurt the needs of a small number of customers, on the whole, it is reducing costs and losses for stores.
When the brand and store become bigger, how to face all kinds of problems one after another?
From the most basic point of view: for example, food safety is the red line, and every restaurant owner has a saying in his heart, knowing what can and cannot be done, and understanding how to do it is beneficial to the long-term operation of the store; Secondly, the innovation space of bibimbap products is low, so insist on doing a good job in the dishes that have been launched and are recognized by the public, standardize the taste, serve meals efficiently, and actively and regularly carry out staff training and learning.
In addition, on the basis of doing a good job in the product, we must not forget the service, dining environment, health details, etc., there will inevitably be a crowded scene during the peak period of dining, and it is inevitable to ignore the needs of some customers, which can easily cause customers to be dissatisfied with the brand service level and score "low scores". This requires staff training and arrangement from top to bottom in the store to minimize service gaps.
Of course, for a brand store, it is not easy to achieve comprehensive perfection, and it is impossible to ensure that every customer can be satisfied, and there are very few brands that get 100 points, but it is still too late to actively find problems and correct and solve them.
There is no shortage of powerful players in the market, and there is nothing wrong with learning and imitating the head brand, and you can dominate the market with your advantages. But in the end, who can gallop on the battlefield for a long time is more important to the professional operation behind the brand, the efficient management of the team, and the stable supply chain capacity to ensure the pressure and stable development of the brand stores.
Nei Sanjun talked with the founder of Mimura Bibimbap last year, and he mentioned that on the basis of ensuring that the service is in place, Mimura Bibimbap adopts an hourly employment method, with fixed employees + part-time, which is convenient and flexible scheduling. Nowadays, hourly recruitment has become a common means for many restaurants, and from time to time you can see the recruitment information of "recruiting hourly workers, XX yuan / hour" posted at the door of the store.
He also emphasized the continuous optimization of supply chain warehousing and management radius costs, taking the opening of Beijing Micun Bibimbap as an example, there are 10 stores within 5 kilometers of Nei Sanjun Company alone; There are two stores in Chaoyang Hopson Hui, located on the B1 and B2 floors. One customer commented, "Even though there are two stores, they are still full of customers." "Centralized store opening not only facilitates the company's unified management of stores, but also can quickly build momentum, and even realize the centralized explosion of store sales.
However, as the scene coverage of shopping malls and CBD tends to be saturated, brands need to think about the next step, where to go, and how to go?