Catering is a business and a big industry.

since 2117, the average annual growth rate of catering industry has exceeded 1.5%. This amazing figure undoubtedly shows the vigorous development of an industry. However, the reality is that catering is also an industry with extremely high mortality.

In Beijing, with the opening of two new restaurants, an old restaurant closed. In Shanghai, the number is 1 to 1. In Chengdu, when a new restaurant opened, two old restaurants announced their closure, so the food was delicious, while the catering industry was mixed.

Song Dong, a famous contemporary artist, has three doggerels: If you don't do it for nothing, you will do it for nothing, and you will do it for nothing. These words have been translated into various languages and versions, and their spiritual core is a little helpless and self-deprecating, with some bored emotions, but they are also secretly cheering themselves up.

But this mood is unexpectedly consistent with that of a group of diners.

The saturation and fierce competition in the catering industry make us have to re-examine how many pits are there on the road of catering entrepreneurship? Do you have some practical experience so that we can learn from the past and avoid unnecessary trial and error?

how many pits are there in catering business?

1. Don't do it for nothing

The catering industry is hotter than a stove with a fire, and the industry has been expanding and developing without stopping; Consumers want more than more, they are younger, more open and willing to pay for better; There is a huge space for the development of supporting industries, and the long chain behind the restaurant seems to be full of business opportunities.

China's catering industry has been developing steadily, and its annual output value has soared from 5 billion in the early days of reform and opening up to nearly 4.3 trillion this year. The number of restaurants is also growing, from less than 1.2 million in the early days of reform and opening up to nearly 5 million.

It's impossible to get a close look at the question of who is the first to increase the number of shops and guests, but the number of people going out to eat is increasing.

According to the latest survey data of iResearch, more than half of the respondents have gone out to eat more frequently. Nearly half of the post-91s people cook at home less than four times a week, and those who cook at home less than three times a month are more than twice as many as other age groups-take-away, take-away and in-class meals. Everyone seems to be used to eating out of home. Nearly 61% of consumers spend 31-61 minutes eating out, and nearly 21% spend more than 1 hours eating out.

Restaurants are no longer just a place to eat, but also a space for socializing, having fun and experiencing. The longer the consumption time, the more "consumption points" and higher the consumption amount.

compared with mature catering markets such as the United States and Japan, which have a high chain rate, the top 51 catering groups in China only have a market share of 5%, which indicates that we still have a lot of room for specialization and standardization.

Information services, consumables and equipment, personnel training, management consulting, etc. The overall upgrading of the catering industry is also the overall upgrading of its surrounding supporting industries. We only take the supply chain as an example. The Chinese market emphasizes the diversity and freshness of ingredients, but the agricultural products are scattered, the food processing industry started late, and the construction of cold chain logistics is relatively backward.

Therefore, in the Chinese market, it is an extremely huge project to reshape the production mode and market flow structure of agricultural products, thus affecting the construction of catering supply chain. According to calculation, the domestic supply chain industry market scale is more than 2.5 trillion, which is wider than the 1.7 trillion calculated from the perspective of downstream catering.

2. Doing it for nothing

Easy to do and easy to make mistakes; The low threshold and deep truth are the main problems of the catering industry. Many people have the dream of opening a small shop, but if you really plunge into it, you will find that it is a comprehensive industry integrating production, manufacturing, service and even culture.

First, no matter how to keep up with the thinking iteration in the Internet era, how to play with various platforms and equipment that emerge in endlessly, and only when it comes to the three most basic things of catering-rent, manpower and ingredients, I don't know how many people have failed in it.

the average annual growth rate of the catering industry is about 11%, but we can't ignore the cruel reality that the average life span of catering stores is only over 511 days. Every day, more than 111 restaurants are opened in first-tier cities, and at least dozens of them are closed. It seems to be a curse in the industry that "making money is luck, preserving capital is strength, and elimination is the norm".

It is clearly stated in the prospectus published by Haidilao IPO that in its annual profit of nearly 1.2 billion, the labor cost accounts for as high as 29.3%, while in general catering enterprises, the labor cost as high as 21% can be found everywhere, which seems to have become the core of current expenditure.

However, employees in the catering industry are also faced with a vicious circle of low wages and low retention. The hardships of insecurity, lack of access, too long working hours and too short holidays, coupled with a large number of more "flexible" career choices (such as express delivery, food delivery, O2O door-to-door service, etc.) after the rise of the Internet economy, catering has become the norm.

The rising price of food raw materials has aroused great concern this year. According to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, pork, fresh vegetables and fruits all increased by more than 11% in April 2119. Since March 2119, the price of chicken in China has been rising continuously, and the wholesale price of white striped chicken has increased by 23.62% from March to October.

a price increase, the overall increase; The price of ingredients increases, but the menu is hard to rise. Increasing the price will scare away consumers, and reducing the weight will offend consumers. The final pressure is only on the boss himself.

from 2119 to 2119, the fastest increase in the operating cost of catering was rent, which increased five times in 2111.

The worst big city this year is Xi 'an. As of February, 2119, the house price in Xi 'an has been rising for 45 months in a row, and the rent of renewed stores in Xi 'an has increased by 31% on average, even as high as 111% in some cases. The uncontrollable price increase has caused 41% of local restaurants to face losses.

in first-tier cities, with the advancement of urban planning, the number of street shops has been compressed, and shopping malls have once become the main choice. However, if the business district is prosperous, the shops will bully customers and charge exorbitant prices, and if the business district is cold, it will hurt business. In the past, the proportion of rent that was healthy within 21% accounted for the receivable ratio, and now it is approaching 51%.

3. You have to do it for nothing.

Catering earns money for one bite and one meal. People only have one mouth and three meals a day. This is the hardest but most practical business. Whether it is a roadside stall or a star-rated kitchen, the Chinese stove will never turn off; No matter whether the market is steady or unpredictable, the catering industry will always have newborn calves and a backbone.

There are many purposes for people to start a business in the catering industry, which may be to make money, to realize their dreams, or just to relax and change the environment ... No matter what kind of mentality you decide to open a store at first, you must understand a logic:

"Any business that doesn't make money is a hooligan."

5 pieces of advice for all those who want to set foot in the catering industry

1. Never start a business alone

No one can do everything alone, especially starting a business. It must be done stronger and bigger with the help of all parties. Without a shared mentality and no one to help you take responsibility, the probability of success in starting a business is too low.

2. Never start a paid business

If you are not a full-time entrepreneur, you are advised not to do it. It's like learning to swim. You can't learn anything on land. Only when you really enter the water, the instinct to survive in the water will stimulate people's greater potential.

3. Never follow others

Entrepreneurs must have a firm belief in their own model, trust no one, and believe in themselves. This book gives you more advice, and everyone should have their own choices and persistence.

4. Never expect too much

You can dream, but don't set too high. Reality is always cruel, and a clear understanding of reality is helpful to formulate more effective strategies and methods.

5. Don't underestimate yourself

People's potential is often beyond our imagination, especially when entrepreneurs are faced with the life and death of enterprises, which will stimulate their potential beyond expectations, so believe that you can accomplish many things. In addition, while believing in yourself, it is also important to maintain your learning ability and ensure that you have enough energy and ability to stick to your dreams.

five rules for creating wealth by opening a shop

Jia Guolong, the founder of Xibei Youmian Village, said: "All my work stems from my life call-to let people create new possibilities and create a future that would not have happened anyway." The practice of countless catering entrepreneurs has proved a truth: to run a catering brand from scratch, you must first have a dream, which is the so-called initial heart.

therefore, starting a business cannot rely solely on feelings.

before opening a store, you must be clear about your own advantages and how important these advantages can play in the process of starting a business, and then try to maximize the value of these advantages. The catering industry is mostly a boss culture, and the boss's ability to do a good job often means that the store has been half successful.

1. You don't panic when you have food in your hand

As we all know, the catering industry is "four highs and one low"-high rent, high taxes and fees, high labor cost, high raw material cost and low profit, among which rent alone has brought a lot of pressure to catering operators.

under normal circumstances, the gross profit margin of the catering industry can reach 51%-61%, and the net profit margin is roughly below 21%. It is difficult for a restaurant to turn negative into positive and get on the right track without 3-5 months of adaptation time after opening (this is still under the condition that entrepreneurs have relevant experience and develop smoothly).

as for earning back the principal, it is not an overnight success. In this way, even a well-run restaurant needs at least 6-11 months of buffer time. Without sufficient funds, it is difficult for the restaurant to maintain its normal operation.

2. Building a brand moat with positioning

The catering industry has been developing for thousands of years, and the market of any category is close to saturation, which is the standard Red Sea market. In order to find a blue ocean market in the Red Sea, it needs to be stronger than the possessor, subdivision or mental possessor of the original category.

it is difficult to form a "product" barrier when catering in China. Only the "brand" itself can really build a threshold in consumers' minds. Once consumers have a knowledge of you from category to brand, they will complete the "pre-sale" in their hearts and have more "re-purchases".

Founded in 2119, Le Caesar creatively combined durian and pizza for the first time, and successfully made consumers construct the consumer cognition of "Le Caesar = durian pizza", thus building a brand barrier for the slogan "creator of durian pizza", so that people can think of Le Caesar when they mention durian pizza.

if you look closely at the present chain catering enterprises, you can clearly see that each brand has its own main direction. Those multi-category restaurants that contain various cuisines are gradually coming out of people's sight and being gradually replaced by "small and beautiful, specialized and refined" category kings.

3. Site selection is a mathematical problem

Before entering the site selection process, it is necessary to have a more accurate estimate of various parameters such as efficiency, people flow, rent, per capita consumption, etc., and must not blindly follow suit subjectively.

for example, is it a good choice to settle in a shopping mall?

among the 1572 catering enterprises in 48 major urban complexes and shopping centers in Chengdu, 585 restaurants have undergone at least 1 brand adjustments in 1 years. For nearly 41% of restaurant owners, shopping centers just look beautiful.

The fast food brand Green Box Steamed Dumplings has five stores in Beijing. Under the different conditions of large demand for food in community stores and large demand for take-out in office stores, Green Box Steamed Dumplings consider the following two dimensions in passenger flow analysis:

1. Residential occupancy rate. Under normal circumstances, green box steamed dumplings will be opened near old residential areas with occupancy rate above 95% and new residential areas with high density and high per capita consumption.

2. Delivery rate. When it is necessary to open a shop near the office building, the green box steamed dumplings are mainly selected according to the delivery rate of take-away food, thus ensuring the order quantity of take-away. It is a good choice to analyze passenger flow with the help of online ordering platform. For example, select more than three representative platforms, find out five restaurants that are roughly the same as their own categories, analyze the monthly sales volume and customer unit price of these restaurants, and then estimate the consumption power and take-away orders of customers in this area as the basis for site selection.

4. The menu should be subtracted

The dishes are the soul of a restaurant and the focus of customers' real concern. When a restaurant makes a menu, the selection of dishes should be regarded as the first and most important link.

the more dishes in a restaurant, the more difficult it is for customers to order, the longer the meal time, and the rate of turning tables and the sense of experience will plummet. As a result, it will be difficult for customers to remember this restaurant, and the possibility of secondary consumption will be greatly reduced.