The smarter customers are, the more honest restaurants are.

In the catering industry, it seems that the old saying that "what you buy is not what you sell" has changed in essence.

why do you say that customers are getting smarter?

first of all, the measurement standard of consumers has changed.

For example, the last generation of consumers (such as those born after 1971s and 1981s) mainly used three indicators when choosing restaurants: price, quantity and taste.

In their minds, a restaurant with a large amount of food, which can be eaten by several people, is a restaurant with good cost performance. As for other factors such as environment, service and food safety, most of them are not considered. For a long time, in the aspect of catering consumption, the concept that low price equals high cost performance is very common.

what are the selection criteria of mainstream consumers (such as those born after 81s and 11s) when dining? In addition to price, quantity and taste, we will comprehensively consider factors such as environment/ingredients/services/creativity/face value/external evaluation/transportation, and compare categories vertically and brands horizontally. Consumers' criteria for judging good restaurants and brands are becoming more and more stereoscopic, and the threshold is getting higher and higher. In the massive supply side, they are looking for their favorite restaurants.

Secondly, the professional level of TAs has changed.

it is undeniable that the new generation of mainstream catering consumers not only love eating, but also know how to eat and know how to eat.

Some of them are "expert-level" diners with unique and professional understanding of products and brands. With the development of new media, these people can not only turn their interests into careers and form groups, but also popularize knowledge related to catering in various channels. Many catering people can often see some professional and incisive comments on their restaurants in the comments.

and more consumers, with the wealth of knowledge and experience, their discriminating ability is increasing day by day. An interesting phenomenon is that some brands recognized by consumers, although we can't say what is good about them, can experience a real value.

finally, TA's focus has also changed.

More urban consumers have paid close attention to safety and health from only price. Where is the focus, where is the value point, where is the value point, and where is the premium point.

in other words, we should think about what consumers are more willing to pay for now and in the future, which will make them feel worthwhile? Behind the shift of TAs' focus is the continuous improvement of their ability to pay, such as their willingness to pursue quality and pay for it, and their recognition of the equal price and value of a penny for a penny. Why is the restaurant becoming more and more honest?

"Because the more honest the brand is, the more cost-effective and even value-added experience it can provide, so as to satisfy those savvy customers. The shrewdness of customers also forces us to be more realistic, to be authentic, to insist on using ingredients well and to upgrade constantly. "This is the original words of Zege's friends.

how to understand it? In a word, for the catering industry, the era when honest people can make money has really arrived.

first, the relationship between buying and selling has changed.

In the past, we always said that "what we bought was not the essence of what we sold", and in addition, in the past, the supply was short and the demand was large, which made many smart businesses gain profits through opportunism. Now the environment is not only oversupply, but also the quality of the supply side has been substantially improved, and the space for speculation has been greatly compressed.

In other words, the "good faith cost" of shoddy goods is too high. If you are lucky enough to be fooled and basically consumed once, you will be rejected by one vote. For example, once Zege went to eat a Japanese-style beef hotpot with a per capita price of 1.51, and asked the manager what grade of beef he used. The manager opened his mouth and said it was M9 grade beef. With the increase of consumption experience, it can be judged that it is not the beef of this level in terms of appearance, taste and price. Without a sense of integrity, it will immediately doubt the quality and source of beef of this merchant.

second, content is more important than marketing.

Some catering brands are too superstitious about the power of marketing, and regard creativity and channels as more important than content creation. In Zege's view, the marketing action without content support is a kind of "pulling new things" by using information inequality, and tries to make a profit through this information difference. Once the spread content deviates greatly from the provided content, it will not only form a false impression in the hearts of consumers, but even make consumers feel cheated.

With the deepening of marketing, the information interaction between brands and consumers is becoming more and more full, and a veritable brand and trust are gradually established; A brand that is not worthy of the name will be abandoned by consumers. For example, those restaurants that find people to queue up or deliberately create a popularity effect have a shorter and shorter life cycle. In contrast, those brands that do a good job in content and know how to spread it effectively are more likely to get the opportunity of word-of-mouth communication.

from another perspective, consumers who become smart are actually very beneficial to businesses.

how to understand it? If the former consumers are defined as "price-savvy" consumers, TAs can't always talk about prices with high-quality merchants and quality with low-price merchants.

however, when consumers become "value savvy", it is easier for businesses to reach a * * * understanding with TAs on comprehensive value, and gain their recognition by creating a "value ratio" and get a reasonable payment price.

The catering industry is an ancient industry. Today, we can't just look at the industry itself. We need to see the changes of the times, the relationship between supply and demand, consumer demand and the concept of cost performance ... too many changes, which require us to observe, think and constantly reflect, so as to realize self-optimization and live better and longer.