Following the remarks made by Xiaomi's female executives that "the diaosi gets the world" and offended a group of "rice noodles", the nervous "migrant workers" were "discriminated" by their income.

Recently, Chu Xueyou, the former vice president of Xibei, once forwarded a Weibo, which caused public criticism. The content of the Weibo teased that the price increase of Xibei triggered a public opinion rebound because most netizens in Weibo earned less than 5,111 yuan a month. This remark was interpreted as "unworthy" to eat Siebel with a monthly salary of less than 5,111 yuan.

executives' comments with personal emotions and cognition have a great influence on the brand. At one time, they are full of arrogance and prejudice, which may attract attention and flow, but it is a consumption of brand reputation.

since the outbreak of the epidemic, from "crying for poverty" to apologizing for the price increase, from talking about "715 working system" to Jia Guolong's Kung Fu Cuisine Experience Store being evaluated as "eating airplane meals on the ground", the controversy caused by Xibei has been repeatedly searched, and the brand image has also been greatly affected. Can "expensive" Siebel win consumers?

The "hidden mine" of former executives has aroused public anger

The "hidden mine" in Weibo still needs to be traced back to April 2121.

At that time, the epidemic prevention and control gradually stabilized, and the catering industry opened one after another. Haidilao and Xibei began to raise prices in several cities, which triggered consumer condemnation. Some commentators pointed out that when the price increase can't work, it is necessary to raise the price at the moment of the epidemic, just after the resumption of work and the economic prospects are unknown, and everyone's wallets have been shrinking for many days, and it is difficult to swell up. Isn't this your own signboard?

On April 11, 2121, Jia Guolong, the founder of Xibei, announced that Weibo admitted that the prices of some dishes such as take-out and in-house meals in Shanghai had increased and apologized to netizens, saying that the prices of all dishes would be restored to the standards before they were closed due to the epidemic.

The epidemic has had a great impact on the catering industry. Under the pressure of cost, the price increase is an independent behavior of enterprises, and consumers also have the freedom of "I don't consume". It's just that emotions sometimes trump reason. On the one hand, Jia Guolong apologized to put out the fire, and on the other hand, Chu Xueyou, then the head of Xibeigong's * * * relationship, "ignited" and forwarded the above-mentioned Weibo-offending netizens because of the price increase because of income problems, calling it "learning".

Although Chu Xueyou left his post in September 2121, today's Weibo has been turned out, which is still enough to arouse consumers' dissatisfaction with Siebel. "This means that Siebel is eaten by a gentleman?" Some netizens asked questions.

Yu Xin, the public relations director of Xibei, told the reporter of Business School that Chu Xueyou deleted it when he finished sending it. Now that he has left his post, some words and deeds on social media do not represent the enterprise. Our company's point of view is definitely not that the monthly salary is more than 5,111 yuan or less, and the newcomers are guests. There is no division of customer groups such as region, age and class.

Although there are differences in consumers' purchasing power, brands should not subjectively classify customers into three or six categories. Especially for catering brands, customers should not be treated with colored glasses, and customers should not be divided with discriminatory language.

Song Xuan, the founder of Spoon Classroom, explained to the reporter of Business School that it is not logical to judge the audience of catering brands according to the "one size fits all" of consumers' income. High-income people will also have a lot of low-consumption behaviors, and low-income people will also have high-consumption behaviors.

after this old story about Weibo was dug up, why did it cause great controversy?

Wu Daiqi, a brand management expert and CEO of Siqisheng Company, told the reporter of Business School that since the epidemic, everyone was under great pressure, especially at the end of the year, netizens found an outlet to vent their emotions. At the same time, recent employee incidents in Pinduoduo, etc., have made public opinion more negative about big enterprises. "As an executive of Xibei, it is normal to forward such unfriendly remarks to netizens and be sprayed by others."

Wu Daiqi pointed out that every word and deed of corporate public relations departments, spokespersons and executives is a representative of corporate image. In the Internet communication environment, mistakes will be magnified and even lead to crisis. Enterprises should conduct self-inspection on the contents of external publicity. However, she also believes that if Siebel can resolve this public opinion crisis in time and turn the crisis into an opportunity, it will also be a publicity opportunity, which will win the attention of the public and the media after all.

However, some netizens said, "(Chu Xueyou) generation doesn't mean (Xibei) is useless, and things are expensive and unpalatable." The intense emotions of netizens are also related to the high price of Siebel.

Siebel, so ordinary but so confident?

on the one hand, it violates the taboo of the brand to distinguish customers by the level of rich and poor; On the other hand, consumers think that Xibei dishes are unconvincingly expensive.

Some netizens shouted, "Siebel is so ordinary but so confident. The food is not delicious and has no characteristics, just dare to mark the price. " "The amount is small and expensive, not because I can't afford it, but because I don't want to be fooled."

In the Meituan takeaway, 43 yuan, a scrambled egg with sesame oil in Xibei Youmian Village, 46 yuan, a vegetable dish with scallion oil, 49 yuan, and 33 yuan, a big flower roll ... Xibei is famous for its high price. In response to consumers' feelings about the high price of Siebel vegetables, Yu Xin believes that this is related to Siebel's failure to let consumers know the ingenuity behind the products. In his view, Siebel has invested a lot of thoughts and costs in material selection and cooking techniques, and the price is not profiteering. However, the pricing system cannot deviate from the product value. If these inputs only push up the price without making consumers feel "reasonably expensive", consumers will also vote with their feet and turn to other things, and will not pay for the excessive brand premium.

Mu Jian, chief catering operation consultant of the first enterprise management consulting, pointed out in an interview with the reporter of Business School that it is understandable that merchants have their own pricing system and the right to set their own prices, but they should also consider factors such as consumers' acceptability and business circle location. The quality of ingredients in Xibei is worthy of recognition. The self-built supply chain can ensure food safety, but the pricing is indeed high. If consumers think it is not worth it, they will vote with their feet, and the merchants will bear the consequences themselves. If the cost performance is higher, it is naturally easier to get customers. Then, whether Siebel will raise prices or lower prices in the near future, he pointed out that Siebel's price approval system is perfect and will not change prices at will. "Price changes depend on cost changes such as suppliers' ingredients, and it is not recommended to raise prices for profit."

In Wu Daiqi's view, the price is determined by the market. It is irrational to resist the price increase behavior of enterprises through public opinion. "Pricing is part of the brand strategy. Brands have their own consumer group positioning and will not cut prices casually because of public opinion."

if we insist on not reducing the price, how can Siebel regain the trust of consumers, establish better communication with the public and establish a brand image? Yu Xin said that Siebel is also conducting internal discussions. He believes that this can be solved not only at the communication level, but also at the product structure and operation level. It is better to win back consumers' goodwill by using products that return the price of vegetables instead of relying on hot searches frequently.

The expansion of "airplane meals" is just around the corner. Will consumers pay the bill?

The Spring Festival is approaching, which is an important consumption season for the catering industry. It is not good news for Xibei to make such unfriendly remarks at this time. Some netizens even think that going to Xibei for dinner is collecting "IQ tax".

The catering industry itself is hard to hear. Whether the emotions on the Internet will spread to diners' taste depends on Siebel's turnover rate.

this is not the first time Siebel has been accused of being expensive. Not long ago, Xibei Daojia Kung Fu Cuisine Experience Store, named after Jia Guolong, attracted attention because of comments such as "eating airplane meals on the ground" and "eating takeout in restaurants".

This experience store located in Beijing Jinyuan Yansha Shopping Center, all the dishes are not cooked on the spot, but are directly served by heating low-temperature prepackaged foods on the spot, in order to promote the "home-cooked dishes" series that can enter the retail end, including the representative dishes of eight major cuisines and northwest cuisine, with nearly 31 SKUs. The price is also quite expensive, for example, 55 yuan stewed lion's head in Yangzhou, 88 yuan braised pork in Shanghai, and Yangzi at 178 yuan.

This is a new track selected by Xibei after repeated defeats and battles in the fast food field. After the store opened during the "Eleventh" period in 2121, Xibei also announced that it will officially settle the "Kung Fu Cuisine" super central kitchen project in Inner Mongolia and Linger New District. According to official reports, the total investment of the first phase of the project is 611 million yuan.

However, the logic of new retail is different from that of catering, which requires higher supply capacity of marketing, channels and supply chain. In particular, "Kung Fu cuisine" adopts low-temperature fresh-keeping technology and needs cold chain distribution.

At the same time, consumers' acceptance of this kind of semi-finished fast food is still in the training stage. Because compared with take-away, convenient fast food without category characteristics is difficult to meet the taste expectations of consumers.

for Siebel, it is a great challenge to explore new retail areas outside the chain operation of dinner. However, Jia Guolong identified the track and decided to name it after himself. Earlier, he suggested that Xibei should increase the retail business of fast food and online food, and achieve 111 billion sales by 2131. Regarding the progress of the "Kung Fu Cuisine" project, Yu Xin said that there is only one offline experience store, which is still testing the market reputation and opinions, and improving and optimizing according to customer opinions.

He said that this year's "Kung Fu Cuisine" project will have some plans to expand offline stores and online channels, and it will be necessary to wait until the Spring Festival to see if the experience store is mature. If the arrogance and prejudice against consumers are the mistakes of former executives, consumers need to forget this so-called mistake as soon as possible to achieve Xibei's sales target of 111 billion yuan.