The case of this article is about how the Xiangguo era, which came from the hot mountain city of Chongqing and was rarely heard in Beijing, rose in the national market. Its founder relied on the accurate positioning of the blank market and innovated the management system of catering, dared to divide his own shares, and quickly rebounded and rose again after several times.

The following is an oral statement by Zhao Guo, the founder of Xiangguo Age:

I just graduated in 2113 and worked for about seven months. At that time, I was a bit arrogant in sales, but I decided to quit because I couldn't stand office politics. I was idle for about a month before I officially decided to do catering. I have been thinking about weighing my future life. I feel that the time for starting a business is relatively free, and the hottest industry in Chongqing is hot pot. Moreover, these catering enterprises have the opportunity to rely on chain stores to expand, so they decided to enter the catering industry.

I made a survey on hot pot and Chinese food in Chongqing, including practitioners. It turns out that at that time, a large number of restaurants didn't really do well. However, through the big wave of Chongqing hot pot, there are still quite a few good efforts to expand the brand effect in the country. At that time, the catering crowd in Chongqing: one kind was working in cities with a slightly bright mind. The other category is some laid-off workers. Of course, there is another category, which belongs to the knowledge-based industry and has accumulated great wealth. After analyzing it, I think I am a marketing major, and I should still have some advantages. And then through my research, I invented it? Dry pot? And? Incense pot? .

It was about March 2114, when the first wave of bird flu came. As the main dish of our spicy pot was poultry and chicken, our new store was greatly impacted. So I began to find a way and find a way. Often when you start to make up your mind to solve the problem, all the problems are not problems.

At that time, in order to overcome the dangerous situation, we used several effective methods:

First, we realized the horizontal development of products and improved our product line. Since there is bird flu at this time, we will avoid poultry products and weaken their proportion in horizontal development. We will develop products such as rabbits, fish and pig hands. But just because the product is developed doesn't mean the guests will come. The guests only remember that your chicken is well done, and they don't agree with you at all and don't know what your other things are like. Therefore, this method did not reverse the situation at once.

at this time, it is very important to promote and organize activities. It should be said that we are outstanding and effective in these aspects. At that time, there was no money, so we printed one or two thousand advertising leaflets with one or two cents a piece of white paper. But no one wants you to send it on the street, and then I will organize our personnel to go one by one? Sweep the building? . In 2114, Chongqing's economy was not very developed. At that time, most of the buildings built in the 1991s didn't have elevators, so we organized employees to come to our homes, and then we began to sweep the buildings, running from upstairs to downstairs, and putting our own flyers on every door. Later, we put our flyers on every door handle in the community. It turns out that this effect is very good, because the loss rate is much lower.

In addition, we need to establish our own image and tell potential customers that we are serious and responsible for safety and are a responsible store. What should I do? I have an idea. Every day, we insist on military training and running in the street in the morning and afternoon, plus our corporate slogan and slogan. Through running for two kilometers every day, to convey a corporate image of the overall brand. It should be said that the dynamic effect of these drives is quite good, plus we sweep the building, run and spread information. Finally, I pulled the guests back.

By April of that year, the situation had greatly improved, and it was completely detonated after May Day. At that time, our store was not big enough, with only 21 tables, and many people lined up to eat. When the seats were not enough, we bought plastic benches and yellow sailboard tables as extra seats. Interestingly, whenever the urban management came, the guests would pick up the benches themselves, and the tables would go to the streets and lanes to hide from the urban management. This detail proved the customer's recognition of us. After the fire broke out, I hoped to open a second store, so I naturally opened a second store. Because of the accurate timing, basically none of them will be very popular. Coupled with the vigorous promotion of Chongqing food media, many diners have become more and more famous for making recommendations on food programs. At that time, many users went to Tianya, communities and forums to post posts and write experience reports. Step by step, pass this information on. Later, Chongqing newspapers providing information recommended us in the form of columns, and we were completely detonated at once.

in the next two years, I opened 18 stores in one breath, but from 2116 to 2119, the growth rate has been small and has been maintained at a dozen stores. There is no way to grow any more. I also tried airborne troops and introduced learning and training, but few really saw results. It can be said that I met the second hurdle.

At that time, I encountered several headaches in management. First, the staff's execution was relatively low. Basically, they relied on the boss to supervise, execute and implement, which greatly affected the overall combat capability.

and this greatly affects profitability. The reason for my analysis is that I basically followed up the first two stores myself. On-the-spot, employees were given solutions, basic training and hands-on guidance. Later, it was basically the manager who did these things, which greatly reduced the quality and ability of the whole staff, and reduced the customer experience and satisfaction. In addition, it was inefficient when the decisions we decided in a unified way were implemented at the operational level and at the grassroots level.

another reason is that the early corporate culture is the boss culture, and the charm and execution of the boss are passed down and implemented in the storefront. After more stores were opened, I basically implemented the manager responsibility system. However, there may be problems in the ability level and expansion speed of the store manager. Without systematic training or cultural influence, many things on the nodes or ideology can't be consistent with me, and there will be many problems in the process of inheritance. As a result, the cultural atmosphere of the enterprise has not been effectively formed and passed down because it runs too fast. In this long period of confusion, I have also made some thoughts and attempts, such as looking for airborne troops, but many of them have left and can't fit in. As a result, during this long wandering period, I paid a great price, and many open stores closed.

Faced with such a dilemma and situation, I have made a series of changes in the management system:

The first method is to convert shares to employees: the initial management of our single store adopts the manager responsibility system. That is, everyone often talks about equity incentives. The store manager has worked in the enterprise for a long time, and after we are very familiar with his work, management, and basic evaluation process of product production, we will let him hold shares in the process. Only when he feels that he is doing things for himself will he have a more responsible attitude. At the same time, we have absorbed outstanding employees at the grassroots and middle levels, and also transferred the shares of the store to them to obtain the shares of the store. They spend money to buy shares, and their share of shares varies according to their positions, and the highest proportion does not exceed 11%. As long as the implementation effect is good, they can get a lot of dividends when the company's benefits are good, which is immediate. But at first, many people still resisted and questioned whether they would be cheated, so they would be unwilling to pay. So we also designed a game similar to options. For example, if a position subscribes for 5%, the rich will give money first, and the company without money will put this part of the dividend in a pool that belongs to him. When the dividend is enough, the share capital will be yours. The result proves that this demonstration effect is very meaningful. After the completion of the ownership transformation, employees' work attitude and mental state have changed greatly, and their work enthusiasm has been activated at once.

secondly, we adopted our own contract responsibility system, which is to completely improve the service level. For example, five or eight tables are submitted to you in the service area of each person. As long as you complete the basic tasks, the extra ones will have performance points, which is your own income. It is equivalent to everyone having a private plot and a responsible field. As long as you serve your customers well, your income will be high. I just want this kind of employee to make money.

As a result, when we finished implementing this thing, everyone's ideas and ways were suddenly opened. We took this opportunity to write standards and norms. Specify what should be done and what effect should be achieved. At that time, the company completed the drafting and basic implementation of a standardized process. Our system and model can be said to be relatively comfortable, and there is basically no problem. After becoming a mode of stock conversion and employment changing into entrepreneurship. Employees buy gloves, masks, etc. on their own initiative, and actively think about and implement many things, giving customers a safer and cleaner impression. Of course, there will be some weakness after a long time, but through the soft culture and the power of example, the overall implantation and introduction have achieved good results. Generally speaking, the transformation of ownership has brought many benefits to the growth of enterprises.

Of course, there is a third step in this change, that is, standardization from the bottom up: after the model changes, we have formulated manuals on service, marketing, technology and financial management. We have established the whole standardized process and standardized operation. Later, it continued to expand, from site selection to decoration to training process to early opening, as well as feedback and comprehensive adjustment, all of which were standardized. The implementation effect is not bad. There are many catering enterprises, which often learn from or find masters and masters, and go from top to bottom, from the perspective of managers, considering how to do things and what kind of effect to achieve. However, we are the opposite. We have entered the training state since the formulation of standards, and everyone has to participate in the process of standard formulation. Employees can write what they usually do, how they do it, and what kind of effect they make, which can be very popular. The management will follow up, and the post, process and responsibilities of each post will be determined. After that, we summed it up in a more written language and made it ppt. We form this norm, which is equivalent to everyone participating in it. At the same time, employees have been trained. Every month, we will consolidate the standardized process and conduct another assessment.

after these major steps of reform, we are now close to 211 stores (some of which are franchise stores) in China. Sales have reached about 611 million. This proves that our series of changes are successful.

The catering industry is a zero-threshold Red Sea market. Seeing all kinds of signs changing in the dining floors of shopping centers, you will know how difficult it is to exist in this life. Wow, the case of griddle age is a successful case of creating new categories in the catering industry, and it is also a successful case of flank war.

first, it created a new category. The author wrote in another comment on catering enterprises. Differentiated survival? Is it all enterprises? Only? The way of life, isn't it? One? . Traditional hot pots are all served with soup, and there is no soup in the dry pot. This sharp opposition is sufficiently differentiated, attracting curiosity, causing tentative consumption, and then bringing a wave of diners through free word-of-mouth communication. So? It's very popular without much promotion. . Accumulated to a certain stage, an unheard-of griddle shop is on fire, which is more topical than a traditional hot pot restaurant, and can attract the attention of the media (the media always likes the new and hates the old, preferring to report new and strange topics), which in turn brings free public relations communication in a wider range and attracts a larger wave of diners.

secondly, a good source market is selected. Chongqing people are spicy and have a strong taste, and they are famous all over the country. Enterprises start here and have no worries about survival. Chongqing people are right? Spicy? The taste of food makes them absolutely suitable for dry pot dishes, and they have high authority and persuasion in evaluating such dishes; At the same time, Chongqing, as the only municipality directly under the Central Government in Southwest China, is a market with high potential energy, and its consumption fashion is exemplary and influential to consumers in Southwest China, which is conducive to spreading and expanding brand awareness and paving the way for it to enter other cities in the region.

finally, the regional focus strategy was implemented. Firstly, the regional focus strategy makes it possible for enterprises to make use of the existing brand potential energy, and makes the brand reputation spread naturally from the source market to the surrounding areas like running water, with low cost and good effect; Second, the radius of enterprise management is reduced, and the cost and risk of operation management are reduced. These two points are very important for start-up enterprises.

although this case only talks about catering enterprises, the basic methods and principles of flank warfare embodied in it are actually applicable to all enterprises. Of course, creating new categories requires the intuition and courage of entrepreneurs, and sometimes it contains elements of gambling. But successful enterprises are pioneers of new categories, such as McDonald's and real kung fu. All entrepreneurs who want to win brilliant victories need to think about how to launch a flank war; In the history of business, all flank wars need to create new categories.

let's talk about what the enterprise encountered later? The second one? Kan. This is a problem faced by most catering enterprises. In the initial stage, most entrepreneurs do everything themselves, without paying attention to team and system construction. It was only after the problem of scale expansion that the team was not cultivated and the system was not perfect. The new store in the later period will definitely not get the same energy and resources input from entrepreneurs, which will inevitably cause the new store to face difficulties. Entrepreneurs should not expect employees to be as smart, hardworking, factory-oriented and idealistic as entrepreneurs; More realistically,? This is just a job? Therefore, entrepreneurs need to establish a set of management systems and processes. As long as our employees can complete their tasks according to the standards, they can achieve high probability of success. Of course, if we can appropriately use the incentive mechanism to give employees more work motivation, it is possible to obtain better business performance.