When the menu "lose weight", some customers' doubts also arise.

"The weight has been reduced by half, but the price has not been reduced by half. Is the restaurant launching a' small dish' in a disguised price increase? "

For diners, the price of a small portion does not seem to be "affordable"; But for shopkeepers, a small part of the cost is actually higher than diners think.

How to find a balance between restaurant management and avoiding diners' waste has become an examination question facing the catering industry.

With these questions, Henan Business Daily reporter visited.

The general view can satisfy the "practical motivation" of consumers, not "more practical"

For Zhengzhou people who love pasta, big noodles and small noodles have become the first choice for consumers to vomit.

"Why is a small portion of flour only about two yuan cheaper than a large portion of flour, but half of the noodles are missing? Is this a marketing tool for merchants to induce me to buy in large quantities through the slogan of' avoid waste'? "

With questions from consumers, Henan Business Daily reporter visited many noodle restaurants in Zhengzhou. The difference between the "large and small portions" noodle restaurants reflected by consumers is half or nearly half, and the price difference is 1-2 yuan.

Take the noodle restaurant "Qin Feng minced meat noodles" in Ronghua community as an example, with small portions 10 yuan, large portions 12 yuan and large portions of minced meat noodles 14 yuan.

According to the shop advocate, this practice is not to induce consumers to buy large portions of noodles in pursuit of so-called interests, but to hope that consumers will get greater satisfaction after eating noodles. If it is only for the purpose of making money, according to the overall accounting ratio, diners with large appetite will have similar "unaffordable" psychology when choosing large portions, so the two yuan added for large portions and super large portions introduced by noodle restaurants only cover the cost.

"This is actually a marketing tool, similar to small profits but quick turnover." Zhang said to him.

In this regard, Chen Guangming, a marketing expert and head of Golden Book Management Consulting Company, believes that "big and small noodles" belong to the product category extension marketing strategy. For Xiao Mian, 1 yuan or 2 yuan money is actually earned by the merchant, but it can make his products have an additional category to satisfy diners with different appetites. If extra diners come in, they will have the opportunity to consume his drinks and side dishes. It's not the extra money that really makes money.

Zhou Xiuting, director of the Marketing Research Center of Zhengzhou University, said: "The price difference seems to be only two yuan, but it is actually a psychological pricing. He said that adding two yuan from a small bowl of noodles to a large bowl of noodles will double the amount of noodles, so that customers who have just come to eat noodles will eat more, increase their satisfaction after consumption and satisfy the psychology of "practical motivation".

Why can't "small portions" be as "affordable" as hot pot restaurants?

If the big bowl noodles are upgraded after adding two yuan to the small bowl noodles, it is mainly to increase the satisfaction of diners after consumption, then the restaurant mainly cooking is just the opposite.

On the Internet, netizens have come up with examples of "fishing for half a plate in the sea". "Half the dishes in the hot pot are half price, and the weight of' small dishes' is also half less. Why is the price not half price? "

During the visit, Henan Business Daily reporter found that since the implementation of the call of "practicing economy and opposing waste", except for the dishes in hot pot, the charging standard for "small dishes" in cooking restaurants is only 30% -7.5% of the whole meal, which is not so "affordable" from the menu.

In this regard, Sheng, a China chef and executive vice president of the Henan Famous Chef Professional Committee, said: "Almost every dish in the restaurant must be fried separately. For chefs in restaurants, the time and energy spent on' small dishes' has hardly decreased, and the cost of dishes is far less valuable than the chef's time. In addition, from the perspective of a series of services of restaurants, the number of customers that restaurants can receive every day generally does not change much, and the salary cost and rental cost of waiters will not be reduced because of the reduction in the amount of dishes. "

Take Sheng Jie Jun as an example. When two people come to dinner, they usually choose a table for four. A dish takes five minutes. In the past, it took them 65,438+00 minutes to order two dishes in the kitchen. Now they order three or four side dishes, which will take 65,438+05-20 minutes in the kitchen. The workload of the stove and the chef goes up, the serving time will slow down, the guest will occupy the table for a long time, the turnover rate will drop, and the profit will drop. In this case, it is estimated that many restaurants with ordinary business will lose money if half price is strictly implemented for small dishes.

Generally speaking, if we can't find a balance between business model and avoiding waste, we will strengthen the three pain points of "timeliness, efficiency and standardization" and lead to higher costs.

The upgrading of this round of "small portion dishes" is not only an opportunity to promote the formation of a new fashion of saving and help consumers develop a good habit of ordering moderately, but also a new opportunity and challenge for the catering industry.

Formulate the standardized production ratio of "small portion"

Shen Qiang, executive deputy general manager of Awu Yellow River Carp Store, told Henan Business Daily: "In fact, when we see that our guests are very wasteful, we diners sometimes feel very sad. Improving food waste has always been a key task in our business process, and it is also an optimization for us. "

Shen Qiang said that different catering forms and dishes face different problems. In this regard, Awu Yellow River Carp has formulated a set of standardized "small portions" production ratio according to the dishes. Although the price is not directly discounted, the proportion of meat and auxiliary dishes is adjusted in the quantity of dishes to increase the sense of benefits brought to customers by the reduced small portion of dishes.

Shen Qiang said, "For example, a large portion of fried chicken contains 500 grams of chicken and 300 grams of chicken skin, but we will not directly halve the ingredients. The content of our small portion of chicken is 350 grams, and the skin is 250 grams. The main ingredients and accessories are different, and the price is not calculated in absolute terms. Therefore, we don't have a' half dish', only a' small dish'. "

Henan Business Daily reporter found in Awu Yellow River Carp Store that if two people go to eat, the waiter will propose a "side dish" and a vegetable to the customer. If it is not enough, they can order another rice staple.

It is suggested that the ordering platform give traffic subsidies.

Yuan Yue, the founder of Boom Marketing Consulting Company, thinks that if the "small dish" becomes half price and half price of a full-fledged hot pot restaurant, it is equivalent to doubling the operating cost for the restaurant, so the restaurant will set the price of the "small dish" at 7-7.5 fold.

For customers, ordering four "small dishes" will be much more expensive than ordering two "large dishes" before. From the perspective of personal expenses, such a "side dish" dinner is tantamount to waste, and it is also a waste for the kitchen.

However, China people have a tradition of "noodles" when eating. They think that dinner for six people needs six cold dishes and six hot dishes, or at least 10 dishes. Now, the "n- 1" ordering strategy, that is, six people order five courses for dinner, will make guests feel very humiliated. At this time, choosing "small portion" can not only save the guest's face and avoid waste, but also give the whole table a feeling of direct discount.

Yuan Yue said that the introduction of "small portions" in restaurants will be limited by "cost" to a great extent, but it is a bit uneconomical for consumers not to buy them at half price. It has been suggested that the online ordering platform can give some flow subsidies to restaurants that offer half-price "small dishes" to promote restaurants to realize half-price "small dishes" as soon as possible.