Recently, I have been crazy about the short video of Ma Liuji Hot and Sour Noodles on various apps. Every night when I am drooling while watching the video, I can’t help but wonder, how does Ma Liuji operate? Let me explain it based on the product perspective.

Share ~ Speaking of Ma Liuji, you may not know what he does, but I believe that if you mention Wang Xiaofei and Big S, you will be familiar with it.

Ma Liuji was established in August 2020. It is an important catering project operated by Wang Xiaofei after handling South Beauty and Lan Club in 2020.

Ma Liuji currently focuses on Sichuan cuisine and operates through two models: "offline restaurant and online pre-made dishes".

At present, offline restaurants have opened in three cities: Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu.

Catering stores are provided to consumers after purchasing, pre-processing, transportation, and re-processing.

Ma Liuji has 9 stores in Beijing, covering commercial areas with high traffic density such as Guomao, Wangfujing, Chaoyang Joy City, and Qinghe Wanxianghui. The superior geographical location means high rents.

According to the rental price of a shop, it is 15/square meter/day. The rent in a medium-sized business district is based on an area of ????200 square meters, and the annual rent is about 1.1 million.

A rough estimate of Ma Liuji's rent in Beijing has reached tens of millions, not to mention several stores in Chengdu and Shanghai.

However, since 2020, the rise in important raw materials for catering condiments such as soybeans and corn has further increased the pressure on the cost side of the catering industry.

The turnover rate of employees in the catering industry is generally high, especially for excellent employees. In order to retain talents, according to statistics, the per capita annual salary of Haidilao has increased to about 100,000 yuan. Assuming there are ten employees, then the annual labor cost of store employees in Beijing

Around 9 million.

Ma Liuji offline restaurant has an average price per capita of about 139 yuan in Shanghai, about 120 yuan in Beijing, and about 100 yuan in Chengdu.

Ma Liuji sells its own goods live on the Douyin platform through accounts such as "Zhang Lan·Qiao Life", "Wang Xiaofei", and "Ma Liuji", with a total of 4.561 million fans.

The selection mainly focuses on popular products such as hot and sour noodles and dried fish. Data from the Douyin platform shows that 790,000 hot and sour noodles and 528,000 dried fish have been sold respectively.

At present, Ma Liuji is more popular in the market. On the one hand, it is because offline restaurants have the brand effect of celebrities, the taste of dishes is popular, the location is high-quality, and the price is relatively acceptable to the public; the second reason is that online pre-made products are broadcast through live broadcast

The model of carrying goods explores user needs and promotes transactions.

So in addition to the blessing of brand effects and the dividends of live broadcasts, how can we achieve sustained growth? I believe that good quality of goods delivered to consumers is the core of brand scale.

Live streaming subverts the traditional e-commerce model of clear transaction needs and taps user needs through live streaming, but the premise of everything is a quality recognized by consumers.

In any industry, the fittest will eventually survive, and those with quality will win the world.

2020-2022 are the three years affected by the epidemic. During these three years, the catering industry has been hit hard. Objectively, regional lockdowns and subjectively out of epidemic prevention psychology have forced people to avoid dining in unless necessary.

When I want to open a restaurant, I first need to clarify the type of store you want to open, whether it is a mom-and-pop shop or a franchise store.

Franchise stores are well-known and have their own traffic, making it easier to acquire customers. However, the expensive franchise fees, unified decoration and raw material costs, and various head office-restricted systems. If you search online, you will find that they are all franchise routines, which makes people discouraged.

In comparison, mom-and-pop stores have relatively low initial investment costs and a high degree of freedom. However, the problem is that without brand endorsement, they cannot quickly attract consumers and may not be able to survive during the trial period.

Assuming you are opening a mom-and-pop shop, I think there are several important factors that need to be taken into consideration.

Once you rent this store, the fixed cost of rent is an essential daily expense. After the subsequent opening, additional water, electricity, and labor costs will be added. The default profit every day is negative, plus the unpredictable epidemic situation.

The impact is relatively greater. You can sell some pre-made products while doing traditional catering to relieve the pressure.

Or setting up a stall directly to reduce fixed expenses is also a good trial plan.

Reference articles: iResearch "2022 Commercial Kitchen Appliances White Paper for Catering Enterprises" 36kr "Live Broadcast, Internet Celebrity Store, Wang Xiaofei Takes the Stage to Act out Redemption" Yan Xiuer, WeChat public account: Yan Xiuer, everyone is a product manager columnist.

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The title picture comes from Unsplash, based on the CC0 agreement