According to incomplete statistics, there will be about 5 million snack merchants nationwide in 22, making it the largest category track in the catering industry. Focusing on this track, it is not difficult to find that snacks are rich in categories but not high in concentration. Fast food simple meals, fried chicken skewers and rice noodles are all favored by the consumer market.
A hundred flowers blossom at the same time, which means that the competition is intensified. In recent years, many new dark horses have emerged in snack tracks, and they have gained a firm foothold with the help of chain, brand and digital management. At the same time, many small catering brands are accelerating their elimination. According to data in the industry in 219, small catering brands disappear at a rate of 8% every year. Since 22, the epidemic has had a huge impact on the catering industry, and the reshuffle of the catering industry has been accelerating.
So, how do catering entrepreneurs who want to set foot on the snack track and dig gold now stand out from it?
The first element of snack entrepreneurship is location.
The entrepreneurial experience of Wumingyuan rice noodle may provide reference for many entrepreneurs.
When it comes to rice noodles, consumers may first associate it with Sichuan and Hunan cuisine, but Wumingyuan rice noodles started in Harbin. In 29, Wumingyuan Rice Noodle opened its first store in Harbin and operated southern snacks in the northeast. Wumingyuan Rice Noodle first bet on differentiation to fill the market vacancy.
In order to solve the problem of taste harmony between the north and the south, Wumingyuan rice noodle was initially positioned as meat foam rice noodle, which was similar to miscellaneous sauce, Sichuan Province. The soup was made of meat and made into Luzhou-flavor soup base. In addition, the raw material of rice noodle was coarse cereals with northeast characteristics, which satisfied the taste of the north. Then it is combined with southern cooking techniques to realize the combination of north and south crafts.
this is also the productism that Cao Yunbo, the founder of unnamed rice noodles who has been engaged in the catering industry for more than 2 years, insists on. The so-called "the fragrance of wine is not afraid of the depth of the alley", as long as the products are well made. However, in the later operation, Cao Yunbo found that this was a "cognitive misunderstanding". If the product is done well, there is no problem for customers to come to the door, but it is difficult to obtain high profits. Good products are certainly the foundation of entrepreneurship, but from a business perspective, "lots" are also very important for snack entrepreneurship.
(Cao Yunbo, the founder of Wumingyuan Rice Noodle, shares the site selection cheats)
In the program Diners Round Table Meeting of Meituan Catering System, Cao Yunbo shared her reflection on this "cognitive misunderstanding" when reviewing the entrepreneurial experience of Wumingyuan Rice Noodle. She said: "The first entrepreneurial element is location, and we must find a good location. And no matter what project we do, we choose the right project because of the place, not because of the project to choose the address. "
Wumingyuan Rice Noodle has made great efforts in site selection, choosing a gourmet area covering the periphery of office buildings, popular supermarkets and shopping malls, and at the same time, almost every store has online take-out to meet the daily commuting office workers' eating and consumption scenes. Up to now, Wumingyuan rice noodles have opened more than 3,5 stores nationwide, and the average monthly consumption of rice noodles exceeds 9 tons.
making a good product is the foundation of success, and on this basis, choosing the right position can show and spread the product advantages of Wumingyuan rice noodles, and finally it will stand in the highly competitive snack industry for more than ten years. So how can new snack brands gain a foothold with the help of site selection like nameless rice noodles?
Lack of funds in the growth stage
To choose a location with high passenger flow, we should pay more attention to "economy and applicability"
In the catering industry, there is a popular saying that the location should be "next to big money", that is, the store should be opened next to brand stores and public places with strong customer collection. On the one hand, it can draw on the experience advantages of well-known restaurants in opening stores, on the other hand, it can attract some customers with the help of brand effect.
hi-tea, Lele tea, Naixue tea, Taier pickled fish, Tan duck blood hotpot, etc. are all "big money" that have emerged in the catering industry in recent two years. They adopt a centralized location route to the "center", that is, they are selected in major shopping centers or core business districts in the city, and their stores are rapidly expanded.
If the catering industry is developed in Shanghai, there are more than 1 online celebrity restaurants in Lujiazui and Wujiaochang, the core business districts, followed by Xujiahui, Nanjing West Road, Zhongshan Park and Xintiandi. The most important reason for choosing these prosperous areas is the high traffic volume. According to the big data of Win Business, the average daily traffic volume of the above six business districts reached 49,, of which the daily traffic volume of Lujiazui business district reached 1.74 million on weekdays and 81, on holidays.
Snacks generally have low unit price and low gross profit. In order to ensure a high enough profit, it is necessary to "take the volume". Therefore, learning from the experience of online celebrity brands, setting up shops in places with high crowds by "Pangdafu" has a good promotion effect on product sales.
However, there is no doubt that the cost of laying stores in these core business districts is high. However, compared with well-funded online celebrity brands such as Naixue, Xicha, which are often valued at tens of billions of dollars, and Taier and Tan Duck Blood, whose unit price is more than 1 times different from that of ordinary snacks, the newly-entered snack brands are still in the growth stage, lacking funds, and it is difficult to spend money to "smash" out of the prime location.
The unit price of snack customers is low,
Choosing a convenient location can easily bring high returns
The so-called "careful calculation" is to understand its own positioning, such as what kind of people the taste style is suitable for, the ratio of in-house food to take-out, etc., as well as the data of the crowd structure, positioning, per capita consumption level and the ratio of online consumption to in-store consumption within the radiation range, and balance these factors to find the optimal solution.
To understand and meet the needs of consumers, Wang Dongfeng, head of the product market of Meituan Catering System, once mentioned that "the cheaper it is, the more people choose, and the first thing to choose is convenient location."
Snacks are the "cheaper" products compared with dinner. Consumers choose snacks instead of dinner. The core is to be quick and convenient to meet the needs of daily life, and location factors have a great influence on consumption decisions. Then, only by choosing a convenient location such as near the subway, near the business district, near the residence, office park, etc., can we meet the needs of consumers and businesses get high traffic.
these factors were taken into account when choosing the location of nameless rice noodles. firstly, the consumption scene of rice noodles is moving towards dinner, and the unit price is around 1-4 yuan, which is relatively close to the people. in a super-first-tier city like Beijing, nameless rice noodles avoid CBD and high-end business districts with higher per capita consumption level, and choose areas with lower per capita consumption level, which can be covered by online and in-store consumption scenes, such as community supermarkets and office buildings.
In order to accurately select these "cost-effective" addresses, Wumingyuan Rice Noodle has also done some homework.
Cao Yunbo mentioned that when choosing the location of Wumingyuan rice noodles, he would know the data of a location, such as take-away orders, people flow, re-purchase, etc. With the help of the "big data location" function of Meituan catering system and referring to the big data of stores on Meituan platform, he could understand the level of core catering business indicators within the business circle and help to analyze the monthly sales of stores.
in addition, in terms of customer portrait data, the "big data location" function of Meituan catering system can highlight the distribution of customer consumption time and paid price within the business circle, help catering brands to more accurately understand the consumption habits and consumption levels of surrounding audiences, and more accurately choose the location and follow-up operations.
summary
site selection is not a once-and-for-all thing. As the brand grows, every site selection is very important. Some people believe that after the entrepreneurial growth period, snack brands that have made money must open their stores to the best position. What is the best location, not necessarily in the prime location, but in the location where the operating efficiency of snack categories and the consumption power around the region can be balanced and released. The secret of choosing such a location lies in big data.
It is with the help of data support and clever use of data for analysis and application that Wumingyuan rice noodles have developed rapidly and steadily in the past 12 years, and more than 3,5 stores have been opened under the current situation that the restaurant chain rate in China is less than 5%.
For the growing catering brands, the location will only be more cautious, because each step may be related to the overall layout of the brand. After all, it is the wish of all catering brands to make every store develop positively, so the location will be a long-term homework for a catering brand.