How many dining dreams are you going to ruin in shopping malls?
Commercial plazas have mushroomed all over the country in recent years, and in first-tier cities there are more than 100 of them every year. The speed is expanding rapidly
. At the same time, the mutual flattery between the Internet and the catering industry has made the emerging catering industry increasingly prosperous.
Under the grand scene, what you see may not be real! In recent years, the impact of the Internet on physical stores has been obvious. As one goes, the catering industry has become a new player in shopping malls. life-saving straw. As a result, more and more shopping malls have focused on the catering industry, and restaurants of various shapes have begun to focus on commercial real estate. Let’s first take a look at the two major changes in the catering industry in shopping malls in recent years:
Early shopping mall catering
In the early stages of the catering layout of commercial plazas, they basically followed the road-driven development Strategy, most restaurants will be located on the next floor of shopping malls or near the subway exit. Some fast food restaurants will be extended to one or two floors on this basis. But looking at the entire mall, the layout of restaurants on other floors is basically invisible.
Did the catering industry save shopping malls, or did shopping malls promote the development of the emerging catering industry?
In most commercial plazas since 2022, the layout of the catering industry has been greatly expanded With the changes, restaurants with different formats have appeared on each floor, and various cross-border formats have even been interspersed, such as parent-child activity rooms, handicraft workshops, coffee bookstores, etc., all appearing in the mall.
With the expansion and development of catering and related businesses, the shopping mall economy seems to have new vitality. For a time, commercial real estate once again became a hot topic in the catering industry.
Did the catering industry save shopping malls, or did shopping malls promote the development of the emerging catering industry? Will the future development of shopping malls still become a hotbed for the catering industry?
This question, It’s worth thinking about!
Six major pain points of catering in shopping malls
Looking at the catering layout of the commercial plaza’s strategic planning and the subsequent operation and management of the catering industry, the future of catering in shopping malls is really surprising. People are worried!
Whether it is a first-tier city or a second-tier or third-tier city, 80% of shopping malls with restaurants are suffering. The traffic of shopping malls throughout the day is extremely low. From Monday to Thursday, they are simply empty cities, and the number of employees is very low. The number of guests will double. Many catering companies are hoping to use the weekend economy to make a comeback. Once faced with changes in weather, traffic and other factors, it will undoubtedly make things worse.
The first is the design and decoration of the shopping mall.
The shopping mall’s parking routes, escalators, direct elevators, sanitary facilities, service desks, signage, etc. all show design and planning flaws to a certain extent. For example, in Shanghai, some shopping malls failed from the beginning of their design. Why? The entrance and exit signs are confusing, and consumers go shopping outdoors. Is there any difference between shopping malls like this and shopping on the main road? How is it possible on a hot, cold, rainy day? Is there a flow of people?
This is like a restaurant. When designing and decorating, the operations team must participate. So, what about the operations team responsible for the catering industry in a commercial plaza? Have you ever participated in the planning and design of shopping malls and corresponding categories? Is the brand attracting investment?
Secondly, the shopping mall’s investment team is not professional enough.
In order to attract popularity, shopping malls are bound to extend an olive branch to big brand catering, often offering very low rents or other preferential subsidies; but similarly, for some small catering merchants who are not familiar with investment promotion, there are still There are various potential entry fees, and good locations and rents are also negotiated through relationships. There are even some shopping malls that have the same category repeated many times during investment promotion.
For example, some shopping malls invite multiple barbecue restaurants, hot pot restaurants, multiple noodle restaurants, etc.; there are also multiple optical shops or shoe stores. Doesn’t this make the shops cannibalize each other?
Although consumers are given multiple choices, in order to compete, shops deliberately lower prices and discounts, and then use low-cost and poor-quality raw materials to sell. Is this responsible for consumers?
Shopping malls need big brands. restaurants to attract popularity, but the premise is that shopping mall operators must position themselves accurately.
The overall marketing plan of the mall is not satisfactory.
Every year during major holidays, it is necessary to unite with peripheral cross-sector industries, communities and other departments to carry out activities, and to publicize and promote catering companies in shopping malls. Each entrance and exit or important location on each floor must have labels and guidelines for the restaurant brand, and there must also be electronic displays to promote different brands of restaurant specialty products, instead of fixing one brand and charging extra fees. This is unfair. Restaurants in shopping malls have to pay rent, so shopping malls should promote restaurants, which is what they should do.
For example, K11 in Shanghai introduces cultural industries, world-renowned art exhibitions and cultural salons, which raises the culture of the mall to a new level, but also brings a lot of traffic; the overall design of K11 and Investment promotion is operated by a world-class professional team. There are higher requirements for the brand culture of merchants.
The fourth is that shopping malls do not support catering companies enough
If we can introduce some cross-border brands outside shopping malls (such as cars, real estate, education, music, etc.), they can enter shopping malls to do For advertising and publicity, shopping malls can charge venue fees, and the shopping mall must distribute these fees to catering companies or all shops stationed in the mall to distribute red envelopes. Only in this way can the goal of winning the most be achieved. No matter how many red envelopes are, these are all benefits, so It can further promote the purpose of shopping mall brand.
I would like to ask, the shopping mall distributes red envelopes to the shops. Which brand would not want to settle in such a shopping mall?
Fifth, the comprehensive ability of the shopping mall’s investment promotion and operation personnel is very
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Lack.
In some shopping malls, they have very little understanding of the catering industry. As long as someone pays, they will be recruited, regardless of whether the overall positioning of the mall is consistent with the business model. One attitude when attracting investment, and another attitude after moving in. This kind of service makes many catering businesses feel disappointed.
Shouldn’t the investment promotion and operation personnel of shopping malls be trained and learned? At the very least, should several people who have been engaged in catering industry management participate in the entire operation team? Otherwise, catering merchants will not be able to satisfy.
Sixth, it is the unspoken rules and overlord clauses of the shopping mall.
If some restaurants want to enter a popular shopping mall, they must go to another shopping mall of this brand with a poor location to open a store. Otherwise, Wangpu will not give it to you; For example, there is a shopping mall in Shanghai that has been open for a few years, and then opened a new shopping mall in Changzhou. However, because it is very difficult to attract investment, and the location and popularity are very poor, the shops in the Shanghai shopping mall must take over the shops in new shopping malls from other places. Otherwise, the original store cannot continue to renew its contract; some restaurants open stores in new stores in order to survive, and then close within a few months.
There are many real cases like this; do the malls themselves have no problems? Do they develop and select shopping malls on the fly? Why do they have to let catering businesses bear the consequences?
Of course, some shopping malls do very well in catering. High-quality services such as being adjacent to the subway and commercial areas in the downtown area, including parking lots, public toilets and other infrastructure. In order to attract people, some shopping malls will make plans for underground and rooftop parking lots based on actual conditions. Most shopping malls will provide corresponding service connections for all license applications. Relatively speaking, fire protection and environmental impact assessment are relatively easy. This depends on the professionalism of the shopping mall in the early design and planning.