Under the epidemic, the catering industry has become one of the industries hit hardest. As the domestic epidemic prevention and control situation is further consolidated, catering companies are actively transforming to respond to the crisis and accelerate the pace of resumption of production and production. However, consumer confidence still needs to be restored, and the industry's recovery is difficult.
Not long ago, a "outcry" between the Guangdong Provincial Catering Service Industry Association and Meituan once again reflected the survival predicament of current catering companies, especially small and medium-sized catering companies.
140-year-old brand squeezes into takeaway "track"
A cup of fresh and full shrimp dumplings, a steaming basket of steamed ribs, and a pot of hot tea, chatting with friends for two or three times-"sigh morning tea" that blends into the pulse of the life of "Laoguang", once pressed three months ago Press the "Pause button".
In the winter of catering, diners have slowed down consumption, but catering companies are trying their best to approach diners.
Tao Taoju, who is 140 years old, joined the "Takeaway Army" for the first time. After this well-established takeaway platform was launched, it was quickly welcomed by diners, and the newly-launched salt-baked chicken became an "explosion".
Tao Taoju's general manager Pang Guangsheng said that they are still trying to upgrade takeout packaging so that consumers can eat hot salted chicken at home. "I hope to create a younger and more stylish dish, so that Cantonese cuisine can be innovatively inherited."
Cantonese cuisine pays attention to the freshness of ingredients and the time limit for appreciation, so Cantonese restaurants focus on dine-in experience. However, affected by the epidemic, Guangzhou restaurant, Tao Taoju and other well-known catering enterprises in Guangdong, as well as many small and medium-sized catering merchants, have turned to the line to expand the food delivery business.
According to a survey report issued by the China Chain Store and Franchise Association in March, during the epidemic, 91.6% of the sample enterprises in the chain catering industry exerted force to take out products.
From dine-in to takeout, it is both transformation and self-help. Shi Jiduo, a Cantonese food stall in Guangzhou, has only been doing dine-in for more than 20 years since opening the restaurant. After the outbreak, he had to set up a take-out service.
"The dine-in has stopped completely, and you can only rely on take-out for the whole of February." Li Caijun, the person in charge of Shijiduo, said that after the launch of the Meituan take-out platform, the rapid increase in orders made her a little surprised. , But takeaways still account for half of the turnover. "
Multi-party restaurant association "scream" takeaway platform cut fees
As the epidemic prevention and control situation has stabilized, Guangdong's catering industry is returning to work in an orderly manner. However, since the resumption of dine-in, passenger flow and attendance have generally been less than ideal.
At lunchtime, the reporter came to a porridge shop in Tianhe District, Guangzhou. The owner Long Liqun greeted the guests in the store while packing up meals to the takeaway brother.
"The dine-in business is less than half of what it used to be." Long Liqun admitted that since February this year, he has been very worried. In order to get as many orders as possible, he has launched two takeaway platforms. "The landlord refuses to lower the rent. The amount is not enough to open a store. "
Up to now, Meituan's sales accounted for more than 80% of Shiji's takeaways, making up for the lack of dine-in food, but Li Caijun was not happy. The Meituan platform has to draw a commission of 16% for each order. In addition to the decline in dine-in customer flow, all sales can only cover the cost.
Li Caijun believes that if there is no food delivery, it is difficult for the restaurant to survive. If it can further reduce the platform commission, it will be more beneficial to the healthy development of the restaurant and the continuous operation of the food delivery platform.
When the takeaway has become the main source of revenue, the commission rate of the takeaway platform has naturally become the focus of the catering industry.
On April 10, the Guangdong Provincial Catering Service Industry Association issued a negotiation letter to Meituan Takeout, proposing two major demands for lowering commission rates and stopping exclusive platform restrictions, which attracted public opinion.
In fact, after the outbreak, several food and beverage associations in Hebei, Shandong, and other places, through "open shouting", called on Meituan, Hungry Me and other food delivery platforms to lower their commission rates to alleviate the pressure on the restaurant merchants.
The person in charge of a "Guilin rice noodle" store in Nanhai District of Foshan City told reporters that 50% of their operating income was used to pay rent and 20% was used to pay for raw materials and labor costs. After launching the takeaway platform, the commission rate extracted exceeds 20%, and its own profit is very meager.
Meituan increases the rebate ratio for some merchants
Although the relevant departments have issued a number of support policies, for some catering companies, rental and labor costs are still difficult to digest, and insufficient consumer confidence affects the overall market recovery.
According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on April 17, from January to March this year, the national catering revenue was 602.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 44.3%.
Under pressure, some catering companies save themselves through price increases, but the results are not satisfactory. Recently, Xibei Lumian Village and Haidilao raised the prices of dishes, causing consumer dissatisfaction. The two companies immediately apologized and stated that they would restore prices to the standard before the store closed.
In the negotiations with Meituan, the Guangdong Food and Beverage Service Industry Association proposed that on the Meituan food delivery platform, some merchants will be charged a commission rate of 26%, which is beyond the scope of the enterprise. Call on Meituan to waive the commission of 5% or more for the outdoor selling service of all restaurant operators in Guangdong Province during the entire epidemic.
Coincidentally, a few days ago, catering merchants such as Wenzhou in Zhejiang and Huaian in Jiangsu reported that their hungry food delivery platform requires an "exclusive" contract, otherwise the commission will be increased to 27%.
The Guangdong Food and Beverage Service Industry Association said that high commissions have always existed, and catering companies have not paid much attention to this before. The epidemic has hit the catering industry, and takeaways have become the main source of revenue. Catering companies operate takeaways only to secure employment and protect people's livelihood, while the takeaway platform has not changed substantially.
Meituan responded, "Commission is a floating value, generally between 10% and 20%." Wang Puzhong, senior vice president of Meituan, explained that the commission for the takeaway platform consists of three tariffs, namely the platform usage fee, technical service fee and distribution service fee. In 2019, Meituan ’s takeaway commission income was 49.6 billion yuan, of which more than 40 billion yuan was used to pay for riders ’expenses.
"This means that more than 80% of the commissions for Meituan takeaway platforms are used by riders. On the Meituan platform, nearly 4 million riders earn income, and reducing the commission will inevitably have an impact on the rider's income and directly affect employment and livelihood." Say.
After negotiations, on April 18, the Guangdong Provincial Catering Service Industry Association and Meituan Takeaway reached a consensus: Meituan respected the independent choice of various online platforms for catering merchants, supported the multi-channel development of private domain traffic independently operated by catering merchants, and fully opened the distribution platform The service will be connected; increase the rebate rate of high-quality catering takeout merchants in Guangdong to 3% -6%, expand the coverage, and extend the rebate time for at least 2 months.
Wang Zhongzhong said that he also faced operational difficulties during the special period, but he will continue to provide rebate support for high-quality catering merchants and increase subsidy investment, hoping to promote the recovery of merchant orders, enhance consumer confidence and spur industry recovery.
"Meituan actively and promptly listened to the voices of businessmen and promptly launched a series of practical and effective measures to help businessmen. Their attitude and sincerity are worthy of recognition." Tan Haicheng, executive chairman of the Guangdong Provincial Catering Service Industry Association, expressed satisfaction with this result. He said that the two sides will also establish a daily communication mechanism and strive to create a fair and orderly market environment.
The epidemic highlights the value of the takeaway platform, but it does not change the fact that the merchants and the platform serve as a community of shared destiny. In response to this reporter, the Food Delivery Committee of the Guangdong Provincial Catering Service Industry Association said that many food and beverage companies are struggling to survive, and the food delivery platform has helped companies overcome difficulties, so that the catering industry may continue to support the long-term development of Meituan.
Take multiple measures to boost the overall market recovery
Ms. Wen, the owner of Guangzhou Jimu Dessert Store, told reporters that the monthly fixed expenditure of the store is more than 80,000 yuan. In the past, only about 10% of the turnover depended on take-out, and now take-out has become the main source. "Even if the takeaway platform does not charge commissions, according to the current order volume, the daily turnover of five or six hundred yuan is not enough for various costs."
In response to the difficulties encountered by catering companies, industry experts called for continued open source and drainage.
Boost consumer confidence. He Weihui, general manager of Guangzhou Restaurant Group Catering Management Co., Ltd., said that night consumption was the first priority, but the current night consumption income of the group has not yet reached the expected value. Consumer confidence has not yet fully returned, and restaurant traffic and attendance need to be restored.
Increase relief efforts. Guangdong introduced a policy in March, and companies affected by the epidemic that leased state-owned assets for business use could be exempted from rent in the first month of 2020, and rents were halved in the second and third months; Beijing, Ningbo and other places also increased Support efforts to reduce or exempt rents for some SMEs. In addition, private enterprises such as Wanda, Longhu, Xincheng, etc. may reduce or exempt rents for tenants, or allow them to postpone rent payments.
But for most businesses, the short-term rent relief effect is not obvious. According to a report released by the China Chain Store and Franchise Association, in the first two months of this year, nearly 70% of the sample companies indicated that rents have declined, but among these companies with reduced rents, the amount of relief is generally less than 20% of the rent payable. The shops in the sample companies located in the shopping malls have rent reduction days ranging from 7 days to 2 months, with an average reduction period of 12 days.
Help enterprises "open source". During the epidemic, did you go hungry to introduce preferential measures such as commission reduction, capital support, and flow support to merchants? Meituan introduced measures such as merchant support and return of takeaway commissions for traffic promotion.
Internet observer Yin Sheng believes that relying solely on the reduction of commissions on takeaway platforms has limited help for catering companies. The core lies in helping merchants resume operations and increase business volume.
During the epidemic, some catering companies began to produce standardized food or semi-finished products for retail sale in order to save themselves. For example, for large-scale production of some hot-selling cuisines, hot pot restaurants expand the production of "semi-self-heating hot pot" and sell hot pot base materials, etc., to increase overall revenue.
On February 21, the Beijing Municipal Market Supervision Bureau issued relevant guidance, and the city allowed catering service units to sell online and offline semi-finished products processed by their units under the premise of ensuring food safety.
Yin Sheng suggested that the market supervision department give administrative guidance to the catering enterprises to quickly handle food production licenses, helping the catering enterprises to realize their own transformation faster.
Develop multiple online channels. Pan Helin, executive dean of the Digital Economics Research Institute of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, believes that "only catering companies can play games with large platforms, and individual catering companies have weak bargaining power."
The Guangdong Food and Beverage Service Industry Association stated that it encourages food and beverage companies to obtain traffic from multiple dimensions and channels, establish private traffic pools, establish brand IP influence, and effectively reduce traffic acquisition and operating costs. (Liu Dajiang, Hu Linguo, Deng Ruixuan)