A hot pot company actively saves itself and seeks opportunities across borders

Seeking change, we can only make progress (new economic position · Small and medium-sized enterprises pass through) ④)

　　Our reporter Song Haoxin

　　Although it has already entered the summer, Wang Wenjun still feels terrified when recalling the Spring Festival just past.

　　The sudden arrival of the epidemic caught him by surprise when he was already preparing for the booming business of the Spring Festival. On January 25, Chengdu issued a notice prohibiting the organization of group catering business activities, including self-run banquets in rural areas, banquets for dams, etc.

　　Wang Wenjun is the founder of a well-known hot pot restaurant in Chengdu. There are more than 30,000 hot pot restaurants in Sichuan, where there is no spiciness. Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the peak season of the catering industry has dimmed without warning. A series of difficulties were put on Wang Wenjun's heads-up, such as market suspension, stockpiles, labor and rental costs.

　　Every day I open my eyes, more than 100,000 yuan is gone

　　Selling vegetables to cut wages, stop losses and reduce costs, save yourself

　　"We walked all the way from a small hot pot restaurant with only 17 tables. We have never encountered such a situation. The store is closed, the income is gone; the salary is to be paid, and the rent is to be paid ... The yuan is gone. In addition to the excess food stocks prepared in advance, the electricity bill of the freezer can't withstand it. "Under multiple pressures, Wang Wenjun" almost lost his head. "

　　Survival is paramount. Wang Wenjun, together with other management personnel of the company, should save himself as soon as possible, which is a top priority.

　　On the one hand, the excess food inventory is sold to nearby residents at a discount or even at a discount. On the other hand, the city's employees are notified to take turns to take up their jobs, the foreign employees work at home, and the management takes the lead in salary adjustment, keeping only the basic salary and social security, to further reduce labor costs.

　　"Rent is the bulk of the cost of hot pot stores. We would like to thank the competent department for helping us coordinate the property. The rent has been reduced by 1.2 million yuan before and after, and we have also won tax concessions." Wang Wenjun lamented.

　　In order to reduce inventory and reduce costs and rents, the hot pot restaurant suffered heavy losses during the closed period of more than a month, but "fortunately, it saved itself in time and did not hurt the vitality." What he did not expect was that the unremarkable takeaway service and the webcast that had never been involved actually became his "savior" for the next reorganization.

　　Diners and takeaways, who is the protagonist

　　Adapt to demand, expand takeaways, and promote franchise stores

　　"You have a new takeaway order! Please check!" Just after entering the lobby of Chengdu Huapaifang store, a pleasant ringtone came from the online platform. The store manager said that the take-out took more than 1,500 orders a day at most, and the turnover exceeded 500,000 yuan.

　　In 2016, the company launched the takeaway service. "But hot pot still has a taste for dine-in, and take-out has always been a supporting role." Wang Wenjun said that after the resumption of production, the demand for take-out has increased greatly, and there were only two stores for take-out, which soon increased to 9. "We make take-out posters every day and mobilize employees to forward them along with official Weibo and WeChat to let friends, relatives and more residents know that we can deliver take-outs. In a week, the number of take-out orders has skyrocketed from more than 300 orders per day to more than 1,000 orders. . "

　　In order to attract a partner, the company urgently formulates a support strategy, actively arranges takeout operation equipment, and sorts out operation manuals and videos, successively launching "full-sealed film hot pot takeout service" in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi'an and other places. In addition to the takeaway platform, the company's WeChat public account also opens an online ordering entrance.

　　Takeaways are delivered without contact, and carry a health certificate and a security card with you. When there were many orders, Wang Wenjun himself also rode an electric car and became a "Takeaway Brother".

　　What to do if the delivery area is limited

　　Live delivery of goods, cross-border cooperation, force new retail

　　"I want to eat hot pot, but if I live too far away for delivery, I won't do it myself. How can I do it?" A few days after the delivery service was resumed, this Weibo background message attracted Wang Wenjun's attention and thinking.

　　"Although we can't deliver it, we can teach them to make hot pot through a webcast." His idea fits in with a webcast platform, and he said that he could do it, and the broadcast room would soon be put up.

　　"Our main feature is 'spicy', so the hot pot base will use three kinds of peppers, such as sea pepper, millet spicy and devil spicy. Soak it in warm water before breaking it and then smash it. The fusion of taste will produce a unique fragrance. "In the live broadcast, the chef carefully reminded that when frying the hot pot base, the onion, ginger and garlic should be rotated down and fried to golden color, and then quickly removed, so as to avoid the taste of paste, spicy but not dry. The commentary like "finding the house", the feedback is gratifying.

　　"Although we are preparing hurriedly and start broadcasting at the meal, there are still more than 87,000 netizens in the first live broadcast guarding the live broadcast room, indicating that our live broadcast is too 'let's eat'." Wang Wenjun said that while the chef live broadcast "teaching", It also launched its own variety of base packs, which are sold with "hot pot companions" such as bowl chicken, self-heating claypot rice, and consumers can place orders online.

　　"I'm really crying, I'm going to buy materials." "The bottom material is not good to speculate, or it is convenient and affordable to place orders online ..." The enthusiastic interaction of the audience brought great confidence to Wang Wenjun. While the iron was hot, he immediately planned and launched activities such as "contactless takeaway delivery" with local media in Chengdu, and completed more than ten live broadcasts of hot pot eating at home. "I didn't expect cross-border cooperation to work so well, and the live broadcast couldn't stop at the beginning. Brands and stores like barber shops, gyms, milk, and beer all came to us to cooperate and provide products and vouchers for our diners through take-out. "

　　"Boss! Let's share Maodu again!" As night fell, Wang Wenjun's hot pot restaurant sounded a familiar cries again. On March 26th, Chengdu fully resumed normal business activities in the catering and other service industries.

　　After a lapse of several months, looking at the diners waiting in line outside the door, although Wang Wenjun was no longer anxious and confused, his tense nerves were still not relaxed. "Takeaway or live broadcast are all 'wartime blood transfusions.' The epidemic is really painful and a rare stress test, which forced us to re-examine and think about how to make efforts in the field of new retail and intelligence. To improve the ability to 'make blood after war.' "

　　Reporter's notes

　　The ability to improve becomes unsurprised

　　Affected by the new pneumonia epidemic, China's food and beverage consumption has not been affected before and after the Spring Festival. Some catering enterprises are facing the difficulties in response to changes in the market. The current difficulties have passed, and the long-term development path still needs to be considered. Traditional dining habits, such as shared meals and combined meals, are changing, and consumers ’weight for safety and health is rising, which may have a far-reaching impact.

　　In this context, many catering companies have set their sights on the new retail sector, seizing their share through online sales and processing specialty dishes into standardized semi-finished products. Some companies have tasted the sweetness for the first time, but for most small and medium-sized catering companies, this is still a new topic. It not only tests the financial strength and talent accumulation level, but also tests the market resource integration ability.

　　On the one hand, following the changes in consumer psychology, advocating a meal-sharing system, cultivating the eating habits of “public chopsticks and spoons”, and promoting the healthy development of catering culture; The development path will be transformed and upgraded in a timely manner. Only by truly improving the company's own "immunity" can we become invulnerable and turn crises into opportunities.