The Spring Festival is approaching, and the taste of the year is getting stronger, and Beijing catering businesses are also ushering in a new wave of consumption.
According to data from Meituan Waimai, in the last week, the search volume of "New Year's Eve dinner" on the platform increased by 4 times compared with last year, and the search volume of "New Year's Eve dinner reservation" increased by 2 times.
The growth in consumer demand has also boosted the confidence of catering companies.
"I am looking forward to it. In 2023, we are full of confidence in the recovery of the catering industry."
Relevant persons in charge of Beijing Meizhou Dongpo, Hehegu, Huda Restaurant, Chaozhou Congee and other brands said in an interview.
Fully preparing for the Spring Festival, some restaurants have doubled their manpower for full-time packing
Recently, many netizens in Beijing left messages saying that although queuing up for dine-in food is a bit annoying, they feel very good instead.
The recovery speed of the industry has exceeded the expectations of many businesses.
Many catering businesses have begun to prepare for the Spring Festival offline and online. Some restaurants have doubled their manpower and are responsible for take-out packaging full-time, because this will be "truly deterministic growth."
"Hello, how many tables do you want to book for the New Year's Eve?" In Meizhou Dongpo (Wangfujing store), the noon passenger flow has recovered to more than 80% of the usual, and the waiters receive consultation calls from time to time to reserve the New Year's Eve dinner .
According to Wang Zheng, the person in charge of the delivery of Meizhou Dongpo, a time-honored Sichuan cuisine restaurant, reservations for the New Year’s Eve dinner are quite impressive.
The brand has launched dine-in reservations offline, and has also launched various set meals and New Year dishes on the takeaway platform, such as "Ji Tu Na Fu", "Ji Tu Adding Lu", "Ji Tu Zengshou", and "Ji Tu Sending Jubilee", including New Year's Taste Family Portrait, Dongpo Roast Duck, Braised Dongpo Knuckle and other classic dishes meet the diverse dining needs of Beijing residents.
Compared with last year, there are more options for dine-in and take-out packages.
Consumers are dining at Meizhou Dongpo (Guomao Store), photo by Zhou Mo
Sun Yue, the person in charge of the takeaway business of Hehegu brand, said that during the epidemic, the business of dine-in stores ushered in a trough, and now it has rebounded strongly. It is understood that dine-in restaurants in some of its stores have recovered to 80%.
"According to this speed of recovery, around the Spring Festival, we can reach the best state in these three years." Sun Yue said: "Of course, it may take some time to fully recover to before 2019, but the dawn has already appeared. This year During the Spring Festival, we have already launched two Chinese New Year Family Packages online, and after the Spring Festival, we will simultaneously launch the 'Start of Work Package', which is expected to usher in a wave of growth in new orders."
Another Beijing catering brand "Chao Porridge Hui" said that whether it is a shopping mall store or a separate store, it will insist on keeping offline and online during the Spring Festival this year.
"We will go all out to get off to a good start in the Spring Festival stalls. When ordering New Year's Eve set meals, takeaway users will focus on the tastes of the elderly and children at home, so Cantonese cuisine is very popular. The restaurant will double its manpower and be responsible for takeaway packages." Wang Xia, the person in charge of Chaozhou Congee Hui, said, "Our dine-in and take-out insist on cooking in one pot, and we have special insulated delivery boxes to ensure the taste, so that citizens can eat hot porridge without leaving home."
The inflection point has reached the double growth of online takeaway and offline dine-in
"Through the recent data such as New Year's Eve dinner reservations, we found that while online orders are growing rapidly, offline consumption is also recovering at an accelerated pace. This year's Spring Festival is expected to be an inflection point for the industry's consumption recovery." Zhang Shengtao, head of operations at Huda Restaurant, introduced.
Hu Da Restaurant, which mainly operates late-night snack scenes, decided to seize the inflection point of the Spring Festival in the Year of the Rabbit to try new business opportunities. It has developed a wealth of New Year’s Eve dinner packages both offline and online for citizens to choose from.
"In order to stabilize and stay on the job, we encourage employees to celebrate the New Year on the spot and arrange off-peak vacations. During the Spring Festival, we also prepared red envelopes for employees in Beijing to start work, so that everyone has a sense of gain and happiness."
At present, the prevention and control of the epidemic has entered a new stage, and dine-in in catering stores is recovering rapidly.
With the resumption of work and production in all walks of life, takeaway orders have also maintained a booming state.
Catering companies are getting rid of uncertainty and moving towards certainty.
It is one of the reasons why many businesses believe that the catering industry can recover quickly by focusing on online and offline dual home games and further amplifying the experience and advantages accumulated during the special period.
According to Wang Zheng, the person in charge of food delivery at Dongpo, Meizhou, from June to December 2022, since the brand promoted offline and online "dual store managers", the food delivery business has increased by more than 30% year-on-year.
Therefore, the company's "dual store managers" system will be fully implemented in January 2023, including store positions, policy benefits, etc. will be uniformly arranged.
Meizhou Dongpo's new attempt of "dual store managers" is actually a major trend in the development of "dual home venues" in the catering industry in the post-epidemic era.
"In the past, the store staff may only be able to take out and pack, but now they are very familiar with various takeaway operation strategies. During the epidemic, not only the proportion of takeaway has continued to increase, but also the brand has cultivated a large number of excellent takeaway talents, which also gives us the confidence to combine takeaway and delivery. Dine-in food is equally important. During the Spring Festival, we will deploy sufficient manpower for the take-out service, and a dedicated store manager will be responsible for following up the user service experience to ensure that citizens can taste fresh and delicious Chinese New Year food without leaving home. Supper."
Takeaway riders pick up food from the store in Dongpo, Meizhou, photo: Zhou Mo
As a well-known catering brand in Beijing, the number of Hehegu stores has increased from more than 110 in 2019 to more than 200 at present, achieving growth against the trend.
This is inseparable from Hegu's deep cultivation of online and offline "dual home games" over the past three years.
According to Hehegu Sun Yue, Hehegu has always put high-quality products and good services for customers in the first place.
Taking takeout as an example, Hehegu will carry out multi-dimensional analysis and processing of all order evaluations, do a good job of interacting with users, and continue to make efforts in the research and development of meals and tableware.
For example, merchants have several types of self-developed equipment with timing and temperature setting, which can reduce manual misjudgments and ensure the stability of meal quality.
Create a "takeaway laboratory" and launch new meals every season to meet the needs of consumers for early adopters.
"Doing food delivery helps us retain old users. With the accelerated recovery of store business, many online users have also become frequent dine-in customers."
In order to better help catering merchants operate, Meituan Waimai also launched a number of marketing activities such as "Eat something good in winter" based on seasonal characteristics and consumption trends to help merchants grow.
At the same time, the "Takeaway Butler Service" was launched. A takeaway operator with professional digital operation capabilities will provide one-on-one assistance to catering merchants affected by the epidemic. The service covers business diagnosis, store decoration, meal design, event planning, promotion and marketing, Operation optimization and other six items.
Facing the "certain growth" of the industry, many catering businesses are working hard, hoping to seize the recovery bonus period of the Spring Festival, add firewood and fire, and help ignite the "fireworks on earth".
Industry insiders said that in addition to the promotion of festival consumption, another important reason why the catering industry can achieve a rapid recovery is that online takeaway and offline dine-in promote each other, adding new impetus to the recovery of catering this year.