Behind the Internet hot meme, why does pork foot rice eat "men's romance"?

87% increase in transaction volume

Behind the Internet hot meme, why does pork foot rice eat "men's romance"?

"A bowl of Longjiang pork foot rice, eat the romance of men", this Internet hot meme helped Longjiang pork foot rice from Guangdong to the whole country, making the word "romance" a footnote of pig's feet.

The data shows that the growth rate of pork foot rice is higher than that of other rice fast food for two consecutive years, and the transaction volume will increase by 2022% in 87, showing a trend of expansion from south to north. In 2021, the number of orders for takeaway pork knuckle rice on a single platform exceeded 7000 million.

Among the consumer groups, men are the main force. The data shows that 69% of the people who order pork knuckle rice nationwide; In Chengdu, the proportion has reached 70%.

Nine years ago, a taxi driver resolutely changed careers and opened the first batch of "Longjiang pork knuckle rice" in Chengdu, and now searching for the five words "Longjiang pork knuckle rice" on Dianping, you can get 9 results, just like "fast food master".

What is it that makes Longjiang pork foot rice prosperous?

Men prefer

Cheap, a lot of meat, add rice casually, "eat seven or eight times a month"

Romance is often associated with consumerism, but in Xiao Zhang's view, pork knuckle rice is anti-consumerist.

"In those high-end restaurants, the price of cutting fruit into slices and spreading salad is dozens of times. Moody, but not real. During the Qingming holiday, after eating exotic dishes for three days, Xiao Zhang chose to use a bowl of Longjiang pork foot rice to burst the "bubble" of consumerism.

At noon on the weekday after the holiday, a Longjiang pig's foot restaurant next to Evergrande Plaza in Qingyang District was full of diners, most of whom were white-collar workers working nearby, and Xiao Zhang was one of them. The reporter counted that of the nearly 20 diners, only 3 were women.

Xiao Zhang told reporters that the pork knuckle rice is not elegant enough, but it is expensive, and there are several pieces of meat on the promotional picture of Longjiang pork knuckle rice, and what is served is a few pieces of meat, a transaction without poor information, giving consumers a high degree of certainty. "Cheap, a lot of meat, not enough rice can be added, the main one is just needed."

Eight years ago, Xiao Zhang, who had just graduated, worked in Shenzhen. There, near every Grade A office building, there must be a Longjiang pork foot rice run by a Chaoshan husband and wife, filling the stomach of the wanderer and soothing the heart of the prodigal son. When he returned to Chengdu two years ago, Xiao Zhang suddenly found that it was better not in Guangdong than in Guangdong, and Longjiang pork knuckle rice had penetrated the streets of Chengdu, allowing him to always recall the taste of Guangdong.

Just two years ago, the meme "a bowl of Longjiang pork foot rice, eat a man's romance" began to become popular on Douyin. Since then, just like in Shenzhen, at noon on many working days, Xiao Zhang would order a bowl of Longjiang pork knuckle rice with char siu, and return to the office ten minutes later full of vitality to continue to work hard for performance. He often came with colleagues, and in order to facilitate lunch appointments, they also pulled a WeChat group, called "Pig's Foot Rice Brigade", dozens of Longjiang pig's foot rice near Tianfu Square and Chunxi Road, they have tasted more than half, "seven or eight times a month."

Some netizens ridiculed: "In the world of material desire, only Longjiang pork foot rice cares if you are full or not." The reporter visited more than ten stores and found that pork foot rice is usually 15 yuan for small portions, 18 yuan for large portions, and two or three yuan can spell a char siu or fat sausage, as long as it is not wasted, rice, soup, kimchi want to continue, cheap and good.

Why don't women like pork knuckle rice so much? After interviewing several women, the reporter got an almost unanimous answer: too fat, to gain weight.

"Fast Food F4"

The annual transaction volume increased by 87%, and the number of takeaway orders exceeded 7000 million

Men do prefer pork knuckle rice more than women, and this conclusion is backed by data.

The reporter learned from the Meituan platform that men accounted for 69% of the people who ordered pork knuckle rice, of which young and middle-aged men were the main consumers of pork knuckle rice, and men aged 20~35 accounted for 53% of the consumer group of pork knuckle rice; The data also shows that 70% of the people who order takeaway from pork feet in Chengdu are men, of which 20% are men aged 35~59.

Pork knuckle rice, which originated from Longjiang Town, Jieyang City, Guangdong, is sweeping the country. According to the "4 New Catering Double Home Industry Report" released by Meituan on April 10, the growth rate of pork knuckle rice is higher than that of other rice fast food for two consecutive years, and the transaction volume growth rate in 2023 is 2022%, and it shows a trend of expansion from south to north, of which the growth rate of transaction volume in Beijing, Shandong, Shaanxi, Gansu and other regions is more than 87%. In 150, the "2021 New Catering Industry Research Report" released by the platform also showed that its takeaway pork knuckle rice orders exceeded 2022 million in 2021, whether it was the number of orders, transaction volume or the number of stores, the growth rate of pork knuckle rice was much higher than that of other rice brands.

In the narratives of many food self-media, Longjiang pork foot rice is being called "fast food F4" along with Shaxian snacks, Lanzhou ramen, and yellow stewed chicken rice.

Of course, the rapid expansion of pork knuckle rice is also related to the low price of pork in the past two years.

In addition, the rise of short videos has also unexpectedly boosted the further prosperity of pork knuckle rice. In 2021, the meme of "a bowl of Longjiang pork knuckle rice, eating a man's romance" exploded on multiple video platforms, and most Internet celebrities who visited the store pork knuckle rice would put this sentence into the video. The Longjiang pork knuckle rice re-enactment video released by the food head blogger "Eclipse Notes" received 396.2021 million views on the B station (Bilibili). According to ByteDance's "Big Math", in 995, the search index of pork foot rice on Douyin increased by 65.<>% year-on-year.

Chengdu Story

The first batch of Longjiang pork knuckle rice in Chengdu was opened by a group of brothers from Dazhou

In 2014, next to a taxi restaurant in Balizhuang, Chengdu, a Longjiang pork knuckle rice was opened, and the owner was named Long Shengbing. Whether the Longjiang pork knuckle rice he opened is the first Longjiang pork knuckle rice in Chengdu is difficult to verify, but in the impression of many peers, it is.

Long Shengbing's shop has moved its location twice in the past 9 years, and now comes to the Niuwang Temple, there are many office buildings nearby, and there are many residential areas, and parking in front of the store is very convenient. At noon on weekdays, diners are full and sometimes there are queues.

"I was eating when he opened a store on Guangming Road before, and the old customer, he sometimes had to scoop me two more pieces of meat." Lao Wang, a retired employee who lives nearby, likes Longjiang pork knuckle rice, "I eat seven or eight times a month, and I have to pack it for my family." ”

Long Shengbing's shop has a typical Longjiang pork foot rice pattern: the stove is placed at the door of the store, and the bright kitchen is lit up, so that diners can see the whole process of making a bowl of pork knuckle rice and eat with confidence. His shop also has typical Longjiang-style service: meals can be continued, kimchi buffet.

"Eat as you like, don't waste it!" In front of the stove, Long Shengbing greeted the guests warmly.

At about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the number of customers gradually decreased, and after putting a large pot of pig's trotters and pork knuckles into the brine pot, Long Shengbing could finally rest for a while.

Long Shengbing's hometown is in Dazhou Qu County, and in 1990 he went to work in Chaoshan District, Guangdong. In 2003, he worked as an apprentice at a local restaurant and learned the craft of making Longjiang pork knuckle rice. After returning to Chengdu in 2006, he ran a taxi for seven years, then switched to catering and opened Longjiang pork knuckle rice: "I investigated, and there was no Longjiang pork knuckle rice in Chengdu at that time. ”

At first, Longjiang pork knuckle rice was not accepted by Chengdu people, and almost all the taxi drivers who went to Longsheng Bing Shop were to eat. In those years, more and more taxi drivers changed careers, and Long Shengbing accepted the first batch of apprentices, "the first batch of apprentices were all taxi drivers, and they were all my fellow villagers, so the first batch of more than ten Longjiang pork knuckle rice in Chengdu was almost all driven by taxi drivers from Dazhou."

In 2016~2018, Longjiang pork knuckle rice was gradually accepted by Chengdu people, especially by office workers, "those years were also when I brought the most apprentices".

Today, Long Shengbing's apprentices are all over Chengdu and have opened hundreds of stores, as far as Ruoergai and Hongyuan. With so many apprentices, aren't you afraid of competition? Long Shengbing said that he was not afraid, this is "just needed".

It's very homely

Less refined, but down-to-earth, like an urban office worker

Longjiang pork knuckle rice is the pride of Cantonese people, and it is also the taste that "Daguangren" (referring to people who go to Guangdong to work) cannot forget.

The reporter visited dozens of Longjiang pork foot restaurants in Chengdu and found that half of them had experience in "playing wide".

Yi Xiaobo, the owner of "Longguangbo Boy Pepper Pork Foot Rice" on Jinxiu Road in Wuhou District, told reporters that he went to Guangdong in 1995 to work, learn Cantonese cuisine, and also specially made pork foot rice. In 2016, he returned to Chengdu to do catering, and at first made skewers and hot pot, and his business became bigger and bigger, but then he lost millions of dollars by opening a hot pot restaurant in Kuixinglou, so he changed his thinking.

In Yi Xiaobo's view, although the investment and return of pork knuckle rice are small, it is just needed, and opening a few more stores can still get a good return. At present, his newly renovated branch is about to be completed.

Long Shengbing estimates that more than 7% of his restaurant's male diners are located. But in Yi Xiaobo's store, the ratio of men to women is four or six. This small difference may come from the different technical routes of the two stores. Long Shengbing entered the game early, in order to attract the first batch of "seed customers", made a slight localization improvement to the taste of Longjiang, "My pork knuckle rice is a little salty, pressed a little sweet, but also sweet"; When Yi Xiaobo entered the game, Longjiang pork foot rice had been widely accepted by Chengdu people, he almost restored the local taste of Longjiang, and at the same time used Sichuan characteristic pepper to inject Sichuan-style soul into Longjiang pork knuckle rice, "female customers will not feel so tired when they eat pepper".

In the view of Long Shengbing and Yi Xiaobo, there is another indispensable factor in Longjiang pork knuckle rice to take root in Chengdu: insisting on using fresh ingredients, "If I can't buy fresh pork knuckles, I'd rather not open a store, frozen meat is too chai."

Perhaps, the pig's foot rice reflects the trajectory of the struggle of urban office workers, not so delicate, but down-to-earth. In the midst of the meal, the city's fireworks also rise.

Chengdu Business Daily - Red Star News reporter Wang Tuo