Catering companies are picking up steadily (consumption window · confidence in the market around you①)
Our reporter Ouyang Jie
"People's Daily" (19th Edition, January 4, 2023)
The Central Economic Work Conference emphasized that to do a good job in economic work in 2023, we must "completely, accurately and comprehensively implement the new development concept, accelerate the construction of a new development pattern, focus on promoting high-quality development, and better coordinate epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development. Coordinate development and security, comprehensively deepen reform and opening up, and vigorously boost market confidence.”
Recently, with the implementation of optimized epidemic prevention and control measures and the intensification of efforts to help companies bail out, the rate of resumption of work and production in various places has rapidly increased.
The dining table is set out, the logistics speed up, the orders increase, and the confidence is strengthened... Every busy figure and every vivid scene conveys vitality.
Recently, the reporter went deep into the front line, focusing on catering, logistics, retail, foreign trade and other industries, and together with readers, felt the firm confidence and development vitality of various market players who are striving to become stronger and chasing after each other.
--editor
"Food is the most important thing for the people", food is a major event in people's life, and it is also the most important part of people's consumption.
The fireworks in the city reveal the warmth of the city, and also reflect the active consumption of the people.
With the optimization of epidemic prevention and control policies, catering stores around the world have gradually resumed dine-in, preparing rich food and drinks for the festival, and planning new development for the new year.
Store customer flow gradually resumed
"As the holidays approach, there will be more food orders, and it will be even busier in the future"
Sanlitun, Chaoyang District, Beijing gathers many fashion brand stores and gourmet restaurants. It is a good place for young people to hang out on weekdays.
In the past few days, the sky in Beijing has been clear, and the passenger flow of various shops in Sanlitun is gradually recovering. The Haidilao restaurant in the SOHO shopping mall in Sanlitun has begun to get busy.
Walking into the restaurant, the store manager Xu Bin is busy greeting customers: "It is estimated that there will be more than 200 tables today, and dozens of tables have already been booked at noon. The holiday is approaching, and there will be more orders, and it will be even busier next time."
In the past month, the store's business has experienced ups and downs, and now it is improving step by step.
On December 7, 2022, after a brief suspension of dine-in, the Haidilao Sanlitun store resumed operations. The initial business was not good. Starting from December 16, the business in the store gradually improved.
Xu Bin said: "In the past few days, dine-in at night can sometimes even reach the level of dining before the epidemic, which has also boosted the turnover of the entire store. The passenger flow in other time periods is also picking up, and the weekend will be 30% higher than that in the middle of the week. The growth rate of around 100% has continued to pick up overall.”
Xu Bin said that at present, young customers are still the main ones. I believe that after a period of time, there will be more and more customers of all kinds, including family dinners. "It still needs a process. What we can do now is to cherish every customer. Serving every table of guests with heart, I am still full of confidence in the future."
"Recently, the consumption heat of Haidilao's Beijing store has picked up to a certain extent. It is expected that it will continue to pick up in the next two weeks, ushering in a wave of store entry peaks." Wang Li, the head of Haidilao's Beijing region, introduced that the company is actively stocking up according to the click-through rate of dishes. Increase the amount of fruit stock, recruit employees through various methods, and ensure the employment of peak hours.
Meituan data shows that since December 8, 2022, catering consumption in many places has recovered to varying degrees, and the customer flow of catering merchants' offline stores has gradually increased.
Taking Guangzhou as an example, since December, the online orders for in-store catering in Guangzhou have increased by more than 101% compared with the previous stage.
The snow season drives up Xinjiang's catering consumption. Since December 8, the online orders for in-store catering in Urumqi have increased by 413% from the previous week.
The volume of takeaway orders is growing rapidly
"Follow the trend to develop online business, break the constraints of space and time, and serve more consumers"
At noon on December 18, 2022, at the entrance of the main store of Shuangjiao Memory Hot Pot Maocai in Chengdu, Sichuan, takeaway staff came in and out to pick up meals. .
This small Maocai shop with an area of only about 60 square meters is located in a small street in Jinjiang District, Chengdu.
Since the optimization of the epidemic prevention and control policy, the dine-in and take-out of the store are recovering.
"Now there are 80 to 100 tables for dine-in in this store every day. The number of take-out orders has increased rapidly, and more than 300 orders can basically be issued a day." Jiang Sanchun said.
"It is expected that business will recover faster, and we are all fully prepared." Jiang Sanchun's store is close to the office building business district, and the customer flow has not been stable in recent years. Therefore, Jiang Sanchun expanded the service radius of the store and launched a takeaway platform , Improve the digital operation level of the store.
Today, takeaway revenue can account for more than 60% of the total revenue of Maocaidian.
During the epidemic prevention and control period, many catering companies took the initiative to innovate and change, and expanded their online sales channels.
According to data from Meituan, takeaway orders from the catering industry in some cities have begun to increase.
In the three days from December 7 to 9, 2022, compared with the same period of the previous week, the volume of takeaway orders sent to office buildings, parks and other addresses in Beijing increased by more than 33.4%.
Among them, hot pot consumption recovered faster. In early December, the sales of hot pot takeaway meals in Beijing increased by 116% compared with the same period last year.
Shanghai catering brand Zuo Ting You Yard launched a take-out service, and launched a sub-brand specifically for take-out "Zuo Ting You Yard Fresh Beef·Tang Lao". The ingredients are cooked with hot pot base and sold directly.
In the second week of December 2022, the takeaway sales of fresh beef hot pot in Zuo Ting You Yuan reached 2.3 times that of the same period last year.
"Consumer demand will not decrease, and we will follow the trend to develop online business, break the constraints of space and time, and serve more consumers. If the offline store opens 50 tables, the online takeaway can even sell 100 tables or more at the same time. "Wang Feng, head of online operations at Zuo Ting You Yuan, said that in the future, we will continue to strengthen online channels and attract customers with high-quality ingredients.
Consumption experience continues to improve
"Innovate consumption scenarios, create brand consumption, accelerate new consumption, and continue to stimulate the vitality of the consumption market"
In order to help catering companies tide over the difficulties, a series of policies to help catering companies continue to work hard.
At the beginning of 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments introduced support measures for the catering industry, including guiding Internet platform companies such as food delivery companies to lower service fee standards, helping catering companies to renew their loans, etc.; in May, the State Council launched a package of policy measures to stabilize the economy. More support will be given to difficult industries such as accommodation; in June, 11 departments including the Ministry of Commerce issued a notice calling for six aspects to promote the recovery and development of the catering industry.
"In the new year, despite many difficulties and challenges, with the optimization of the epidemic prevention and control policy, the catering industry will accelerate its recovery." Yang Liu, president of the China Cuisine Association, said that the catering industry is an important area for the recovery and expansion of consumption. Through compound operations and digital operations, we will innovate consumption scenarios, create brand consumption, accelerate new types of consumption, continue to stimulate the vitality of the consumption market, and help catering companies resume development as soon as possible.”
"The impact of the epidemic on the catering industry is multi-faceted, including consumption willingness, consumption patterns and consumption preferences. Online and offline integration and mutual influence, offline experience affects online choices, and online consumption satisfaction will also affect each other. It will affect store consumption." Yang Lijuan, CEO of Haidilao, said that it will continue to deepen digital transformation, meet consumers' diversified and personalized consumption needs through multiple channels, enrich public consumption choices, and provide a safer and more comfortable consumption experience.
Digital transformation has penetrated into all aspects of catering business operations.
Not only online, but also offline consumers will also refer to the platform for scoring, and are keen to place orders and pick up meals on mobile phones. These changes have prompted catering companies to carry out comprehensive digital upgrades.
"Through technological innovation and information exchange, the food delivery platform can help catering companies strengthen their digital capabilities and improve the efficiency of digital operations in the catering industry." The person in charge of related businesses at Meituan introduced that Meituan launched the "Takeaway Butler Service", which is staffed by professional takeaway operators. Provide training and guidance for small and medium-sized catering businesses who lack experience in food delivery operations.
As of mid-November 2022, more than 70,000 small and medium-sized merchants have obtained the takeaway butler service for free, and the average monthly income of a single store has increased by nearly 30%.