Small dinning, large takeaway, keeping in mind the 3050 rule
In 2020, my country’s catering industry will suffer a severe setback during the epidemic. According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the total national catering revenue in 2020 was 3952.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 16.6%. The performance of leading catering companies, including Haidilao, has fallen sharply, and the industry has entered a cold winter.
The catering companies have taken actions to help themselves by taking out food. In the second half of the year, with breakthroughs in the prevention and control of the epidemic in my country, the national catering industry recovered. In October, the national catering business revenue was 437.2 billion yuan, an increase of 0.8% year-on-year, and it turned from negative to positive for the first time in the year. In 2021, the catering industry will rebound soon, and it is the next step for operators to change their business thinking.
Only by changing business thinking can we seize the “rebound dividend”
With the continuous vaccination of vaccines and the effective prevention and control of the epidemic, the haze of the epidemic has further dissipated, and all walks of life are ushering in recovery dividends. The recovery of the catering industry is relatively slow. On March 15, the spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics, Liu Aihua, said that the recovery of commodity sales has accelerated, and the consumption of catering has not yet returned to the level before the epidemic. As the epidemic prevention situation further improves, a rebound in catering consumption is foreseeable.
During the epidemic, people’s living habits and consumption concepts have undergone major changes, and many changes are irreversible. For the catering industry, the characteristics of branding, quality, individualization, diversification and digitalization will become more obvious. Now, catering business owners should reshape their business thinking and seize a new round of “rebound dividends.”
In fact, before the epidemic, changes in business thinking, transformation, upgrading and innovation have become very important for catering companies. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the revenue of the catering industry in 2019 reached 4672.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.4%. The rate is not high. At the same time, the cost of property, manpower, and food materials is rising. The catering industry urgently needs to change its business thinking. The epidemic has a great stimulating effect on the transformation of the industry, especially the change of business thinking of catering business owners.
What is the key to improving performance for catering businesses? Some businesses blindly pursue the creation of “net celebrity restaurants”, some businesses still stick to the old style of discount marketing, and some businesses do whatever the dining format is hot, like a headless flies. What is the correct catering business idea in the post-epidemic era?
Digitalization is definitely the direction of the tide.Most of the catering companies that survived the epidemic in 2020 are digitizing ahead of schedule. Old-brand catering restaurants such as Jiu Mao Jiu, White Swan Hotel, Tao Taoju, Beiyuan Restaurant, Hu Da, and Jingweizhai are not only blocked by digital transformation. As the epidemic hits, business has gradually improved. Nowadays, full onlineization has become the consensus of the catering industry. The Ministry of Commerce is promoting the digitalization of catering. The “14th Five-Year Plan” encourages digital new consumption. The online and offline integration of the catering industry has become a general trend.
However, digitalization cannot simply be equated with food delivery. How to do food delivery? Many businesses may not be able to answer. On March 31st, some dry goods at the 2021 Food Delivery Industry Conference with the theme of “New Catering Double Home” pointed out a clear way to catering owners.
Reasonable ratio of dine-in and take-out, keeping in mind the “30/50 rule”
The epidemic has made the catering industry aware of the value of food delivery. Almost every catering company is doing food delivery, and some catering companies even focus on food delivery. Take-out has become a trend in catering consumption. The greatest value to users is to save time, and the greatest value to businesses is to break through the space limitations of dine-in business premises, expand business scope and release dine-in capacity, and the greatest value to society is to improve efficiency, increase employment and promote consumption.
Zhou Qiren, a chair professor at the National Development Research Institute of Peking University, quoted research data at the Food Delivery Industry Conference and said that each order of Meituan’s food delivery can save consumers the travel time between restaurants and 48 minutes of waiting time in the restaurant. If the rider delivers meals for 240 minutes a day and takes 50 orders, it can help its service users save 2,400 minutes. “This kind of efficiency improvement of dozens of times is the source of economic growth.”
What is the relationship between takeaway and dine-in? Takeaway should not be a supplement, nor should it become the whole, because dine-in still has irreplaceable scene value, not only with environment, service, and experience, but more importantly, it provides a space for offline gatherings. , People have dinners, couples dating, business banquets, and many scenes have to go to dine-in.
Takeaway and dine-in are not a competition or substitution relationship, but a complementary and synergistic relationship. The two can promote each other, and take-out can drive dine-in. Tiancheng Sichuan cuisine in Guangzhou has not been discounted for decades. It used to reject Internet platforms. During the epidemic in 2020, takeaways were launched, bringing in 1.9 million turnover in one month. Now, when takeaways account for 30%, storesThe passenger flow has increased significantly, because the takeaway is actually equivalent to a wave of free publicity, so that people within three kilometers of the store know its existence. The Sichuan restaurant Cishengtian and the snack bar Majishiduo, which are similar to such “takeaway stores”, etc., because the takeaways are doing well, their performance has not declined during the epidemic period, and the takeaway platform brand has not been forgotten or even enlarged. After the epidemic, store business is better.
In the post-epidemic era, catering companies must do a good job both online and offline, playing a “double home”, so that the linkage between takeaway and dine-in can form a “1+1″>2 effect. The concept of “dual home” was proposed by Meituan Waimai. The original words are like this: “The catering industry has developed to the stage of dual homes. Together, takeaway and store are two homes. They are irreplaceable. Complementation of business models, takeaway to solve the excess capacity of dine-in, and dine-in to solve the complementarity of space.”
After a period of verification, “dual home” has become a broader consensus in the catering industry. Wang Puzhong, Senior Vice President of Meituan and President of Daojia Business Group, said, “Under the background of accelerating online progress, the catering industry has entered the dual-home era where both dine-in and take-out services are equally important.” For catering merchants, the future will be more intense. To develop and grow in the dual-home market competition, the thinking model, business model and organizational ability need to be innovated, and dine-in and takeaway each account for a reasonable proportion to optimize the overall benefit.
What should a “reasonable ratio” look like? Take-out is the “new home”, dine-in is the “old home”; take-out is incremental, and dine-in is stock; take-out business scope is three kilometers for all consumers, dine-in is limited by the size of the venue, and the rate of turn-over is high enough to receive Guests are also limited. Therefore, companies continue to increase the size of the takeaway, and it seems that they will definitely be able to obtain new increases. However, is it enough to simply make dine-in meals smaller and take-out larger? The answer is not so.
For small and medium businesses, Meituan Waimai’s “2020 China Food Delivery Small and Medium Merchants Development Report” shows that over 80% of small and medium merchants on takeaway platforms, nearly 60% of merchants have opened takeout services within one year, and more than 30% of merchants After the epidemic, the posts of take-out specialists were added, and over 80% of small and medium-sized catering business operators believe that their income has increased after the launch of take-out services. Factors such as small initial investment in the small shop model, flexible operation mode, and more suitable platform business model will be further developed. “Small dinning, large takeaway” is its future development path. For these platforms, the takeaway can theoretically be unlimited.
For brand merchants, there may already be many stores. These are historical assets and the roots of the enterprise. Offline business cannot be put down. If the takeaway gets betterThe larger the store’s original production capacity, the larger the store’s original production capacity, the greater the area, the deployment of manpower, and the increase in production capacity. Eventually, it may become a takeaway-oriented catering brand. On the contrary, it may lower corporate profits and “consider one and lose the other.” The proportion of take-out must be reasonable and a healthy business model can be formed to maximize the benefits of catering companies.
At the 2021 Food Delivery Industry Conference, Meituan Food Delivery released the “30/50 Rule”, which is a good reference standard for catering companies. Bai Xiufeng said that the “30/50 Rule” was passed a large number of Business surveys, platform data research, model calculations, and the rules summarized after repeated verifications. Specifically: For restaurants that focus on dinner, take out and keep it at about 30%; for restaurants that focus on fast food, strive to achieve 50%. The specific ratio can be adjusted by different businesses according to their own circumstances, such as the back kitchen. A reference conclusion can be drawn from comprehensive factors such as production capacity, number of desks at the front desk, and movement lines. Meituan Waimai provides a set of intelligent measurement tools.
Of course, if you must adhere to this law, it is tantamount to carving out a boat and begging for a sword. Just like the twenty-eight principle, it may not necessarily be this ratio in many cases, but the truth is the same. The actual ratio of take-out/dining, catering businesses need to adjust according to actual operating conditions. For example, crayfish is good for takeout in summer, restaurants that specialize in crayfish can naturally increase the proportion of takeout; another example is the CBD or high-end restaurants near office buildings, you may still have to work hard to make dine-in better. Wang Puzhong said bluntly, “30/50 is the rule of statistics. Each brand should have its own proportion, taking into account your costs and your benefits.”
Many business operators know the twenty-eight principle. 20% of customers contribute 80% of revenue, 20% of time period contributes 80% of revenue, and 20% of products contribute 80% of revenue. Is it true? Are 20% and 80%? There is a high probability that it will not be so accurate, but the truth is that. The business operator understands this truth and must pay attention to 20% of customers, time periods and products.
The value of the “30/50 rule” is the same as the 28th principle. Meituan Waimai proposes such a rule, not to be a gimmick, but because this rule is useful for businesses and can solve the problem of How to manage take-out and dine-in in the “double home” era, how to allocate resources, and how to manage the confusion of assessment. The ultimate goal is to maximize the takeaway without increasing the actual input cost (especially the venue, equipment, table, etc.) Well, give back instead of hurting dine-in food, so as to maximize the benefits.
To win the “double home” era, the correct posture for catering companies
Now catering companies have realized the importance of “dual homes”. Merchants who once rejected takeaways were also out of temper by the epidemic.Take it out. With a reasonable ratio of take-out to dine-in, Meituan Waimai also gives suggestions like the “30/50 rule”. However, for catering companies, there are still many more specific things to do to win the dual home era.
First of all, business thinking must be completely changed.
Many catering owners have been doing dine-in for many years, and some famous catering restaurants are even operated by “ancestral”, and their thinking about dine-in is deeply rooted. Decision-making depends on the shopkeeper’s head and the location of the store to see the location. The purchase of food materials depends on relatives. The team management depends on the old method, the brand marketing depends on discounts, the business analysis depends on the accounting and accounting, and the maintenance of customer relationship depends on the store manager’s contacts.
Taking food is a completely different business logic. For example, rapid iteration under the Internet thinking is used for product innovation, such as the “30/50 rule” under the data thinking for the balance between takeaway and dine-in, and another example under the digital thinking ” “Everything speaks with data”, these are all catering owners must carefully ponder. Wang Puzhong has a very vivid analogy: the change of double homes to catering companies is equivalent to a family from only child to “two baby” mode. “Two children, you have to treat them equally, especially pay attention to the psychological feelings of the second child.” Therefore, the thinking mode must be upgraded, “The two children have a great responsibility, but they can help you make more money in the future.”
Secondly, the business model must keep pace with the times.
In the era of dual home games, it is difficult to change the thinking, but also need to improve the supporting ability and the change of the supporting business model.
Traditional catering industry management has many mature methods or systems, such as the 5S five-permanent method, “always tidy up, often rectify, often clean, often standardized, and often self-discipline”, and another example is “Chinese-style five-permanent 6T management”: Everyday Processing, daily integration, daily cleaning, daily standardization, daily cleaning, and daily improvement. The management methodology of many leading companies in McDonald’s 12 systems has been learned by the industry. Professional terms such as FIFO, OFC best food cost, turnover rate and so on are familiar to catering people. These old catering management methods cannot be lost, but they are no longer enough.
When a family has an extra child, the original financial planning, educational arrangement, life rhythm, etc. will definitely change. Similarly, catering companies must play a double home and change their business models, including all aspects of catering business operations, such as product planning, supply chain, management system, site management, KPIs, finance, and so on. In response to the business problems and management pain points of catering companies in the dual-home era, Meituan Waimai released the “New Catering Shopkeeper” plan last year, providing a merchant service system, a business growth system and a talent training system, so that the new catering shopkeeper has real dual-home resources, Digital capabilities and systematic methods have become the “four new” catering professionals who embrace new thinking, make good use of new technologies, apply new models, and create new income.
At this food delivery industry conference, Meituan Food Delivery announced that it is upgrading its merchant service system, including but not limited toIntelligent response platform, remote BD customer service support, new digital tools such as Chubanbao, printers and other software and hardware; in terms of merchant growth system, Meituan Waimai launched a “shop division” system, and established a business capability model for merchants through data analysis to guide merchants Know your own business situation.
Various digital tools on the food delivery platform will undoubtedly help catering companies change their business models.
Finally, organizational capabilities must be upgraded and evolved.
“Person” is the key element of the operation of a catering business. The key roles of the store manager, front office foreman, bar, clientele, chef, back kitchen, waiter, cashier, treasury, and logistics constitute a traditional restaurant. “Team”. In the “dual home” era, such a team is not enough. The store manager must upgrade to have a dual home mindset, and his assessment rules will naturally change; marketing must learn to apply takeaway platforms, Douyin, video accounts, public comments, and Xiaohong. Online marketing capabilities such as books, official accounts, and even WeChat community private domain traffic; takeaway operations require a dedicated person and full-time post. There will be a “product manager” for dish research and development, and a “customer service specialist” for review and maintenance of takeaway platforms. New media Marketing requires a marketing team and even “shop broadcast internet celebrities.”
A well-done store will even have a front-room take-away matchmaker, who specializes in connecting with the take-out brother, and handles the take-out order. Because of this, you can improve the efficiency of take-out meals, reduce the probability of meal errors, and maintain Good takeaway brother relationship. To welcome the “30/50” era, when the proportion of food delivery in catering companies is higher or even half, catering companies should pay more attention to the improvement of organizational capabilities, and stores should set up food delivery operators. Large companies will have “CWO” (Chief Food Delivery Service). Official) Manage the “Takeaway Department” and oversee the operation of the takeaway platform, such as product innovation, category operations, online marketing, packaging design optimization, logistics control, user interaction, platform docking, data analysis, etc.
At the same time, they know both dine-in and take-out. Talents who understand online and offline are scarce. Many shopkeepers learn by doing. For practitioners in the catering industry, this is an opportunity. In response to the demand for new foreign talents in the catering industry, Meituan Food Delivery and the Education and Training Center of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security jointly trained “Takeaway Operators”. In mid-October 2020, the first batch of 62 food delivery operators were certified and became supporters for the digital transformation of businesses. Professional talents are an important helper for the online operation of the new catering shopkeeper. The “New Food Shopkeeper” program launched by Meituan Food Delivery Academy hopes to cultivate one million new shopkeepers in the next three years, which can manage both offline business and online business. Wang Puzhong believes, “This is the trend of the entire industry. Moving forward is criticalThe basics. “
The post-epidemic era is a dual home era in the catering industry. Embrace dual home thinking, embrace the 30/50 rule, apply dual home management methods and tools, and make good use of talents with dual home thinking and abilities. Catering stores can reap the upcoming consumption rebound dividends, and they can stay in the catering industry for a longer time. In the competition, we have broken out of the siege and achieved sustainable growth, making the catering business better and better.