Mao Roast Duck Sustainability Report 2023 The number of stores has surged by more than 8 times in th

Photo by Li Xiaoyi.

Text |Red Meal Think Tank, Author |Red Meal Industry Research Institute.

Undoubtedly, the roast duck track is currently showing extremelyRapid momentum。But riskyProblems such as frequent chaos in roast duck franchise and low barriers to competition in the industry have also been criticized by industry insiders。So, can you make roast duck?How can practitioners avoid becoming "cannon fodder" for influencer traffic?What are the pain points and positive factors of the roast duck track?

Mao roast duck originated in Chengdu, which refers to the practice of cooking the duck after it is roasted, that is, boiling the duck with the soup prepared by traditional Chinese medicine and various spices, as well as vegetables and noodles.

It first appeared in the small stalls of farmers' markets, and in recent years, it has gradually become a dish in Sichuan restaurants and Mao Cai shops. Entering 2023, Mao Roast Duck was excavated by catering people to create a Mao Roast Duck specialty store.

Photo by Red Meal Network.

The production method of roast duck products is similar to that of hot pot and steamed vegetables, which are blanched by putting the ingredients into hot soup. But in fact, there are some differences between the three categories in terms of dishes, tastes, practices, per capita consumption and consumption scenarios.

Compared with the roast food, the roast duck hasThe value of the dishes is fullFeatures, fitsSmall group dinners。Compared with the pot, the roast duck is relatively cost-effective and more affordable. Therefore, many people call roast duck"The flat version of the hot pot, the high-end version of the steamed dishes".

In recent years, the development of roast duck has been hot. The giant arithmetic shows thatSince 2023, the search index for roast duck has continued to soar, soaring from less than 20,000 to nearly 100,000

At the same time, the number of stores of roast duck is also rising, and the big data of red meal shows that from November 2022 to November 2023, the number of stores of roast duck nationwideFrom 385 to 3,632, an increase of 843% year-on-year**.

As the "roast duck fever" continues to heat up, players from all walks of life are accelerating their layout. At present, the entrants of roast duck in the market are mainly divided into three categories, namely:Roast duck specialty stores, catering brands in other tracks, and catering upstream enterprises

Among them, the roast duck specialty store will accelerate the expansion of stores in 2023. Such as:Wu Mei Mao Roast Duck in Steel District 1 will open more than 150 new stores in 2023, and Li Xuqing Mao Roast Duck will open more than 50 new stores in the past 4 months

In addition,Well-known brands in the catering track, such as hot pot, Malatang, and grilled fish, have added roast duck to their storesFor example, the grilled fish brand Bantian Demon not only added roast duck to the original dishes, but also added the word "roast duck" to the names of some stores;The well-known hot pot brand Da Long Yi has launched a roast duck product ...... in its own "Da Long Yi Hot Pot Mao Cai" takeaway restaurant

Upstream catering companies such as Skin Hope Liuhe, Shandong Huaya Group, and Huaying Agriculture have also launched prefabricated food products related to roast duck.

It is not difficult to find that "roast duck fever" has become a hot event in the catering industry in 2023.

The number of stores continues to soar, from downstream to upstream, becoming the favorite food "partner" of catering brands, why is roast duck so popular?As a long-established Sichuan-style delicacy, why does Mao Roast Duck usher in a climax of development in 2023?

The Red Meal Industry Research Institute found that the popularity of roast duck was hotIt is mainly related to the current consumer trends, category genes, characteristics, etc.

The Red Meal Industry Research Institute found that in the context of increasingly cautious consumption,Nearly half of consumers surveyed said their expected consumer spending in the coming year remains unchangedLess than 40 percent of consumers surveyed said they would see an increase in consumer spending in the coming year.

With the change of consumption concept, more and more consumers pay attention to the cost performance of cateringAffordable and high-qualityThe catering industry has ushered in development opportunities.

Therefore, the rise of many catering consumption booms is related toAffordable and high-qualityFor example, the affordable roast duck just hits the consumer demand for affordable and high-quality catering.

Roast duck is a type of roast duckInnovative variants。As early as a few years ago, some well-known brands such as Sangu Maocai have added roast duck products to their menus. The connection between the two tracks is very close, and there is a mutually reinforcing relationship between them.

Nowadays, Mao Cai has a high level of food in the countryVisibility and influence, which is undoubtedly a favorable factor for the development of roast duck.

Specifically, since around 2014, the Mao Cai category has quickly emerged, and many well-known brands have emerged, such as Sangu Mao Cai and Hibiscus Mao Cai.

Among them, Sangu Maocai has opened nearly 1,000 stores in more than 100 cities across the country. Hibiscus was the first successful applicant"Intangible Cultural Heritage".The brand of Maocai. The success of these brands provides a reference for the development of the roast duck brand. The roast duck brand can "stand on the shoulders of giants" and explore its ownChaining and large-scaleProcess.

These brands are not onlyReduced the cost of roast duck market education, also for the roast duck brandMore opportunities and space are provided。Under the guidance and promotion of the roast category, roast duck practitioners can open the market faster. Thanks to the prosperity and development of the Mao Cai category, Mao Roast Duck has been able to achieve rapid development in a relatively short period of time.

The big data of red meal shows that in the top 10 consumer review keywords of roast duck,"The taste is very fragrant", "it is very spicy", "it is cheap and delicious".and other evaluations are among the best.

And in addition to the evaluation about taste,"High production rate", "good looks" and "attractive appearance".and other evaluation terms related to the appearance of the dish also ranked highly. This illustrates roast duckImpactful look, highly saturated huesIt is one of the important factors to attract consumers.

Photo by Red Meal Network.

This is mainly due to the appearance of roast duck that comes with it on social ** platformsTopic spread, some short ** operators said that the "spicy" hue of red oil can quickly increase the amount of ** on the short ** platform.

Therefore, roast duck has become a popular topic for Internet celebrities to eat and broadcast. According to the data, as of December 2023, there are more than 70,000 notes on Xiaohongshu about roast duck, and the number of Douyin topics related to roast duck has exceeded 2.1 billion times.

So far, a number of chain brands have been run out of the roast duck track, such asWu Mei in the first area of steel roasted duckMore than 100 stores have been opened, and more than 80 cities have been stationedLi Xuqing roast duck, Sichuan Mao'er old Chengdu roast duck, Zhang Sanhua hot roast duck, market alley roast duck, Mao Shichuan roast duck and other brandsMore than 50 stores have been opened.

Under the leadership of these chain brands, the roast duck track has shown some obvious characteristics in terms of per capita consumption, products, store models, and chains.

The big data of red meals shows that the mainstream per capita consumption range of roast duck is inBetween 40 and 60 yuan。At the same time, the per capita consumption of most brands is about 50 yuan, for example, the per capita consumption of Wu Mei Mao Roast Duck in the first district of Steel is 38 yuan, and the per capita consumption of Zhu Dali's roast duck is 47 yuan.

Photo by Li Xiaoyi.

It can be seen that the price of roast duck is between a meal and fast food, and it can provide a fast, convenient and delicious dining experience, which is more in line with the current consumption trend of "affordable and high-quality".

From the point of view of the dishes, a single roast duck is between 60 140 yuan, full of stomach, and the unit price of other dishes is between 4 20 yuan, and the variety is rich, which can realize "one pot of everything". In addition, the roast duck brand often serves dishes in stainless steel bowls and pots, which are full of fireworks.

In addition, some roast duck brands are currently underwayAdd snacks, desserts, freshly made drinks and other productsto enrich the product line. It is worth noting that some brands have also made innovations in the roast duck product itself, such as Li Xuqing's roast duck with mashed potatoes and roast duck.

Most of the roast duck restaurants operate in small stalls, with an area of 50 to 80 square meters. Moreover, due to the relatively high degree of standardization and the relatively simple production method of roast duck, a small roast duck restaurant has relatively low requirements for the professionalism of manpower, and the number of employees required is small, usually between 3 and 5 people.

Therefore, the roast duck store hasThe investment is relatively small and the model is more flexibleThis is also one of the main reasons why Mao Roast Duck stores can open so many stores in a short period of time.

The production process of roast duck can be mainly divided into four steps: roast duck, special soup base, cooking, and mixing bowl ingredientsHigh degree of standardization

At present, semi-finished products of roast duck and roast soup base have appeared on the market, which can effectively improve the production efficiency of roast duck stores.

For example, in the early years, Huaya Group put forward the concept of "conditioning duck embryo", which made the duck into a conditioned duck embryo after pickling, scalding and hanging sugar, and the catering stores could process the conditioned duck embryo according to the actual demand, which greatly improved the production efficiency of the store.

Although the current development of the roast duck track is relatively hot, and the product and store model have been initially mature, there are also many hidden problems behind this. These issues may hinder the further development of the roast duck track, making it difficult to achieve sustainable, healthy development.

Roast duck in the trackThere is a lot of chaos in joining, and fast recruitment companies and fast recruitment brands are emerging from time to time。It is understood that this kind of quick recruitment company simply registers a catering brand, and uses false promises such as "low threshold and high return" to attract entrepreneurs and defraud franchise fees.

Even worse, they will manipulate the contract and charge various fees in various names, such as trademark usage fees, raw materials and equipment costs. Industry insiders believe that the short-sighted behavior of fast recruitment companies is likely to ruin the entire track in advance.

At the same time, most of the roast duck entrantsWeak brand awareness, lack of attention to store signage and environment. Many street-side Mao Cai shops and Malatang restaurants have directly changed their original stores to Mao Roast Duck Restaurants by pasting couplets or slogans related to Shijing culture and Chengdu culture in their storesConsumers have a poor sense of experience

The roast duck track is in the early stages of development, and there are plenty of them in the trackLong-tail merchantsIt has not yet appeared in the head brand that has a great advantage in store scale, brand power, and chain construction. Red meal big data shows that as of December 2023, 865% of brands have less than 20 stores, and only 63% of the brand stores have more than 50 stores.

Lacking the guidance of the head brand, the track has not yet achieved standardized and benign development。For example, there is a lack of uniform standards and norms on the track. Some unscrupulous businesses may make shoddy, cutting corners and other non-standard behaviors;In the absence of brand endorsement, consumers may have doubts about the food safety and quality of roast duck, thus reducing the purchase intention and loyalty ......

A large number of roast duck stores are emerging quickly, which also explains the roast duck trackThe entry threshold is relatively low, and the barriers to brand competition are low

First of all, many street shops and mom-and-pop shops use itRoast duck semi-finished product。At the same time, there are a large number of standardized frozen products and condiments related to roast duck on the market, and the products are easy to copy.

Secondly,The bottom of the pot has a single flavor type。Different from hot pot, spicy hot pot, etc., there are a variety of pot bottom options, because roast duck needs to be stimulated with chili noodles to stimulate the aroma, so it is basically only the flavor type of spicy pot bottom.

Furthermore, if the store insists on freshly roasted roast duck, it will have higher requirements for the ** chain. But for nowThe construction of the first chain of the roast duck brand itself has not yet maturedIf a brand wants to offer freshly roasted duck, it will face certain challenges.

In addition, the current scene of roast duck stores is dominated by market styleScene homogeneityThe situation is more serious.

As a result, it is difficult for the roast duck brand to establish its own advantages in terms of quality, taste, and chain, and it is easy to fall into homogeneous competition.

To sum up, the roast duck track has the potential to be popular, but it also faces some challenges and problems. Based on this, the Red Meal Industry Research Institute put forward three suggestions for roast duck practitioners:

First, establish barriers to competition. At present, there are many chaos in the roast duck track, and entrepreneurs need to be cautious when entering the game. In order to avoid becoming "cannon fodder" under Internet celebrity traffic, it is recommended that practitioners can establish their own brand competition barriers through quality upgrades, scene upgrades, etc.

Second, take the initiative to integrate other catering categories to expand a broader market. In order to solve the pain point of the single product structure of roast duck, it is recommended that practitioners take the initiative to integrate Sichuan cuisine, hot pot, barbecue and other categories, and add a variety of dishes to the store to enrich the product line.

Third, move towards subdivision, extend multiple flavors and multiple practices. Many players in the subdivided track, such as bullfrog and sauerkraut fish tracks, will extend the taste and practice of single products in the "1+N" model. For example, bullfrogs have developed a variety of flavors such as sour, spicy, spicy, and perilla, as well as a variety of cooking methods such as iron pots, charcoal fires, and copper stoves.

In 2023, Mao Roast Duck will quickly emerge as a dark horse in the catering industry with its cost-effective and impactful appearance. Nowadays, some chain brands have emerged on the roast duck track, demonstrating the market potential and development prospects of this category.

Although the roast duck track is very hot, its pain points are also more obvious, such as the chaos of franchise, weak brand awareness, lack of leadership from leading brands, and low competitive barriers. In this case, roast duck practitioners need to seize the market opportunity and take measures such as strengthening brand building and extending product tastes and practices in order to better break through.