In 2023, with the help of China's policy of focusing on stimulating domestic demand, the domestic economy will gradually recover, and catering consumption will show vitality, achieving both revenue and profit. According to the data, in the first 10 months of this year, the national catering revenue was 4,190.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of **185%。
Confidence has returned, and consumption has recovered strongly
The reporter visited many business districts such as Sanlitun, Guomao, and Jingxi Joy City in Beijing, and found that it has become the norm to eat in a row with a number. Many restaurants are full on weekdays, and even more people come on weekends and holidays.
Citizens queue up in Haidilao hot pot restaurant street to eat. Photo by China News Service Wang Dongyuan.
According to the staff of the Green Tea Restaurant, the dine-in flow of Green Tea Restaurants across the country has increased this year, and the queue in the stores is hot. "In order to meet the diversified consumer needs, the store not only updates the menu style in a timely manner, but also launches a variety of ** combinations for consumers to choose. ”
In the first half of this year, the customer flow of Haidilao restaurants recovered significantly. The 2023 interim results show that the cumulative number of customers received in the first half of the year exceeded 1700 million passengers, an increase of about 18% compared to the same period last year; Achieved operating income of 188RMB900 million, an increase of 24% over the same period last year6%；Net profit 22600 million yuan, a new high in the first half of the year, has been close to the annual net profit in 2019.
In the first half of 2023, Xiabu Group's revenue increased by 32% year-on-year0% to 28$4.6 billion; Xiabu Xiabu's sales increased by 29 percent year-on-year5% to 13$7.7 billion; The group's profit during the period was 2.12 million yuan, turning losses into profits year-on-year.
According to the 2023 semi-annual report released by Jiumaojiu Group, in the first half of the year, Jiumaojiu Group's revenue was about 287.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5163%；Net profit 22.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 28512%。
Xibei Group said that its performance in 2023 will achieve explosive growth, and its revenue will exceed 6.2 billion yuan in 2019, a record high.
According to the analysis of the China Cuisine Association, the growth rate of national catering revenue and limited catering revenue in October increased by 25% over the same period last year2, 257 percentage points. 1 In October, the growth rate of national catering revenue and limited catering revenue increased by 23 year-on-year respectively5, 231 percentage point; The growth rate of catering revenue led the growth rate of total retail sales of consumer goods by 116 percentage points.
Analyzing the reasons for the strong recovery momentum of national catering revenue this year, industry insiders said that first of all, the state has introduced a number of policies to promote consumption, and multiple batches of coupons have been launched in various places, which has further increased the preferential treatment of catering consumption and improved consumers' willingness to eat; Secondly, the catering industry has increased consumer confidence in catering by offering takeaway and limited-time offers. In addition, factors such as the domestic tourism market and holiday consumption also supported the recovery of F&B revenue.
The diversification of consumer needs is highlighted
Since the beginning of this year, the diversification of consumers' dining needs has become more and more prominent, and social catering, healthy catering, and upgraded catering are gradually becoming the focus of attention. In the fierce competition in the red sea of catering, the diversified development of the catering industry has set off a round of innovation.
In 2023, social catering, as an emerging format, is gradually becoming a highlight of the market. Interactive social restaurants have sprung up like mushrooms, not only meeting the dietary needs of consumers, but also providing a place for cultural exchange, leisure and entertainment. For example, "Once upon a time it was just a skewer shop" focused on grilled skewers, while focusing on cultural transmission, allowing strangers to get closer to each other by sharing food; "Hutaoli" integrates **, food, wine and performance, and has become a communication platform for art lovers; The social light catering brand "GAGA Xianyu" focuses on tea and social space light food, focusing on creating a social place where people are willing to stay, experience space, products and connect with people. In the future, the catering industry will present a restaurant model with social networking as the core, creating different scenes and experiences, and providing consumers with more diversified dining experiences.
With the improvement of people's living standards, healthy diet has gradually become a hot spot for consumers. According to Kantar TNS, a global market research company, 74% of Chinese consumers consider health, variety and balance when choosing a diet. The younger generation is particularly concerned about the nutritional content and efficacy of ingredients, and is willing to pay a certain premium for healthy meals. To this end, this year, many catering companies have joined the exploration of healthy catering, such as KFC, Yoshinoya and other brands to launch light food concept stores; Yum China's brands launched a campaign to "add dishes to a balanced diet"; Naixue fully applies the natural sugar substitute "0 carrot fruit sugar" to the freshly made tea in the store; There are also some categories that focus on healthy eating, such as raising pork belly chicken hot pot, etc., which have seized the dividends of healthy catering. Healthy catering has become a major development trend in the industry, and major catering brands are setting off a new wave of healthy catering.
Brand upgrading is the key to sustainable growth for catering enterprises. With the intensification of market competition, catering companies have sought to upgrade their brand image and product innovation. Since the beginning of this year, well-known brands such as Haidilao and Xibei have upgraded their brand image by improving service quality and optimizing environmental layout; Time-honored brands have innovated and launched unique new products through the integration of modern elements to meet the diverse needs of consumers.
This year, the cross-border integration of the catering industry and other industries has also become an emerging trend. For example, the integration of catering and tourism, culture and entertainment industries has created innovative formats such as characteristic catering towns and catering theme parks; The combination of catering and the Internet has given birth to new businesses such as takeaway and online booking. Cross-border integration has brought a broader market space and a more diversified consumer experience to the catering industry.
In addition, this year, with the improvement of travel convenience, various localities have adopted various ways to stimulate consumption, and the diversification of consumers' dining needs has become more prominent. On November 18, Yanqing District, Beijing issued the 2023 "About Hui Yanqing Ice and Snow Happy Season" ice and snow catering consumption coupons; On November 24, Changchun City, Jilin Province, issued a total of 6 million yuan of 2023 Changchun "Ice and Snow Food Festival" catering vouchers to attract consumers to enjoy Changchun's special delicacies...
Major brands have embarked on the road of live broadcasting
This year, the catering industry has ushered in a new trend - live broadcasting.
In order to save the decline of the catering industry after the epidemic, catering companies have continuously begun to explore the business model of online and offline integration, and have poured into the live broadcast room, allowing people to gradually develop the consumption Xi of "online payment + store experience", and the combination of catering business and content traffic has found a breakthrough for countless businesses to grow.
As the aroma of the big cake of online traffic drifts farther and farther away, catering people are everywhere who are scrambling to be the first, and major catering brands have also embarked on the road of live broadcasting.
Since the beginning of this year, the digitalization process of catering has been accelerating, and the competition for online traffic has become increasingly fierce. After rapid development, the gradual rise of catering live broadcast has also become a means of marketing and publicity, increasing income and profits from the initial period of survival and exploration.
In short, today's online live catering trend has become a normalized home from a means of self-help in a special period. Countless catering brands use live broadcasts to showcase the dishes, environment and services of catering companies, and even issue coupons, as well as attract more potential customers through takeaways, so as to improve brand awareness and rate.
*In the context of the increasing cost of customer acquisition, in order to strive for greater traffic and sales performance, many catering people have moved their offline methods to online, and have started a first-class battle, and the discount can be described as higher than wave.
This year's live broadcast and short ** have linked the catering industry to "traffic" and entered the battlefield of "online traffic life and death", starting a new round of involution era.
Cost pressures have intensified the industry reshuffle
And this year, all catering companies are under pressure from rents and raw materials. In the face of the highest cost, some companies have made great efforts to reduce costs and increase efficiency, while some companies have quietly raised prices, allowing consumers to bear this part of the pressure.
At present, the per capita unit price of Chinese chain fast food brands is between 25 and 50 yuan. Under normal circumstances, one dish and one soup are 25 yuan, two dishes are 30 yuan, two dishes and one soup are 40 yuan, and if you want to eat well, it will generally exceed 40 yuan. Behind this, it reflects that fast food brands with low unit prices are quietly raising prices.
In addition, the well-loved categories such as Mao Cai and Malatang are often complained by netizens that "if you don't take a few dishes, it will be more than 40 yuan." ”
A Chinese fast-food chain brand said in its prospectus that in recent years, commercial real estate has risen rapidly, and the rent of shops has also risen. The first grade of store rent will inevitably increase the operating costs of enterprises and franchisees, and have a negative impact on the development of the industry. In addition, because agricultural and sideline products such as rice and flour, meat and poultry, edible oil, vegetables and other factors are susceptible to natural conditions, market supply and demand, etc., there is a certain degree of volatility, which poses a challenge to the cost control and anti-risk ability of Chinese fast food enterprises. According to the prospectus, in 2019 and 2021, the company's direct material costs increased by 72% and labor costs increased by 54%.
In 2023, although consumers' willingness to dine offline has increased significantly, there are still some catering brands that have withdrawn from the process of industry reshuffle, including both short-lived Internet celebrity brands and old brands that make people sigh.
In April this year, the smash hit new Chinese bakery brand Hutou Bureau Standard Chartered Cake Store had problems with its operation, and some stores in many cities showed that some stores were temporarily closed.
In addition, as one of the chain representative brands of Shanghai's local noodle restaurant, Youhao Noodle has recently been exposed that many stores have closed down. The star catering brand Xianhezhuang was previously exposed to the closure of all stores in Guangzhou, and then all the stores in Beijing were also exposed, and even the "source" Fuzhou, the "headquarters" Chengdu, and the "base camp" Shanghai were also closed one by one.
The truth behind this is that the catering industry is undergoing a profound change, the needs and preferences of consumers are undergoing tremendous changes, and the catering industry is becoming more and more obviously upgrading to higher quality, more diversification and more intelligence.
The reform and upgrading of the catering industry is a good thing, a benefit, an opportunity, a challenge and a hope from the perspective of the overall development of the industry. Facing the future, with the continuous deepening of support policies and the efforts of catering enterprises to improve the quality of products and services, the potential of catering consumption will be further stimulated and more vitality will be injected into economic growth.