"A Brief History of Mankind" says that human beings have an extremely powerful ability: they can create and believe "fictional stories".
Money, honor, and even the country exist and are valuable because people believe in the corresponding story and are willing to work for it.
It goes without saying how important the ability to create concepts and tell stories is.
In the catering industry, the hottest concepts and stories in 2023 are none other than three words-New Chinese style.
To make milk tea, there are tea and pleasant color, overlord tea girl, tea talk, jasmine milk white and so on.
Make dim sum, there is a new Chinese baking.
The founder of the smash hit Tiger Head Bureau said: "The product of Tiger Head Bureau is the revival of Chinese pastries." There is also Momo Dim Sum Bureau, whose founder once made a bold statement: "For every three tea and pleasant colors, there is a Momo Dim Sum Bureau." ”
In the past, it was popular to make Chinese food on a day or in the West, but now all Chinese and foreign cuisines are "new Chinese".
"Hao Lai", a brand specializing in sushi, publicly stated that it would focus on Chinese sushi.
Guangdong caterers, who are at the forefront, have launched white cut chicken sushi, rice roll sushi, and hairy belly sushi ...... this year
Even those traditional Chinese foods can't escape the baptism of trends, such as new Chinese spicy tang, new Chinese spicy mix, etc.
New Chinese catering has swept the country, and the aunts in the vegetable market may have already eaten two bites.
At this time, there is a question to worry about: are the elements that support the new Chinese story really solid?
Milk tea, hamburgers, steamed buns, ......
I have to do it again with the "new Chinese style".
The power of the new Chinese style made people go up 8 years ago.
Founded in 2015, the most impressive thing is the national style element.
The signboard is a picture of a beautiful woman in Chinese style;I don't know what is in the milk tea products, but the name must be full of ancient rhyme, such as "floating for half a day", "fireworks in the world", "osmanthus lane";The official website brand also clearly states that it is committed to the ...... of "New Chinese Fun Life".
Screenshot from the official website of Chayan Yuese.
There are these axes to open the way, and the tea and beauty are the top queues everywhere.
In recent years, Overlord Chaji has carried forward this routine.
Its use of the new Chinese style is more direct: the brand name is based on the story of "Farewell My Concubine";The brand logo incorporates elements of Chinese operaChinese cultural elements can be seen everywhere in the store, from embroidery to mortise and tenon, so as to reflect the six senses of Chinese culture.
A set of upgraded combos has made Bawang Chaji, which was only established in 2017, currently have more than 3,000 stores, claiming to be "the number one in the number of national style tea stores".
Stimulated by this excitement, the new Chinese bloodlines of other catering formats have awakened.
For example, if you want to drink tea, there is a quiet new teahouse.
Not only do they have a variety of teas, but these new teahouses also attach great importance to the sense of atmosphere, allowing consumers to take a quiet moment in the city and steal a half day of leisure.
Therefore, their most significant feature is: large space + Chinese aesthetics.
Nai Xue's tea is in the Nai Xue Tea House opened in Shenzhen Overseas Chinese Town, with a double-layer area of more than 1000;Tea'stone, known as China's "pure tea version of Starbucks", no matter which store it is, focuses on the characteristics of the Tang Dynasty.
However, the price of paying for aesthetics and feelings is not small, and it is not surprising that the per capita consumption is hundreds.
There is spring and white snow, and there are also lower riba people.
The Hey Tea Tea Workshop, the small Shenxian Tea House with a pleasant tea face, can be regarded as a modern version of the ancient civilian tea house.
More down-to-earth are the steamed buns that have been newly Chineseized.
In the first half of this year, entrepreneurial stories such as "post-90s resignation to learn to make steamed buns" appeared on many social networks.
They opened not an ordinary steamed bread shop, but a new Chinese steamed bun shop.
In terms of design, the common ones are small and fresh doors, log style decoration, and warm yellow lightsMost of the products are made of "steamed bread + various fillings", such as rose steamed bread, Earl Grey black tea soufflé steamed bread, and they are also labeled as sugar-free, oil-free and healthy.
The last one sells for 3 to 8 yuan - with the blessing of the new Chinese style, even the steamed buns can have a premium.
Under such a **, even foreign products such as hamburger fried chicken coffee have been improved by the local area again.
According to the data of Narrow Door Restaurant, in the domestic market, there are no less than 10 chain hamburger brands with the words "China Burger" and "Guochao Burger" in their brand names.
The most famous is of course Tustin, which has earned enough traffic with Chinese burgers such as "Beijing Roast Duck Burger", "Mapo Tofu Burger" and "Plum Vegetable Buckle Meat Burger", and has opened more than 6,400 stores so far, catching up with the domestic McDonald's in one go.
There is also Jia Guolong's China Fort under Xibei, which has recently officially announced that the number of stores has reached 50.
From three meals a day to dim sum and snacks, they all want to do it again with the new Chinese style.
Three pairs of pushers, casting a crazy new Chinese business
Not long ago, the news that Zhengxin Chicken Chop closed thousands of stores appeared on the hot search.
It's all fried chicken, but the momentum of Chinese-style fried chicken is booming.
Linyu fried chicken thighs, which inherits the ancient frying technology of China's "fried eight pieces", have more than 1,800 stores, and more than 800 have been added this year alone. The founder revealed: "We plan to reach the goal of 10,000 stores in 2026. ”
Other Chinese fried chicken brands have also emerged this year. "Leg Boss" received 4 million yuan in angel round financing, "Worry Relief Mother-in-law" received angel round financing, and "Tiger Head Fried" won millions of yuan in angel financing.
The impetus of capital is the first double promoter of the new Chinese business.
For example, in 2021, the rise of Guochao dim sum, there were a total of 12 financing events in the domestic baking track that year, of which 11 were Chinese baking brands. Including the above-mentioned new teahouses and Chinese burger brands, the reason why they have been able to open stores ferociously in the past two years is that they are burning capital money.
Naturally, investment institutions are not interested in anyone's entrepreneurial dreams.
What's more, the other two pairs of promoters of the new Chinese business make them feel profitable.
The first is that consumers are buying more and more of the national tide and style.
According to the "New Tea Consumption Insight Notes" released by iResearch, among the post-70s to post-95 generations, more than 30% of tea consumers from all generations prefer Chinese style product packaging.
Not only milk tea, but also new Chinese meals are also favored.
In the past, many Chinese consumers thought that Japanese or Western food and ideas were more advanced, but this idea is basically a thing of the past. Just like Ajisen Ramen's "Japanese filter" has long been shattered, with a net loss of 15.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 78723%。
On the contrary, it is the new Chinese fast food that has stolen the limelight from the likes of Ajisen Ramen.
Hometown Chicken, Mr. Rice, and a number of Internet celebrity noodle restaurants with mixed reputations that have opened all over the country are all new Chinese fast food.
They are not as fast and affordable as traditional Chinese fast food, but more healthy and enjoyable, supplemented by simple and elegant decoration.
Eating fast food can also be eaten in style, which directly hits the needs of young people today.
The second is that the new Chinese style has been regarded as a weapon for the catering industry.
The catering industry is big and big, but it is also seriously involuted.
The data shows that the number of cancellations and revocations of catering-related enterprises in the first eight months of this year exceeded that of the whole of 2022.
For example, in the first half of this year, about 80,000 bubble tea shops closed down, and even old players such as a little bit and coco went downhill.
In an uncertain environment, the differentiated traffic that comes with the new Chinese style is very valuable.
Zhang Junjie, the founder of Bawang Chaji, once said that before founding the brand, he decided that he must not follow the trend, because "it is better to be different than to do it." ”
The rapid rise of Linyu fried chicken thighs also confirms the power of the new Chinese style of breaking rolls.
According to the data of Narrow Door Restaurant, the number of stores in the entire "fried chicken burger" category has decreased by more than 20,000 in the past year. But in this case, it took only 2 years for Linyu fried chicken thighs to reach the fifth place in the fried chicken category.
On the one hand, there is an unstoppable industry involution, and on the other hand, the new Chinese brand Zhuyu is in front, and the new Chinese style is becoming more and more popular as a weapon for breaking rolls, which is not unusual.
After all, in addition to Oriental Selection, who will have trouble with consumers, and who will have trouble making easy money.
Whether it is really innovative or a gimmick, there has long been an answer
For new Chinese cuisine, some people like it and some people disdain it.
On the one hand, the innovative packaging or taste of new Chinese products does have a large audience.
Bawang Chaji's big hit product "Boya Juexian" can sell 80 million cups a year.
Chinese-style fried chicken can not only fry chicken cutlets, chicken gizzards, chicken necks, chicken wishbones and other parts, but also mostly have different local flavors, such as Linyu fried chicken thighs claim to be "the old taste of Linyu", tiger head fried main "Chaoshan South milk fried chicken", Beijing-Tianjin fried chicken adhering to the "palace food ancient method fried chicken".
For this novelty, there should be many people who will pay for it.
On the other hand, some brands have taken advantage of the new Chinese style, which seems to be just to raise the premium and be avoided by more people.
The new Chinese-style steamed bun shop became popular on the Internet in the first half of the year, and began to close and close down in the second half of the year. A steamed bun costs 3 to 8 yuan, which leads to some people trying, but few people repurchase.
"Zhong Xuegao", the representative of the new Chinese ice cream, encountered "Internet salary bargaining" this year, and was also exposed to arrears to the partner, looking precarious.
The new Chinese dim sum, which died down earlier, is a lesson from the past.
At the beginning of this year, Hutou Bureau was exposed to "arrears of wages to many employees, first-class commercial payments and rents", and was evacuated from Beijing, Chengdu and ChongqingIn June, it was also revealed that all of Momo Dim Sum Bureau's 15 stores in Wuhan were closed.
Reality has long proven that the new Chinese style is just a trendy name, an eye-catching shell.
It may be a traffic password, but it is by no means the way to survive and thrive.
In contrast, it is more critical to return to the essence of catering: products and services.
In order to speed up the pace, it makes up for the shortcomings of the chain: last year, a chain management company was established, and this year its R&D and production base has also begun construction, which can meet the raw materials of 5000+ stores after completion.
In order to ensure the standardization of the popular product "Boya Juexian", Bawang Chaji uses automated equipment at the production end of the store, claiming that it can control the taste difference at one thousandth.
Tustin, which is full of Chinese characteristics, has never been the foundation of the new Chinese style.
First of all, Tustin's Chinese burger is more of a gimmick, and its most popular is the traditional spicy chicken thigh burger.
Secondly, compared to any fish-flavored shredded meat burger, cost performance is its real killer feature. According to the data of Narrow Door Dining Eye, the per capita customer unit price of Tustin is 1925 yuan, which is about the same as Wallace, and there is not as much negative news as the latter for the time being.
They are all focusing on the new Chinese style, but the players who break through follow the old-school style of play.
On the contrary, if someone breaks the new Chinese style, the problem will probably not be the new Chinese style, but the luck psychology of the outlet.
From the outset, you shouldn't expect the icing on the cake to be a reason to repurchase.
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