Low-cost, low-educated, high-income ......Is a restaurant owner really a profession with a very low threshold? 
This article was originally published by Red Meal Network (ID: Hongcan18), author: Zhou Feifei, editor: Hong Jun.
In the past, many people believed that catering was an industry with a very low threshold, and the restaurant owner naturally became a profession with a very low threshold, without strong funds, education, and background. However, now that the market environment in which the catering industry is located has changed, the investment cost of opening a store is getting higher and higher, the risks faced after opening are more, and the requirements for restaurant owners are getting higher and higher.
The threshold for start-up capital is getting higher and higherIt used to be said that only the poor did catering. Many of the older generation of catering people are catering for their livelihood, who is rich in catering?
It's different now. Most of the people who open shops and do catering are not poor. Not long ago, Red Meal Network published a new article in "Nine Deaths! Catering entrepreneurship, no longer welcoming the poor" article takes stock of the investment costs of a number of restaurant chain brands.
Taking the relatively light investment in tea as an example, to open a 20-square-meter Mixue Ice City, the investment starts at 210,000 yuan; A Heytea store of less than 50 square meters requires a minimum investment of 4080,000 yuan; Nayuki's tea, with a single store investment of 980,000 yuan.
It is not difficult to find that when opening a restaurant now, most of the investment starts with 100,000 yuan, such as hot pot and casual catering, and it is very common to invest one million.
In order to ensure that entrepreneurs do have enough financial strength to open stores, many brands clearly indicate that they want to "verify capital" when screening franchisees, ranging from millions to tens of millions.
It can be said that those who can afford to invest in a store today are not considered "poor", and many can even be said to be "rich".
More importantly, the fact that a store can be opened smoothly does not mean that it can survive smoothly. After opening, entrepreneurs still need to survive a period of unstable business - the maintenance period. The maintenance period of a new restaurant can be as short as 3 months and as long as 1-2 years.
During this period, if the entrepreneur does not have sufficient reserve funds, the store will not have the time and space to make adjustments, and it will not be able to withstand any wind and grass.
Rent, labor and other costs all the way**In the past, everyone thought that dry catering had low cost and high profit. You can buy cabbage for 5 yuan in the vegetable market, and the restaurant can sell it in two parts, and one can be sold for dozens of yuan.
However, now the cost of opening a restaurant is getting higher and higher, and the regular rent, labor and other costs alone are getting higher and higher year by year, and the profit margin is constantly compressed. Last year, the news that the rent of Hangzhou Lifetime Fried Shop rose from 400,000 to 1.2 million caused heated discussions. Due to the continuous rent for several years, the owner had no choice but to relocate.
There is also a restaurant owner who shared that the breakfast restaurant he opened at the end of 2022 has risen from 9,300 yuan to 10,300 yuan in just one year.
In addition to rent, labor costs are also along the way. Catering is a labor-intensive industry, highly dependent on people, and at the same time highly mobile.
At present, many restaurant owners are willing to pay more, but they may not be able to recruit the right employees. We can often see job advertisements posted in restaurants on the street and in shopping malls, with a monthly salary of 3,500-5,000 yuan to recruit waiters. Some stores can't recruit suitable candidates for months after their advertisements are posted.
In addition to the three fixed costs of raw materials, rent, and labor in the store, the restaurant owner also has to bear the daily expenses such as raw material loss, seasoning, water and electricity. In fact, the restaurant industry only seems to be highly profitable, and as the cost gets higher and higher, the store profit is finally calculated to be very little.
Marketing costs are difficult to controlIn the past, everyone said that "the aroma of wine is not afraid of deep alleys", as long as the taste is good, the business of the restaurant is naturally not much worse.
When customers get information faster and faster, and there are more and more channels, it is becoming more and more difficult for restaurants to get the attention of consumers.
This also forces restaurant owners to embrace online traffic and do marketing and promotion on major platforms, etc., and this expenditure cannot be ignored.
In this process, restaurant owners are easy to go to extremes, one is that they don't know how to do marketing, and they don't do it at all; The other is to focus on marketing drainage, but ignore cost accounting.
For example, in order to gain customers, new stores launch half-price or even low-discount discounts, even if they attract customer flow, it is difficult to bring profits, and even more raw materials, labor and other costs will be lost.
And after the event, restaurants without discounts may not be able to continue to attract customers, which obviously outweighs the losses.
At present, online and offline, public and private domains, traffic is becoming more and more expensive, and marketing methods are becoming more and more involuted. This also reminds restaurant owners to arrange their budgets, screen out effective plans, and live within their means before doing marketing activities.
The competition in the industry is seriousIn the past, a small restaurant with only one craft, or no technical threshold, as long as it insisted on working hard, could live very well.
At present, the environment of catering entrepreneurship is completely different from the past, and it is difficult for entrepreneurs to break out of the encirclement with the spirit of hardship and hard work, or the food is delicious. The failure rate of opening a store is too high. In 2023, the catering industry has ushered in an entrepreneurial boom, and there are not a few who have fallen.
A restaurant owner bluntly said that there was originally only one restaurant in the community, but last year there were more stores on the same street. Similar situations occur all over the country, such as the "tea street" in various places, and the competition is extremely fierce.
Looking back on the past 2023, a large number of stores have collapsed in baking, coffee, hot pot, etc., many of which are new stores that have just opened for less than half a year.
Some catering entrepreneurship projects that have no technical threshold, you will do it, and others will do it. When a street is crowded into four or five similar restaurants, customers will be diverted, and business will not be good.
The professional requirements for operators are getting higher and higherIn the past, it was believed that restaurant owners did not need academic qualifications, and elementary, junior and senior high schools were fine. When many restaurant owners start their business, they don't have the concept of a team, so they pull in their friends and family, and gather 3-5 people to prepare to open a store.
In fact, catering seems to have a low threshold, but in fact, it is not easy to run it well. Even if you open a mom-and-pop shop, in addition to understanding ingredients, you must also understand dish development, operation management, cost control, kitchen management, etc. Take the takeaway business that almost every store will launch now, how to price according to the rules of the platform and do a good job in cost accounting is a science.
In recent years, the catering industry has developed rapidly, and the institutionalized business ideas of product research and development and talent training have become more and more professional. In the face of a complex and changeable entrepreneurial environment, restaurant owners need to have strong learning and thinking skills, and improve their professional ability to have opportunities.
To understand management, we must understand laws and regulationsAs Chinese people pay more and more attention to food safety, catering services and business-related policies are also constantly improving.
Some restaurant owners only apply for a business license when opening a restaurant, and do not have a detailed understanding of the relevant regulations and business norms. It is often because of the details that affect the daily operation of the store.
Last year, "shooting cucumbers" frequently appeared on various platforms hot searches, although this is a common dish in many restaurants, but according to the regulations, it is required to have a business license for "cold food production and sales".
Restaurant bosses' ignorance of this business norm may lead to "unlicensed operation" of the store and a fine of thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan.
According to a document released by the Zhuzhou Catering Industry Association in Hunan Province, a number of restaurant companies jointly reported that the cold dishes such as "cucumbers" they sold were frequently reported by "professional anti-counterfeiters" and were subject to high claims.
This also sounded the alarm for the daily operation of catering businesses, and they should always pay attention to the relevant laws and policies of catering.
In addition, the "food safety" article alone is enough to keep the catering staff vigilant and dare not relax.
Conclusion
There are so many people in China, everyone always has to eat, and the restaurant business will not be too bad. "A lot of people go into the restaurant industry with that in mind.
However, the dividend period of rapid development has passed, and with the increasing number of entrants, the industry competition has become more intense, and the reshuffle has intensified.
According to Qichacha data, in 2023, the number of new registrations of domestic catering enterprises will be 318690,000, with 140 revocations020,000 units, which is more than twice the sales volume of catering enterprises in 2022, setting a new high for catering enterprises since 2020. Most restaurants don't even live for a year.
It is easy to get started and difficult to debut, and catering is such an industry that seems to have a very low threshold, but it is actually very difficult to do well. We should look at it rationally and enter the game cautiously.