At present, the daily sales volume of all stores of Jinfang snacks is about 20,000-30,000 catties, and the daily sales volume during the peak period can reach 80,000 catties, and you need to queue for 40 minutes to buy Lantern Festival. ”
Reporter丨Zhang Tianyuan.
When the Lantern Festival meets the weekend, the tangyuan and the Lantern Festival are popular, and the difficulty of restaurant reservations is comparable to that of the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner.
Recently, the sales of glutinous rice balls and Lantern Festival have entered the peak period, the store started at three or four o'clock in the morning, and consumers began to line up to buy at seven o'clock, and even the daily sales of some stores were as high as hundreds of catties. Not only the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner market, the heads of many restaurant companies said that Lantern Festival reservations are still hot, and some reservation rates increased by more than 10% year-on-year, and the passenger flow is expected to approach Chinese New Year's Eve.
Generally speaking, after the first month, the catering market will enter the off-season, and restaurant companies are also ready to use digitalization to increase operational efficiency, and plan to increase brand popularity through short-term measures to attract more consumers.
Have you started buying glutinous rice balls and Lantern Festival? Radio.
Have you started buying glutinous rice balls and Lantern Festival?
Bought. Didn't buy it.
Vote. Queuing for 40 minutes, the peak daily sales reached 80,000 catties.
Approaching the Lantern Festival, Lantern Festival and Tangyuan have gradually become the top of the catering. Recently, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily visited and found that a number of catering companies have begun to sell glutinous rice balls and Lantern Festival, with daily sales of hundreds of catties, and queuing for dozens of minutes has become a "routine operation". While F&B brands such as Jinfang Snack Bar and Jing Tianhong offer bulk dumplings and Lantern Festival in their stores and windows, there is also an endless stream of packaged retail products, such as those sold by Daoxiangcun and Wei Duomei. Not only that, but in order to attract consumers, merchants are constantly doing their homework on product packaging and taste.
How popular are tangyuan and lantern festivals? According to data from Meituan and Dianping, in the latest week, the search volume of the keyword "handmade Lantern Festival" increased by more than 4 times compared with the previous week. Among them, Beijing has the highest search popularity. At present, the daily sales volume of all stores of Jinfang snacks is about 20,000-30,000 catties, and the daily sales volume during the peak period can reach 80,000 catties, and you need to queue for 40 minutes to buy Lantern Festival. Qiu Yunhe, manager of Jinfang Snack Bar, said that the traffic of Jinfang Snack Ciqikou Store began to increase on the eighth day of the first month, and even queued up from seven o'clock in the morning. Overall, this year's Lantern Festival sales are expected to be the same as last year, about 400,000 catties. Coincidentally, the relevant person in charge of Jingtianhong also told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that at present, the average daily sales volume of each store in Jingtianhong is about 150 catties, and it is expected that the average daily sales of the store will reach about 600 catties at the fifteenth day of the first month.
In order to optimize the consumer experience, merchants have put a lot of thought into it. In terms of purchase experience, Jinfang Snack Bar not only increased the charging window, but also added 10% of the Lantern Festival sales points. In order to meet the increased number of orders, the master of the Huguosi Snack General Store Shake Lantern Festival started work at about five o'clock in the morning, especially in the days close to the Lantern Festival, basically early in the morning.
Work starts at three or four o'clock.
In terms of product taste, Jinfang Snack Bar tried the fresh taste of the Sea Buckthorn Stuffed Lantern Festival, Jingtianhong catered to young consumers and launched the Milk Cap White Chocolate Flavor Lantern Festival, and the Huguosi Snack Store launched the Chocolate Quicksand Lantern Festival this year. In terms of packaging form, Jinfang Snack Bar sells 15 small packages with more freedom of choice, and Jingtianhong provides 2 kg Lantern Festival gift boxes. In addition, according to the relevant person in charge of the Cheap Fang Group, the Lantern Festival packaging of Jinfang Snack Bar has also added the Lantern Festival to cook the Lantern Festival*** You can see how to cook the Lantern Festival by scanning the code.
At the same time as the hot sale of tangyuan and Lantern Festival products, catering companies also took the opportunity to launch fancy marketing activities, which mainly focused on sending Lantern Festival and guessing lantern riddles. On the day of the Lantern Festival, Cui Hua Lou will give away Lantern Festival to consumers who dine; In addition to giving each consumer a bowl of Lantern Festival on the same day, the Four Generations Tongtang also organized an activity to guess lantern riddles to win lucky lots, and the prizes included dishes and vouchers for the Four Generations Tongtang; Banu will give each dining consumer a "persimmon ruyi lantern festival", and also hold an activity to guess lantern riddles to win member points. In addition, KFC also launched the "Romance of Tangyuan Gaduo" on February 19, and the purchase of the product during the designated period will also give you rice balls.
The Chinese New Year's Eve dinner was "late but arriving".
Booking rates increased by more than 10%.
This year's Lantern Festival coincides with the weekend, and catering companies can be said to be at a peak again. Data from Meituan and Dianping also show that as of February 21, the number of Beijing catering merchants that launched "Lantern Festival" themed dine-in** on the Meituan platform increased by 55% month-on-week in several weeks, and the number of related orders increased by more than 165%.
Not only that, following the "hard to find" of the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner market, the reservation balance for the 15th Lantern Festival of the first month is still tight. Wang Peixin, general manager of Cuihualou Group, told a reporter from Beijing Business Daily that private rooms have been booked hotly recently, and they have been booked until the 16th day of the first lunar month, and most of them are family banquets. From the current point of view, the passenger flow of this year's Lantern Festival is expected to be comparable to the second day of the first lunar month, which is a certain amount compared with last year's Lantern Festival.
Li Weiyi, the marketing director of the brand, said that most of the stores of the Lantern Festival are fully booked for lunch and dinner, and about 50% of the two meals are booked in some stores. In terms of bookings and inquiries, the booking rate increased by more than 10% compared to the same period last year, and it is expected that there will be a peak passenger flow equivalent to Chinese New Year's Eve. In addition, the relevant person in charge of Banu also revealed that although it does not accept reservations for holiday boxes, many stores have received reservations from consumers**.
The hot catering market is also related to the postponement of Chinese New Year's Eve dinner by some consumers. According to the data released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the data center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism calculated that the Spring Festival holiday was 8 days of domestic tourism travel in the country7.4 billion person-times, a year-on-year increase of 343%。Among them is consumer Xiao Mu, who told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that due to a trip on Chinese New Year's Eve, she decided to "make up" the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner on the fifteenth day of the first month. Wang Peixin said that about 40% of the consumers who booked a table for the Lantern Festival went out during the Spring Festival, so they chose to come back for dinner on the 15th day of the first lunar month. Li Weiyi also said that many consumers who booked were traveling during the Spring Festival and booked the party for the Lantern Festival.
Zhan Junhao, a well-known strategic positioning expert and founder of Fujian Great Aim Brand Positioning Consulting, said in an interview with a reporter from Beijing Business Daily that it is normal for restaurant reservations to remain hot on the 15th day of the first lunar month, and consumers' attention to traditional festivals has always increased. Despite the ever-changing lifestyles and rhythms of modern consumers, gathering with family or friends during traditional festivals still has multiple meanings, which also puts certain demands on F&B companies. In the face of such a hot situation of table reservations, catering enterprises need to strengthen service quality management when operating, and arrange manpower and raw materials in advance, so as to provide consumers with better products and services on the premise of ensuring food safety.
"No stoppage in the off-season."
Strengthen interaction with consumers.
Many people in the industry believe that after the peak period of the first month, it will usher in a relative off-season for the industry. But the off-season doesn't mean stopping, and in the face of daily operations, the caterers do not rest, but recharge their energy and wait for the next time to surprise the diners.
Generally speaking, after the Spring Festival, there will be about two months of off-season for catering, and the four generations have also made the following preparations in advance. Li Weiyi pointed out that the first is to interact with surrounding consumers, and improve the attendance rate of surrounding consumers through measures such as sending snacks, performances, and vouchers. At the same time, in addition to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the four generations of the same church will hold ** activities from Chinese New Year's Eve to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, issuing vouchers and dish coupons, which can be limited to after the Spring Festival to the end of April, so as to encourage consumers to return to the store to dine in the near future. In addition, Sishi Tongtang will also increase the ** rate through various social platforms, promote Beijing cuisine while promoting the brand's characteristic culture, so as to attract more consumers.
Screenshot of WeChat*** of the four generations of the same hall
Wang Peixin also believes that the next passenger flow will show a slight downward trend. In the face of daily operations, the Group will encourage employees to recharge their energy and prepare for the next peak in the off-season. In addition, the Group will actively adjust the menu, conduct systematic training for employees in dishes and services, and formulate a long-term planning strategy.
Slightly different from the restaurant that focuses on family banquets, the Fuyue pufferfish, which is positioned for business banquets, will usher in a peak of customers later. Yang Zisu, chairman of the Fuyue Fugu, said that although the passenger flow has been relatively stable since Chinese New Year's Eve, business banquets will increase after the fifteenth day of the first month, and the Fuyue Fugu will usher in a rebound in passenger flow. Next, Fuyue Fugu plans to improve the operational efficiency of the front office and back kitchen through digitalization, and enhance the standardization of the brand, so as to enhance the comprehensive competitiveness of the brand.
Indeed, the F&B market is constantly changing, and following the trend has become the key to cultivating internal skills for today's enterprises. Zhan Junhao believes that catering companies should not relax in the off-season, and should improve their capabilities with service and product innovation, and adjust their products according to market demand. At the same time, catering enterprises also need to strengthen cost control in procurement, inventory, personnel, etc., and optimize the operating costs of restaurants by improving efficiency through refined management. In addition, in addition to traditional offline stores, catering companies can also strengthen online takeaway, ** and other channels to continuously expand consumer groups and market share.
Editor丨Wang Naixin.
*丨Screenshots of Beijing Business Daily, Yitu.com, and WeChat***.