Ten years ago, Heytea changed the entire traditional milk tea track and created a new era of tea drinking. Now, can HeyTea Tea Workshop lead the new tea drink track into a new ecology?
This article was originally published by Red Dining Network (ID: Hongcan18), author: Wang Xiuqing.
A new round of competition in the new tea drink track started at the beginning of the year.
In the past 30 days of 2024, there have been several events in the coffee and tea track that are enough to affect the industry. On the same day, Mixue Bingcheng and Gu Ming applied for listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the first store of the sub-brand "Tea Cat" of Cudi Coffee, which adopts the human-machine collaboration model, was opened, and the new format of Heytea "Heytea Tea Fang" launched a series of new products of "Tea Butchino".
It is worth noting that, unlike the conventional new products, behind the launch of four new products at the same time, Heytea Tea further emphasizes its strategic action of "returning to tea". In fact, in the early days of Heytea's popularity, it relied on cheese tea series products, and the explosion of fresh fruit tea was an afterthought.
Now, what is the purpose of Heytea's comprehensive "return to tea"? How is the performance of the highly-anticipated Heytea Tea Workshop?
Do not do large barrels of pre-brewing, on-site tea brewing,
The cup is out in 30 seconds at the earliest
The first HeyTea Tea House (hereinafter referred to as "Tea Fang") opened in November 2023 and is located on the B1 floor of Wanling Hui Shopping Center in the Tianhe Road business district, Guangzhou's core business district.
1. The price of the new product starts at 18 yuan, and it draws on coffee inspiration to create a new form of product
Red Meal Network came to the tea house on a weekday afternoon, and the water sign in the area outside the store and the LED screen at the door of the store were all displayed in the new series of fresh tea buchino, with a range of 18-19 yuan.
It is understood that this series of products is inspired by the classic coffee cappuccino, combining freshly brewed tea soup with whipped milk foam, and realizing the layered visual effect and richer taste experience of the top layer of milk foam, middle layer tea soup and bottom milk base through different liquid densities.
According to the on-site observation of the Red Meal Network, the process of dispensing a cup of tea butchino is to first take the milk base of the corresponding specification from the milk machine and send it, then weigh the corresponding tea leaves on the electronic scale, use the tea mill to grind, and then use the tea extraction machine to extract the tea soup on the spot and inject it into the whipped milk base. Because of the difference in density, the milk foam in the whipped milk base will gradually float to the top layer, and the tea soup will fall on the bottom layer of the milk base to achieve a layering effect.
When drinking this product, you can use a straw to stir the tea soup and milk base well, and then adjust the depth of the straw to feel the different flavors of milk foam and milk tea.
Judging from the menu, there are currently four tea bases to choose from in the Fresh Extract Tea Buchino series, namely Lantingxu (Qilanxiang Oolong), Manjianghong (Ripe Fruity Aroma, Red Pao Oolong), Lang Taosha (Honey Fruit Fragrance, Black Tea), Stone Crushed Silver (Glutinous Rice Fragrance, Pu'er), and each tea base is matched with 3 of Hey Tea8. Source Mu Zhen milk production.
It is reported that as a blockbuster new product of the Heytea Tea Workshop, the Fresh Extract Tea Butchino series is positioned as a resident signature product, and the Tea Workshop will continue to broaden the application and flavor presentation of different tea varieties in the future, strengthening the concept of the Tea Workshop returning to the original taste of tea.
2. The unit price of the drink is 8-19 yuan, and the cup is out in 30 seconds at the earliest
As a new format of Heytea's return to tea, the products of the tea workshop have fully returned to high-quality tea, and there are currently four series of 21 products including tea butchino, and the unit price of drinks ranges from 8 to 19 yuan. The other three series are Fresh Extract Light Milk Tea, Fresh Extract Thick Milk Tea, and Fresh Extract Chinese Style. Among them, the Chinese series is two pure teas. The other products are in the form of milk tea that emphasizes the original taste of tea.
At the same time, in order to highlight the taste of tea, the tea shop products advocate not piling up small ingredients, fruits, milk caps, etc., and the milk foam top in Fresh Tea Buchino is also based on the processing of the milk base.
In the freshly brewed fine tea category created by the tea workshop, all products adopt the cup mode of fresh brewing on the spot in the store, rather than the traditional barrel pre-brewing. In the on-site preparation area, Red Meal Network saw that unlike the mainstream new tea stores, which are generally lined up with several large tea barrels, the tea soup of all products of the tea shop is made of tea leaves that are ground by a tea mill and then extracted by a single cup on the spot using a tea extraction machine.
The on-site tea extraction does not seem to affect the speed of the tea shop, it is observed that the operation SOP of the tea shop is relatively clear, and the cup can be dispensed in 30 seconds at the earliest.
From the scene, the work line of the tea workshop is L-shaped, and the workbenches on both sides of the long end are full of equipment, and the staff can pick up the corresponding raw materials in different smart devices in turn, and then hand over the drinks to the short end to pack out the cups, and the whole process is relatively smooth and efficient.
It is worth mentioning that the store area of the tea shop is not large, and the overall functional area includes a workshop, a warehouse, an order and pick-up table, a take-out area, a tea culture experience space and a seating area in the store.
In terms of design style, it conforms to the concept of the tea house, draws inspiration from the mountain dwellings and bamboo houses of the Song Dynasty, and adopts modern oriental minimalist design to create a tea house space with a sense of atmosphere, suitable for the past and the present. The tea culture experience area is distributed on the outside of the pick-up table and other locations, effectively using the space to display a variety of tea bases in the store, including popular science content such as origin and characteristics.
The small and beautiful design and new product concept coincide with the current trend of health and the pursuit of tea culture experience, and also make the new format of the tea workshop a good momentum. According to reports, the signature product "Song Yunjian" in the first month of the tea house's opening sold more than 1,200 cups in a single day, and during the recent "please drink for free to all Guangzhou tea customers" event during the new period, nearly 2,000 cups of fresh tea and tea tea, were given away on the first day.
After more than two months of opening and the peak period of concentrated consumer tasting, it can still be seen that the normalized operation of the tea shop is relatively good overall. On the day of the visit to the site, the seating area in the store was full most of the time in the afternoon, and there were constantly delivery riders picking up the goods.
Hey Tea added "Return to Tea".
The new tea drink track is regenerating?
Combined with the products of the tea house, it is not difficult to understand the increase in the trend of "return to tea". In 2023, light milk tea with a prominent tea sense will be popular, and almost all well-known brands in the market are promoting this type of product.
Taking Heytea as an example, since 2023, it has successively launched light milk teas such as Azure Rain, Yueguan, Barbie Powder Narcissus, and Shuiyunjian, and many products have achieved good sales, such as Barbie Powder Narcissus The sales volume reached nearly 3 million cups in the first week.
Behind the popularity of light milk tea products is the continuous improvement of young consumer groups' demand for healthy freshly made tea drinks. In the past ten years, the new tea beverage track has been upgrading towards light burden and health, which can be seen from the use of Heytea and leading the industry to use real tea, real fruit, and real milk to replace the powder preparation raw materials in the past. The product iteration history of Heytea is also a microcosm of the healthy development history of the new tea beverage track.
Under such a trend, the tea + milk structure with no small ingredients and a simpler structure such as light milk tea has won the favor of more and more consumers.
At the same time, whether it is traditional milk tea or new tea drinks represented by fresh fruit tea and fresh milk tea, tea has always been an important component, and consumers' demand for tea has always existed, and now it shows a trend of paying more and more attention to tea. More than 10 years ago, people ridiculed that "young people love to drink milk tea but don't like to drink tea", after the continuous exploration of tea in the past ten years in the entire market, people have found that young people have a natural yearning and closeness to tea.
Based on the insight into this market trend, Heytea officially put forward the strategy of "returning to tea" in its 2023 annual report.
The tea workshop format can be regarded as an important step for Heytea to return to tea. As for the reasons why Heytea chose to create a new format instead of existing stores and carry out a comprehensive layout of the category of freshly extracted fine tea, we can find out one or two from the store model of the tea house.
In the past two years, there have also been some boutique teahouses on the market, but this kind of teahouse is mainly aimed at the on-site drinking experience, and the consumption scene is relatively focused. The tea shop puts forward the product characteristics of "fresh, tea, and pure", and focuses more on providing tea products with both convenience and quality, and covers more consumer scenarios with the widely accepted new tea beverage drinking method to achieve differentiated competition.
It is understood that "fresh" is mainly reflected in the tea-making process, the tea workshop does not use large barrels of pre-brewed tea soup, and all tea soups are freshly extracted to further stimulate the natural aroma and fresh flavor of tea.
"Tea" is mainly reflected in the product tea raw materials, the tea shop does not use flavor flower and fruit tea, returns to high-quality tea, from oolong tea, black tea, green tea, white tea and other traditional teas, select the tea that consumers can have obvious perception.
"Pure" reflects the structure of the drink, with freshly extracted tea soup and Hey Tea customized 38 source of Mu Zhen milk is mainly matched, does not contain small ingredients and any flavor, flavor syrup, and returns to the original taste of tea.
At the same time, through the pricing of 8-19 yuan, the consumption threshold of high-quality tea will be lowered to the mainstream level of the new tea drink track, and the take-out, self-pick-up and in-store experience scenarios will be balanced through efficient cup delivery. Overall, the tea shop is more relatable for the younger group who want to try tea.
To achieve this series of goals, customized equipment, new store lines, and cup dispensing processes are needed, which is also one of the reasons why Heytea chose not to launch new products in regular stores, but to innovate and create a tea shop format.
From the perspective of the market, the tea workshop format also has the advantage of being "lighter and faster". After a whole year of store expansion in 2023, the competition of new tea drinks has entered the deep water area, and the store model has become a part of the brand competition. From the perspective of the first tea shop, it has the advantages of small area, low cost and high efficiency.
Specifically, the store uses intelligent equipment in a large area to improve the degree of standardization and the efficiency of cup delivery; Smaller-area stores reduce rental costs. From the perspective of products, the freshly brewed high-quality tea category created by the tea workshop is mainly made of milk and tea, and there are no fresh fruit raw materials, so as to reduce the pressure of the first chain and the loss rate of stores; If the tea workshop forms a certain scale, it can further enhance the centralized procurement advantages of the ** chain plate.
There is no doubt that if the tea workshop can successfully run through, Heytea will be able to gain more advantages in the fierce new tea market. In the past year, Heytea has opened more than 2,000 new stores, and the tea shop format undoubtedly has the potential to run faster. It is understood that the first store of the tea shop in Shanghai will open tomorrow (February 6), and the stores in Beijing and Shenyang have also been fenced and prepared and will open in the near future.
From another point of view, the tea workshop format also provides ideas for the innovation of the new tea industry. Just as Heytea changed the entire traditional milk tea track and created a new era of tea drinking, now the tea workshop may lead the new tea beverage track into a new ecology.