Jiumaojiu officially ended the "full direct" business model, and in the future, it will open the store to a farther place through a diversified cooperative business model.
This article was originally published by Red Meal Network (ID: Hongcan18), author: Jian Yuhao; Edit: Fang Yuan.
On February 3, Jiumaojiu Group (09922HK) announced that it will gradually open its franchise and cooperation business of Taier Sauerkraut Fish and Shandi Shan Wai Sour Soup Hot Pot from February 1, 2024.
Jiumaojiu Group claims that after internal evaluation, it believes that the above two brands have a mature product system, operation model and first-class chain support, so it is open to joining.
The opening of the franchise also marks the transformation of Jiumaojiu Group from a full direct operation to a diversified business model.
Open to join
Only outside the mountain of Taijiwa Mountain
From the perspective of cooperation requirements, the threshold for joining is not low.
In addition to providing proof of more than 3 million cash or 20 million realizable assets, it is also necessary to provide corresponding asset flow proof that the funds are not invested by others. In addition, at least three years or more of experience in successfully leading the operation (non-investment) of well-known commercial projects, and a certain degree of familiarity with the market, etc.
Specific to the two brands that are open to joining, there are differences.
According to the official franchise applet "Datou Youzhi Cooperation Platform", the area of Taier sauerkraut fish franchise store is the same as that of the directly operated store, which is 180-250 square meters, and requires a franchise fee of 250,000 yuan, a deposit of 100,000 yuan, a service fee of 250,000 yuan, and an operation and management fee of 5% and below.
At present, Taier Sauerkraut Fish is only open to franchise business in some regions and specific points. Including Xinjiang, Taiwan and other provinces, Australia, New Zealand two overseas markets, as well as domestic airports, high-speed rail and other transportation hubs.
In an interview with Caijing.com, the staff of Jiumaojiu franchise cooperation business said that at present, Xinjiang and ** two regions plan to find a region ** each, and the fee is 2 million yuan. Therefore, there is no franchise fee for the reopening of a single store, and the protection distance of a single store is recommended to be 3-5 kilometers.
Shan's sour soup hot pot was officially opened on February 1 this year, and only has 2 stores in Guangzhou and Foshan. At present, Shan's sour soup hot pot has only opened the cooperation business of designated shopping malls, and the franchise business will not be officially opened until February 3, 2025.
According to Caijing.com, the sour soup hot pot outside the mountain is designated as a shopping mall for open cooperation, mainly locked in 60 top-level shopping malls across the country, such as Beijing Xidan, Chaoyang Joy City, Heshenghui and so on. The first batch of stores will be opened in these 60 commercial centers, and there will be no cooperation fee of 250,000 yuan, and a material subsidy of 50,000 yuan per month will be given for 10 months.
In the early stage, the brand and the partner will jointly open a store according to a certain proportion. Specifically, in the first year, the brand invested 400,000 yuan in a single store, and the remaining part was made up by the partner, and 8% of the turnover was paid every month as a management fee; From the second year onwards, partners are free to choose to buy back shares and transfer them to franchise stores, or transfer shares to the brand owner and withdraw.
In this regard, Wang Lulu, a columnist for Red Meal.com, said that as a cutting-edge brand under Jiumaojiu, Shandi chose to gradually open up the franchise or to polish the store model and business model first. Judging from the current cooperation policy, the brand may also follow the existing cooperation ideas to promote the franchise business in the future.
It is worth mentioning that in addition to the above two brands, the relevant interface of "Lai Meili Sour Soup Grilled Fish" also appeared in the "Datou Youzhi Cooperation Platform", and the page shows "Model Adjustment". Some industry insiders speculate that in the future, Jiumaojiu Group may fully open up the franchise business of its brands.
Jiumaojiu Group issued an announcement on the evening of February 4 in response, saying that it has no plans to introduce franchise and cooperation models to other brands, and will focus on its existing self-operated model, while exploring franchise and cooperation models to seize new market share.
Build a first-class chain and adjust the brand strategy
Nine Maojiu paves the way for joining?
A number of industry insiders said that it is reasonable for Jiumaojiu to choose to let go of joining.
Wang Yugang, founder of Youdao Catering Consulting, believes that with the current changes in the general environment, opening up to join may be able to appropriately reduce some risks and be more flexible.
In fact, at present, many chain catering brands are constantly joining to expand the scale advantage.
For example, in December last year, Hefu Lao Mian, which insists on operating under the direct sales model, decided to attract more than 5,000 associates to help it develop multi-line markets; Le Caesar Pizza announced that it will officially open its franchise in January this year, launching two models: single-store franchise and regional franchise; The number of stores has exceeded 170,000 Luckin Coffee has opened a directional point to join, hoping to extend its tentacles to areas that were not easy to enter before.
Jiumaojiu opened up to join this time, or there are similar considerations to Luckin Coffee. Combined with official information and red meal big data statistics, most of the stores of Taier Sauerkraut Fish at this stage are concentrated in first-tier and new first-tier cities. However, there are still some gaps in cities outside the first tier, such as Xinjiang, Taiwan and other domestic provinces where Taier Sauerkraut Fish is allowed to join this time, and currently only has 2 directly-operated stores in Urumqi, Xinjiang, and Taiwan has not opened.
The opening of the franchise may be the brand's hope to cover the previously difficult to reach areas through cooperation, so as to open up new markets. Wang Lulu pointed out.
At present, Jiumaojiu's confidence in franchise business may come from the group's mature ** chain reserves.
Red Meal Network noticed that in recent years, Jiumaojiu Group has been accelerating the investment and construction of the first chain. According to public reports, in December 2021, the foundation stone of Jiumaojiu National ** Chain Center Base was laid in Nansha, Guangzhou, which covers an area of more than 390,000 square meters, with a total investment of more than 500 million yuan, is expected to be put into operation in 2027.
In October 2022, Jiumaojiu Group announced that it would acquire about 3320,000 square meters of land use rights, this land will be mainly used for the construction of hot pot base and compound seasoning production plant and the first kitchen in southwest China.
In October 2023, Jiumaojiu's ** kitchen in Songjiang District, Shanghai, will be put into operation, which is the headquarters of Jiumaojiu Group's ** chain in East China, which will be used for the procurement, storage and processing of Jiumaojiu Group's food ingredients after completion, and provide logistics and distribution and other service functions.
At the same time, Jiumaojiu is also adjusting the business strategy of its brands, providing some convenience for the franchise model.
Taking Taier as an example, since last year, the dining rules of some Taier stores have been quietly changed, and dining for more than 4 people is no longer restricted. At present, Taier's stores in many cities have been opened for 5 to 6 people; At the same time, Taier canceled the rule of "no takeout", enriching the revenue method of the store.
Starting in 2022, Taier will increase the proportion of self-supply by self-breeding sea bass, and at the same time optimize operating costs through automation and kitchen processes.
Under the improvement of the ** chain and the optimization of store operating costs, Taier's turnover rate and profitability have been improved, which has enhanced the brand's attractiveness to franchisees to a certain extent.
The franchise market accelerates the rush to grab people and shops
What are the prospects of Jiumaojiu's franchise business?
However, some people in the industry believe that based on the current environment of the franchise market, Jiumaojiu, which has only announced the release of the franchise, seems to be a bit "chicken".
Zhai Bin, a brand consulting expert and columnist of Red Meal Network, said that the current stage of the catering franchise market has entered the stock game stage, and when there are not enough high-quality franchisees, brands have been focusing on lowering the threshold for joining and giving higher franchise discounts to grab franchisees.
In fact, the day before Jiumaojiu announced the opening of the franchise, Chabaidao had just announced the latest preferential policies for joining. The company said that it will give hundreds of millions of yuan to franchise partners to support, including a number of preferential policies such as contract reduction and exemption policies, special point reduction and exemption policies, and material rebate policies, among which, new franchise partners will sign a new store with a reduction of 40,000 yuan, and 2 new stores can be reduced by a total of 180,000 yuan to reach the level of full exemption.
Zhai Bin pointed out that Jiumaojiu has higher requirements for the financial conditions and comprehensive quality of franchisees, and may not have a strong investment attraction in the current environment.
In addition, according to the statistics of red meal big data, the market size of sauerkraut fish is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan in 2023. In the case of increasingly fierce competition in the sauerkraut fish track, it is still unknown whether Taier sauerkraut fish can show its competitive advantages to franchisees.
In addition to the competitive factors of the external environment, the brand value of Taier sauerkraut fish and Shandi Shan Wai is also a key factor affecting Jiumaojiu's promotion of franchise policy.
According to Jiumaojiu's previously announced 2023 semi-annual report, Taier's turnover rate in the first half of 2019 was 49. The turnover rate for the same period in 2023 will only recover to 43. The turnover rate is only 70% of 2019. In terms of operating profit, Taier's operating margin in the first half of 2023 was 213%, a decrease of 2 percentage points compared to the same period in 2019. It can be seen that Taier sauerkraut fish, as the "pillar" of Jiumaojiu's revenue, is facing a certain degree of weak growth.
Zhai Bin also pointed out that from the perspective of the regions where Taier has opened up to join, except for Taiwan, which has previously set off a "sauerkraut fish fever", there is still great uncertainty about whether other regions have a strong demand for sauerkraut fish.
As for the new brand mountain, there are currently only two stores, and it remains to be seen whether the brand can form its own competitive advantage in the subdivision of "Guizhou sour soup hot pot" and attract franchisees to join.