Recently, the domestic catering industry has made waves, and the high-profile hot pot market leader Haidilao (06862HK) announced that it is open to joining, which has undoubtedly become a major news in the industry.
On the evening of March 4, Haidilao officially announced through the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it would introduce a franchise model, aiming to accelerate the expansion of its restaurant network. This decision indicates that Haidilao is actively seeking new partners to jointly promote the development of the brand and the expansion of market share while maintaining the direct sales model. The move is expected to have a profound impact on the entire hot pot market and attract widespread attention both inside and outside the industry.
Regarding Haidilao's change, some foodie netizens commented"Haidilao, the county seat, is no longer a dream ......"Hurry up and open one near my house, and I'll rely on it for dinner in the future! ”
Of course, there are also netizens who have negative opinions on this, such as thinking that "this is the beginning of the decline of Haidilao service", "short-term performance growth, long-term damage to the brand".
The day after the announcement was disclosed (March 5), Haidilao's stock price trend was like mixed comments from netizens, and the stock price opened more than 35%, but then showed weakness and finally closed down 3%; Haidilao's "godson", hot pot base ** Shang Yihai International (01579.HK) enjoyed the dividend, with a ** increase of 432%。
Haidilao said in the announcement that it will start to implement the franchise model of Haidilao restaurants to further promote the expansion of the restaurant network with a diversified business model.
Haidilao thinksThe introduction of the franchise model will continue to ensure the management level and customer experience, enhance operational capabilities, introduce more high-quality resources, improve operational efficiency, and help the Haidilao brand expand to more regions and provide services to a wider range of customers. "At present, in accordance with the direct sales and timely introduction of the franchise model, it will help the company to achieve further moderate expansion. ”
For any catering company, opening up the franchise model for market expansion is often a double-edged sword. The advantage is that enterprises can expand to more markets with low cost and low risk, so as to enhance the scale effect of enterprises; The disadvantage is that in the franchise model, it is a great test of the company's first-class chain ability, management ability and quality control ability, if there is a big problem, it will bring a serious brand crisis to the enterprise.
Haidilao has gone through 30 years since its establishment in 1994, and in these years, Haidilao has sprung up in China and extended its tentacles overseas. For the first time in 30 years, the franchise model has been introduced, and Haidilao has also made sufficient preparations for the screening of franchisees. Judging from the franchisee requirements and franchise application forms on Haidilao's official website, its screening of franchisees can be described as very strict.
According to Haidilao's guidelines, Haidilao's requirements for franchisees include: agreeing with Haidilao's corporate culture and having the same values; Have a long-term vision and plan for the development of Haidilao; Have a financial foundation for multi-store development; Have local property resources and have experience in enterprise management.
In terms of the franchise process, the order of Haidilao's franchise is as follows: submission of franchise application on the official website, qualification review, communication of cooperation intentions, negotiation of the franchise committee, signing of cooperation agreements and preparation for store opening.
The author filled out the application form for joining cooperation after scanning the code on the official website of Haidilao, and there were several options that discouraged many people. Among them, the funds (excluding loans) that franchisees can invest in Haidilao business include less than 10 million yuan, 10 million to 20 million yuan, 20 million to 50 million yuan, and more than 50 million yuan; The individual's income in the most recent year is less than 500,000 yuan and other higher ranges; There are options for total personal assets of less than $10 million and other higher ranges.
Judging from the application form, Haidilao's requirements for franchisees are most likely to be: the total assets of the invested funds and individuals shall not be less than 10 million, and the personal income in the latest year shall not be less than 500,000.
Of course, Haidilao's support for franchisees can be said to be one-stop services in place, including operation management system, marketing planning, complete chain system, product development and food safety, engineering and information systems, and professional management personnel.
Although the conditions for franchisees are extremely strict in the industry, in view of Haidilao's position and influence in the market, it is expected that Haidilao will receive many interested investors to join after opening up to join. According to Haidilao's plan, it will focus on moderate expansion and will not seek radical expansion with the help of franchisees. Haidilao's move also became cautious in the first two or three years after its performance changed due to excessive expansion in the past, so it was the launch of the "Woodpecker Plan" and the "Hard Bone Plan".
2023 is a year for Haidilao to come out of the valley, under the "Woodpecker Plan" and "Hard Bone Plan", Haidilao's refined operation has achieved remarkable results, and at the same time resumed store expansion.
According to the Yingxi forecast released last month, Haidilao expects that the revenue from continuing operations in 2023 will not be less than 41.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of no less than 333%；The net profit from continuing operations is expected to be no less than 4.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of no less than 1683%, which was mainly attributable to the increase in turnover rate and operational efficiency of Haidilao's restaurants.
In this market context, Haidilao's introduction of social capital for market expansion will also bring a sense of oppression to small and medium-sized brands and private stores, which may stir up the existing competitive landscape of the market and achieve steady growth in the face of adverse trends.
According to the data released by the Bureau of Statistics, China's catering revenue will be 5,289 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 204%, which is significantly higher than the retail sales of goods 58% increase.
Such a hot track has boosted the competition in the domestic catering industry and stimulated many catering companies to step on the "accelerator" of chain expansion this year. There are two main points for these companies to continue to conquer the city: financing (including listing) and open franchise.
In terms of financing, since last year, a number of catering companies have sprinted to the capital market. Among them, the most ready-made tea tracks, which have been opened to join, Mixue Bingcheng, Tea Baidao, Gu Ming and Shanghai Auntie have all aimed at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as their listing destinations, and their listing and financing also have a common purpose: to increase market expansion.
There are also many Chinese catering companies that have sprinted to the capital market, and the four brand enterprises of Xiaocaiyuan, Lao Xiang Chicken, Village Base and Lao Niang Uncle have also been queuing up. In addition to the hometown chicken, the other three companies have not yet been opened to join, but with the intensification of market competition, it is not excluded that these three companies will join the "melee" of joining.
The help of capital, the improvement of enterprise chain and management capabilities have brought a strong foundation for the domestic catering chain, so that the chain development of the catering industry has accelerated in recent years.
Asset-light expansion with the help of social resources is the "trump card" for catering brand enterprises to expand their territory and break the siege of competitors. For example, Wallace and KFC in the Western food track have been open to franchise in the early years, and now the store scale of these two companies has exceeded 20,000 and 10,000 respectively, and the market concentration continues to increase; The first brother of the ready-made tea track, Mixue Bingcheng, quickly occupied the sinking market by virtue of "joining" and "low price", and sold more than 5.2 billion cups of tea in the first three seasons of last year; And under the pressure of growth, Hey Tea and Nai Xue's tea (02150HK) announced its opening of franchises in November 2022 and July 2023, respectively.
Returning to the hot pot track, the competition pattern of the track is scattered, the market chain is low, and the market growth is beautiful, so it has become an important factor for Haidilao to "bow down" to join this time.
In terms of chaining, according to the "2023 China Catering Franchise Industry*** data", the restaurant chain rate in the United States is as high as 54%, while the restaurant chain rate in China will only be 19% in 2022. In other words, there are still many "gold mines" to dig in front of those competitive catering companies.
For the field of snacks and fast food, drinks, cuisines and bread and desserts, the chaining of China's hot pot field is low, only 56%, which is still far from the chain rate of 19% in the entire catering industry.
On the other hand, hot pot has a long history in China, and at the same time has strong social attributes, addiction, and broad space, with a market size of about 500 billion yuan.
All in all, hot pot is a high-quality track.
In order to seize market opportunities, some of Haidilao's competitors have also accelerated their expansion. Last month, Jiumaojiu (09922HK) announced that it will introduce the franchise and cooperation model to Taier Sauerkraut Fish and Shan's Shan Wai Sour Soup Hot Pot, so as to accelerate the market expansion with obvious intentions; Although Xiabu Xiabu has not yet opened for franchise, it will open 89 new restaurants in the first half of 2023.
Domestic. There is a vacancy of high-quality chain catering enterprises in the third, fourth and lower-tier markets, and Haidilao has a lot of room for store expansion in the lower-tier markets. If the franchise model goes smoothly this time, Haidilao has the opportunity to regain the "halo" of rapid growth through the layout of the sinking market.
Author: Far away.
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