Since 2007, the average annual growth rate of catering industry has exceeded 15%. This amazing figure undoubtedly shows the vigorous development of an industry. However, the reality is that catering is also an industry with extremely high mortality.

In Beijing, with the opening of two new restaurants, an old restaurant closed. In Shanghai, the number is 1 to 1. In Chengdu, a new restaurant opened and two old restaurants closed, so the food was delicious, while the catering industry was mixed.

Song Dong, a famous contemporary artist, has three doggerels: Don't do it for nothing, don't do it for nothing, don't do it for nothing. These words have been translated into various languages and versions, and the spiritual core is a little helpless and self-deprecating, with some boring emotions, but it is also secretly cheering for itself.

But this mentality is unexpectedly consistent with the mentality of a group of diners.

The saturation of catering industry and fierce competition make us have to re-examine how many pits there are on the road of catering entrepreneurship. Is there any practical experience that we can learn from the past and avoid unnecessary trial and error?

How many pits are there in the catering business?

1. Don't do it for nothing.

The catering industry is hotter than a stove with fire, and the industry has been expanding and developing constantly; Consumers want more than just more. They are younger, more open and willing to pay for better things. There is a huge space for the development of supporting industries, and the long chain behind the restaurant seems to be full of business opportunities.

However, the catering industry in China has been developing steadily, with the annual output value soaring from 5 billion in the early days of reform and opening up to nearly 4.3 trillion this year. The number of restaurants is also growing, from less than 1.2 million in the early days of reform and opening up to nearly 5 million.

It is no longer possible to study who first added shops and guests, but more and more people go out to eat.

According to the latest survey data of iResearch, more than half of the respondents went out to eat more frequently; Nearly half of the post-90s people cook at home less than four times a week, and those who cook at home less than three times a month are more than twice as many as other age groups-take-away, take-away and in-class meals. Everyone seems to be used to eating out. Nearly 60% of consumers eat out for 30-60 minutes, and nearly 20% eat out for more than 1 hour.

Restaurant is no longer just a place to eat, but also a space for socializing, having fun and experiencing. The longer the consumption time, the more "consumption points" and the higher the consumption amount.

Compared with the mature catering market with high chain rate in the United States and Japan, the market share of the top 50 China catering groups is only 5%, which shows that we still have a lot of room for specialization and standardization.

Information service, consumable equipment, personnel training, management consulting, etc. The overall upgrading of the catering industry is also the overall upgrading of its surrounding supporting industries. We only take the supply chain as an example. China market emphasizes the diversity and freshness of ingredients, but the producing areas of agricultural products are scattered, the food processing industry started late, and the construction of cold chain logistics is relatively backward.

Therefore, in China market, it is an extremely huge project to reshape the production mode and market circulation structure of agricultural products, which will further affect the construction of catering supply chain. According to estimates, the market scale of domestic supply chain industry is more than 2.5 trillion, which is wider than the scale of10.7 trillion calculated from the perspective of downstream catering.

2. Get something for nothing.

Easy to do and easy to make mistakes; Low threshold and deep truth are the main problems in the catering industry. Many people have the dream of opening a small shop, but if you really plunge into it, you will find that it is a comprehensive industry integrating production, manufacturing, service and even culture.

First of all, no matter how to keep up with the thinking iteration in the Internet era, how to play with the endless platforms and equipment, just landing on the three most basic things of catering-rent, manpower and ingredients, many people have failed in it.

The average annual growth rate of catering industry is about 10%, but we can't ignore the cruel reality that the average life span of catering stores is only over 500 days. More than 100 restaurants open every day in first-tier cities, and at least dozens of them close. "Making money is luck, capital preservation is strength, and elimination is the norm" seems to be the curse of the industry.

It is clearly stated in the prospectus published by Haidilao IPO that in its annual profit of nearly 65.438+0.2 billion, the labor cost accounts for as high as 29.3%, while in general catering enterprises, the labor cost as high as 20% is everywhere, which seems to have become the core of current expenditure.

However, employees in the catering industry are also facing a vicious circle of low wages and low retention. Insecurity, lack of access, too long working hours, too short holidays, and a large number of more "flexible" career choices (such as express delivery, food delivery, O2O door-to-door service, etc.). ), catering has become the norm.

The rise in the price of food raw materials this year has aroused great concern. According to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, in April of 20 19, the increase of pork, fresh vegetables and fruits all exceeded 10%. Since March 20 19, the price of chicken in China has been rising continuously, and the wholesale price of white striped chicken increased by 23.62% from March to June.

As soon as the price rises, it all goes up; The price of ingredients is rising, but the menu is hard to rise. Raising the price will scare away consumers, and reducing the weight will offend consumers. The final pressure is only on the boss himself.

From 2009 to 20 19, the fastest increase in catering operating costs was rent, which increased five times during 10.

The most miserable big city this year is Xi 'an. By the end of 20 19 and 12, the house price in Xi 'an has been rising for 45 months continuously, and even the rent of renewed stores in Xi 'an has increased by 30% on average, even as high as 100% in some cases. Uncontrollable price increases have caused 40% local restaurants to face losses.

In first-tier cities, with the advancement of urban planning, the number of street shops has been compressed, and shopping malls have once become the main choice. However, if the downtown area is prosperous, shops will bully customers and charge exorbitant prices. If the downtown area is cold, it will hurt business. In the past, the proportion of healthy rents within 20% was close to 50%.

Step 3 get something for nothing

Food and beverage earn money from one mouthful and one meal. People only have one mouth and three meals a day. This is the most difficult but practical business. Whether it is a roadside stall or a star-rated kitchen, China people's stoves will never turn off; No matter whether the market is stable or unstable, there will always be newborn calves and backbone in the catering industry.

People in the catering industry start businesses for many purposes. They may want to make money and realize their dreams, or just want to relax and change the environment ... No matter what kind of mentality you initially decided to open a store, you must understand a logic:

"Any business that doesn't make money is a hooligan."

Give five suggestions to all those who want to set foot in the catering industry.

1. Never start your own business.

No one can be independent, especially starting a business. We must make it stronger and bigger with the help of all parties. Without a shared mentality and no one to help you take responsibility, the probability of success in starting a business is too low.

2. Never start a business with pay.

Any entrepreneur, if not full-time, is advised not to do it. Just like learning to swim. You can't learn anything on land. Only by really entering the water can the instinct of survival in the water stimulate people's greater potential.

Don't listen to other people's advice.

Entrepreneurs must have a firm belief in their own model, don't trust anyone, and believe in themselves. This book gives you a lot of advice, and everyone should have their own choice and persistence.

Never expect too much.

You can dream, but don't set your sights too high. Reality is always cruel, and a clear understanding of reality helps to formulate more effective strategies and methods.

Never underestimate yourself.

People's potential is often beyond our imagination, especially when entrepreneurs face the life and death of enterprises, which will stimulate the potential beyond expectations, so believe that you can do a lot of things. In addition, while believing in yourself, it is also important to maintain your learning ability and ensure that you have enough energy and ability to stick to your dreams.

Five principles of creating wealth by opening a shop.

Jia, the founder of Xibei Youmian Village, said: "All my work stems from my life call-let people create new possibilities and create a future that will never happen anyway." The practice of countless catering entrepreneurs has proved a truth: to run a catering brand from scratch, you must first have a dream, which is the so-called initial heart.

So starting a business can't just rely on feelings.

Before opening a shop, you must be clear about your own advantages and how important these advantages can play in the process of starting a business, and then try to maximize the value of these advantages. The catering industry is mostly a boss culture, and the boss's success often means that the store has been half successful.

1. Don't panic if you have food in your hand.

As we all know, the catering industry is "four highs and one low"-high rent, high taxes and fees, high labor costs, high raw material costs and low profits, among which the rent alone has brought a lot of pressure to catering operators.

Under normal circumstances, the gross profit margin of the catering industry can reach 50%-60%, and the net profit margin is roughly below 20%. It is difficult for a restaurant to turn negative into positive and get on the right track without 3-5 months of adaptation time after opening (this is still under the condition that entrepreneurs have relevant experience and develop smoothly).

As for earning back the principal, it is not a matter of time. In this way, even a well-run restaurant needs a buffer time of at least 6- 10 months. Without sufficient funds, it is difficult for the restaurant to maintain its normal operation.

2. Building a brand moat with positioning

The catering industry has developed for thousands of years, and the market of any category is close to saturation, which is the standard Red Sea market. If you want to find the blue ocean market in the Red Sea, you need to be stronger than the possessor, subdivision or mental possessor of the original category.

It is difficult to form a "product" barrier when catering in China. Only the "brand" itself can truly establish a threshold in the hearts of consumers. Once consumers have a knowledge of you from category to brand, they will complete the "pre-sale" in their hearts and there will be more "re-purchases".

Founded in 2009, Le Caesar creatively combined durian and pizza for the first time, which successfully made consumers establish the consumption cognition of "Le Caesar = durian pizza", thus building a brand barrier for the slogan "creator of durian pizza" and making people think of Le Caesar when they mention durian pizza.

A careful observation of the current chain catering enterprises will clearly show that each brand has its own main direction. Those multi-category restaurants that contain all kinds of delicious food are gradually coming out of people's sight, and gradually being replaced by "small and beautiful, specialized and refined" category kings.

3. Location selection is a mathematical problem.

Before entering the site selection process, it is necessary to have a more accurate estimate of the average efficiency, people flow, rent, per capita consumption and other parameters, and must not blindly follow the trend subjectively.

For example, is it a good choice to settle in a shopping center?

Among the 1 572 catering enterprises in 48 major urban complexes and shopping centers in Chengdu, 585 restaurants have undergone at least 1 brand adjustment in 1 year. For nearly 40% restaurant owners, shopping centers just look beautiful.

The fast food brand Green Box Steamed Dumplings has five stores in Beijing. Under the different conditions of large demand for food in community stores and large demand for take-out in office stores, green box steamed dumplings consider the following two dimensions in passenger flow analysis:

1. Residential occupancy rate. Under normal circumstances, the Green Box Steamed Dumplings will be opened near the old residential areas with occupancy rate above 95% and the new residential areas with high density and high per capita consumption.

2. Takeaway delivery rate. When you need to open a shop near an office building, you should choose green box steamed dumplings mainly according to the delivery rate of take-away, so as to ensure the order quantity of take-away. It is a good choice to analyze passenger flow with the help of online ordering platform. For example, choose more than three representative platforms, find out five restaurants with similar categories, analyze the monthly sales volume and customer unit price of these restaurants, and then estimate the consumption power and take-away orders of customers in this area as the basis for site selection.

4. The menu should be subtracted

Dishes are the soul of a restaurant and the focus of customers' real concern. When a restaurant makes a menu, the choice of dishes should be the first and most important link.

The more dishes in the restaurant, the more difficult it is for customers to order, and the longer the meal time, the turnover rate and experience will plummet. In this way, it will be difficult for customers to remember this restaurant and the possibility of secondary consumption will be greatly reduced.

From the restaurant's point of view, a large number of dishes will directly complicate the product line, invisibly increase the time cost of supervision, training, inspection and other work of various departments, greatly reduce the profit rate, lead to the deterioration of the restaurant's operating conditions, and then form a vicious circle.

In recent years, the form of "subtraction" has gradually become active in China-Banu beef omasum has been compressed from more than 100 dishes on the menu to more than 30 dishes; In two years, Wangxiangyuan reduced the number of dishes on the menu from 120 to 69. Yang Jixing's stinky mandarin fish reduced the original 200 courses to 39 courses; Hehegu only keeps six classic products, and introduces 1 innovative flavors every month, which opens a brand-new menu mode of "6+ 1". ...

5. Marketing should pay attention to dimensions.

A successful catering enterprise is a grasp of the input-output ratio and the accumulation of countless successful marketing. How can we plan an effective event marketing? This is a big problem that puzzles countless catering operators. In order to solve this problem, operators need to be clear about the five dimensions of the activity marketing program in order to get twice the result with half the effort.

Dimension 1: the purpose of the activity-why should the restaurant do the activity?

Restaurant operators must be clear that the more event marketing, the better. Too many activities in restaurants can easily lead to conflicts. For example, activity A and activity B can't be shared, and activity B and activity C can't be shared ... This will not only increase the difficulty of customers' choice, but also greatly increase the workload of restaurant staff and reduce the service level, thus greatly reducing the customer's consumption experience and affecting the restaurant's reputation.

Therefore, activity marketing is more expensive than essence. Usually, it is best to have one or two kinds of activities, and it is best not to exceed three kinds in the same period, so that customers can enjoy the preferential service process easily and happily.

Dimension 2: Activity Content-Who will do the activity for?

After defining the purpose of activity marketing, it is necessary to clearly divide the object of the activity. Only when restaurant operators master appropriate efforts can they fully satisfy customers' psychology of "getting benefits" on the basis of safeguarding their own interests. This requires restaurant operators to define their user portraits and achieve the precise effect of "users are members".

Dimension 3: Activity Type-Which activity is more suitable?

For restaurants with low turnover rate, how to retain guests is the most important issue. Therefore, restaurant operators should pay attention to giving customers a reason to come back when designing the activity plan. Specifically, the way of "consumption delivery" can be adopted: when customers go to the store to spend money, they can get the corresponding coupons sent by the restaurant to stimulate their secondary consumption, and then cultivate their consumption habits.

For restaurants with low unit price, improving the average consumption per table to drive income is the top priority of event marketing. Restaurants can adopt the method of "full coupon return", set up reward stalls according to the average consumption times of guests, and use coupons to drive the average consumption quota of ordinary tables.

Dimension 4: campaign propaganda-let the implementation land.

No matter how scientific the activity planning is, it is also necessary to achieve the marketing effect through landing. Generally speaking, the implementation and execution of activities should be carried out in the following three aspects.

The first is the promotion of online platforms, including official WeChat accounts, official website and third-party platforms.

Second, material publicity, including print media, surrounding business districts, DM a leaflets, store materials, etc.

Third, oral publicity is mainly about the determination of standard passwords. You know, no matter how perfect the advance planning is, it can't stand the frustration of the waiter or cashier.

Of course, catering management itself is a science. Staff management, kitchen management, quality control and so on, each link is closely related to the success or failure of the restaurant. It is said that "the threshold of the catering industry is low", so countless catering people have stepped into the catering circle, but they don't know that the second half of it is "crossing the threshold and blocking the wall". Standing in front of the wall, some people shrink back in frustration, some people insist hard, and few people can climb over the wall.

Now more and more cross-border entrepreneurs are entering the catering industry. They don't lack innovative genes or marketing skills. What they lack most is a deep understanding of the essence of catering and a thorough study of catering management.

The above five principles of entrepreneurship seem to be commonplace, but in fact, they need to be deeply understood in order to break through the boundary of thinking, take fewer detours and master the doorway.