A brief discussion on the development status of China’s chain restaurants and existing problems in individual cases

1. The development status of China’s chain restaurants

1.1 The overall development status of China’s catering industry in recent years

With the steady and rapid growth of my country's national economy, the income level of urban and rural residents has increased significantly, the catering market has shown strong development momentum, and catering consumption has become an important force driving the steady growth of consumer demand throughout the year. From January to February 2006, the retail sales of the accommodation and catering industry totaled 176.02 billion yuan, an increase of 13.1% over the same period of the previous year. The growth rate was 0.6 percentage points higher than the total retail sales of consumer goods, accounting for 13.9% of the total retail sales of consumer goods. In 2006, my country's catering industry The development trend is good.

1.2 Top 100 Chinese catering companies in 2004

Ordering Company name Company nature Business format Turnover (10,000 yuan)

1 China Yum Brands Restaurant Group Foreign-funded Enterprise Western Style Fast food and casual dining 1186879

2 Inner Mongolia Little Sheep Catering Chain Co., Ltd. joint-stock hot pot 433000

4 Shanghai Jinjiang International Hotel Co., Ltd. joint-stock comprehensive catering 268256

5 Beijing Little Potato Enterprise (Group) Co., Ltd. Private Chinese Dining and Fast Food 183600

6 Chongqing Little Swan Investment Holding (Group) Co., Ltd. Hot Pot, Hotel Catering 126531

7 Chongqing De Zhuang Industrial (Group) Co., Ltd. Hot Pot 122760

9 China Quanjude (Group) Co., Ltd. State-controlled specialty restaurant 99300

10 Zhongshan Haigang Catering and Entertainment Management Co., Ltd. Specialty restaurant 95290

23 Malan Ramen Fast Food Chain Co., Ltd. Chinese fast food 48299

52 Tianjin Goubuli Baozi Food Group State-owned specialty restaurant, Chinese fast food 21000

1.3 The overall development status of chain restaurants

As can be seen from the above rankings, most of the top-ranked catering companies are chain operations. my country's catering companies have begun to attach importance to the creation of brand advantages, the expansion of corporate scale, and the use of chain operations and franchises to expand. The market demand reflects the fashion of scientific diet.

China's large-scale catering chain operations, especially direct-operated chain businesses, are developing rapidly. Fast food, food delivery, hot pot chain stores, and group catering are developing rapidly. Chain operations have become the dominant business model of the catering industry in many regions.

1.4 Examples

1.4.1 Inner Mongolia Little Sheep Restaurant Chain Co., Ltd. Since China Yum Brands Restaurant Group is a foreign-funded enterprise, Little Sheep has been among the top 100 restaurants in China for three consecutive years (2002-2004) The well-deserved "Chinese Champion". Inner Mongolia Little Sheep Catering Chain Co., Ltd. was founded in August 1999. By the end of 2004, it had three wholly-owned subsidiaries, five branches, one logistics distribution center, six provincial general agents (agent for eight provinces), six Municipal agents, 703 chain stores. The company's directly-operated and franchised chain "Little Sheep Hot Pot Restaurants" are located in 32 provinces and cities across the country (including Hong Kong). In 2003, it entered overseas markets and opened six chain stores in Hong Kong, China, the United States and Southeast Asia.

In the past few years, it has successively won the "Second Place among the Top 100 National Catering Enterprises", "First Place among the Top 100 Growing Enterprises in China", "China Marketing Innovation Award", "Inner Mongolia Famous Food", "Chinese Famous Hot Pot", and "Top 500 Chinese Enterprises". " and more than 30 honors. It was selected into the top 100 growing enterprises in China in 2005, ranked first among catering companies, and became "the most influential wealth enterprise in China in 2006".

1.4.2 China Quanjude (Group) Co., Ltd. "Quanjude" is known as the "No. 1 Building in the World". It has been more than 140 years since it was first built in 1864 (the third year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty). In May 1993, Quanjude Roast Duck Group Co., Ltd. was established in Beijing, China. It is an enterprise group that operates a multinational chain of Chinese dinners.

Since the establishment of the group, Quanjude has broken the traditional single-store operation model of the catering industry and taken the lead in introducing the concept of chain operation in the country. After more than ten years of continuous exploration and practice, it has more than 60 chain enterprises at home and abroad. . The current development direction of the company is the return of direct operation. In mid-May 2005, China Quanjude (Group) Co., Ltd. and Beijing Union University School of Tourism jointly established Quanjude Catering Management College to provide talents for the group.

1.4.3 Malan Ramen Fast Food Chain Co., Ltd. In 1995, Malan Ramen Fast Food Chain Co., Ltd. was established. At the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th National Chinese Fast Food Seminars, Malan Ramen was highly recognized by the leaders of the Domestic Trade Bureau and participants, and was considered to be "the Chinese fast food with the most domestic chain stores" and "likely to be the first to go." Out of Chinese fast food". In November 2000, through the authoritative survey statistics and expert selection organized by the China Chain Store and Franchise Association for the first time nationwide, "Malan Ramen" was rated as one of the outstanding national franchise brands and one of the most successful enterprises in the development of Chinese fast food in the Chinese catering industry. . By the end of 2002, 436 chain stores had been established across the country, including 134 directly operated stores, 302 franchised stores and 3 overseas.

1.4.4 Tianjin Goubuli Baozi Restaurant Group’s franchise stores have seriously damaged the brand image of “Goubuli” due to management disengagement. Many Goubuli franchise stores have been selling dog meat at the expense of others. It is an indisputable fact that Baozi is clearly not that Baozi. According to reports, customers are already very dissatisfied with the services of several "Goubuli" chain stores in Beijing, Henan and other places. Because the original Tianjin "Goubuli" authorized its chain stores to use the "Goubuli" brand and signed long-term "plaque fee" contracts, a large amount of intangible assets were lost, which seriously affected the "Goubuli" brand image. New Tianjin Goubuli has taken important measures to reshape its image, ordering the early withdrawal of operating licenses for more than 70 franchise stores across the country, and preparing to change the franchise model to a direct operation model.

2. Negative phenomena in the development of chain restaurants in China

2.1 Little Sheep

Although Little Sheep was founded relatively late, in the process of franchising A series of problems also emerged. Beginning in 2003, Little Sheep began to clearly feel the pressure of scale control brought about by rapid expansion. Many franchisees, seeking greater profit margins, turned to low-cost meat and materials to replace Little Sheep's original delivery products. , resulting in many market dispute cases. At the same time, due to inexperience in brand and trademark management, counterfeit Little Sheep also appeared in large numbers across the country. Due to the arbitrary nature of franchise control, Little Sheep's local image is inconsistent, financial and budget monitoring is poor, there is too little communication between the headquarters and individual stores, and responsibilities are blurred.

In addition, although Little Sheep hot pot restaurants are located in 32 provinces across the country, the business of some stores is not good. For example, the Little Sheep Hot Pot Restaurant in Chengdu, where I personally visited, did not attract many customers despite offering a 50-for-100 meal promotion. The author believes that it is due to differences in diet that there is no market for Little Sheep in Chengdu, and Little Sheep itself is also responsible for improper site selection and publicity.

Strategy: Since the end of 2003, Little Sheep has resisted the constant requests for franchise applications from various places and made drastic and comprehensive strategic adjustments.

Adjust the expansion model of pursuing the number of franchises in the early stage to the direction of focusing on brand reputation and ensuring stable operations. For franchisees whose contracts have expired and failed to do well in various places, Little Sheep will take them back and change them to direct operations; and firmly designate the five major cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Xi'an, Shenzhen, and Tianjin as strategic cities for direct operations.

2.2 "Quanjude" failed in Shenzhen and "Goubuli" fell out of favor in Hangzhou

When the century-old brand "Quanjude" opened a store in Shenzhen, its store was located in the carved beams and painted buildings in the Central District of Shenzhen. The house number really caught the eyes of Shenzhen people, and it was once crowded with guests. But six months later, the passenger flow decreased, the business gradually slowed down, and it was almost impossible to make ends meet. In order to attract customers, they launched a 20 yuan breakfast buffet, but it ended in failure. A year later, the door of this branch was closed. Due to being sued for rent arrears, a court seal was affixed to the door. Although it attracted great attention from Quanjude Group, sent key personnel to Shenzhen to "fight the fire", and took some rescue measures, the loss situation was difficult to recover from. Houyuan Xinghua Village Restaurant took Shenzhen Quanjude to court for rent arrears, and its raw material suppliers in Shenzhen also sued after hearing the news. In this case, Shenzhen Quanjude was forced to file for bankruptcy.

When Hangzhou Southern Hotel set a new record of selling more than 10,000 steamed buns per day, Hangzhou Goubuli Steamed Bun Store sold two-thirds of its downstairs business area to a clothing company. Although the business area has been greatly reduced, "Goubuli" in Hangzhou is still "deserted and sparse in front of the door." Hangzhou Goubuli Steamed Bun Store is a branch opened by Tianjin Goubuli Group in Hangzhou. It is located in a prime commercial area and has authentic steamed buns.

Strategy: "Goubuli" is famous in China for its distinctive features (thin skin, water filling, delicious taste, juice flowing out when you take a bite), and the reason why "Goubuli" suffered setbacks in Hangzhou is precisely itself. First of all, "Goubuli" does not suit the taste of Hangzhou people. In fact, it is not because "Goubuli" itself is not good, but because of the market. Positioning error. Only by making correct market positioning can products open up the market. Enterprises must carefully analyze and select the public target based on the characteristics of their products, so that the product characteristics and the public target characteristics are unified and consistent.

3. Issues worth noting in the development of China's catering chains - market positioning must be accurate and blind expansion must be avoided

Whether it is the credibility crisis of Little Sheep, the defeat of "Quanjude" in Shenzhen, or the With "Goubuli" falling out of favor in Hangzhou, we can see the problems of blind expansion and inaccurate market positioning.

In market positioning, location positioning is very important. Statler, the originator of modern hotels, had a wise saying when summarizing his successful experience - "The first is location, the second is location, and the third is location." The same is true for restaurant chain operations. The correct location of a chain store is not only its success. It is also the prerequisite and foundation for achieving standardization, simplification and specialization of operations.

3.1 Store location positioning standards

When selecting a restaurant chain location, you must first clarify the positioning standards. Positioning criteria include the standardization of the restaurant industry environment, urban conditions and store location and conditions of the store itself. In order to achieve standardization of operations, restaurant chain stores should pay attention to whether the business area and structure of the store are conducive to standardization when selecting locations. Urban business conditions affect the development of chain operations, such as per capita income level, transportation conditions, technical facilities, people's consumption habits and consumption concepts, etc.

3.2 Business District Survey

Business district is the range within which a store attracts customers, that is, the geographical range where customers who come to the store live. The first is to determine the business district. Draw the business district with the location of the store as the axis and a customary certain distance as the radius. Then conduct a business district analysis, conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the store location, and conduct a detailed analysis of the consumption and competitive environment. Consumer factors that should be considered include: population size, number of households, income distribution, education level, age distribution, population mobility, consumption habits, etc. in the business district.

3.3 Precautions for outlet layout

The outlet layout should go deep into various consumption concentrated areas, such as scenic spots, commercial areas, residential areas, etc. In addition, attention should also be paid to even distribution. Branches of the same chain company should not be located too close to each other in the area to reduce internal competition. For other companies, they can also participate in the competition, set up branches, and increase market share.

3.4 Network distribution method

It can be developed from the outside to the inside, from the periphery of the city to the city center, and from the surrounding cities to the central city. You can also start from the inside out, or open several stores at the same time to build momentum.

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