Observation On Wuhan Catering Industry Warming Up: Transformation And Innovation After The Fall Of Cliff Style

In 2020, the catering industry became a heavily afflicted area affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic because of the strong crowd aggregation. The hidden danger of the epidemic has greatly affected people's desire to go out to eat in the hall, which has affected the passenger flow of the restaurants and offline outlets, and some of the weaker catering businesses have been severely tested. However, with the gradual resumption of food in the catering industry, it is becoming a new eating habit for consumers to enter the shop, measure the temperature, separate meals from the table, take "separate meals" and use public chopsticks.

"At present, the biggest pain in the catering industry is the difficulty of obtaining customers. In the case of many domestic demand driven by the government and so on, taking the Piao Garden Restaurant in Ye Mei as an example, the turnover after resumption of food is probably only 30% of the normal level of business last year. Adequate traffic is urgently needed by every restaurant business, otherwise, other policy support or business concessions will only achieve little effect. In June 16th, Yamai salt baked chicken feet CEO Wang Chi told reporters in twenty-first Century economic report that catering culture needs pyrotechnics, that is, consumers need to go to the store to taste food.

In order to promote the catering industry to recover, Wuhan is also working hard: the mayor took the lead in the hall food, the government issued the "food and consumption coupons", and some businesses also launched a number of preferential policies or new marketing models to attract consumers. A five star hotel in Wuhan, CBD, originally a five star chef with Cantonese cuisine and Hubei cuisine, studied the roadside booth barbecue and set up a large stall table at the door to save himself under the epidemic situation.

Cash flow dilemma

At the moment, it is not easy for the restaurant industry to go through the cliff style downturn.

According to iiMedia Research (AI media consulting) released the 2020 "new crown epidemic period" China's catering industry operation and Innovation Research Report, in the first quarter of 2020, the national catering revenue was 602 billion 630 million yuan, compared with the national food and beverage income of 1 trillion and 64 billion 410 million yuan in the same period in 2019, which dropped by 44.3%. The number of Chinese restaurant merchants from 2015 to 2019 showed a steady upward trend in the number of Chinese catering businesses, but the 2020 meal Beverage business is expected to drop from 1107.5 to 941.4 in 2019.

"Opening business means expenditure, food purchase, personnel wages and so on all need cash input, which is a test for many businessmen's capital chain. The current measures to stimulate consumption have no obvious effect on improving the consumption frequency of consumers and the desire to boost consumption. When Wang stressed the pressure on restaurant operation, he said, "it is positive that in terms of store rentals, the park restaurant has been partly supported by the government's policies to reduce the cost of restaurants. But different businesses may get different degrees of relief. "

35 Lv Yang, deputy general manager of orlie store, believes that the psychological barrier of consumers still needs some time to buffer. "Our hotel is mainly to undertake banquets, and individual customers are not enough to support store operation. Now the hotel has only opened a reservation under the line. Customers who have the need for wedding banquet and birthday dinner can go to the store to consult and check the venue. The official resumption of business is tentatively scheduled for the early August. After all, the banquet is a concentrated dinner and is not suitable for dining across the table. "

The epidemic has affected the catering businesses' offline business, which has a negative impact on the normal sales and operation of the catering industry. Small and medium-sized catering enterprises are weak in capital strength and small in scale. They need continuous cash flow to maintain their normal operation. The stagnation of offline business has increased the cash flow pressure of small and medium-sized enterprises, making it difficult for normal operation to continue.

For the current difficulties faced by the catering industry, Yan Shunshan, President of the Hubei e-commerce industry association, pointed out that the Internet platform plays an important role in the resumption of businesses. "Platform can link businesses with consumers, and help businesses better manage by means of tools and methods. As a catering industry, the most urgent task is to think about how to use the resources of the government and platform to turn danger into opportunity.

Online self help

The frequency of consumers dining out has been greatly reduced. The main consumption patterns have changed to takeaway, fresh distribution and their own cooking. This will push the catering industry to differentiate and accelerate the pace of developing online channels.

As a matter of fact, online takeaway is the main means of self-help for catering businesses during the epidemic. According to public data, 91.6% of enterprises are relieving cash flow pressure by sending out products. In addition, catering enterprises also provide customers with more convenient and safe services by expanding group meal takeaway business, exploring contactless distribution, unmanned vehicle distribution, vending machines and other businesses.

The above iiMedia Research research report shows that the scale of China's online takeaway market has increased by 36.55% over the past 2016-2019 years. In 2020, during the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the sales channels under the catering industry were blocked, and the online shopping channel on the market stock development promoted the growth of online takeaway business. It is estimated that the scale of the online takeaway market will reach 664 billion 620 million yuan by 2020.

Many traditional restaurant brands were mainly operated by offline stores before the outbreak, and the experience of online operation was slightly inadequate. The epidemic will inspire the traditional restaurant brand to think about the importance of online channels. In the future, it will make use of its brand and word of mouth advantages and introduce takeout packages and recipes so as to better generate revenue through online business.

"The hidden danger of the epidemic has put forward higher requirements for the restaurant merchants. How to optimize the dining and dining process by using artificial intelligence and information technology, reduce contact and achieve digital transformation is the main trend of the future development of the business." AI media consultant analysis said.

Wang Qi also said that the epidemic has given many businessmen rethinking and positioning time. "In particular, many of the" fly restaurant "at the end of the street, their former consumer groups are mainly residents of the surrounding area, or some of the" eat goods "that they find. The epidemic brought them into contact with other marketing channels such as group buying, live broadcasting and carrying goods, and expanded their customer base. This is also a new opportunity. "

It is worth noting that, regardless of the offline online mode, the brand awareness and consumer group foundation of the business will play a crucial role in the actual operation.

In addition, the epidemic has made more consumers concerned about food safety and hygiene. After the easing of the epidemic, the stock catering enterprises and new market entrants will pay more attention to their reputation and food safety. "Since the resumption of church food, we have been working on upgrading the quality of raw materials and local renovation of the hardware in restaurants, such as increasing the water circulation system. The restaurant wants to survive, and the more strict control of food is what we need to keep doing. Wang Qiru said.

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