In 2023, catering entrepreneurship is still a hot spot, which can be seen from the entry speed of entrepreneurs.
According to enterprise survey data, in the first quarter of 2023, the number of newly registered catering enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households nationwide reached 752,400, 1.3 times that of the same period in 2022. In other words, in the first quarter, more than 8,300 catering enterprises and individual stores were added daily on average.
With the upsurge of catering entrepreneurial enthusiasm, new catering joining projects have begun to emerge in an endless stream, and the catering joining market has been growing, but it is inevitable that some joining projects will fish in troubled waters and "cut leeks". Under such circumstances, how small and medium-sized entrepreneurs choose brands and find a reliable entrepreneurial project is a problem that many entrepreneurs need to think deeply.

The first step of catering joining is to choose the right category.
In the past few years, the operation of the catering market has been greatly affected, and catering entrepreneurs have become more cautious in their investment.
"Now choose catering to join, be cautious. Attention should be paid to those categories of’ online celebrity’ or’ pseudo-just-needed’ that seem to have explosive potential. In addition, catering categories with relatively heavy assets and high customer orders often face risks such as long return period and large cyclical fluctuations. " The owner of a chain fast food brand in Guangzhou said.
It is true that the catering industry has already passed the stage of "high gross profit, high return and barbaric growth". If we rashly choose some seemingly explosive online celebrity products with the mentality of "short-term operation, gambling and quick money", the result will often end hastily because it is divorced from the actual market demand. For example, the crispy pork belly, yogurt big twist, crayfish cup noodles, etc., which were once very popular, have gradually faded in the catering market.
So, what kind of catering category is more suitable for joining the business?
From the point of view of many people in the industry, the category of "just needed, high frequency and high repurchase" is a better choice for catering entrepreneurship at present.
Just need, to put it bluntly, is to meet people’s daily dining needs. Small food and beverage outlets such as jiaozi, wonton, noodles, rice noodles, fast food, and small cooking restaurants are all just-needed catering; However, high-frequency and high-repurchase require a variety of products, and can also bring consumers a better dining experience.
Choosing the right category is only the first step. It is also very important for entrepreneurs to choose a reliable brand after setting a good category.
"Compared with popular start-up brands, those restaurant chain brands that have experienced time precipitation, formed a certain market scale and continued to expand steadily will be more concerned by franchisees." Chen Hua (pseudonym), who has been engaged in catering business for many years, said that the benefits of joining chain brands, especially those old enterprises with certain years, are obvious. First, it can reduce the risk of entrepreneurship and will not be easily "cut leeks"; In addition, the franchise system of such enterprises is also very perfect, franchisees can enjoy more comprehensive support, and they can make full use of their strength in brand promotion, marketing promotion, logistics and transportation, so as to avoid detours and develop more steadily.
There are thousands of chain brands, how to find a reliable model from them?
According to the data of Meituan, from 2018 to 2022, the restaurant chain rate in China continued to rise, from 12% in 2018 to 19% in 2022. This means that while the chain-like process of China catering market is accelerating, there are more and more chain brands in the catering market.
How to choose a chain restaurant brand with more advantages and development potential? We have observed the chain brands that have been able to expand against the trend and successfully signed up to open stores since the epidemic, and found that they often build higher competitive barriers in terms of product strength, brand strength and marketing power.
Take the 9th old Shanghai Wonton (hereinafter referred to as the 9th taste) as an example. It was founded in Shenzhen in 2017. During the three-year epidemic, more than 400 stores were opened against the trend. Why can such a Wonton brand win the favor of franchisees?
1. The store model is light and the operation mode is flexible.
It is understood that most of the 9 th taste stores are based on a small shop model of about 40 square meters, and 3-4 people can support the operation of a store. Therefore, the cost of the whole store operation will not be too high.
In addition, the investment threshold of such a small shop is not high. According to the data of official website, the total investment of a small shop of about 40 square meters is estimated to be more than 100,000 yuan, and it can be returned in 6-12 months at the earliest.
Light investment and low operating costs also mean that the store has less operating pressure and stronger risk resistance.
In addition, thanks to the advantage of light store model, the store form of the Ninth Taste is more flexible. Whether it is a first-and second-tier city or a sinking market in the third, fourth and fifth lines, whether it is a core business district, a community, a transportation hub, or a university or enterprise canteen, it is suitable for the layout of the Ninth Taste Store.
You’d better notice that at present, the Ninth Wonton Shop has appeared in colleges, hospitals and corporate canteens in Zhuhai, as well as in individual university campuses such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, Nanchang, Changsha, Hangzhou, Jining, Liuzhou and Haikou.
Judging from the data published by the ninth taste, its Zhuhai Zhongda Fifth Hospital Store has maintained its daily sales of more than 10,000 yuan since its opening. The daily turnover of Guangzhou Netease headquarters also exceeded 9,000 yuan …

2. Continue to build product strength and build core barriers of products.
According to informed sources, the continuous creation of product strength is an obvious advantage of Ninth Taste. By continuously optimizing product mix, improving product cost performance and innovating and upgrading products, it has laid a solid foundation for the high repurchase of Ninth Taste Store.
First, the products are rich and diverse, covering a wide range of scenes and people.
Looking through the menu, we can find that the ninth taste is different from the common wonton shops in the market, and the ninth taste is more like a collection of snacks and fast food. In addition to the signature series of small wonton, it also involves products such as flour, noodles, jiaozi, snacks, drinks, soups, etc. Among them, there are more than ten wonton series, seven or eight types of flour and noodles, and nearly ten types of snacks, fried food, side dishes and desserts.
Thanks to the diversification of products, the consumption scene and customer base of the ninth taste are also wider. It meets the diverse and rich product needs of consumers, and invisibly brings multi-line revenue and high repurchase to the store.
Second, the product is cost-effective.
The pricing of the ninth taste product is very grounded and civilian. For example, the price of special small wonton is between 10 and 15 yuan, and the most expensive signature shrimp king and family photo wonton are only one in 20 yuan. The prices of snacks, desserts and drinks are equally friendly, generally between 3 and 10 yuan, and basically a delicious meal of "staple food+snacks+drinks" can be achieved without going to 20 yuan.

It has good taste, rich products and high cost performance, which brings more repeat customers to the store and stronger consumption stickiness.
The third is the upgrade of product differentiation.
As local snacks, the production process of wonton is not difficult, and the threshold for starting a business is not high. What are the differentiated features of the ninth taste product? Why attract consumers’ attention?
In terms of production technology, most chain-brand wonton products in the market are packaged by machines, which is easy to crack during cooking. The ninth flavor adopts the most traditional way of pressing the skin with a wooden stick, so that the pressed wonton skin is thin but not rotten after long cooking. Even after a long period of delivery, as long as wonton and soup are separated, the appearance, taste and quality are almost the same as those of in-house food.
The selection and cooking of flour, oil, rice, meat and soup are equally demanding. For example, the oil is pure peanut oil, which is a catering brand that rarely uses peanut oil on the market; Wheat flour is selected from the golden wheat area with 36 north latitude; Rice is Wuchang fragrant rice from Heilongjiang; Pig foreleg meat is selected as the meat, which is tender and suitable for all ages; Soup, on the other hand, requires the purchase of fresh bones every day, which is not only delicious, but also more nutritious.
3, own supply chain polishing, get high quality certification.
Supply chain determines how far a brand can go, which has long been the consensus of the catering industry. It is understood that in 2017, the ninth flavor brand has established a central kitchen in Guangzhou since its inception. Since then, with the acceleration of brand expansion, Jiuwei has successively opened food factories, logistics distribution centers, operation centers and cold storage in Guangzhou, Zhongshan, Shanghai and other places, from the procurement of raw materials to processing, and then to the cold chain distribution of ingredients to stores, strictly controlling and consolidating the whole link of the supply chain.
In addition, in 2022, Jiuwei has obtained ISO9001 quality management system certification and export food production enterprise filing certificate, and passed ISO22000 food safety management system certification.
According to the ninth taste company, the ninth taste will also plan to establish a central kitchen and logistics center in southwest, east and north China. It can be predicted that by then, the products of the 9 th national stores will have a higher quality guarantee.

4. Strict channel layout and expansion strategy on the premise of "win-win cooperation"
In line with the attitude of being responsible for franchisees, Ninth Taste also has a unique layout strategy in terms of joining and expanding.
It is understood that before franchisees and agents open stores, Ninth Taste will appoint a professional site selection and evaluation team to the local area to support and assist franchisees and agents to quickly set up stores in the local area. At the same time, before and after the opening of the store, the headquarters will also provide nanny-style integrated support such as design, decoration, training, operation, take-away, Tik Tok, etc. For example, the take-away operation support includes brand labeling, product building, ranking promotion, activity support, etc., which makes the franchisee’s business process in the store more worry-free and labor-saving.
In addition, for group meal enterprises with large enterprises, hospitals and colleges, the ninth taste will choose the mode of cooperative store opening. That is, the head office personally appoints the store manager and clerk to operate in the store, and manages the store according to the management system of the direct store. The partner only needs to provide the business site, and can pay dividends according to the shareholding ratio or the share ratio agreed by both parties in advance. In addition, the partner also has a certain material rebate.
5. Build brand influence and skillfully use marketing strategies.
The optimization of store model, the polishing of product matrix and the improvement of supply chain are all based on the consolidation of brand hard power. On the soft power level, Jiuwei also has its own set of thinking logic.
For example, in order to enhance the reputation and influence of enterprises in the market, Jiuwei has adopted the method of celebrity endorsement, and in the choice of spokespersons, it pays more attention to the "internal fit" between its own brand and spokespersons.
From the results, choosing a celebrity spokesperson whose image, temperament, strength and brand fit together also makes Ninth Taste get twice the result with half the effort. The daily turnover of many new stores exceeds 5000+, and the turnover of old stores has also increased steadily. Even for remote stores, the turnover mostly exceeds expectations.
In addition, Jiuwei also won the title of "Top Three Wonton Brands in China in 2020" by virtue of its own hard power, and successively won the honorary titles of "Top Ten Wonton Brands in jiaozi, China" and "Top 100 Commercial Franchises in Guangdong" and "Famous Catering Enterprises in Zhuhai in 2021" in 2021, forming a strong brand potential.
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All along, we have been thinking about what kind of mode should catering brands and entrepreneurs get along with? How can we achieve a win-win situation?
From the case of the ninth taste, we can also see that the real long-term activist does not lie in one city and one pool at present. Only when it maintains a stable output, builds a strong product barrier and improves its own marketing power and channel power can it develop steadily in the fierce market competition, and at the same time, it can also promote the growth of franchisees, agents, suppliers and other related parties. (Author: Zhou Mo)



























