Take a new step to activate the comprehensive reform of time-honored brands

Affected by the epidemic, many catering enterprises are in the "cold winter", which also makes the situation of the much-watched "long-established brands" more difficult, if they cannot quickly adapt to market changes and actively cater to new consumption trends, it will be difficult to sustain
under the huge economic impact 。 Do you sit back and wait, or do you take advantage of the momentum? Quanjude, a well-known and time-honored brand of Chinese catering enterprises, gave the answer - from carrying out "swinging" and takeaway business to developing pre-made dishes and online sales, from brand upgrading, cultural IP innovation to digital marketing, close to young people, etc.
, Quanjude, which was once "high and cold", closely followed the trend of the times, made every effort to create a new image with more affinity, and bravely presented it in front of
the public.

"After witnessing our changes in the past two years, many consumers say that today's Quanjude is different from before
.
" Zhou Yanlong, general manager of Quanjude Group, said that he hopes that more people can see and experience Quanjude's new image, new changes and new dishes
.

Integrity and innovation have become the new tone of transformation

Culture is the blood and soul of a nation, as well as the soul of
an enterprise.
The common reason why time-honored brands can go through the vicissitudes of time, continue their century-old foundation and show strong vitality is that they consciously inherit the excellent traditional Chinese cultural genes
in the corporate philosophy.
In the modern business environment, when consumers pursue the immediate benefits of "short, flat and fast", the cultural concepts and business ethics adhered to by time-honored brands and the exquisite craftsmanship pursued behind them are particularly precious
.

Founded in 1864, Quanjude is a time-honored brand in China
.
In 1993, Quanjude Group was established
.
After two reorganizations in 2003 and 2004, it was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2007, becoming the first time-honored catering enterprise
listed on the A-share market.
With its high popularity and word of mouth, it has become Beijing's gourmet business card
.
In recent years, with the upgrading of consumption, the market's requirements for refined brand operation have gradually increased, and the word-of-mouth marketing of traditional time-honored brands has been unable to increase the vitality of the brand, and the transformation of Quanjude is imminent
.
In order to get the company out of the predicament as soon as possible, in December 2019, Zhou Yanlong became the general manager of Quanjude, becoming the new generation head of Quanjude, and he carried out a drastic reform
of Quanjude.

For the development of time-honored enterprises, Zhou Yanlong believes that upholding innovation may be more suitable for time-honored enterprises than inheritance innovation, and more in line with the problems and challenges
that time-honored enterprises need to think about and deal with.
"Integrity and innovation is to keep the correct practices and business philosophy on which time-honored brands live, and innovate on this basis, rather than the inheritance that people often say, because some of the things passed down may be out of date and cannot keep pace with the times
.
" Zhou Yanlong believes that under the complex identity, it is necessary to find an outlet to condense the complex relationship into a unified consciousness and goal, as a time-honored Quanjude, it is necessary to keep the right innovation - "integrity" is to respect the ingredients and skills, and "innovation" is to gain insight into consumers, enhance the comprehensive sense of experience, and make consumers feel comfortable
.

However, time-honored enterprises should grasp a "degree" between "integrity" and "innovation"
.
Zhou Yanlong said, "For example, some time-honored brands overemphasize integrity and authenticity, but young consumers are not satisfied
.
Some time-honored brands have a larger innovation part, putting down the original inherent things, causing some traditional consumers or consumers with strong stickiness to question, thinking that they are no longer the original time-honored brands
.
Therefore, on the one hand, we must grasp the core competitiveness of enterprises, and on the other hand, we must conform to the development of history to carry out bold innovation
.
”

Zhou Yanlong believes that after Quanjude does a good job of single products, if it can be extended to the whole duck series, through the in-depth development of duck products, especially the formation of in-depth research on the cooking methods of duck products, it will become a leading enterprise and form the core competitiveness
of Quanjude.
Regarding the decline in revenue and profit of Quanjude in recent years and the increase in negative consumer evaluations, Zhou Yanlong said frankly that the challenges faced by Quanjude come from two aspects: First, the understanding of the catering market is not in place
.
Although Quanjude has experienced ups and downs for more than 100 years, its understanding of the problems existing in the new catering market, the direction and potential of future development still need to be deepened and kept
pace with the times.
The second is the issue of
internal mechanisms.
Compared with catering peers, it is not flexible enough in terms of incentives and distribution, which restricts and affects the sustainable development of
enterprises to a certain extent.
He believes that long-established brands should be empowered and the way of thinking in the past should be changed
.

Reorienting and thinking, adjusting business models, setting the direction of reform.
.
.
Zhou Yanlong led Quanjude to start a comprehensive reform
to activate the time-honored brand.
Last year, Quanjude promoted the tenure system and contractual management of members of the management level, signed post appointment agreements, annual and term performance appraisal responsibility letters with managers of enterprises affiliated to the company, and implemented open competition for posts and job exchanges and adjustments; Set up a new food sales team, through social recruitment, selected a number of market-oriented professionals to be responsible for sales business, and fully promote food sales.
.
.
From product development to employee motivation to organizational change, Zhou Yanlong drew a clear "roadmap"
for Quanjude.

At present, the adjustment of Quanjude's business level has been carried out
with great fanfare.
"In terms of business philosophy, multi-channel, youthful and people-friendly routes are important links in the transformation and innovation of
Quanjude.
" Zhou Yanlong explained, "The first is the change
of brand tone.
Quanjude will be more warm and grounded in the future
.
The second is that products should reach more consumers
.
In the past, the revenue of the Beijing area, especially Sanmenden, mainly came from the contribution of tourists, but in the future, it will pay more attention to local consumers and drive mobile customers through the word of mouth of local consumers, which is a change
in business concept.
”

Leading the future with "temperature"

Speaking about the understanding of "paying attention to exquisiteness", Zhou Yanlong said: "Paying attention to food is respecting ingredients, mastering craftsmanship, and insight
into consumption.
In addition to putting consumers' preferences first, we must also pay attention to consumers' inner feelings, so that consumers can eat decently and comfortably
.
He believes that the ideal service concept at present is "simplifying complexity, moisturizing and silent, unified and standardized, and excellent value for money"
.
"The so-called simplification of complexity is to simplify the high-end service that meets the standards of state banquets; Moisturizing and silent is to express the simplified service links and service concepts in seemingly inadvertent detail services; Unified standardization, that is, whether directly operated or franchised, as long as it is a Quanjude brand store, it should strive to meet the existing standards; Value for money is the hope that through heart-warming changes, consumers can get more affordable services
.
”

During the epidemic, the flow of dine-in customers in stores has plummeted, which makes Zhou Yanlong feel that the market is unlikely to have retaliatory consumption, "Quanjude Heping store, Qianmen store, Wangfujing store, the three old stores, can no longer expect the high turnover rate like during the past Golden Week, we should still serve consumers
in the surrounding communities steadily.
" 。 Zhou Yanlong said that in the past, Heping stores could rarely take into account the surrounding needs, but during the most difficult time during the epidemic, 45% of the store's sales were contributed by the "outside swing" at the door of the restaurant, "The staff brought the product to the door to sell, but not the traditional way to give money to get the goods, but established a WeChat group of surrounding consumers, and more than 1,000 people in the group every day ordered boxed lunches, side dishes, special sauces and other foods
.
" "If a restaurant can't even serve the old neighborhood around it, how can it serve diners from all over the country and even the world who come to Beijing?" Quanjude must first make a 'Beijinger's restaurant'
.
”

While serving middle-aged and elderly customers, Quanjude is constantly approaching
young consumers.
For example, last year, the IP image of Mengbao Duck was launched, creating a new brand symbol that is more in line with the aesthetics of young people; This year, on the basis of Mengbao Duck, we extended to create a new brand culture communication project "Mengbao Star Chef Live Broadcast Room", and launched a number of brand promotion projects for Generation Z, such as "Star Chef Exploration Shop", "Mengbao Little Star Chef" and "Star Chef Story Show" in the form of IP animation short videos, telling Chinese food culture in a way that is more acceptable to young people, so that young people can also feel the intimate "temperature"
of Quanjude.

Zhou Yanlong also mentioned another thing
that reflects Quanjude's "temperature".
He said: "Quanjude's early explosive product was the bagged roast duck that foreign tourists must buy when visiting Beijing, but the duck that was not heated and did not go through the chef's 'slices' conveyed the image
of 'fooling' to the outside world.
Nowadays, Quanjude has launched handmade sliced roast duck through pre-made dishes, allowing chefs to make ducks with slices and transport them throughout the cold chain
.
It is necessary to let consumers eat a duck with a taste reduction of 80% and reverse the bad perception
of the past.
Up to now, Quanjude has launched prefabricated vegetable products
of three brands: "Chuan Boss", "Fengzeyuan" and "Quanjude".

"Although pre-made dishes are the hottest outlet, Quanjude makes pre-made dishes according to its own production rhythm
.
With years of stable dish production process and dine-in experience, Quanjude can make some products on the menu closer to the feeling of dine-in, so that consumers have a better experience, which is also the biggest advantage
of time-honored enterprises to make pre-made dishes.
Zhou Yanlong is full
of confidence.

"As a sword for brand renewal, new marketing methods can help long-established brands appear in the public eye with a younger and lighter image
.
Nowadays, Quanjude, who is on the road of transformation and upgrading, seeks change in a stable manner, and while actively exploring cross-border marketing, it is still writing the inheritance of 'Beijing taste' through food and dishes, and has become a unique regional cultural existence
in the Chinese food flavor map.
Zhou Yanlong said
.

(Fan Yongwei, Jiang Rui)

China Food News(November 21, 2022, Version 01)

(Responsible editor: Zhou Yan).