The catering industry embraces digitalization and rejuvenates time-honored brands

Under the tide of digital economy, the catering industry is embracing a new digital business home and creating a new growth curve
.
From dine-in to takeaway, as digital technology continues to empower the catering industry, digitalization has become a major trend
in the development of the catering industry.
In recent years, the majority of catering merchants have gradually explored the "dual home" development model
in the integrated development of dine-in mode and takeaway mode.

Starting from today, this newspaper will launch the column "Catering Dual Home Field, Digital New Momentum", and will successively publish relevant articles on the "online + offline" dual home mode to drive the development of the catering industry for readers
.

The flagship store sells about 4,000 takeaway orders per month, and has long dominated the "first place in the popularity list of Du Fu Caotang Sichuan cuisine"; At the beginning of this year, it became the first Michelin guide restaurant in Chengdu; During the National Day holiday, every dining time is crowded and hard to find – in Chengdu, Chen Mapo Tofu, a 160-year-old restaurant, is rejuvenated
.

Coincidentally
.
In Beijing, actively promoting digital transformation, Quanjude, which is more than 150 years old, has opened up an online home field, and the brand Ziguangyuan, which was born in 1912, is also moving towards youthfulness;

In Wuhan, the takeaway revenue of Cai Linji, an old brand of hot dry noodles, has accounted for 43% of the overall revenue and maintained rapid growth;

In Guangzhou, the "rejuvenation of old shops" activity continues to advance, and eighty percent of long-established restaurants and old restaurants have launched online takeaway, including many well-known time-honored brands such as Taotaoju, Guangzhou Restaurant, Xinxing Hotel, Xiangqun Hotel, and Nanxin Dessert
.

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The list
goes on.
Exploring the story behind the successful transformation of traditional catering enterprises, the reporter found that a common keyword is "dual home market" - actively embracing the trend of digitalization, making efforts online and offline at the same time, and the two home markets drive each other and complement each other's advantages, which has enabled many time-honored brands and brands to achieve new development
.

Time-honored brands bloom with new vitality

In recent years, while inheriting the catering culture, the time-honored brand has opened a round of online transformation
.
Online and offline two home markets, consumption motivation, consumer demand, and willingness to pay are different
.
Therefore, the transformation of time-honored brands is not simply to move the menu online, but to combine the diversified needs of takeaway consumers, constantly innovate takeaway products, and turn classic and new products into fashion trends
.
Taking Quanjude as an example, from the "Beijing Tour" roast duck souvenir to the local "Generation Z" friend circle "Jiugong Grid", the 150-year-old Quanjude has captured local young consumers through a series of actions such as modifying menus and "resonating with the same frequency"
with online users.

Located on Gaoxin Road, Dahong Kong Restaurant is one of the few Cantonese restaurants in Xi'an with distinctive characteristics, focusing on authentic Hong Kong-style cuisine and seafood Cantonese cuisine, employing Cantonese chefs and service teams, and has established a good reputation
among local customers through the online and offline "dual home" model over the years.
Up to now, takeaway revenue has accounted for nearly 30%
of the overall revenue.

The feedback from users on the dishes also drives the restaurant to continuously adjust its online products
.
On holidays, the store will adjust the user's dining habits in time, such as on weekends or holidays, the package will be adjusted to increase the types of four servings, six servings, etc.
, to meet the needs of family gatherings; During the seafood market, activities such as "Autumn Small Seafood Tasting" will be launched to allow users to eat delicious seafood Cantonese dishes
at affordable prices.
At the same time, Meituan Takeaway also provides professional takeaway operation services for merchants, and the business manager will visit the door regularly every week to analyze the recent business situation, review and summarize, and propose improvement plans
.

A senior catering analyst said that after the transparency of Meituan's takeout rates, rigid costs such as delivery fees are removed, and the overall platform commission remains at the level of
6%-8%.
Since takeaway basically does not occupy the cost of dine-in space, nor does it need to bear the labor costs of waiters, the profit margin is relatively high compared to dine-in, online operation creates more sales and profit margins for catering, and take-out and dine-in also have mutual promotion and driving effects
.

Digitalization brings new opportunities

In recent years, the rapid development of digital technology and the continuous innovation of the digital economy have promoted profound changes
in production methods and lifestyles related to catering.
The development of digital technology and the endogenous change power of time-honored brands promote each other, so that time-honored brands have received a new round of "activation"
.

A senior industry observer analyzed that time-honored brands that accelerate digital operations can better withstand risks and have the ability to transform service and culture into contactless, thereby expanding the service radius from restaurants to consumers' homes
.
Take food delivery as an example: on the one hand, the food delivery platform has a nationwide network and strong real-time fulfillment capabilities to ensure that consumers can get faster services; On the other hand, it can better meet the diverse needs of consumers and rapidly changing new trends
.

After years of precipitation, the food delivery platform has a deep insight into online categories and consumer demand, which happens to be the basis of
"reach" and "stimulating repurchase".
Time-honored catering brands and other catering brands can rely on the platform's big data for product research and development and accurate crowd marketing empowerment, and the platform is trying to provide online operations
for the brand's consumer assets and brand culture.

In the view of He Miao, assistant to the general manager of Greater Hong Kong Restaurant, there are many changes and unchanged in the development of the catering industry: diners' pursuit of food quality will not change, dining habits such as whether everyone chooses to go to the store or order takeaway will change, and changes in the age of user groups will lead to changes in preferences for tastes and categories.
.
.

Yang Xiao, executive chairman of the Xi'an Time-honored Industry Promotion Association, introduced that at present, eighty percent of Xi'an time-honored catering enterprises have launched takeaway
.
With the support of the platform, time-honored catering enterprises are actively changing their business strategies and expanding new sales paths and winning new space
for development by improving online services.
(Editor Li Chuang)