During the three years of the pandemic, Chinese catering industry practitioners have been constantly facing huge challenges.
The latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that in December 2022, the national catering revenue was 415.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 14.1%; the catering revenue of units above the designated size was 88.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 17.8%.
From January to December 2022, the national catering revenue was 4,394.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 6.3%; the catering revenue of units above the designated size was 1,065.0 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5.9%.
Apart from facing the dilemma of "declining revenue", the pressure on the catering industry from the "three big mountains" (labor, rent, and food material costs) has never ceased.
Taking 2021 as an example, the expenditures of catering enterprises on various costs such as raw materials, labor, research and development input, social insurance, and taxes increased sharply.
For example, Haidilao, the leading brand in Chinese cuisine, had an employee cost of 14.875 billion yuan in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 53.7%. The percentage of this cost in its revenue was 36.2%, an increase of 2.4 percentage points compared with 2020. (Data source: Haidilao's 2021 financial report)
Therefore, trying every means to "increase revenue" and "save costs" has been the continuous direction for all catering industry practitioners to strive for!
With the adjustment of catering epidemic prevention measures at the end of 2022, since the beginning of 2023, the catering industry has finally witnessed a significant rebound, and many catering stores have welcomed a small consumption peak.
However, the "happy trouble" has emerged accordingly - the catering industry has started to compete for talents, locations, and resources.
A "big battle" is about to break out.
Besides the difficulties in recruiting people and the high cost of employing people mentioned earlier, what's more troublesome is that the relatively complicated and repetitive and boring work patterns in many positions in the catering industry seem to be increasingly less attractive to the new generation of young people to join in.
However, where there are pain points, there must be responses. This is the great power of the market!
In recent years, the research and development and application of intelligent catering equipment at home and abroad have become increasingly popular. There are even quite a number of overseas players in this track who have received strong support from capital. For example, Miso Robotics has completed a total financing of approximately 70 million US dollars before, and its latest Series E+ round plans to raise 40 million US dollars.
In the view of Zhu Mengyi, a pioneer in China's intelligent catering equipment track, the renewal and iteration of catering store equipment, especially the application of new technologies such as automation, digitalization, and intelligence, are not only conducive to saving labor costs but also a "new store revolution" regarding store efficiency, food safety optimization, and precise control of food materials.
This indicates that the catering industry has begun to transform from the extensive and fuzzy operation and management mode that relied on labor in the past to an intelligent and intensive fine operation mode.
Regarding this, Jingcai Capital once again had a in-depth dialogue with Mr. Zhu Mengyi, the founder of Zhiwei Technology, centering on the "First Year of Intelligent Tea and Beverage Equipment".
Previous link: "Dialogue with Zhu Mengyi: On People, Machines, Stores and the Future of the Catering Industry"
The following content is an excerpt of some highlights, hoping to be of reference and借鉴 significance for everyone.
Q: Compared with half a year ago, what significant changes have taken place in Zhiwei (Zhiyin) Technology?
A: Since the company was established last year, the whole team has been on a "forced march" all the time, because everyone has a sense of mission that time waits for no one in their hearts.
Therefore, the company has developed very rapidly. In less than half a year, our equipment has completed various high-intensity tests in the actual production and operation of stores, helping customers perfectly achieve the goal of "increasing output while saving labor" during the Spring Festival. At present, our equipment has begun mass production.
In addition, the company's team is still continuously strengthening. Now, excellent talents have joined in every key link from research and development to production, from the supply chain to products.
Q: How do you view the current competition pattern in China's intelligent catering equipment track?
A: In fact, in recent years, some leading catering brands and Internet platform companies have been exploring the catering automation track one after another. Until the past six months, the automation and intelligent equipment in the tea and beverage track has been very popular, and many traditional tea and beverage equipment manufacturers have also begun to pay attention and invest in it.
Some investors jokingly said that this year is the "First Year of Tea and Beverage Automation Equipment".
The increasing number of players entering proves that the direction we judged at the beginning is correct. In a sense, it is also a process of completing "market education" together with more business partners. Just as we talked about last time, we are also delighted to see more people paying attention to and participating in this great revolutionary cause.
However, tea and beverage have more raw materials than coffee, and the characteristics of materials and processes are also more complicated. It is actually not easy to handle various details well, such as how to ensure food safety and efficient cleaning. In addition, a truly valuable intelligent device for stores must be based on an insight into the food and beverage industry and a profound understanding of user usage scenarios, and adopt the form of "hardware + content".
Zhiwei Technology has a sense of awe for this market. Therefore, we have always insisted internally that running fast is not the core, but running steadily is the key. We must create a high-quality device that is intelligent and affordable for customers.
Of course, we are also confident that with the team's years of industry accumulation, we can provide customers with comprehensive solutions based on store intelligent equipment to address their real pain points.
Q: The pricing of Zhiwei Technology's equipment seems not cheap compared with that of other companies that have already launched so-called automatic milk tea machines. What's your view on this issue? Will it lose competitiveness because of this?
A: Indeed, some friends have given us feedback that the pricing of some "automatic milk tea machines" on the market is quite low.
On the one hand, we are constantly working hard to create equipment that is very attractive in price, maximizing the return on investment of stores as much as possible, shortening the payback period, and thus lowering the decision-making threshold for users.
On the other hand, we also have our own insistence. The basis for achieving "cost performance" must be that the product itself can meet expectations, conform to the core demands of customers, and make customers feel at ease when using it.
Therefore, we will always adhere to thinking about problems from the first principle internally and promote continuous cost optimization as the key to building the core competitiveness of the enterprise.
In addition, according to our repeated communication with customers and market research, the pricing of Zhiwei Technology's equipment after mass production is very competitive and can bring great improvement to the store model for customers.
Q: What's your view on leading direct-operated tea and beverage brands like HEYTEA starting to engage in franchising?
A: According to the prospectus of Mixue Bingcheng, Mixue Bingcheng has made a fortune quietly in the sinking market by relying on the franchising business, earning nearly 3 billion yuan in three years. And Nayuki, which has already gone public, is accelerating its expansion with the powerful assistance of the capital market.
I guess HEYTEA is facing no small pressure. Therefore, it is understandable that HEYTEA, which has adhered to the direct-operated model for ten years, chooses to open up part of its franchising at this moment.
There is a good saying: "In the catering chain circle, there is no one who doesn't want to adopt the franchising model, only those who haven't been well prepared for franchising."
In developed overseas markets, franchising chains are an efficient and proven business model.
In addition, we also see more opportunities from it. In the future, for brand headquarters to supervise franchisees, especially when facing challenges such as food safety, service quality, and efficiency improvement, in this context, it is even more important for stores to have an efficient intelligent equipment system, which can not only relieve the preparation pressure on employees but also reduce the possibility of errors, ensure customer experience, and reduce the waste of raw materials.
Q: What do you think the future development trend of the intelligent equipment industry for catering stores will be?
A: People's exploration of science and technology has never stopped, and science and technology must be the first factor driving the transformation of the "ancient" catering industry.
In recent years, digitalization and intelligence have gradually become the development trends of various industries.
Due to heavy reliance on labor, the difficulty in the chain operation of the domestic catering industry has also brought huge challenges to its refined management, which has had a significant impact on the further expansion and even going global of catering chain brands.
Zhiwei Technology is essentially a supplier of intelligent solutions for the catering industry. From a more fundamental level, what we output to customers is not just a piece of equipment, a catering robot, or a set of system software. Instead, we digitally transform the work such as the operation skills hidden in employees, material management, and business analysis in restaurant kitchens and then express them explicitly with intelligent hardware and robots, so that workers can do their jobs simply and happily, and make customers feel at ease and bosses worry-free.
Therefore, we firmly believe in the automation and intelligent operation revolution of the catering industry based on hardware equipment.
Of course, any change needs a gradual deepening process, and people also need a gradual understanding process for this development trend.
From the client side, many enterprises will calculate accounts at the beginning, but what they calculate is often the immediate and direct accounts rather than comprehensive and long-term ones. Maybe the current labor cost is barely acceptable, but they haven't considered the development trend of labor cost in the next few years.
From the supply side, this industry is still an emerging industry at present, and there are not many teams that are down-to-earth in doing catering automation and intelligence. Part of the reason may be that people still think it is an inconspicuous industry.
In fact, as we said before, this kind of change is not only happening in China but also abroad. It's just that the pandemic has accelerated its arrival. For example, recently we have seen that in the North American market, on the one hand, there are a large number of layoffs, and on the other hand, the demand for labor in the catering industry continues to rise, as well as the wave of development of catering automation and intelligence brought about by this.
I told my colleagues that 2023 after the pandemic will be a special year, the real first year of the intelligence and automation of tea and beverage, and also the turning point year for the intelligence and automation of the entire catering industry.
Zhiwei Technology will adhere to making extreme efforts to create extreme products and continuously consolidate its leading position in this track.
Note: The pictures in this article are sourced from the official website of Miso Robotics.