Are pre-made dishes a new outlet or a leek pit?Some Hangzhou franchisees have invested more than 300,000 yuan in less than 400 yuan a day.
The first store of Tongue Hero is closed, and the Ruixing coffee model is not working
The first store closed, and the store lost a lot of money. Recently, the top star of pre-cooked dishes, “Bite of the Tongue”, has lost its market halo. At the beginning of August, the first store of Tongue Hero in Changying, Beijing announced its closure. It only took half a year from the opening in January to the closing of the store. Immediately afterwards, many cities across the country ushered in a wave of store closures.
While recruiting new members in the form of “every friend you invite, you can get a reward of 10 yuan”, while recruiting regional agents and franchisees all over the country, the brand founder Lu Zhengyao followed the style of Ruixing Coffee, which once made the signing of the hero on the tongue. There are more than 3,000 franchisees. But now, the first store has been closed down, and franchisees have continuously come forward to speak out and self-explode losses. Has the former Xinfengkou prefabricated dishes become a leek pit? What about the franchisees in Hangzhou?
Invested more than 300,000 to join the hero of the tongue
It is difficult to break through 400 yuan on working days
Entering “Bite of the Tongue Hero” on Dianping, the result shows that there are currently 8 stores in Hangzhou, 3 of which are new stores. These stores are basically opened in Dingqiao, Xiasha and Jingfang areas.
How is the operation of Bite of Heroes stores in Hangzhou? This Friday, in Xiasha Tongue Bite Hero Yunshui Store, the proprietress Xiaoqian described her experience of opening a store.
Xiaoqian’s store is located directly opposite Xiasha Xuezheng Middle School. On Friday afternoon, close to the closing time of school students, the Huaiyang Beef Soup Store and Shaxian Snack Bar around the store are very lively, with diners coming and going. On the contrary, she was the only one in Xiaoqian’s store, who was shoveling into a lump of crushed ice in the freezer.
After shoveling the big lump of ice cubes, Xiaoqian arranged the bags of sweet and sour pork loin, small crispy pork, boiled pork slices and other pre-made dishes in the freezer and placed them in order by name, “It is estimated that there will be more customers coming tomorrow. , sort it out in advance.”
Two months ago, the store opened by Xiaoqian and her husband opened. When it comes to why she joined the “Bite of the Tongue Hero”, Xiaoqian said that the main reason is that she can’t be idle. She used to do foreign cosmetics purchasing at home while watching her children. She is a typical treasure mother. In the first half of this year, Xiaoqian’s husband came up with the idea of joining after he accidentally swiped an advertisement for A Bite Hero in the company’s elevator room.
Because of the epidemic, Xiaoqian’s business in the past three years has been very unstable. After the couple summed it up, they felt that it was feasible to join the prefabricated food store. “There are many young people from abroad in Xiasha, so there will be no shortage of customers to open a store here.”
After finding the regional agent in Hangzhou on the Bite of Heroes App, Xiaoqian and her husband opened this franchise store not long after. Xiaoqian’s review, in a quasi-first-tier city like Hangzhou, the franchise fee for A Bite of the Tongue Hero is more than 200,000 yuan. “It cost 30,000 yuan to buy raw materials for the first time.” Invested more than 300,000 yuan.
“When it opened, the discounts were relatively strong, with 30% to 40% off. Many mothers in nearby communities would buy rice balls and chicken chops for their children in school, and aunts and uncles felt that the processed fish sold in the store was better than supermarkets and vegetables. The market is much cheaper, so come here to buy it.” In a WeChat group of users registered by Tongue Hero for Xiaoqian, the number of users soon exceeded 100. When the business is at its best, the daily flow of water in the store can reach more than 4,000 yuan.
However, two months after opening the store, Xiaoqian felt that she had a lot of free time now. “In the beginning, I had to come to the store before 9:00 every morning, but now I don’t come until almost 10:30.” The number of people has never exceeded 200. Like the WeChat group, on weekdays, the daily turnover of Xiaoqian’s stores is difficult to exceed 400 yuan. “It will be better during holidays or discounts, and it can reach more than 2,000 yuan.”
Different from the various kinds of dishes that are usually clearly marked in restaurants, the pre-made dishes sold in Xiaoqian’s stores are all discounted at will. “Generally, the price of special dishes is determined by the company. For example, this week’s special dish is 19 yuan of pickled fish. You can take home a red envelope for 9.6 yuan, and there are many customers who place orders for this kind of dish.”
In order to attract more customers, Xiaoqian also tried to issue consumer coupons, such as 3 yuan off for purchases of 29 yuan, 6 yuan off for purchases of 49 yuan, and a maximum of 20 yuan off for purchases of 159 yuan. The profit is too low, but there is no way, there are few customers, and only small profits but quick turnover.”
As for whether it can make a profit by the end of this year, Xiaoqian said that she is not too confident, “Now the goods of 2,000 yuan a week have to come in, so let’s do it first and then talk about it.”
In Xiaoqian’s store, I used Tongue Hero’s WeChat applet to order 11 kinds of dishes such as sauerkraut fish, small crispy pork, and Kung Pao chicken. After deducting the 44.32 yuan discount from the special event, I used the newcomer. After the 59.5 yuan coupon, I ended up paying 131.78 yuan. In other words, I bought a plate of sauerkraut fish at a price of less than 12 yuan per order, which is generally more than 40 yuan.
After using up the coupons for newcomers, there are still 16 coupons in my backstage, such as a discount of RMB 5 for a purchase of RMB 59, and a discount of RMB 20 for a maximum purchase of RMB 199.
For low-margin catering companies, with such discounts, there is not much profit margin for stores. The “Bite of the Tongue Hero” style of play is similar to the Internet mode play of its founder Lu Zhengyao when he was making Ruixing Coffee, choosing to burn money as a subsidy for promotion.