In order to develop an intelligent surface-making robot, it burned 50 million yuan in 5 years; the first store trial business was extremely hot, attracting Haidilao, Country Garden and other big names involved in smart catering also sent people to visit; Galaxy Real Estate Group, Yingtai Fund, etc. The agency appreciates it!

This is a smart noodle restaurant located in Shenzhen Bantian Xinghe WORLD Artificial Intelligence Industrial Park, named "Noodle Making Monster", known as the "world's first smart noodle restaurant". With the aura of "robot restaurant, noodle making machine, restaurant of the future", it has attracted much attention as soon as it opened, attracting the attention of many media and industry professionals. On the day of opening, it once boarded the list of hot search topics on Weibo.

Why did this smart noodle restaurant become popular in an instant when it came out? At a time when the "robot restaurant" has long become yesterday's "gimmick", why can it be sought after by the industry? What is the story behind the burning of 50 million yuan in 5 years? For this reason, the catering industry new media (canyinj.com) walked into this restaurant and had in-depth exchanges with the founder, Ms. Qian Xiaoqin, and CEO, Mr. Cai Jintao, to unveil this "face-making monster" that fully embraces technology. The mystery behind the restaurant.

ONE

Aiming at the pain points of the noodle industry

Invest 50 million to make noodle machines

As a northerner, Qian Xiaoqin has a natural emotional bond with noodles. While watching the documentary "Road to Noodles", she had the idea of promoting Chinese noodles to the world. Chinese noodle culture has a long history and diverse flavors, but Chinese noodle culture does not have a good brand to spread around the world. How to present traditional noodles to the world in a modern way? Qian, who has worked in the hotel service industry, manufacturing managers and investors with multiple job identities, finally thought of making noodle making machines—using modern technology to solve traditional noodle restaurants with high labor costs, low efficiency, stale noodles and even security problems. Pain points.

According to statistics, 60% of the world's population is eating pasta. In the current market, there are a large number of noodle restaurants, and the demand is very large, but there is no "head" brand. Following the founding of Shenzhen Aitata Intelligent Catering Technology Co., Ltd., which is engaged in the research and development and manufacturing of cooking robots, to the establishment of Chuqi Zisheng Catering Management Co., Ltd., which is responsible for business operations, Mr. Qian has accumulated rich experience in exploring the road of noodle making machines. , But also invested a lot of costs, the capital for research and development and manufacturing of the machine alone reached more than 50 million.

Obviously, these efforts were not in vain. When the noodles met the robot, the noodle-making monster came into being. The landing of the noodle-making monster means the landing of a brand-new model of noodle restaurants. It overturns the traditional noodle restaurants and uses modern technology to realize the desire of trillions of businesses to reduce costs and improve efficiency, and it also gives consumers realism. Yes, a completely different dining experience from the past. Mr. Qian said: “The noodle maker is not so much a noodle restaurant, it is a technology company, a cross-border, subversive, and revolutionary restaurant. It is a restaurant with both machine efficiency and humanity, focusing on A company that makes delicious noodles. The noodle-making monster will open up a new track in the catering industry."

TWO

Dead product

Use technology to improve efficiency and experience

"Food and beverage operations return to the essence, and good food is the prerequisite. The technology empowerment must be done on the premise of ensuring good food, and then do empowerment and innovation!" Mr. Qian firmly believes in this and implements it in every detail of business operations.

1. Adhere to the fresh noodle craft, lock the "fresh" and set the "taste"

The noodles are formed in 0.3 seconds, and it takes only 160 seconds to make a bowl of noodles. With such a high efficiency, the strength and taste of the noodles do not make traditional handmade noodles at all. Mr. Qian introduced that for the convenience of preservation of the noodles we usually eat in restaurants, we generally use dried noodles in supermarkets, which not only taste bad, but also lose nutrients easily. The noodle-making monster insists on the fresh noodle making process, and the moisture content is the same as that of handmade fresh noodles. The water content is the same, which can well retain the flavor of fresh noodles and ensure that no nutrition is lost.

2. Absorb the essence of "three kneading and four awakening" noodle making

In addition to selecting high-quality flour, the robot cluster adheres to the "three kneading and four awakening" noodle making process, which promotes the full formation of gluten ridges to a greater extent, and produces more elastic and zero-added dough.

Mr. Qian broke the news that in order to knead a satisfactory dough on the strength of the noodles, several tons of flour was wasted during the test. I really felt a pity at the time, but it was gratifying that I finally tested a satisfactory result.

3. The "unmanned" kitchen chef of the whole process of robot cooking

After the kitchen takes noodles, ramen noodles, noodle cooking, disinfection and bowl distribution, soup base distribution, material distribution, robotic arm topping... the whole process is cooked by robots, and the six robots known as "Noodle Making Iron Man" perform their duties. "Unmanned" back kitchen mainly embodies 3 characteristics:

① Personalization: three flavors of noodles are available, noodle size and shape are optional, noodle cooking time is optional, and a variety of soup bases and toppings are optional;

② High quality: the noodles made by super-long cold wake up and second time kneading are more chewy, smooth and not sticky;

③ Intelligent: The whole process does not require manual participation.

Mr. Qian smiled and said: "The noodle-making monsters are smashing the products. It's really hard to fully feel it if you don't come to taste it in person!" The robot makes noodles without losing the chef's craftsmanship. This is a rare and valuable place for the robot restaurant. . "Kneading dough without hands is really clean." The back kitchen and front hall of the noodle making machine are very tidy and clean, making people feel safer and more assured during the epidemic.

4. Super high cost performance wins the hearts of users

When placing an order, consumers can choose original noodles or spinach noodles, spicy or non-spicy...These personalized and intimate choices have won the hearts of the younger generation of consumers. Moreover, the price of each bowl of noodles is controlled within the price range of 20-40 yuan, which is extremely cost-effective.

Why is it super cost-effective? The layout with a sense of science and technology, the clean and white countertops, the soft and cute voice of the food delivery robot... the intelligent digital presentation is refreshing, without the greasy feeling of a traditional restaurant. Including the arrangement of seats, the aisle in the middle is wide enough for another table, why not increase the table placement rate and retain the sense of space? Cai Jintao, CEO of Noodle Maker, said that for the customer's dining experience, the food delivery robot will deliver the noodles to the customer's side instead of behind the customer. The details are astounding!

At the beginning of the establishment of the store, the founder team had a big disagreement on "whether the robot noodle shop needs service personnel". In the end, a special person was installed in the store to guide the robots and solve the personalities encountered by consumers. Demand and other issues. This move of making noodle monsters effectively enhances the dining experience of consumers. The noodle-making monster always believes that the robot replaces the most complicated part of the technology, so as to free people to be the assistance of the robot, and fundamentally reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of the restaurant.

THREE

Technology Empowerment

Cross-border focus on "smart" positioning

Cai Jintao, CEO of Noodle Making Monster, told reporters that the core part of Noodle Making Monster is the formation of a complete intelligent digital system from the user to the operator (including investment franchisees), and then to the robot. It can be said that it is currently on the market. This is the only one. All the links are intertwined, and mastering any of them alone is not enough to be called intelligence. This is also a competitive barrier that cannot be replaced by the face-making monster in the short term.

1. Intelligent rear kitchen machine making

Fast is the "dominant gene" of smart noodle restaurants. Clean, safe, and highly standardized are the "invisible genes" of smart noodle restaurants. Together, they form a convenient, delicious, and highly replicable smart noodle restaurant. "Fast, clean and safe, with a high degree of standardization" thanks to the advanced cooking robot equipment of the Noodle Maker. Noodle making robots, food delivery robots, beverage robots... each robot performs its duties in an orderly manner. Customers only need to scan the code with their mobile phone to place an order, and the system will start to operate, such as noodle fetching, ramen noodles, noodle cooking, sterilizing and dividing bowls, soup base distribution, material distribution, robotic topping... a series of processes are very smooth and extremely efficient.

2. Intelligent front-end user experience

The noodle maker is not a robot exhibition hall, but a smart noodle restaurant with temperature. Mr. Cai has always emphasized the importance of user participation, and all considerations are based on users. From the user entering the door to taking out the mobile phone to scan the code for ordering, to the delivery robot accurately delivering the food to the table, all the processes are user self-service operation, the operation is extremely simple and smooth, which greatly reduces the front hall The labor cost of the service, on the other hand, also caters to the current young mainstream consumer group's consumption habit of "tend to order independently and not be disturbed".

3. Digitization of the franchise system

The noodle-making monster has truly realized the digitalization and modularization of the entire restaurant. The logic and algorithm behind it is a whole set of processes. Including the user end, the business end and even the later joining end will use the Internet's smart platform for operation. The traditional franchise evaluates lots and provides products, but what the face maker will do in the future is based on scenarios and users, helping franchisees to make every decision based on evidence. Noodles Monster develops its own data platform. Through cooperation with other businesses in communities and business circles, the database is opened up. Based on the background, algorithms and management methods, it generates insights, predicts consumer groups, consumption levels and even consumption habits, and provides scientific truth and effectiveness. The data. These data can provide effective support for the follow-up operations of the franchisees and help them make correct decisions.

FOUR

Branded operation

Shaping monster IP in all directions

Mr. Cai believes, “The future development of catering is the competition between digitalization and branding. Digitalization is our core advantage. Branded operation is the top priority of our development."

1. Create an exclusive IP image of monsters

In terms of brand building, the face-making monster has created vivid and interesting Internet celebrity IP images such as King of Boom, Tuanzi, and Liuliu. On a distant planet, the Tyrant King puts the dough into his chest to make noodles at all costs, while the clever Tuanzi and the calm and agile Liuliu lead the villagers to guard the dough village together...

Mr. Cai revealed that more animated stories will be incorporated in the later stage, and dolls and other peripheral cultural products such as pillows will be added, and even some interesting games will be designed with these IPs for waiting customers to experience. The exclusive IP image gives the entire brand more fashionable and youthful elements, adds interest, and at the same time makes it easier to spread.

2. High-tech and intelligent space experience

The face-making monster aims to create a sense of high-tech atmosphere, which can also be said to be a presentation of a lifestyle that blends modernity with a sense of the future. The environment of the entire restaurant is designed around this. In the restaurant design, the use of blue light strips, black, white, and gray color blocks...everywhere highlights the restaurant's high-tech "intelligence" theme. The logo of the face-making monster and the design of the background wall are highly consistent with the tone of the brand. Through the transparent glass, consumers can also see how the machine works in the back kitchen, and the soft and cute interaction of the robots that deliver food back and forth seems to bring people into another world of technology.

3. Specially invited new-generation brand experts to help

In order to create the face-making monster IP in all aspects, the company specially invited the professional new generation brand planner-Yang Jie, founder of Dingshang Tiancheng Brand Agency, to fully participate in the brand strategy planning. The professional team has injected new power into the brand of the noodle-making monster, and has turned the noodle-making monster into a consumption scene "mainly based on the cuisine and warmth of traditional catering, supplemented by the sense of science and technology", and output through the brand culture of IP characters. Enhance consumers' sense of participation and sense of acquisition in the robot production process, and allow consumers to have emotional resonance with the brand, thereby enhancing brand identity.

to sum up

As for how to build a successful project, Mr. Cai, who has many successful project management experience, gave three suggestions to entrepreneurs: 1) Preparing strategic positioning in the early stage is the key to determining the success or failure of a project; 2) Concentrating core resources Become an industry leader; 3) Build an excellent team.

There is no doubt that the face-making monster is on its way to practice. Smart noodle restaurant is a new track of industrial iteration, gestating a future of hundreds of billions. There are not many players at present, and there is only a family of noodle-making monsters that can really land and focus on the noodle category. Machinery and equipment, patent barriers, products, software, and the sense of dining experience are constantly tested, upgraded, and optimized. The cost behind it has long been not only the 50 million dollars spent on the surface-making machine, but also the time, experience, and the wisdom and wisdom of the entrepreneurial team. Strategic thinking.

Speaking of future planning, both Mr. Qian and Mr. Cai are very cautious and confident. They will directly manage the layout of first-tier cities and new first-tier cities. In the future, they will conduct in-depth strategic cooperation with schools and institutions such as Tsinghua University to continuously optimize iterative robots and smart platforms around cost reduction and efficiency increase. , The introduction of a digital franchise management system... and this series of plans are based on very clear goals and very mature conditions.

We have every reason to believe that the face-making monster that has opened up and is going forward all the way, the future can be expected!