Goubuli Baozi's last store in Beijing is closed! How to break the predicament faced by time-honored catering brands?

After losing to Beijing, on March 29, Goubuli put himself on the Weibo hot search list.

A few days ago, Goubuli’s store on Dashilan Street in Beijing has officially closed. This is the last direct store Goubuli opened in Beijing. The closure of the store means that this century-old brand has officially withdrawn from the Beijing market.

ONE

Dog ignores the retreat

Goubuli has a history of 163 years.

In response to the closing of the last store in Beijing, some staff members also replied that due to the expiration of the lease, the follow-up contract is under negotiation. However, in public perception, whether the store is officially closed or not, the decline of Goubuli has long been revealed. According to its official website, Goubuli currently has 10 stores in operation, all located in Tianjin, and Goubuli has "finally" returned to its base camp.

While withdrawing from the national market, Goubuli has also deviated from the consumer group. What is it that makes Goubuli’s steadily retreating?

Don’t let people say that it’s not delicious?

"There are so many bamboo slabs, let’s not boast about anything else, praise this traditional gourmet Goubuli steamed buns. Jie Goubuli steamed buns, what is it so good about? This is thin skin, big stuffing, and eighteen pleats. , Like a flower", a cross talk on the Spring Festival Gala, let people all over the country know Goubuli Baozi. Goubuli steamed buns at that time were a food business card in Tianjin and even China, and one of the delicacies that tourists must "check in".

After many years, Goubuli entered CCTV again, but it was because of negative reports.

In September 2020, a blogger posted a shop-exploring video in which he commented on Wangfujing’s Goubuli steamed buns: “Greasy sauce wrapped in meat”; “Thick pork foreskin and less stuffing”; “A bit expensive”... Then, Wangfujing Goubuli Restaurant issued a statement stating that it has reported to the police that the video has violated the reputation of the restaurant and relevant personnel will be held accountable in accordance with the law. The statement was deleted the day after it was issued. Four days after the statement was deleted, the Goubuli Group announced that the Goubuli Wangfujing Store was a franchise store, which did not represent the official behavior and position of the group.

CCTV commented in the "Evening News": Time-honored brands can make better choices instead of laughing at the praises and jumping at the criticisms. Time-honored brands have sentiments, accumulate emotions, and accumulate reputation, but they cannot be veteran. If you rely on the old to sell the old, you should have a allegorical saying-the bun opens his mouth and reveals the stuffing!

This "farce" finally ended with CCTV's naming criticism. From the release of the shop-visiting video, the Wangfujing dog's statement that the dog did not have a haircut, to the Goubuli Group's "disambiguation" of the relationship, which was reported by CCTV, public opinion fermented all the way to the point of being out of control. On the surface, this is the “personal” behavior of the Wangfujing Goubuli franchise store. However, the buns are not tasty and expensive, the store’s major decision-making errors, and the delayed processing of the Goubuli Group, etc., reflect this. Brands have a serious lack of market control and management.

Diner: Looking at the price, don't you have any points in your heart?

Watching Goubuli on Dianping.com, and Yishui’s tourist reviews, "punch-in" has become an important source of revenue for Goubuli.

Visitors’ check-in comments are not very friendly, and many comments mention “expensive”. Before the 1990s, Goubuli was the representative of Tianjin civilian food. Later, when brands such as Qingfeng Steamed Buns and Barbies adhered to the civilian route, Gou ignored the head and moved towards the high-end route. The 50 yuan per capita steamed buns were first put into the "cold palace" by Tianjin locals. In recent years, Goubuli has relied on harvesting foreign tourists to survive. This kind of dog ignored, in the eyes of netizens, is somewhat "killing".

Joining: Introducing and retiring

With a significant decline in word-of-mouth, the catering business of Goubuli has been shrinking in recent years. According to the enterprise investigation, the operation certificate of Tianjin Goubuli Catering Management Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Goubuli Group, was changed to be cancelled on March 17. According to relevant media reports, of the 32 companies that Goubuli Group participated in, 14 of them have been cancelled.

At its peak, Goubuli had more than 80 branches across the country, most of which were franchised stores. Wangfujing Goubuli, which pushed Goubuli to the forefront in 2020, is also a franchise store, and the “out of control” of Goubuli franchise stores has already begun to emerge. In earlier reports, Zhang Yansen, chairman of Goubuli, once pointed out that franchise stores in various regions have mixed good and bad management and loose management. To this end, Zhang Yansen led Goubeli to restructuring, stopped absorbing new franchisees, and added a batch of franchise store signs in advance.

The introduction and withdrawal of the franchise model led Goubuli to pay a high tuition fee, which had an irreversible negative impact on the brand image of Goubuli.

TWO

The time-honored brand of "gnaw old"

Not only "one billion" missed

Success is not achieved overnight, nor is a good impression lost overnight. When the labels of "relying on the old and selling the old" and "nibbing the old" appear on the time-honored brands, it means that the disease is deep.

It also plays a pivotal role in the time-honored Chinese restaurant brand, and Quanjude has also caused heated discussions due to the closure of the restaurant. In 2019, Quanjude connected 5 stores within half a year, which was widely reported by the media. Since 2013, Quanjude’s performance has begun to show a significant decline. In Quanjude’s 2020 annual performance forecast, in 2020, Quanjude expects a net profit loss attributable to shareholders of listed companies from 240 million yuan to 264 million yuan. With continuous store closures and fiscal deficits, Quanjude has also become a representative brand of "a good hand of cards is broken".

Every time-honored brand has been passed down to this day, and it has its advantages. When we are in this situation today, we need to analyze the deep-seated reasons while lamenting them to alert ourselves.

1. Missed consumption upgrade bonus

It is not the high-end route that Goubuli is wrong, but the products and services that do not match its high-end price.

In recent years, the catering industry has been a voice of consumption upgrading. From brand image to brand language to digital application, a large number of catering brands have obtained reasonable reasons for adding "added value" through scene upgrades and high-quality brand image output. They are iterating the brand while iterating the target consumer group. In order to continue to be recognized by the new generation of mainstream consumers. However, the time-honored brand is always "later", and Goubuli is like dormant and stays still.

Just like people in the workplace, "qualification" is very important, but qualifications and incompetence will eventually fall into the company's abandoned son. Qualifications are the icing on the cake. Anything that consumes qualifications is consuming life in the workplace. The same is true for brands. Only by continuous growth and progress can they avoid being beaten to death on the beach by the waves.

2. Brand upgrade and break away from the brand

It's not that the time-honored brand has never thought about upgrading and reforming.

Quanjude tested the "Internet+" in 2016 and launched the "Brother Xiaoya" takeaway with Baidu Waimai. The platform announced its death in 2017. The "Brother Xiaoya" takeaway platform is considered by the industry to be the product of "the ignorant and fearless". There is no Internet operation experience. Starting from scratch in an unfamiliar field, it is too difficult to try to survive under the siege of Ele.me and Meituan. NS! Quanjude, which is a takeaway platform, also deviates from the nature of its catering. Such a brand upgrade, in addition to being "difficult", also contributes little to the long-term brand building.

In 2016, the trend of "Internet +" is flourishing. At that time, Quanjude must have wanted to reshape the brand's youthful image through the "Internet +" strategy, but the decision to deploy "Little Duck Brother" was indeed a bit sloppy. In the implementation of operations, too many brands are easily confused by "trends", led by design companies, and rash reforms without sufficient self-awareness and long-term planning, failure is inevitable. This also reflects the inadequacy of the internal management capabilities of the company.

3. "Turn a blind eye" to public opinion

In Goubuli's "bad review incident" in 2020, netizens fell to the ground and stood in line with "bloggers", verbally criticizing Goubuli on a large scale. Behind this situation is that Goubuli has long lost the support of the people.

The catering industry is a very inclusive industry, which welcomes people-friendly cuisine, but does not refuse the entry of high-end brands. Consumers are willing to pay for the added value of culture, scenes, and services beyond the product, but there is a very important prerequisite-the product must be in place. Consumers want things that can be seen, eaten, and can be enjoyed personally, rather than feelings of nothingness. Facts have proved that the brand power that lacks product power is a castle in the sky.

In 2020, Quanjude announced to lower the prices of dishes, and the netizens responded: It's too late! With the food all over the world, and a number of roast duck brands showing the trend of latecomers, Quanjude’s product and service barriers have been repeatedly weakened, and price reductions can be used as an entrance to self-help, but only price reductions are not enough.

THREE

"Different from the same old man"

Why can these time-honored brands regain their youth?

Many time-honored brands have become a symbol of Chinese culture. Because of their feelings, most consumers are very happy and hope to see their persistence, growth, and go on.

Not all time-honored brands are standing still and "good at" chewing on the old. More time-honored brands are constantly breaking through the development bottleneck and regaining their youth and vitality with the aura of time-honored brands. Such a time-honored brand has a strong cultural flavor, and actively embraces young traffic, showing its vitality.

From solo to brand matrix

Quanjude's creation of "Brother Duck" is a strategic act for the company to expand its corporate ecosystem horizontally. Rather than looking for new opportunities in unfamiliar areas, more time-honored brands choose to dig out brand value vertically in familiar areas.

Donglaishun was founded in 1903 as a time-honored restaurant restaurant. In recent years, Dong Lai Shun, like Xiao Nan Guo, Da Dong, Grandma’s and other brands, is keen on "opening a trumpet". It has successively opened catering sub-brands such as Lobster Hui, Qingnian Dou, Shabu, Dongbaai Xisuan, etc. to attract young consumers. group.

Building a brand matrix to attract customers from different circles and expand new revenue points has become an important direction for many catering companies to seek development. For these catering brands, trial and error in familiar areas leads to lower costs and higher success rates.

From touch to net

Recently, Wufangzhai’s small animation of the Youth League maxed out the social network. Cute, funny, and at the same time, it combines the elements of ink painting and has won a lot of praise.

In 2018, the first 24-hour unmanned smart restaurant launched by Wufangzhai and Word of Mouth settled in Hangzhou, where ordering, payment, and meal collection were all intelligently operated.

In recent years, Wufangzhai has reversed the "old" image of the time-honored brand, and has become one with young people, and has been called "the most playful Chinese time-honored brand". From superficial access to the Internet to in-depth use of digitalization to increase efficiency and revenue, new marketing scenarios to promote brand rejuvenation, continuous creative content output + high-level digital operation, the "popular" Wufangzhai uses digital innovation to empower brand development, Become a representative brand for the rejuvenation of time-honored brands.

FOUR

It's hard to start a business, but it's even harder to keep a business!

The market environment is changing rapidly, and the focus of keeping the industry is not on "keeping", but on breakthroughs. In the catering industry in the Red Sea, every company is sailing against the current, and if it does not advance, it will retreat. If you want to maintain the leading position in the industry, you must not only constantly troubleshoot yourself and increase your motivation, but also always pay attention to the changes and performance of the surrounding environment and competitors, and then adapt to changes, constantly break through the bottleneck, and improve your capabilities in order to remain invincible.