"Everyone has to think, how do you live when Haidilao is here?" At an industry conference, Du Zhongbing, the founder of Banu Maodu hot pot, asked the participants sitting in the audience and asked himself.
Since the end of October, Banu, the dark horse of Maodu hot pot, has intensively deployed new stores in first-tier cities, opening a number of new stores in Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanjing. Prior to this, Banu has been questioned by outsiders that the speed of first-line expansion is too slow.
When faced with others saying that he was slow, Du Zhongbing replied: "In my opinion, the best time is only when time is ripe. Ba Nu hopes to make a solid product." Now, Ba Nu is ushering in. The best time."
Hot opening of multiple stores to speed up the national first-line layout
Recently, Ba Nu Beijing Century Golden Resources Store and Xin Zhongguan Store have opened one after another. In the apm shopping mall on Wangfujing Street, Ba Nu’s new store is also being renovated and is ready to open.
As a new store opened after more than a year, the opening of Ba Nu's third store in Beijing, Century Jinyuan Store, naturally attracted attention.
Recently, when I came to inquire, I found that there were no meals at noon and many people were already queuing. According to the clerk, the store has an area of about 480 square meters with 37 seats. It has been open for more than a month and the business is very hot. The highest turnover rate can reach 6 rounds. In just one month after opening, this store has already ranked second in the hot food list in the nearby business district (Yuanda Road).
Judging from the store’s public comments, good taste and good service are the most mentioned reviews, followed by long queues, and some bad reviews are mostly caused by long queues.
What's interesting is that, as the biggest competitor of Banu, Haidilao also has a store on the same floor of the mall. The two sides happen to be one east and the other. This is the first-tier city. For the first time, Banu and Haidilao are competing directly in the same mall. .
After the meal, the author found that the waiting area in Banu was almost full. The numbered ticket showed that there were 125 tables in line in front; at the same time, there were 90 tables in Haidilao, but now there are very few people in line.
At the same time, Banu’s store in Xinzhongguan has also officially opened recently. In addition, in Shanghai, Banu’s second Raffles store has also opened, plus the upcoming APM store in Beijing and Nanjing. In the Golden Eagle store, Ba Nu has been moving frequently recently.
As early as when the U-Tang store opened, the outside world was expecting that Banudi would expand greatly. However, after more than a year, the second store of Banu was slowly opened. Now, two years later, Banudi Three stores only opened, and the "slowness" of opening one store in a year has also attracted doubts.
At that time, Barnu revealed that the slow pace of marching into Beijing has a lot to do with its strict requirements on operating capabilities. If there is no full assurance of the best presentation of the store, I would rather not open it.
The founder, Du Zhongbing, said that others say that we are slow. In my opinion, the best time is only when time is ripe. Ba Nu hopes to make a solid product.
But now that Banu has intensively opened stores in first-tier cities and accelerated its layout, does it mean that the "time" for Banu is ripe?
Become a top brand in multiple regional markets
As a hot pot brand that started in a second-tier city, Banu currently has only 75 directly-operated stores in the country since its establishment 19 years ago. Compared with most chain restaurant brands, this speed is not fast.
However, it seems that "playing fast with slow" and "stable and stable" are the strategies that Baru has always insisted on, fully accumulating its own brand potential in each regional market.
Prior to this, it has successively become the top local hot pot brand in regional markets such as Zhengzhou and Wuxi, and can even compete with the hot pot giant Haidilao.
In May 2018, Banu announced its entry into first-tier cities, and its first store in Beijing was settled in U-Town Shopping Center.
Although Haidilao is known in the industry for challenging Haidilao with "productism", in the context of the fierce competition in the industry, whether it can gain a foothold in the capital will make the outside world sweat it.
However, this restaurant lived up to expectations and became popular as soon as it opened. Its highest turnover reached 700%. It has long maintained a five-star rating on Dianping and has been rated as a must-eat restaurant in Beijing Dianping for two consecutive years.
Its popularity has continued to this day. In its store public comment, "queuing for a long time" has become the most important evaluation label besides good taste, good service, and fresh ingredients.
In September 2019, Ba Nu Beijing Xidan Juntai Store arrived late, but it opened immediately. Its taste, service, and evaluation are among the top restaurants in Xicheng District on the public comment.
Since then, Banu has successively entered Shanghai, Xi'an and other cities. In these new markets, they opened a new business, and they were all well received by customers.
In 2020, Baru officially embarked on the road of rapid replication. In January of this year, Banu announced that there were 63 stores nationwide; when it received RMB 100 million in financing in March this year, it announced 65 stores, and in the second half of this year, it announced one store with 75 stores.
Baru, who was once "slow", may be really "fast" this time.
Create high-end hot pot to become an upgraded version of Haidilao
In fact, 2020 is a period of challenges and opportunities for the entire catering industry. As a catering hotspot, the entire category of hot pot is "fast" up.
According to the company's data, in the first three quarters of 2020, a total of 50,600 related hot pot companies were registered, a year-on-year increase of 4%. Hot pot has also become a popular category in the catering industry this year and has been favored by capital. In the second half of the year, many hot pot food brands have successively obtained financing.
The same is "fast", but Baru's "fast" is obviously different. If the industry is waiting for an opportunity, Baru is creating an opportunity. The experience goes from fast to slow, and then to fast. Every time of Baru’s speed, it has its own thinking. The "fast" this time is the inevitable result of its productist choice.
Jack Trout, a world-renowned marketing strategist and "Father of Positioning", once wrote in the book Positioning: "If you want to be everything, you will end up being nothing."
Compared with “being everything”, Banu has chosen his own “only”, that is, a middle-to-high-end quality road with productism as the core. This road means that there will not be many or even fewer stores in Banu, and the speed will not be fast or even slow. This road also determines that after experiencing "slow" reserves and accumulation, Banu can "fast" "Get up.
In 2019, the second store in Beijing will be located in Xidan Juntai Shopping Mall, and the first Shanghai store will be located on the 3rd floor of Global Harbor; in 2020, the third and fifth stores will be located in Beijing Century Golden Resources Shopping Center, Beijing Xinzhongguan, Beijing Wangfujing apm, Nanjing’s first store is located in Golden Eagle International Shopping Center. These stores have many similarities-the central business districts of first-tier cities.
These stores located in the central business districts of first-tier cities have become the best "image spokespersons" in Banu: they are positioned at high-end hot pots, with a unit price of around RMB 170 per customer.
Meituan data shows that the average per customer price of hot pot is 138 yuan, and Haidilao is almost at this price. Banu achieved 160 yuan. This is the difference of Banu, according to industry observers.
It can be seen from the customer unit price that unlike Haidilao’s main customer base for young people and college students, Baru deliberately cultivates a social elite customer base to attract people with more spending power to pay for good products.
In order to match its customer base, Baru continued to increase investment in R&D and supply chain, continued to maintain diligence in products, created high-quality hot pot, and launched a series of high-quality products; in terms of service, Baru also With continuous improvement, continuous upgrades in store design, tableware, tablecloths, and private room services, to create high-end services, it seems that Baru wants to build itself into an upgraded version of Haidilao.
What kind of price there is, there are what kind of consumers, what kind of customer groups, and what kind of store locations are there. Behind the frequent stores of Banu, productism is supporting. Its "fast" today is precisely due to the landing and smooth progress of productism.
Haidilao down, Banu up
"To find customers and provide good services, the next step is to open stores next to precise customers." Baru's current "upward" is the inevitable result of its productist strategy, and it is also inevitable for it to find and serve users. As far as Baru itself is concerned, this is not uncommon, but in the "downward" hot pot industry, Baru's "upwardness" seems a little special.
According to data from Meituan Dianping, the number of hot pot restaurants in Tier 1 to Tier 4 cities has a tiered increase. The more expensive hot pot restaurants in Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities increase, the hot pot industry is sinking.
In recent years, as a “big Mac” in the hot pot industry, Haidilao has further explored the sinking market in consideration of revenue and performance. On the one hand, it has entered the second and third tier markets. On the other hand, it has been exploring downwards for takeaway, instant food, and sub-brands. market.
Haidilao and Banu, both are actually trying to break the boundaries, one is from the inside of the fifth ring to the outside of the fifth ring, and the other is from the outside of the fifth ring to the inside of the fifth ring.
Statistics show that the number of business districts in China's first-tier cities is 476, the number of business districts in second-tier cities is 1431, and the number of business districts in third-tier cities and below is 2020, a total of 3927. For Haidilao, the penetration rate of first-tier cities is very high, and second- and third-tier markets are its incremental space. For Banu, the 476 business districts in first-tier cities are blue oceans and the future.
The number of 350 million new middle-class people distributed in the core business districts of first-tier cities is currently uncertain. What is certain is that these people are the target group of Banu, and their place is also the space of Banu.
"In the future, it is not impossible that another'Haidilao' will be born in the hot pot market." Liu Yinbin, an associate professor at the School of Management of Shanghai University, once predicted. With the 351 million new middle-class population and the huge hot pot market, everything is possible.