The market offers free cooking services! A number of restaurants are completely panicked...

Recently, the vegetable market has evolved and launched a "free cooking" service. It is becoming a trend for outsiders to cross over and rob the catering industry. The reasons behind this are thought-provoking. Friends who want to explore this issue are recommended to read this article. I hope it will be helpful to you.

Wet markets, convenience stores, supermarkets...it is becoming a trend for outsiders to cross over and rob the catering industry, one wave after another, and with great force.

“Restaurant owners never expected that their competitors would be meat and vegetable sellers.”

Recently, a vegetable market in Yantian, Shenzhen, surprised many people. The owner of a beef stall in the market turned into a chef and not only helped customers cut vegetables, but also cooked for free, showing his considerateness.

In addition to the vegetable market, there are also many convenience stores, supermarkets... all busy opening "canteens" to compete with restaurants for business.

In this regard, many people in the catering industry lamented that "internal competition" has intensified and "external competition" has come again. It is really difficult to work in the catering industry now!

1. The vegetable market has evolved and introduced a "free cooking service"

When I came, I bought raw beef, and when I left, I had a plate of stir-fried beef.

It is understood that the stall that provides free stir-fry service is a beef stall in a vegetable market in Yantian District, Shenzhen. Because people line up every day, the beef stall has become the "top-tier" stall in the vegetable market.

According to the Guangdong News Channel, the owner of the beef stall is A Long from Hunan. A Long said that the free cooking service is an appointment experience activity, and customers need to make an appointment in advance. 8-9 servings can be made in the morning and 15 servings in the afternoon.

Some customers order dishes before work and come to pick them up after get off work. Because of this convenience, A-Long's stall quickly gained a group of diners, and some even came from other districts of Shenzhen to check in. For this reason, A-Long also set up a WeChat group for repeat customers to line up in the group, otherwise they would not be able to get a frying service at mealtime.

For example, if a customer wants to eat a stir-fried beef, he will buy 30 yuan of beef at A-Long's stall, and then he can buy some side dishes to add in. The vegetable stall is just opposite to A-Long's beef stall, which is very convenient.

Image source: Screenshot of Guangdong News Channel’s Douyin account

As for whether the service will be charged in the future, stall owner A Long also said: "If we add new stores to specialize in processing, we will charge an appropriate processing fee, which is expected to be 5-10 yuan. Currently, there is no processing fee."

According to Shenzhen Evening News, in addition to this beef stall that provides stir-fry services, the vegetable market also sells a lot of cooked food, including wontons, dumplings, roast meats... Not only are the dumplings made and sold on the spot, but they can also be cooked for customers, and even dipping sauces are provided.

The relevant person in charge of the vegetable market also revealed that the market is building a central kitchen, which is scheduled to be officially opened to the public in mid-August, so that customers can enjoy more food processing services.

Netizens expressed their support for the vegetable market service:

• "This is good. After it is promoted, all restaurants and pre-prepared food stores will be overwhelmed."
• “The restaurants probably didn’t expect that one day their own suppliers would steal their business.”
• "Is it really that expensive? Beef is 30 yuan, side dishes are 5 yuan, and processing fee is 10 yuan. For 45 yuan, you can have a large portion of stir-fried beef. The cost performance is very high."

Some netizens also shared that this is not a new thing, and some vegetable markets have already started providing vegetable processing services.

A Jiangxi netizen named "Hai Ge" said: "It's like this here. You can buy whatever you want to eat. The processing shop is right in the vegetable market. You can prepare all the dishes for lunch and dinner yourself. The shop just charges a processing fee. The main thing is freshness."

2. Convenience stores and supermarkets are busy opening canteens to promote affordable and convenient meals

It is not just the wet markets that want to steal the jobs of catering workers. Convenience stores and supermarkets that are busy developing catering businesses are also stronger competitors. Since this year, more and more supermarkets have started to think about catering and opened "canteens" to provide affordable boxed lunches for workers.

Not long ago, Wumart Supermarket opened the "Wumart Canteen" in Beijing, offering two types of buffets. One is a carbohydrate buffet for 13 yuan, including braised noodles, fried pancakes, Yangzhou fried rice, etc.; the other is a full buffet for 19.9, covering more than 60 dishes.

Image source: Wumart Supermarket official WeChat account

RT-Mart has launched a cheese bun for 9.9 yuan. According to Lianshang.com, this year RT-Mart will continue to launch new 9.9 yuan baked products, such as 9.9 yuan ham toast and 9.9 yuan two pork chop buns, focusing on shaping price power. In addition, supermarkets such as Hema and Yonghui are also increasing their investment in the catering industry and launching various affordable fast food.

In June, Hema launched the "affordable fast food" service in Guangzhou, with more than 20 affordable meals every day, which rotate every week. It is reported that Hema's fast food includes Meizhou pickled noodles for 9 yuan, three meat and one vegetable fast food for 19.8 yuan, and pork soup for 16.8 yuan, etc. The average customer price is basically below 30 yuan. At present, Hema's affordable fast food series has been launched in Beijing, Jiangsu, Shanghai and other places.

In February, Yonghui Supermarket launched affordable canteens in Fuzhou and Zhejiang. The Yonghui Canteen in Fuzhou focuses on freshly cooked and self-service fast food, with more than 20 SKUs, and you can eat as much as you want for 15 yuan. In Zhejiang, Yonghui Canteen implements a self-selected dish weighing model, and the trial price is 1.98 yuan per tael, and the average price per person is about 15 yuan.

In addition to supermarkets, many convenience stores are increasing the proportion of in-store catering business and focusing on freshly made products.

In April this year, convenience store giant 7-Eleven (hereinafter referred to as "7-11") opened a small cafeteria in Guangzhou. A new dining area was set up in the store to sell freshly made, baked and fried products, with prices ranging from 6.9 to 22.9 yuan.

Image source: Hongcan.com

Almost at the same time, FamilyMart also launched the "All People's Canteen" series of bento boxes, starting at 8.8 yuan. As early as last year, FamilyMart launched the fifth generation store on Fahuazhen Road in Shanghai, adding a "hot stove" fresh food bar, expanding the area of ​​the entire fresh food bar and making it an independent area, and launching fresh hot food, emphasizing fresh cooking.

In general, whether it is a convenience store or a supermarket, the meals they offer are relatively affordable and convenient, and have won the favor of many consumers with their excellent quality-price ratio.

3. While breaking the “involution”, we must also be vigilant against the “involution”

Whether it is a vegetable market, a convenience store, or a supermarket, they all combine retail and catering, converting the customer flow of the two into each other, hoping to tap into the needs of the consumer market to a greater extent and maximize benefits.

Therefore, in the future, more and more cross-border players may be involved in the catering industry, further intensifying competition in the catering market.

It is time for traditional restaurants to think carefully about how to deal with this new competitive situation. For example, the "free cooking service" in the vegetable market gives consumers the assurance of freshly cooked food, and the convenience and affordability brought by the canteens in convenience stores and supermarkets. Can restaurants do the same? Or even surpass these cross-border players?

Whether the product is good, the service is considerate, and whether it is cost-effective, customers will ultimately "vote" with their feet.

For example, an AI cooking robot has recently appeared in the catering industry. A video circulated online shows that with the same ingredients and methods, the AI ​​cooking robot took 3 minutes and 8 seconds to prepare three dishes, while the chef took 9 minutes and 32 seconds.

In addition to replacing chefs and reducing labor costs, cooking robots are not inferior to humans in terms of product standardization. It is understood that today's cooking robots generally have built-in cloud recipes and standard SOPs. After setting the program, even a novice with no cooking experience can easily get started.

Strong cross-border competitors, quality improvement and efficiency enhancement of chain restaurant brands... Competition in the restaurant market has entered a new stage. In the future, if you slack off a little, you may be eliminated.

Author: Zhou Feifei

Source: WeChat public account "Hongcan.com (ID: hongcan18)"