The Tianshui Malatang, which is "copied and pasted" everywhere, has changed its taste

During the Qingming Festival, my country's tourism industry once again experienced a boom. Various ways to play, a number of well-known cities and popular check-in spots met the diverse travel consumption needs of hundreds of millions of tourists.

Tianshui, a newly-crowned internet celebrity city, released some encouraging data: During the three-day Qingming Festival holiday, Tianshui city received a total of 946,500 tourists and generated a comprehensive tourism income of 540 million yuan.

A variety of affordable delicacies + the Qingming Festival + college student special forces have made the small city of Tianshui flourish again. Its popularity is comparable to that of Zibo last year and Harbin at the beginning of the year, or even better.

"Give me a fulcrum, and I can move the whole earth." Tianshui is using its specialty food, Malatang, as a fulcrum and using its might to move the entire regional tourism sector.

Data from Meituan and Dianping show that since March, the number of Malatang dine-in orders in Tianshui, Gansu Province has increased by more than 140% compared with the same period in the previous two months. In the past month, the number of new Malatang restaurants in Gansu Province on Meituan has increased by more than 51% compared with the previous month, and the number of Malatang restaurants in Tianshui City that have transactions such as Meituan group purchase packages has increased by more than 90% compared with the previous month.

According to estimates by Qunar Big Data Research Institute, the average spending per tourist on a serving of Tianshui Malatang is about 30 yuan, but it drives local transportation, accommodation and other consumption to 650 yuan.

From being unknown to becoming popular all over the country, Tianshui's popularity is all due to a bowl of spicy hot pot. Today, this bowl of spicy hot pot is constantly copied and pasted, and it is everywhere. However, while its influence is increasing, Tianshui spicy hot pot is also plagued by "copycats".

People are afraid of being famous, just like pigs are afraid of being fat. Being praised on one side and criticized on the other seems to be the fate of Tianshui Malatang.

Copy and paste Tianshui Malatang out of the province

In mid-February this year, a returning college student with the online name "A Cup of Liang Baikai" casually shot a few seconds of video of Tianshui Malatang and wrote: "It is recommended that Gansu Malatang be popularized nationwide."

After the video was released on social media, it was hit hard by traffic, with tens of millions of views in just a few days. It seemed that Tianshui Malatang became popular all of a sudden.

I didn’t go to Zibo to eat barbecue last year, and I didn’t go to Erbin at the beginning of the year. Now Tianshui Malatang has come out of nowhere, which has aroused the hearts of netizens from all over the country. Everyone said: "Tianshui Malatang, no matter what, you have to try it."

So, netizens from all over the world, by plane, train, and by car, all flocked to the small city of Tianshui, Gansu, just for a bowl of spicy hot pot. The result is beyond doubt - it's delicious!

Everyone says that Jia Ling's movie "Hot and Spicy" is good, but I didn't expect that the food industry also has a "hot and spicy" dish. Many netizens said after testing it: Tianshui Malatang is both spicy and spicy, and it is delicious and a top-notch enjoyment.

After the Internet continued to ferment, Tianshui Malatang's popularity rose rapidly and became the top restaurant in the catering industry. Netizens across the screen jokingly said: "Tianshui Malatang is not good, unless it opens at my doorstep so that I can try it too."

Where there are people, there is the world; where there is demand, there is a market.

With the explosive popularity of Tianshui Malatang, small business owners who smelled business opportunities started to copy and paste. Some ran from Tianshui to big cities to try to seize the market; some learned a little and copied Tianshui Malatang outside Gansu Province.

"Listen to advice, where in Beijing will open a Tianshui Malatang that will be popular?" At first, such content was leaked on social media from time to time. The bosses in Tianshui brought their tools and patiently listened to the opinions of netizens, hoping to attract more traffic at a lower cost. Netizens also gave sincere opinions, "Haidian Wudaokou", "Heshenghui", "Changying", and also expressed their eager anticipation for the first Tianshui Malatang.

Soon after, the message “You can eat authentic Tianshui Malatang in Beijing” began to flood the screen with messages like “Tianshui Malatang” and “Tianshui Malatang”. Jintai Road, Dongsishitiao, Yaer Hutong, Baiziwan... were all filled with Tianshui Malatang flags.

On Xiaohongshu, whether searching for Shanghai Malatang or Tianjin Malatang, Tianshui Malatang in various cities will always be at the top, creating a festive and lively scene. In order to compete for the reputation of being the "first" or the "number one", the flow of tap water is overwhelming, and there is no need for businesses to deliberately promote it.

Tianshui Malatang has gone beyond the province, and many restaurants across the country have added this "signature dish" to their menus.

Taking Beijing as an example, the Feitian Building Halal Restaurant of the Gansu Office in Beijing launched the "Tianshui Malatang" priced at 88 yuan. According to the relevant person in charge of the Feitian Building restaurant, since March 16, the order rate of Malatang has doubled, with the peak daily sales reaching more than 300 servings. The restaurant also had waiting times, with the longest waiting time reaching 40 minutes.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

Many people in the catering industry said: "Who wouldn't want to make money? Why not take advantage of the popularity?" They took advantage of the traffic and copied others' work. Within just one week after going viral, Tianshui Malatang restaurants were everywhere in the country.

The boss of a Tianshui stall selling spicy hot pot in Nanjing, Jiangsu, was overwhelmed with orders on the first day of opening. He was so tired that he had to close the business and urgently recruit workers. The first Tianshui spicy hot pot restaurant in Jinan, Shandong was open for six days, during which time four similar spicy hot pot restaurants appeared in Jinan like mushrooms after rain.

Many Tianshui Malatang restaurants have opened in first-tier and new first-tier cities such as Chengdu, Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Zhengzhou. Some barbershop owners even followed the trend and remodeled their shops overnight, using Tianshui's brand name to serve Malatang.

Data shows that 161 new Tianshui Malatang companies have been established nationwide, and Dianping has included nearly 1,000 Tianshui Malatang merchants. When searching for Tianshui Malatang on Dianping, there are more than 110,000 results related to it in Beijing and more than 50,000 in Shanghai, which shows how popular it is.

Image source: Dianping.com

Has the taste of Tianshui Malatang changed with so many variations?

Adapting to local conditions and following local customs, Malatang products are varied and eaten in different ways. However, many seek innovation, while many cut corners and raise prices sharply. The mixture of good and bad has become a little distorted.

The original Tianshui Malatang has at least two characteristics: low price and special ingredients. The so-called low price means that you can eat well and be full for about 30 yuan per person. The so-called special ingredients mean that the main raw materials of Tianshui Malatang are the local Gangu pepper and Dingxi potato.

The spicy hotpot made with these two main ingredients is delicious: it looks appetizing, smells rich, and has a nice aroma. It is fragrant but not spicy, and very refreshing. A bowl of spicy hotpot and half a bowl of chili oil are still fresh in the memory of netizens.

Image source: People's Daily Douyin account

The explosion of Tianshui Malatang has made Gangu peppers and Dingxi potatoes also popular products. In the case of supply exceeding demand, some businesses have to look for alternative raw materials, increase prices, or reduce ingredients and speed up the process. As a result, the taste of Tianshui Malatang has changed.

Some netizens said: "Looking at these spicy hot pots, apart from the names that are just trying to take advantage of the popularity of Tianshui spicy hot pot, the other dishes are irrelevant." Some netizens even pointed out: "Some Tianshui spicy hot pot restaurants have good dishes except spicy hot pot."

After Tianshui Malatang went beyond the province, a common problem arose: many catering companies were selling fake products under the guise of genuine ones, or their services could not keep up.

Under the overwhelming traffic, not many catering companies fully accepted it and made long-term plans. A considerable number of catering companies followed the trend, some due to "conflicts between founding partners", and some began to withdraw before the market cooled down, transferring and selling stores, which was controversial.

After Tianshui Malatang became popular, the market also began to cut leeks. "Training" and "franchising" are mixed, and the fees are also different.

In fact, the popularity of Tianshui Malatang has important implications for the operation and development of catering companies. What to learn and how to learn may be the wise thinking and choices that should be made in the trend and traffic.

Last year, what became popular in Zibo barbecue was the combination of dishes - small skewers (both meat and vegetarian) + green onions + pancakes.

This year, Tianshui Malatang is popular for its unique consumer experience of being fragrant but not spicy.

Where can you find barbecue? Where can you find spicy hotpot? Features and highlights are the fundamental reasons why a product is popular. Even if the popularity fades, it can still remain invincible in the competition with peers.

In addition, for catering enterprises, in addition to providing good products, they must also provide good services to bring more beneficial consumption experiences to consumers. Impressing customers with products and retaining customers with services is the only way to run the business well and enhance brand awareness.

The real traffic will always be reserved for dedicated companies.