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Canteens seem to be a two-way rush for traditional supermarkets and young people. Supermarkets rely on canteens to attract more people and boost sales of other products; young people who are tired of pre-prepared meals find the long-lost taste of freshly cooked food in supermarket canteens.

Text |Song Chunguang

Editor |Yang

Operations |Puffs

"Poor Man's Canteen"

The clock had not yet struck five in the afternoon, but Zhou Qi had already decided to go to the newly opened "big canteen" nearby for a meal in the evening.

Zhou Qi works for an Internet company in Beijing's Zhongguancun. Previously, Zhongguancun No. 5 was where she and her colleagues would go to eat. There were many fast food chains there, such as Micun Bibimbap, Xishaoye, Kuafu Fried skewers, etc. The average cost of a lunch was around 25 yuan.

However, recently, Wumart, a traditional supermarket chain in Beijing, opened a self-service cafeteria in its Zhongguancun store, reducing the price of meals for nearby workers to less than 20 yuan - 19.9 yuan for a buffet of all dishes; 13 yuan for a buffet of carbohydrates.

Zhou Qi went to the food hall for the first time on a Saturday afternoon. When she arrived at about 11:30, the flow of people in front of her was beyond her imagination. The space of more than 200 square meters was full of people. Zhou Qi took the plate and walked through the crowded aisle with difficulty. The air was filled with the aroma of oily food and the salty smell of human sweat. The plate needed to be held tightly in front of her body. If she was not careful, it might rub against each other. She felt that it was a wrong decision to go out after taking a shower.

When she walked to the dining area with her first plate of "trophies", she found that there were no seats left. Near the exit not far away, a group of diners put their plates on the narrow tables and ate their food while standing. Zhou Qi joined the people who were eating while standing, because most of the seats on weekends were occupied by parents with children, and they didn't look like they would leave anytime soon.

She also found that there were several tables where people were having a party and chatting while eating. Zhou Qi later shared this with his friends: "Is the consumption downgrade so obvious now? We can also have a meal here in the future."

A large number of people means that food needs to be "snatched". The buffet tests everyone's ability to be quick-eyed and quick-handed. For example, the stewed chicken legs and meatballs provided by the cafeteria are limited to one portion per person. Once they are all taken, you may not be able to eat them today.

Li Yuanfeng, who also works near Zhongguancun, was one of the first people to enter Wumeishitang. Since the end of June, he has clocked in more than a dozen times. With his high-frequency experience, he continues to update his "food grabbing experience" on social platforms: watermelon, tiramisu and pickled cabbage bones are popular dishes, so just take them when you see them; there are more people at noon than at night, and more people on weekends than on weekdays...

Although he rarely cooks, he has tried almost all the self-service and affordable restaurants near his residence, such as Huojiaxiang, which costs 18 yuan per person after 3 pm and has both meat and vegetable options, and Jingxiangli, which has a vegetarian self-service fast food restaurant, which costs 16 yuan per person. Wumei Food Hall is the place he frequented most in July. In Li Yuanfeng's eyes, Wumei's advantage lies in its affordable prices, and the fact that it does not limit meat and vegetable options or the time of day.

Currently, Wumeishitang has opened two stores in Beijing. The second store is located in Tongzhou. Compared with the Zhongguancun store which is crowded with Internet celebrities, the Tongzhou store surrounded by residential areas has attracted more residents from surrounding communities.

Couples who don't like to cook, old people with children... and some elderly people regard the canteen as a new social base. In the Tongzhou store, you can see several grandfathers in their sixties and seventies sitting in the dining area, first with a plate of stir-fried dishes to moisten their mouths, then with a cold dish to go with the wine, with their own blue bottle of Red Star Erguotou on the table, toasting and drinking, eating to their heart's content, and finally finishing the meal with a bowl of watermelon.

In the design of shopping malls, supermarkets are usually arranged on the underground floor, where the rent is low and it is close to the underground parking lot, which is convenient for the storage and transportation of goods. However, this location is not necessarily a good thing for canteens.

The first thing that was complained about was the ventilation. After Zhou Qi finished eating in the cafeteria for the first time, she always felt that she was covered with the smell of oil smoke. After thinking about it, she was sure that it was because she was standing near the cafeteria's food outlet. "This may be because the supermarket is on the basement floor, and the ventilation is not good, so the air is stuffy."

Then there is the indoor temperature. Whether it is the Zhongguancun store or the Tongzhou store, some people complained that the air conditioning was not cooling and the more they ate, the hotter they got. Some people even joked, "Is it so hot on purpose so that we can finish eating and leave quickly?"

It is not new for supermarkets to open canteens. At the end of 2023, Yonghui Supermarket opened Yonghui Canteen in Fuzhou, offering self-service dishes at a price of 1.98 yuan per two. In March of this year, the "Xiaohui Canteen" continued to test the buffet model in Wuhan, with the price reduced to 15 yuan per person. According to Jiupai News, the canteen of Wuhan Guanggu Fanyuecheng Store receives 1,000 to 2,000 orders per day.

Earlier, "on-site shopping, on-site cooking" was the signature of Hema Fresh. This year, in addition to cooking expensive ingredients, Hema has also opened a self-selected cooking mode, but the price is slightly higher, at 3.28 yuan per two pieces, and a normal meal is around 25 yuan. Fruit and Vegetable Supermarket continues to use the set meal pricing method, with one meat and one vegetable priced at 23.99 yuan, and two vegetables at 20.99 yuan.

Young people, how hard is it to eat a freshly cooked dish?

In addition to affordable prices, fresh ingredients and fresh cooking are the main selling points of supermarket cafeterias. Wumei Food Hall sets the kitchen directly behind the food display area, and reserves several door positions separated by half curtains. Everyone can see the looming figures of the chefs while eating. The slogans in the cafeteria are bright and colorful, emphasizing like the title: freshly cooked ingredients are delicious. Yonghui Cafeteria even said "Say Goodbye to Pre-prepared Food" directly on the counter.

In recent years, pre-prepared meals have become the biggest "pain point" for many young people in cities. This standardized production tool with stable quality control and high efficiency has captured restaurants of different cuisines - pickled fish, noodle shops, dumplings, etc. In today's urban life, pre-prepared meals are almost omnipresent.

Xiaoyu, a young white-collar worker, likes to order an extra fried egg when ordering takeout to balance nutrition. Recently, she found that she often ordered a very round fried egg with a springy texture, as if each molecule in the fried egg was independent and tasteless. When she talked to her colleagues, she learned that this round fried egg with no flavor might be a pre-made egg, which tasted like a gelatin.

On social media platforms, more young people are announcing their dislike for pre-made meals. Netizen "Miss Garfield" once shared her experience of defending her rights at a steamed bun shop. Before ordering, she specifically asked whether the ones in the station were as good as those in the shops outside and were all hand-made. After receiving a positive answer, she ordered a basket of steamed buns. As a result, she found that the buns in front of her were smooth in skin, and the folds were evenly arranged as if they were precisely measured with a ruler. It was obvious at first glance that they were not hand-made, but pre-made. Afterwards, she argued with the store and finally got a refund.

Wu Mingming, who works in the advertising industry, once ate at Micun Bibimbap for a week or two due to her busy work schedule. This is a Korean-style restaurant called "the king of pre-prepared dishes" by netizens. She ordered different dishes from this restaurant and found that as long as she added the bibimbap sauce, they all tasted the same.

If you want to stay away from pre-prepared meals, picking up the spatula yourself is actually the best choice. But for today's young people, cooking is too "luxurious". On weekday nights, it's already late at night when you get home, and continuing to fight with pots and pans is undoubtedly another overtime. Hastily throwing the frozen semi-finished products in the refrigerator into the air fryer or microwave is just making yourself another "fresh pre-prepared meal".

Wu Mingming also tried to cook for himself - he would cook a meat dish after get off work, freeze it, and stir-fry a vegetable dish before going to work the next day, so that he would bring one meat dish and one vegetable dish to work. But with the Paris Olympics, he had to put cooking aside when he got busy with work.

Some young people are beginning to miss the taste of street food again. Not only is it cheap, "at least you can watch the chef stir-fry it in the wok."

In the face of technology and hard work, freshly cooked food has become more popular, and consumers will vote with their feet. The trend of "freshly cooked food" has begun to benefit all kinds of restaurants. As long as they put the banner of "freshly cooked food", they are more likely to be favored by consumers.

From Hunan chef Fei to Luo Ma Clay Pot in Chengdu and Zhe Huo Zhe Zhe Pot in Shenzhen, these are all new and well-known restaurants in this category. Northeastern boxed lunches, which feature freshly cooked food and wok-fried dishes, are also popular on social platforms.

Obviously, these restaurants have rich flavors and a more relaxed dining environment. In comparison, the advantage of supermarket canteens is not in taste and experience, but in the sense of security brought by raw materials. If the fresh food categories sold in supermarkets are regarded as a set, it will produce two subsets, one is the sale of raw materials, and the other is processed goods, such as steamed buns, cooked food, marinated products, etc. Today's stir-fried dishes are also processed goods. Chinese people are accustomed to buying fresh vegetables of the day early in the morning. By noon, the supermarket can probably judge which vegetables will be left over and sold as stir-fried dishes in the canteen. In this way, the freshness of the vegetables can be guaranteed and the supermarket loss can be solved.

From selling raw materials such as vegetables and fresh produce to selling processed dishes, the supermarket’s own supply chain is the basis for ensuring the canteen’s cost-effectiveness.

However, in all the promotional pictures of Wumei Canteen, it is specially noted that it is cooperating with "Sasa Supply Chain". This is a supply chain company specializing in community and school canteens, and has also cooperated with Meituan Maicai and Dingdong Maicai on pre-prepared food products. In comparison, Sasa Supply Chain knows more about catering, but it also means that Wumei's own supply chain cannot be maximized.

What is more important to supermarkets is the customer flow brought by the cafeteria. Huang Biyun, a retail expert specializing in the supermarket industry, analyzed to Daily People, "When you finish your meal, you buy a bottle of drink or a piece of fruit. The cafeteria is a traffic-generating product for supermarkets, which can attract more consumers."

Wumart Supermarket Tongzhou Store can reflect this design intention. When you walk into the supermarket area on the first basement floor, the first thing that catches your eye is the "Wumart Canteen" propaganda board hanging above your head, and the beverage area on the right, which is concentrated with several refrigerators filled with various beverages. From the perspective of the movement line, after picking up a bottle of beverage, you can walk a few steps forward to the cashier of the canteen, so that you can eat and drink in one stop.

The fruit and vegetable area is just across from the dining area. When you sit down and eat happily, you can smell the fragrance of freshly cut fruits and see the fresh green of various vegetables. Many diners who leave the cafeteria buy some fruits and vegetables to take home.

According to Beijing Business Daily, the daily customer flow of Wumart Canteen Zhongguancun store is about 500-700 people, and the daily turnover is nearly 20,000 yuan, which is nearly five times higher than before. It can be said that the traffic-attracting effect is significant.

On every table in Wumart's canteen, there is a sign: micro-profit operation, 5 yuan deposit, no refund for leftovers. A clerk at the Tongzhou store said that they make no money if there are few customers, and they make money by the flow of people. "For supermarkets, they exchange volume for price. The larger the volume, the cheaper the purchase price. On the other hand, the more people flow, the more micro-profits can be accumulated," Huang Biyun explained.

Can catering save the world?

On August 1, Yonghui Supermarket in Longqi Square, Changping District, Beijing, closed. Before closing, it launched a one-week discount sale, with all products on sale at a minimum 70% discount.

At the entrance of the supermarket, a sign informed customers that the air conditioner was out of order, but the heat wave did not stop people from rushing to buy. Some people pushed shopping carts and walked together, while others made video calls on their phones while selecting items, shopping for those who could not attend. The floor of the mall was littered with pale pink price tags, all of which were marked with "discounted prices" written in markers that were running out of ink.

Discounts, clearance sales, and frantic buying are the norm before a traditional supermarket disappears. Today, the business of traditional retail supermarkets is getting harder and harder. Supermarkets such as Carrefour and RT-Mart have frequently reported store closures. According to public reports, at least 130 traditional supermarkets will close across the country in the first half of 2024.

In contrast, warehouse-style membership supermarkets such as Sam's Club and Costco have become increasingly popular in China. Currently, Sam's Club has opened nearly 50 membership stores in China and is still expanding.

Faced with this situation, Huang Biyun summarized three reasons for the decline of traditional supermarkets: first, they rely on suppliers to select products rather than being customer-oriented; second, they are slow to embrace new technologies and fail to seize online marketing opportunities in a timely manner; third, they expand blindly and ignore the importance of the community.

"Today, the retail and supermarket industries that can survive actually have one huge characteristic in common, which is the octopus shape. Traffic may come from offline word of mouth, online promotion, or short videos. In fact, there is no such thing as online business snatching offline business. It depends on whether you want to embrace new technologies and find traffic," said Huang Biyun.

Freshly cooked food canteens are one of the ways supermarkets have found to save themselves. After all, not everyone goes to the supermarket, but everyone needs to eat. Eating is always the biggest necessity.

As a result, catering seems to have become a panacea for all walks of life. Food, especially low-priced food, has become synonymous with traffic.

The first to grasp this code were large shopping malls. According to the "2023 Beijing Commercial Development Blue Book", in the first three quarters of 2023, catering accounted for 36.7% of the new rental demand in the market. As one of the most active formats in shopping malls, snacks and fast food in B1 and B2 accounted for 39.27% ​​of all catering categories.

More and more shopping malls are turning into food malls, relying on popular online restaurants and tea drinks to maintain basic customer flow. Among them, the most typical case is Beijing Hopson Place. Its indoor block "Block 21" built on two underground floors covers an area of ​​nearly 20,000 square meters and has more than 200 restaurants. It is the shopping mall with the largest number of catering businesses in Beijing. Therefore, Hopson Place is also nicknamed "Asia's No. 1 Food Stall" by netizens.

What is more well-known is the control of the "poor man's meal" by the furniture retail brand IKEA. In the first half of this year, IKEA announced that it would sell selected meal packages at half price every Friday, with 10 classic meatballs for as low as 9.9 yuan. Subsequently, the topic "IKEA China has become a poor man's canteen for young people" was on the hot search list. The canteen has once again successfully brought traffic and crowds to IKEA.

There are also Zibo barbecue and Tianshui spicy hot pot, which almost rely on one kind of food to boost the tourism economy of an entire city.

However, the "huge wealth" brought by traffic comes quickly and goes quickly. When it comes to food, people still care most about the taste and freshness of the ingredients. Supermarkets that have already stepped into the catering industry are no exception. Whether the customer flow attracted by low-priced canteens can be retained for a long time still depends on the stomach of each diner.

Especially when it comes to freshly cooked dishes, the quality will definitely not be as stable as pre-prepared dishes. The first time Li Yuanfeng ate the steamed buns stuffed with beans and pork at Wumei Food Hall, the skin was thin and the filling was large, and the taste was tempting, but when he ate it for the second time, the filling had obviously more fat and the bun skin was much thicker.

On social media platforms, you can also see people complaining about Yonghui Canteen and its subsidiary Xiaohui Canteen. The control of different stores may be different, the taste may be unstable, or the ingredients may have poor taste.

But because of the price of more than ten yuan, most people still show the greatest tolerance for the taste. Zhou Qi was not very picky about the taste of Wumart Canteen. She shared this affordable canteen with her fitness coach. The coach asked her, "Is it delicious?" Zhou Qi replied, "They charge you 19.9 yuan, how dare you ask them if it's delicious?"

(Zhou Qi, Li Yuanfeng and Wu Mingming are pseudonyms in this article.)

References:

"Recently, it has become popular among young people to use supermarkets as canteens," China News Weekly