news

China News Service, August 3 (by Yan Shuxin, intern Li Yimeng) Recently, when Beijing consumer Lili was dining out, she discovered that the rice at Tai Er Pickled Fish was charged per seat instead of "per bowl".

"It used to be 4 yuan a bowl, but now it's a rice buffet, 4 yuan a portion, with unlimited refills," said Lili.

Tai Er isn’t the only one eyeing the rice buffet.

　　Restaurants eye rice buffets

Some time ago, thanks to its rice buffet, Micun Bibimbap gained a lot of traffic on social platforms and made the "3 Yuan Poor Man's Meal" popular: free kelp soup, free side dishes, and a bowl of rice for 3 yuan.

Ms. Zhou, who often eats at Micun Bibimbap, said that at first, the rice at Micun Bibimbap was charged by bowl, 3 yuan per bowl, but later it was changed to be charged by seat, 3 yuan per seat, with unlimited refills. "Recently, their rice is free, and consumers can pick it up at the self-service area."

According to consumers, in addition to Micun bibimbap and Tai Er pickled fish, rice in offline stores of many catering brands such as Chef Fei, Lao Xiang Chicken, Fish with You, and Aunt Jia Qiao Jiao Beef also adopts a "self-service" or "charge-per-seat" model, with prices mostly ranging from 3 to 5 yuan.

For consumers, would a rice buffet be more cost-effective?

"We went to a grilled fish restaurant before. A bowl of rice cost 3 yuan, and the portion was very small. My husband ate three bowls before he was barely full. Dishes like grilled fish and pickled fish go well with rice, and you can save a lot of money if you have rice by yourself," said Lili.

However, some netizens complained that the "per-seat charging" model of rice in some restaurants is unreasonable. "Two or four people go to eat and they are given a pot of rice, each person is charged 5 yuan, and they can refill as much as they want. Two people can't finish the pot, but they still have to pay 10 yuan for rice."

　　Price war intensifies

Rice buffet, to some extent, is a manifestation of price war in the catering industry.

In May this year,Xiabu XiabuThe menu was announced to be adjusted, with the average price of a single meal being 58 yuan, the average price of a meal for two being 130 yuan, and the average customer unit price not exceeding 60 yuan. The unit price of meals was generally reduced by more than 10%.

At the same time, Nan Hotpot announced the opening of the store 3.0 era, reducing per capita consumption to 70-80 yuan;99Its Shuang Hotpot even has slogans such as "Soup base starts at 8 yuan, meat dishes start at 9.9 yuan, vegetarian dishes start at 6.6 yuan, and all-you-can-eat stewed rice starts at 6 yuan."

The "China Hot Pot Brand Price Monitoring Report in the First Half of 2024" recently released by NCBD (Canbaodian), a catering big data research and certification organization, shows that based on the changes in the average customer spending of nearly 100 hot pot brands in the first half of 2024, 58.0% of the brands have experienced price cuts to varying degrees. Among them, 82.4% of hot pot brands with an average customer spending of more than 100 yuan have experienced price cuts; for brands with an average customer spending of less than 100 yuan, 45.5% have experienced price cuts.

In addition to the hot pot category, in June this year, Xiangcunji issued a product price reduction notice, reducing the prices of four products including "Sichuan Style Fried Chicken Rice", "Kung Pao Chicken Rice", "Ginger Duck Rice" and "Mushroom Chicken Rice", saying that "the prices have returned to 2008"; Hefu Lamian also further lowered its product prices, among which herbal bone broth soft noodles were reduced by about 27%, herbal spicy and sour beef noodles were reduced by about 32%, and herbal tomato beef noodles were reduced by about 32%. After the new round of price cuts, the price range of its mainstream products was reduced to between 16-29 yuan.

Wen Zhihong, chain management industry expert and general manager of Hehong Consulting, told China Business Network that the price war reflects the increasingly fierce competition in the catering industry. From the demand side, consumers are more cautious when dining out and pay more attention to cost performance. From the supply side, the catering industry is a fully competitive industry with low barriers to entry, fierce competition, high homogeneity, and difficulty in innovation. "In such a situation, in order to attract more consumers, some restaurants have to resort to price cuts."

Zhu Danpeng, vice president of the Guangdong Food Safety Promotion Association and food industry analyst, also mentioned that the price war in the catering industry is affected by the overall industry environment and meets consumers' demand for cost-effective dishes and services.

　Many listed catering companies were affected

China News Service found that recently,Quanjude、Xi'an Food、China Science Cloud Network, 99 cents,Dashi SharesFive listed catering companies disclosed their performance reports or forecasts for the first half of 2024. Among them, Xi'an Catering and Zhongke Cloud Network expected losses, while Jiu Mao Jiu expected its net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company to decline by no more than 69.8% year-on-year in the first half of the year.

When explaining the reasons for the decline in net profit, Jiu Mao Jiu mentioned that during the reporting period, the average customer consumption and table turnover rate of the group's restaurants both fell, which in turn led to a decline in restaurant revenue per store; the cost control measures implemented by the group to reduce various costs and expenses for restaurant opening and operation lagged behind the decline in restaurant revenue per store.

When explaining the reasons for the performance changes in the first half of 2024, Xi'an Catering also mentioned factors such as the increasing competition.

"Price wars test the hard power of companies and are a normal market competition phenomenon. Of course, if companies blindly engage in price wars, they may find themselves in a situation where revenue increases but profits do not," said Wen Zhihong.

Zhu Danpeng mentioned that price wars will inevitably lead to a decline in corporate profit margins, which is also a process of industry reshuffle to some extent. "However, in the long run, the dividends of catering consumption still exist objectively," Zhu Danpeng said.

　(The views in this article are for reference only and do not constitute investment advice. Investment is risky and you should be cautious when entering the market.)

All rights reserved by China Business Network. No organization or individual may reprint, excerpt or use in other ways without written authorization.

Editors: Chang Tao and Li Zhongyuan