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ABC Cooking Studio Closure Notice

Our reporter Fang Fengjiao (chinatimes.net.cn) reports from Shanghai

Recently, ABC Cooking Studio (hereinafter referred to as "ABC"), a brand advocating handmade food and healthy living, closed all 12 stores in mainland China overnight and announced that it had entered the bankruptcy liquidation stage.

Many consumers on social media platforms reported that they received the notice on August 1, but they were still taking classes on the evening of July 31. Everything seemed normal, and some even paid for their membership courses on the same day. It is understood that ABC is a Japanese online baking and cooking teaching brand that charges a high fee of tens of thousands of yuan.

On August 5, a reporter from the China Times called the company that owns the ABC brand, Aibao Food Catering Management (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Aibao Food"), several times, but no one answered the call. As of press time, the other party had not responded to the reporter's interview letter.

The closure of ABC is a microcosm of the industry. In recent years, it has been difficult for baking brands that are positioned as "high-end" to remain popular, which has become a common problem in the industry, and some brands that focus on training courses are no exception. Wang Hongdong, director of the Canbaodian Research Institute and a catering analyst, told the China Times reporter that there are two main reasons for the frequent closure of related brands: on the one hand, it is affected by the overall environment; on the other hand, the high-end nature of baking is actually difficult for consumers to perceive. Some high-end restaurants will reflect their high-end nature through environment, service, etc., but this is actually a bit difficult for the baking category.

Sudden closure of the store

According to a brand announcement posted in the store, ABC Cooking Studio told its members that the company's funds could not maintain normal operations due to insufficient income after the "epidemic", so the company's shareholders' meeting resolved to close all stores in mainland China from now on, and the company entered the liquidation process to save funds to support member refunds. The announcement was dated July 31, 2024.

The reporter found that the last update of the ABC Cooking Studio official account was on July 30, and on July 16, the official account also posted a tweet titled "Only 2xx yuan per session! Summer limited course package is online, with half-price advanced courses coming | ABC Cooking Studio". The link to the course reservation window on the official account's web version can no longer be opened. It is also impossible to make course reservations on the "ABC Cooking Studio" applet.

“I was still making appointments for classes last night, but received news of the store closing in the early morning.” “I just recharged my account, but haven’t spent it all yet.” Multiple consumers left messages on social media platforms.

Some store employees even said that they received a notice from the company "Don't come tomorrow" when they got off work on the evening of July 31. "Our wages haven't been paid yet," said another store staff member.

At present, the ABC national refund rights protection group has gathered many consumers. According to incomplete statistics, the amount of courses involved may reach tens of millions of yuan.

The announcement stated that the brand has entrusted Beijing Tianda Gonghe (Shanghai) Law Firm to handle all matters related to the liquidation. This reporter called the contact numbers of lawyers Zhou and Fan listed in the announcement, but could not get through. The above-mentioned lawyers previously told the media: "We are now discussing the refund ratio with the investors. Everyone registers on the QR code. In September, we will contact everyone according to the information registered on the QR code and inform everyone of the results of the discussion. If everyone accepts the ratio, we will refund; if not, we will sue."

It is understood that ABC Cooking Studio is a brand from Japan, founded in 1985 and entered the Chinese market in 2010. Its WeChat official account once introduced that all courses of ABC Cooking Studio are in the form of practical operation while explaining. Each course has a 2-hour learning and production time. Even if you have no basic knowledge, you can quickly get started under the guidance of the teacher, starting from the most basic ingredients and independently making the finished product step by step.

Tianyancha APP shows that 100% of the shares of Aibao Food Company are controlled by "ABC Cooking Studio Worldwide Limited", whose actual controller is Hiroyuki Yokoi, the brand's CEO and one of the founders.

Some consumers revealed that the studio's course fees are not cheap, ranging from several thousand yuan to tens of thousands of yuan. Among them, the training fee is often tens of thousands of yuan, the membership fee is 500 yuan, the average price of a basic cake course is more than 300 yuan per class, and there are also certificates such as "cake certification qualification certificate" and "bread certification qualification certificate" that need to be obtained after completing the course assessment. The average price of each item is more than 10,000 yuan, so many customers will choose to buy course packages for more discounts.

How do high-end brands gain a foothold?

According to information on ABC Cooking Studio's official website, as of the closure of all stores, the brand had a total of 12 stores in mainland China, covering six cities including Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Guangzhou.

In fact, there were early signs that the brand would close its stores. As of October 2023, it has 18 stores in mainland China, covering Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xi'an, Nanjing and other places.

Since 2023, it has gradually reduced the scale of its stores and closed stores in Chongqing, Xi'an, Nanjing, etc. As of June this year, the brand has 12 stores left in mainland China, all of which are located in high-end shopping malls in first-tier cities, such as the two stores in Beijing, which are located in China World Mall and Yiti Park.

"In recent years, when consumers are generally pursuing cost-effectiveness, the closure of ABC is inevitable." Zhu Danpeng, a Chinese food industry analyst, said in an interview with a reporter from the China Times that all high-end brands have not been selling well in recent years, unless ultra-high-end luxury goods are relatively better. Brands that are neither up nor down do not have much risk resistance. If high-end products do not have strong brand endorsement and strong revenue and profit to support traffic, closure is inevitable. All high-end brands must be a niche track.

In Wang Hongdong's opinion, on the one hand, baking is basically a retail route. Brands such as Bao Shifu and Holiland have done well in this customer price range. It is extremely difficult for other brands to create high-end products and ingredients. On the other hand, ABC is not only about baking, but also about training. Although it has a certain customer base, it is a relatively small industry with a limited customer base. In addition, its cost is relatively high, so the cost pressure is naturally not small.

In recent years, high-end baking brands have frequently closed stores. Especially since 2023, the reshuffle of the baking brand industry has accelerated, with continuous news of brand closures and bankruptcies, which has prompted the industry to think about how high-end brands can gain a foothold.

Wang Hongdong believes that if high-end brands want to be successful for a long time, the key is to be attractive to customers in terms of products and pricing, find the right target group, and be able to form continuous repurchases. They must also work hard on the brand. If they only rely on gimmicks or marketing, it will definitely not be sustainable.

"It is difficult to make high-end baking products because it is difficult to differentiate in terms of products and services. Of course, there is a market, but it is difficult to scale it up," said Wang Hongdong.

Editor-in-charge: Xu Yunqian Editor-in-chief: Gong Peijia